Rob Davies reports on PubliCA's Something for Everyone conference and on a successful completion to the project

The Something for Everyone conference

PubliCA reached the end of its period of EC funded activity on a high note with the successful Something for Everyone conference, held in Copenhagen on 14/15 October and attended by over 100 senior politicians, policy makers and professionals concerned with public library strategies, representing 31 European countries.

The conference considered the 'vital role of Public Libraries within the emerging Information Societies'. Those attending heard about the key roles already played by many European public libraries in encouraging community identity, economic development, lifelong learning and cultural diversity.

The participants agreed upon a joint declaration that requires key priorities to be addressed covering:

• Roles for the Public Library
• Action by the European Commission
• Action by National and Federal Governments
• Action by Public Libraries

The English-language text of this Copenhagen Declaration is available on the PubliCA Web site [1]. The document is currently being translated into a number of European languages. The full conference programme is available on the site, where proceedings will also shortly be published.

The event was opened by the Danish Minister of Culture, Mrs. Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen. The keynote speech on the position of public libraries in relation to the information society was given by Mrs. Mirja Ryynänen, the former MEP responsible for the own-initiative report on the role of libraries adopted by the European Parliament in 1998 and now an MP in the Parliament of Finland. Among other important contributions was that made by the General Secretary of IFLA, Mr. Ross Shimmon on Public libraries and their role in terms of social inclusion, lifelong learning, cultural policy and economic growth. A session on national strategies was introduced by the President of EBLIDA Mrs. Britt-Marie Häggström and included contributions from Ireland and Portugal, together with a presentation on regional strategies through the filter of the ISTAR project [2] presented by Mr. Ioannis Koukiadis, MEP (Greece).

A special session on perspectives for the public libraries in regard to the ongoing developments in the IST Programme and RTD activities by Bernard Smith, Head of Unit, DG DG INFSO, unit D2, Cultural heritage application), encouraged the conference to look to the future.

The Commission's end-of-project Peer Review of PubliCA assessed its achievements in very favourable terms - focusing in particular - in addition to Something for Everyone, on the successful programme of in-service Training Attachments conducted during September and October 1999 and the extension during 1998 and 1999 of the activities of PubliCA to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The Training Attachments programme, which commenced in September 1999, provided a programme of 1-2 week attachments for Public Library Managers wishing to gain experience of new strategies and services for public libraries. The programmes were hosted at excellent Public Library services in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Slovenia and the United Kingdom respectively. The content and objectives varied, but all were driven by analyses of the training priorities of Public Library Managers in Southern, Central and Eastern Europe. Several of the training providers are considering the prospects for a sustainable future for in-service training activities.

Next Steps

All of those involved with PubliCA are now looking actively at ways to build upon and extend its momentum and to increase the impact upon the development and implementation of strategic policies for public libraries right across Europe. A focus of any future activity is almost certain to be assessment, within the context of IST, of the synergies with museums and archives and of future scenarios for the public library as an institution in the user-friendly Information Society.

References

1. PubliCA: The Concerted Action for Public Libraries,
   <http://www.croydon.gov.uk/publica/>
2. ISTAR,
   <http://www.istar.org/>

Author Details

Robert Davies, Director
Education for Change Ltd.
United House
North Road
London N79 DP

Tel: + 44 171 697 8881
Fax: + 44 171 697 8883
Email: rob.davies@efc.co.uk URL: http://www.efc.co.uk/

For citation purposes:
Davies, R.,"PubliCA's Something for Everyone conference", Exploit Interactive issue 4, January 2000
<URL: http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue4/publica/>

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