Home | Public library services for 
Children and Schools (Summary)
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SCOPE
Issues dealt with in this guideline include: 
Services provided
Client groups 
Children with special needs

POLICY ISSUES

This guideline covers IST-based services and activities provided by public libraries,and where relevant, museums and archives which help children to develop a positive attitude toward learning, consistent with the goal of an eEurope and which contribute to their development as human beings able to play a role in society, building citizenship and a sense of community. 

The Convention on the Rights of the Child states that “The child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society…”. and “The child shall have the right of freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice”. 

Public libraries, as socially inclusive institutions, need to provide access to children, regardless of their age, wealth, background, gender, race environment or geographical location or special needs.

Children need services that contribute to their development in a number of ways: intellectual and emotional, language, social, educational and motor skills. Libraries, museums and archives can promote this development through enjoyment. They can help children to grow by providing opportunities for developing social skills, promoting citizenship, the acquisition of aesthetic sense, and by the developing of interest in literature and the arts. 

Public libraries have an important role in developing reading among children in an era where there are many competing stimuli. There seems to be general agreement that early exposure to books helps children develop an interest in reading (see Bookstart). Many argue that the first two years of a baby's learning are crucial. 75% of brain development occurs between birth and the age of two. The implications of this for agencies who should be working together are very significant. 

New basic skills, which should be included in the agenda of all educational and cultural organisations, were defined at the European Council meeting in Lisbon 2000 as IT skills, foreign languages, technological culture, entrepreneurship and social skills. There is a need to develop much further IST-based services oriented toward children, in order to promote a positive attitude toward learning by developing their information and interpretation skills.

The provision of Internet services for children requires careful consideration of filtering policies, and whether access to services such as chatlines should be allowed. Parents may be concerned that their children will access unsuitable sites and consideration must be given to the use of filtering software and/or acceptable use policies which require parents to give permission before their children can use the Internet in the library.

The position of public libraries as bodies with privileged relationships with local authorities, education and cultural entities, presents an opportunity to greatly enhance their role in support of the school education system and the curriculum. Countries, regions and localities, especially rural or isolated communities with low Internet penetration, where school libraries lack resources to support study and homework, can make better use of public libraries in providing orientation, skills and access to information and learning resources which are otherwise unreachable. 

As major points of contact with and meeting places for local populations public libraries are well-placed to identify recognize the existing and potential information and educational/learning needs of local communities. They are and always have been, information providers. During recent years, public libraries have begun to invest in infrastructures and staff specialisations that can be capitalized upon in developing and improving new services that support education at all levels.

This requires effective co-operation between local public libraries and other organisations at local level. Greater involvement by professional bodies in discussing school curricula could give libraries, museums and archives a chance to establish a stronger collaborative strategy in support and delivery of formal education. 

Although public libraries, archives and museums are all memory institutions and should be part of a learning support network, they are still sometimes isolated in their attitudes. Pressure is needed to bring those three cultural institutions together in order to answer the needs of a new paradigm: the learning society. 

GOOD PRACTICE GUIDELINES

Countries where IST-based services for children are currently best implemented do not present a particular geographical pattern. What they share is a very strong sense of urgency about – and national policies to address - the fight against illiteracy, the need to promote reading and an imaginative use of existing IST infrastructure. Public libraries in those countries often act as partners or co-ordinators in larger, national projects.

Services and activities for children may be provided

• in the library, museum or record office; 

• on-line through websites; 

• through other digital networks. 

• in schools;

• via mobile libraries and mobile museum vans;

• through outreach activities in the community.

They can be developed by the library itself or in collaboration between the library and other cultural and educational organisations. Co-operation by local memory institutions (libraries, museums and archives) can provide effective support to formal learning at all levels, including distance learning, through sharing collections and resources, taking advantage of IST. 

Libraries, archives and other cultural organizations delivering services at the local level, working together with educational entities, also need to establish a cooperative agenda, involving the establishment of a minimum list of collaborative services and resources. Cross-domain IST projects developed such as this are often more likely to be funded as they represent a clear effort to add value and to make the most efficient use of public resources. A good example is CHIMER (http://www.chimer.org/)

Home | Public library services for 
Children and Schools (Summary)
Full Text: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4