PULMAN and PULMAN-XT completed their periods of activity
funded under the European Union IST programme in mid-August. This issue of
PULMANEXpress concludes what has, to say the least, been an active and in many
ways exhilarating period of more than two years, in which we would like to
think that PULMAN has made a strategic impact on the process of moving public
libraries and local cultural services into the digital age and to understanding
the future research and development needs in this sector. In this issue of PULMANExpress you can read
a summary of the assessment of the reviewer appointed by the European
Commission to evaluate the work of PULMAN (page 2).
The PULMAN Network has necessarily turned its attention to
the best way of exploiting the results of the project and to considering how
key resources developed in PULMAN can be sustained. As part of this process, a
proposal was prepared for a Co-ordination Action called CALIMERA under the
First Call of FP6 with the intention of exploiting and developing the platform
created by PULMAN for local cultural services in the context of the priorities
of FP6. In doing this, we have been specially attuned to the developing
priorities of the proposed Community Memory Call in the Cultural Heritage area
of IST, planned for 2004.
I am very happy to say that CALIMERA was favourably received
by the independent evaluators which the Commission appoints to review
proposals. Contract negotiation with the Commission is currently well underway
and we hope to begin work towards the end 2003, if all goes to plan. CALIMERA
will continue to involve many participants from the PULMAN Network, whilst
expanding that network to include participants from local archives, museums,
industrial suppliers and national authorities responsible for local services.
CALIMERA will be co-ordinated by Lisbon City Council Department of Libraries
(Câmara Municipal de Lisboa - Departamento de Bibliotecas e Arquivos) and
managed by MDR. A fuller summary of the goals of CALIMERA is provided on page
4.
A major output of the PULMAN Conference, held in Oeiras
Portugal, during March 2003 – and reported extensively in PULMANExpress Issue
No 4 - was the Oeiras Manifesto. There was a strong view, expressed at the
Conference, that the potential of the Manifesto’s 10-point Action Plan to be
used for monitoring and benchmarking progress by local cultural organizations
in providing good digital services to their users should be optimised. The PULMAN
team has therefore developed and distributed a monitoring instrument and has
asked country co-ordinators to administer this in each country of the PULMAN
Network. This monitoring process is described in more detail on page 3 and can
be seen in full on PULMANWeb www.pulmanweb.org,
together with the Oeiras Manifesto and Action Plan.
The issue concludes with a series of brief reports on
positive developments in digital public libraries from the PULMAN co-ordinators
in Greece, Poland and Serbia and with a report from Bangladesh on developments
in public libraries. It is very pleasing to everyone involved with PULMAN to be
able to say with apparent justification that PULMAN has helped to bring about
positive change in these and a number of other countries.
On behalf of Jan Van Vaerenbergh, PULMAN co-ordinator,
myself and the whole PULMAN team, I would like to thank you for interest and
contribution to the PULMAN network. We look forward greatly to continued
communication with you through CALIMERA.
A Review of PULMAN took place at the time of the Oeiras
Conference in March 2003. The comments of the reviewer were in general very
positive about the work of The PULMAN Network.
A number of recommendations were made, specifically with
regard to the need and potential to exploit and sustain the PULMAN network and
its work. These were the subject of specific response from the PULMAN
Management Board, which were accepted by the Reviewer with further
encouragement to persist in finding a sponsor/publisher of the Guidelines.
The reviewer remarked on the excellent quality of the PULMAN
Documentation, in particular the Guidelines, which he considered ‘outstanding,
constituting ‘an indispensable encyclopaedia of expertise and direction for
public library managers throughout Europe and beyond…. unique in their range,
depth and direct applicability to public library service delivery. They will
undoubtedly become an essential tool for public library managers everywhere’.
[Note: The Second Edition of the Guidelines has been
published in full in The New Review of Library and Information Research. Volume
8, 2002 by Taylor Graham. Translations are proceeding into most European
languages. It is planned that expanded Guidelines for local digital cultural
services will be produced during CALIMERA.]
His further assessment was that the country profiles,
workshop reports and other related documentation have been produced to a very
high standard and also represent an enormous range of relevant information for
policy makers. They will be of use in supporting benchmarking and comparative
service analysis. He additionally commented that the various events organised
by the project appeared to have been well organised, enjoying high
participation and very significant impact.
The project was seen as being in full compliance with the
workplan, with each partner contributing as planned - in many cases beyond what
was originally committed. PULMAN was rated an extremely well planned, organised
and managed project in which the project Manager, Coordinator, and
administrative staff generated and sustained a high level of commitment from an
extremely professional and skilled consortium. The coordination and motivation
of the Country Coordinator network was considered highly successful and the
contribution of the Country Coordinators themselves exceptional.
The project’s technical achievements were described as being
amongst its most significant. PULMANWeb was considered to have achieved a high
standard of organisation, as a gateway allowing easy access to all of the
relevant information relating to the project. He recommended that the site
should be maintained for as long as possible as the single point of access to
all of the project deliverables and should be preserved in tact as from the end
of PULMAN-XT for future availability.
The PULMAN Express newsletter was considered to have been
produced to a very high standard, ranking as one of the most informative and
well-produced project newsletters which this reviewer has seen. It was
recommended that serious consideration should be given in the exploitation plan
to the sustainability of a similar publication which serves the PULMAN aims,
directed at European public library managers.
In summary, the reviewer concluded that one of the original
stated aims of the PULMAN project was that ‘By…May 2003, PULMAN will have set
the agenda for the next generation of local public cultural institutions,
making an important contribution to the overall goals of e-Europe and setting
the scene for a new style of public library.’ The project was congratulated for
making a major contribution to these areas and for strengthening significantly
the support infrastructure for the development and promotion of cultural
heritage in Europe.
g
The PULMAN conference called upon Ministers, policy makers
and practitioners at national and local level, within a specified timeframe to
implement a ten-point Action Plan. A monitoring tool has been developed to
assist to assist the tracking or progress towards that goal on an annual basis,
throughout the countries of the PULMAN Network.
This instrument PULMAN offers country-co-ordinators six
statements numbered 0-5 under each of the 10 Action points and are asked to
circle the one description which in their opinion is closest to the current
situation on their country for each point in the Action Plan.
In making this judgement they are asked to:
discuss the situation with members of their Country Support
Group and other experts and officials, as appropriate;
take into account the whole context of the Oeiras Manifesto,
in which the Action Plan has its setting.
In addition, country-co-ordinators are asked to supply a
brief ‘statement of evidence’ for drawing their conclusion under each point in
the Action Plan and to add other comments as they wish.
The Monitoring tool can be found on PULMANWeb at []
with the Manifesto in full, now available in over 20 languages [].
g
1. Establish strategies, which utilise and develop the
skills and infrastructure of Europe’s comprehensive physical network of public
libraries, archives and museums in order to develop their full social, cultural
and economic potential.
2. Identify national and local funding priorities in support
of key activities such as providing access to electronic resources and the
Internet, digitisation, piloting new services, ensuring an adequate technical
infrastructure, including broadband connectivity where feasible and the
adoption of common standards.
3. Consider the establishment of cross-domain agencies and
inter-ministerial co-operation for co-ordinated policy making within the
cultural heritage sector (public libraries, museums and archives).
4. Develop effective partnerships between the local cultural
heritage sector and other key economic and social sectors (e.g. education,
employment, tourism, community organisations, etc) to facilitate re-engineering
of local services, as well as cost-effective provision and management.
5. Provide
interactive access to content through state-of-the-art, multimedia digital
resources documenting local history, literature, art, music and community
interests, packaged where appropriate as learning resources.
6. Support the development of centres of excellence to stimulate
take-up of good practice, where necessary as a starting point for wider
implementation of innovative services.
7. Implement staff recruitment and training policies,
including adequate salary and conditions, to provide the capacity and skills to
deal effectively with user needs e.g. learning support and the use of
Information Society Technologies.
8. Monitor the changing needs of users as a part of
evidence-based policy development and investment planning.
9. Measure and evaluate services on a regular basis,
especially those involving new technologies, and establish benchmark criteria
to assess the impact and outcome of investment.
10. Propose research and take-up activities at national or
European level based, where appropriate, on partnerships with support
organisations and private sector companies including those skilled in
information access, content building and digitisation.
g
The CALIMERA (Cultural Applications: Local Institutions
Mediating Electronic Resource Access) proposal was submitted under the First
call of the Sixth Framework Programme of IST (FP6). The proposal was favourably
evaluated and contractual negotiations are now underway with a view to its funding
and commencement towards the end of 2003.
The overall objective of CALIMERA is to ensure that local
cultural institutions right across Europe are well-placed to benefit from and
contribute to the goals of the new RTD framework programme 2002-2006 in enabling
‘anywhere, anytime, natural access to IST services for all’ through provision
of advanced and intelligent systems which improve access to Europe‘s knowledge
and educational resources and generate new forms of cultural and learning
experience, helping establish a stable pan-European infrastructure for
distributed repositories of digital content and community memory within 5 to 10
years.
The goals of the FP6 IST cultural heritage research
workprogramme are of key significance for local institutions (public libraries,
museums and archives). Equally, they can play a vital role in achieving those
goals by applying innovative technologies and strategies from the priority
research areas and transforming them into helpful services which can be easily
used by ordinary citizens in their everyday lives. If they are to be centrally
involved in future IST calls addressing community-based cultural heritage
services, local cultural institutions need to identify a solid basis for their
own R&D priorities, backed by an analysis of the issues which deserve
European support.
The 18-month CALIMERA Co-ordinating Action will monitor
technical developments and solutions already emerging from IST and national
research and assess their potential as widely transferable technologies for use
by local institutions. It will co-ordinate and sensitise the stakeholders
including professional networks, national and local authorities and industrial
players, laying the groundwork for participation in future calls
Building on FP5, CALIMERA will increase sharing of best
practice, mobilising and adding European value to IST-based national
programmes, producing guidelines and benchmarking tools with a special focus on
the needs of local archives and museums and addressing the needs of the end
user by identifying a framework for focused research on
usability/ease-of-use.
This vital co-ordination and preparatory work will be
underpinned by a high-impact dissemination programme targeted at
decision-makers, managers and professionals, including a portal website
providing access to best practice, relevant research and innovative solutions.
Finally CALIMERA will develop the agenda and working
structures for collaboration on local services with Europe's research partners
globally and nurture the involvement of the Balkan States which may be the next
candidates for EU membership.
g
The Public Provincial Library in Olsztyn undertakes
activities to create conditions for access to information, to training,
education and the development of democracy for everyone in the Province.
During the years 1997-2003 cultural projects were realised
with the objective of enhancing of the role of culture and cultural heritage as
factors in the development of the Province. The Library also participated in
two European projects: PLACCAI (www.wbp.olsztyn.pl/placcai)
and PULMAN.
The most important current activity is to create a modern
information network between the public libraries in our Province. The
organisational part of this task has just been completed. Thanks to financial
support from government, 117 main libraries in towns and communities received
computers with utility software and Internet access under the project BIS –
Library Information Training Network. An important part of this project, was
also computer training for librarians from all participating libraries.
It is now planned to expand the network to cover all
branches with similar computer facilities to those mentioned above. The concept
of the project prepared for this purpose called KISS – Culture Information
Success was accepted within the programme “Polish regions in the European
cultural space” organised by the National Cultural Centre (commissioned by the
Ministry of Culture). It was selected as one of five best projects in Poland
for public presentation on a higher national political level. If this succeeds
all public libraries and branches in the Province (358) will become Public
Internet Access Points.
Some related activities have also been implemented. All
libraries realising project BIS at the same time started creating local
information database services (project BIL – Local Information Database) which
meet the requirements of the Polish laws on public information access.
Provincial library in co-operation with District Board in
Olsztyn leads a project called: District Public Virtual Library. The main
objectives are to create a public libraries district network, a common computer
catalogue, and to organise an inter-library loans system. This idea is going to
be implemented in other districts of the Province.
A range of training, especially in computers, Internet,
utility and library software for professionals from all public libraries in the
Province is also organised. A renovated main provincial library with automated
lending system and free access to the Internet is also imminent. Modernised
libraries across the whole Province are becoming centres of fresh and
innovative action.
Thee activities of Olsztyn Library are seen as an example of
a good work for other libraries in Poland. This is also an effect of knowledge
and experience gained while completing the European projects: PLACCAI and
PULMAN. We would like to thank all PULMAN people for their inspiring
co-operation. We hope that CALIMERA project will unite us once more and new
work will inspire us to further innovatory actions.
Joanna Burska
Olsztyn
Email:
moody@wbp.olsztyn.pl
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The Serbian public library system includes 155 main
libraries with 400 branches (excluding Kosovo). They serve a population of some
7.6 million people (excluding Kosovo), of whom, 430.000 (according to the data
from the year 2000) are users. Therefore, only about 5-6% of the population are
members of public libraries. The main reason for such a high number of
non-users is the belief that libraries are a place to come to find a book and
to satisfy one’s needs for culture and entertainment, not to get other basic
information.
The majority of libraries are designated for both adults and
children, with standard service hours 6 days a week. Most public libraries are
organized on a similar basis of departments and services: a loan department for
readers, with separate collections of reference and professional books for use
only within the library; a children’s department; local collection; and a
service for the cultural and publishing activity of the library. Classification
is by UDC and the ISBD are used.
Organisationally, this involves a system of 24 main public
libraries at the centre of a network, with a hierarchical structure. At the top
is National Library of Serbia in Belgrade, the legal deposit library and
central library of Serbia. For example, the City Library of Belgrade is the
central public library for all municipal libraries in Belgrade (16, 13 in the
libraries’ own network and 3 external to it) and for about 250 school libraries
in the capital City. Full information on administrative, financial and
legislative issues is included in the Country Profile on PULMANWeb.
In Serbia libraries are in three centuries at the same time.
Only a few are prepared for 21st. century. However, automation is in progress
and the library system is in general in a phase of reconstruction. Libraries in
Serbia began creating web sites in 1996. There is a common web site covering
almost 50 public libraries from across Serbia. The www.biblioteke.org.yu
portal can be accessed through the UNESCO Libraries Portal and on www.pulmanweb.org.
Other important projects currently underway include:
VIRTUAL
LIBRARY OF SERBIA
www.nbs.bg.ac.yu
VLS (Virtual library of Serbia) is a national project to
introduce an integrated library system and services and create a shared
catalogue. In the first phase, four main centres are being networked: National
Library of Serbia (Belgrade), University Library “Svetozar Markovic”
(Belgrade), Library of Matica srpska (Novi Sad) and Yugoslav Bibliographical
Institute (YUBIN, Belgrade). In the second phase this will be spread to other
university and faculty libraries in Serbia, and in the third phase public
libraries will join. The project also includes activities for digitisation and
the education of librarians. The VLS Center is in the National Library of
Serbia.
BIBLIOTEKA PLUS www.bibliotekaplus.com
Biblioteka + is a training center for continuing education
for librarians involving a package of programmes intended to support the
creation of modern librarians and libraries, the only one of its kind in
Serbia. It is also based at the National Library. The curriculum includes
management and marketing in libraries, strategic planning, project management,
intellectual freedom, problems of copyright in the new electronic environment,
digital libraries, new standards and protocols for exchange of electronic
documents.
Balkan Library Net www.balkanlibrary.net
This portal site, focused primarily on the development of
cooperation between Balkan libraries, was created during the Second Meeting of
librarians of Balkan countries and is hosted in Belgrade by Internet
club/library sector and the non-government organisation Libraries without
borders. It contains information about meetings of Balkan librarians, some
useful links about national libraries from the all countries in the region and
Balkan Pulman place, with links to all countries involved in the Pulman and
Pulman XT project.
Web portal www.kultura.org.yu
The new project of the Internet club Library sector and LCP
(Library consulting partner) plans to be the main gateway to all public
libraries, museum, archives and other cultural institutions in Serbia.
www.biblioteke.tv
This is a trial program that will take over the entire design
of the fourth anniversary of the first virtual library net in Serbia. Its
aim is to provide an audio-visual introduction, publicly accessible at all
times, to the happenings in Serbian libraries. This new site of is hosted
on the server RealONE Player.
Jasmina Ninkov
Municipal Public Library of "M.Bojic"
Email: ninkovnj@eunet.yu
g
There are 45 Public Libraries in Greece financed and
supported by the Greek Ministry of Education. The libraries are located in main
cities across the country. Twenty six of these libraries are characterized as
“Central” offering expanded services through bookmobiles, to the whole
prefecture that they belong to. Bookmobiles visit remote areas and small rural
and island communities. The 32 book mobiles travel across the country serving
approximately one thousand small rural communities. The book mobile project has
been financed by E.U and the national budget.
As Greek Public libraries developed the need to modernize
legislation and expand scope and services arose. As a result, Greece had issued
a new Library legislation in June 2003 which addressed the Public Library’s
role in the information society, the use of new technologies and the importance
of services to the community. A new set of “Guidelines” for Public Libraries
followed that emphasized the importance of Children’s departments, multimedia
sections and library’s involvement in the cultural and community programs.
As part of library development and restructuring, three
projects were put into action: a) the
creation of electronic information stations within libraries. There are
offering internet access to the public; also they provide information on
educational, cultural, business, sports and entertainment issues at local,
prefecture and national level. b) the creation of a web portal where around 60
public libraries (state and municipal) will have section providing information
about their institutions, the local community and government information and c.
the wireless network between central libraries and Mobile libraries, which at
the moment are visiting remote areas. In that way, people who are using those
services will get also access to Internet and new technologies. All three projects are financed by the E.U.
“Information Society Program”. That program is the main vehicle though which
library image is changing: from a traditional institution to a dynamic
information organization.
Dafni Kiriaki Manesi,
Special Secretary of Libraries, Archives and Educational Television
Greek Minister of Education and Religious Affairs
Email: arx_bibl@ypepth.gr
g
Present Scenario: In Bangladesh there are mainly two types of
public libraries from the administrative and management point of view, viz.
Government and Non-Government Public Libraries.
Non-government public libraries movements started with the establishment of
four public libraries in the year 1854. The government public library started
its journey with the opening of Bangladesh Central Public Library in 1958.
A. Government Public
Libraries: under the Department of Public Library the following
libraries are run:
1. Sufia Kamal National
Central Public Library (Formerly
Bangladesh Central Public Library) – 01
3. District Library
– 60
4. Branch Library –
04
Total = 68
B. Non-government Public Libraries – 1603 (Library Directory, 2003
Bangladesh National Book Centre)
Government Public Libraries: In Bangladesh, the total number of government public libraries is 68.
But, all of these have not the same facilities in terms of infrastructure and
other aspects.
Non-Government Public
Libraries: The real picture of non-government public
libraries, except for a few, is not satisfactory at all. Most of the
non-government public libraries open for3-5 hours in the evening. Very few
library personnel are trained, most of them part time basis. These non-government
public libraries are partly financed by subscription, partly by government
grants and not fully by the local authorities. The collection of these
libraries varies considerably from libraries to libraries. The librarians of
non-government public libraries have no fixed scale and they do not enjoy any
government benefit as in the case of teachers of non-government educational
institutions.
Technological
facilities in public libraries: The tremendous growth of Information
& Communication Technology has opened the door for the libraries to make
use of technological facilities for the betterment of user services. But, even
today public library both government and non-government public libraries are
unable to establish a fully-fledged division of Information Technology. For
this reason, users are not fully satisfied because they need more up-to-date
and instant information that can be obtained by using IT components. At
present, government. public libraries have 18 computers. From these, 7
computers are available at Sufia Kamal National Central Public Library and the
rest of these are in different district libraries. Non-government Public
libraries in Bangladesh have no Technological facilities.
Problems of Public Libraries in
Bangladesh: Different types of critical problems have
weakened the gradual development of public libraries in Bangladesh. In the
following we will see the most common problems that effects public libraries
total activities:
1. Lack of trained
library personnel and training facilities
2. Lack of
recognition of the necessity of libraries and library services in a social
environment
3. Poor status of
librarians
4. Technological
backwardness
5. Unskilled and shy
librarian
6.Lack of funds
7. Lack of proper
planning
8. Shortage of space
and equipments
9. Lack of
co-operation among the libraries and lack of cooperative spirit among the
librarians
10. Lack of
standards for public libraries
11. Lack of
uniformity in pay scales, Poor gradation and irrational structure
12. Lack of international cooperation
Public
library development is essential for any civilized nation. The public library
can be one of the most powerful social institutions to develop nationwide
educational and cultural activities. The following are the suggestions for the
development of public libraries in Bangladesh:
1. The Government of Bangladesh should allocate sufficient funds to support the
Government public libraries as well as non-government public libraries. It may
be noted that in the year 2000-2001 only 0.15% was allocated from the total
budget of education for govt. and non-government public libraries. But, the
allocation in this sector must be at least 5%.
2. Government should
generously allocate funds for the establishment of non-government public
libraries.
3. Library and information science teaching and training institutions should
introduce different types of training programs for unskilled library
professionals. The training programs should include basic things such as
cataloging (both manual and electronic), classification, bibliography, indexing
and abstracting, electronic information delivery, public relation, e-mail,
Internet, so that the unskilled library professional can handle information
efficiently.
4. The library associations of Bangladesh should organize
seminars, workshops, etc. to create awareness among librarians about the
current development and technologies in library field.
5. The government can open library and information science department in
different government and private colleges and universities to build up more
efficient library professionals. It may be noted that only two government
universities are running the library and information science course (both
Honors and Master degree).
6.For smooth management of libraries proper rules & regulations should be
formulated as soon as possible and standards should be maintained.
7. International cooperation is a must
in library field. The government and the library authority should contact with
the international body for the development of the libraries.
8. The rank and status of librarians and information professionals should be
elevated and for this purpose government should take proper initiatives as soon
as possible.
9.Government should establish public libraries as much as possible and should
assists private initiatives in establishing public libraries.
10. Government and concerned authority should cooperate each other for the
development of library sector.
Conclusion: The library field has been neglected from the
very beginning of library movement in Bangladesh. The librarian, the concerned
personnel do not get their legal status and facilities. For this reason, they
are not active in their field. This problem impedes the gradual development of
libraries in Bangladesh. But, these problems are not so serious that theye
cannot be resolved. To resolve these problems including others, government and
library authority should take necessary initiatives as soon as possible.
References:
1.
Ahmad,
S.U. (1994). Librarianship and the state
of libraries in Bangladesh. Dhaka : Lutfun Nessah Begum.
2.
Ahmed,
S.M.Z. (1998). Library automation in
Bangladesh : problems and prospects. Bangladesh Journal of Library and
Information Science,1,(1),40-46.
3.
Bangladesh
National Book Centre.(2003).Library
Directory [Bangla].Dhaka : Bangladesh National Book Centre.
4.
Mahmud,
M. (2002). History about establishment of public libraries in Bangladesh
[Bangla]. Boi. 5,26-27. Dhaka:
Bangladesh National Book centre.
5.
Majed
, K.A. (2002). Picture of public libraries in Bangladesh [Bangla]. Boi, 5,28-30. Dhaka: Bangladesh National
Book centre.
Nafiz Zaman Shuva
Dept. of Information Science & Library
Management University of
Dhaka
Email:
nafiz_z@hotmail.com
g
Editorial info (top)
PULMAN Express is a quarterly published newsletter
available in English only. Subscription is free. To subscribe, visit the
PULMANweb server at:
PULMAN express