NAPLE New Website

NAPLE Website has changed!

Please visit NAPLE in this new address here.

New EIFL Award for Public Libraries contributing to Literacy

EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries – www.eifl.net) is calling for applications for a new EIFL Public Library Innovation Award – for public library services contributing to literacy.

• The call is open to public and community libraries in developing and transition countries that use information and communication technology (ICT) in creative ways to improve literacy of children or adults.
• The prize includes US$1,500 and wide publicity through EIFL’s global communication channels and networks.
• The deadline for submitting applications is 12 October 2015.
• Applications will be accepted in English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Read more and apply – http://bit.ly/1IYrF8q

 

There will be more than one award – so please share this information and help us attract applications from as many innovative public libraries as possible.

Jean Fairbairn Communications Manager (EIFL)

The “Read On. Get On” campaign

“A fifth of all children in England, and close to a third of the poorest children, are unable to read well when they leave primary school”

This is the first phrase of the report “The power of Reading: How the next government can unlock every child’s potential through reading”, in which the campaign Read On. Get On is based. A text aiming to raise awareness in the next Government about the importance of closing the reading gap in English society.

You can download this report through this link 

For further information about the campaign: http://www.readongeton.org.uk/ 

America’s Libraries Report 2015

 ALA has presented their “America’s Libraries Report 2015”, where they identify library trends of the past year in academic, public and school libraries.

This year, they highlight the growth of digital literacy projects, as well as the proliferation of makerspaces. Also, they reportthe identification of libraries as “change agents  addressing unique needs and identifying trends that impact the community”.

 Access to the full report through this link: http://www.ala.org/news/state-americas-libraries-report-2015 

 

NAPLE Assembly and e-Book Working Group Meeting 2015

Next 7 May 2015 NAPLE General Assembly will take place in Riga, Latvia. As in the last few years, we’ll be celebrating it in the framework of the EBLIDA-NAPLE Conference, under the title “Building a Europe of Readers’”.

The day before, 6 May the NAPLE E-Book Working Group will be celebrating a meeting.

We’ll have a workshop at the Conference on 8 May, organized by NAPLE in partnership with the Reading and Writing Foundation, around skills and lifelong learning in libraries.

We’ll keep you updated as we define the contents of the meetings. Like other years we’ll publish through this blog all the presentations and documents generated during this 3 days.

For further information about the  the EBLIDA-NAPLE Conference, visit: http://eblida2015.lnb.lv/ 

UNESCO’s Open Access Curricula for Researchers and Librarians

Last year, UNESCO launched their Medium-Term Strategy 2014-2021, setting the framework for UNESCO’s action in the areas of education, sciences, culture, communication and information for the next years.

One of the key objectives of the Strategy is “Building inclusive Knowledge Societies through information and communication”. In this line of work, they launched last December 2014 the Open Access Curricula for Researchers and Librarians “a set of manuals to facilitate capacity building of library and information professionals and researchers”.

 “The complete set of five OA modules for researchers and four OA modules for library schools is now available online and can be downloaded by clicking the following links” (source): 

Curriculum for Library Schools

Module 1: Introduction to Open Access

Module 2: Open Access Infrastructure

Module 3: Resource Optimization

Module 4: Interoperability and Retrieval

Curriculum for Researchers

Module 1: Scholarly Communications

Module 2: Concepts of Openness and Open Access

Module 3: Intellectual Property Rights

Module 4: Research Evaluation Metrics

Module 5: Sharing your Work in Open Access

Networking using Google Hangout on Air: The Library Onconference

Next April 16 the Library OnConference 2015 will be taking place. It’s the second edition of this Conference that uses the Google Hangout on Air (HOA) and, therefore, is strictly virtual: HOA allows you to “host and broadcast live discussions and performances”. All you need is a Google+ account and a Youtube channel.

The OnConference is designed to be participative: there’s a keynote speaker that will open the session but, after that, participants will be gathered in different groups so they can discuss about different topics. Each group is moderated by an expert.

 The first Library OnConference was held last August 26, 2014. The keynote speaker was R. David Lankes, director of the Information Institute of Syracuse and author of “The Atlas of New Librarianship”. You can find his talk at the Lib OnCon Youtube channel.

 This year’s keynote has just been announced: Beck Tench, a North Carolina “simplifier, illustrator, storyteller, and technologist”.

We find this an excellent example of how we can take advantage on the online free technologies to replicate virtually what we’ve always done physically, in this case connect, share ideas and discuss with our peers. 

Learn more about the project, the keynote speaker, dates, etc. at their web: http://www.liboncon.com/

Website upgrade for the Model programme for Public Libraries

You’re probably familiar with the Danish Model Programme for Public Libraries; we’ve published some posts talking about this initiative, which we find really interesting, here and here. 

Launched in 2012, “the purpose of the Model Programme is to provide innovative suggestions as to how modern libraries can contribute to urban development, and how libraries’ physical settings can be developed in order to support the libraries’ new role in the best possible way” (source). 

They offer “a web-based inspiration catalogue and tools that are to communicate new knowledge, best practice and inspiration for brand new space/function interplay for library developers. This is done in a visually orientated format where brief texts are supported by photos, figures and principles outlined for design”.   

Now, they’ve launched the new version of their website, making it more attractive and offering more content: new descriptions of libraries with new photos, the News and Events Section, etc.

You can find them here: http://modelprogrammer.kulturstyrelsen.dk/en/

Cultivating Global Library Leadership

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation commissioned Arabella Advisors to elaborate a report studying the leadership training programs for libraries. Through interviews with 26 library experts from 20 countries, they identified 30 programs through which only in 2014, 900 librarians were trained.

The result is a  report presented last January that “describes leadership-training opportunities that exist internationally for librarians and identifies competencies and skills that librarians learn in these programs”.

As they say in the report, “tremendous potential exists in the library sector to meet community needs but that it can only be unlocked by effective and visionary leadership”.

Full report can be accessed through this link

“The Future of Library Resource Discovery”: a white paper commissioned by NISO

Marshall Breeding is a well-known independent consultant, editor of the Library Technology Guides, an expert in the links between libraries and technology.

He has conducted a white paper commissioned by NISO’s Discovery to Delivery (D2D) Topic Committee. The topic Committees in ISO were created to explore the possibilities of standard developments in certain areas by consulting experts on these matters. The D2D Committee “focuses on issues regarding the finding and distribution of information by and to users, including OpenURL, Metasearch, interface design, web services, etc.”

This white paper, that goes under the title of “The Future of Library Resource Discovery”, was presented last 23th February.

The paper describes the State-of-the-Art of discovery services in libraries, giving a complete overview of the different tools and providers. It “addresses the broad topic of the methods and technologies available to libraries to make their resources discoverable and accessible by the communities that they serve”.

It also describes the discovery services specifically in public libraries and points out the “opportunities for future enhancements in discovery services”.

This study is freely available to download through this link.