School Libraries in the Information Society

Project for the promotion of school-libraries system
adopted by European Commission
under the "Ariane" programme 1998 – Action 2


Project-plan

In April 1998, the Local Board for Education of the Province of Novara (Novara – Italy) presented a project proposal for the promotion of school libraries within the European Commission’s programme "Arianne", a support programme in the field of books and reading.

The project, entitled "School libraries in the information society", was promoted by the Province of Novara – Local Board for Education (Novara – Italy), in co-operation with the National Centre for Educational Resources (Oslo- Norway) and the Cranford Community School (Hounslow – Great Britain).

In August 1998, the project was adopted by the European Commission. The programme must be finished at the end of 1998.

Project’s aims

To increase awareness of the importance of school libraries as the primary access to books, reading and information skills for millions of European citizens.
To exchange information and experiences about the different school systems and the role of school libraries in the European countries.
To organize training courses, stages, seminars and an international conference among European teachers and school librarians
To produce in a co-operative way a self-study programme that can satisfy the main teachers’ and school librarians’ needs in order to teach information skills.
To disseminate this programme in a hypertext software and on line via World Wide Web.



Project’s organization

The project is promoted by the Provincia di Novara - Assessorato all’Istruzione (Province of Novara – Local Board for Education; Novara - Italy), in co-operation with the National Centre for Educational Resources (Oslo- Norway) and the Cranford Community School (Hounslow – Great Britain).
The project-leader is Mrs. Anna Cardano, the provincial magistrate who is responsible of the Local Board for Education. Mrs. Cardano is actively involved in the promotion of local high-school educational system and school libraries
The two Italian coordinators of the project are: Antonella Braga and Vera Marzi.
The coordinator of the Norwegian group is: Ellen Sundt (National Centre for Educational Resources).
The coordinators of the British group are: Martin Emerson (Emerson Consultancy) and Marian Brooks, the Headteacher of the Cranford Community School.
The coordinators are assisted by a "working-group", selected among school librarians and high schools teachers.
The Italian group is composed by:

Antonella Braga (project’s coordinator) –
andreapa@intercom.it
Vera Marzi (project’s coordinator) –
veramarzi@iol.it
Gabriella Colla (ITPACLE "Bermani" - Novara)
Anna Denes ( ITC "Don Milani" – ITIS "Da Vinci" Borgomanero)
Ebe Fumagalli (Istituto Magistrale "Bellini" – Novara)
ebef@usa.net
Luciana Roveda (IPC "Ravizza" – Novara)

The Norwegian group is composed by:

Ellen Sundt (National Centre for Educational Resources):
Ellen.Sundt@nls.no
Guri Jegleim:
jus@robin.no
Jan Arve Overland:
jaoverla@online.no
Anne Skjaeret:
askjaret@online.no
Elizabeth Rafste

The English group is composed by:

Marian Brooks (Headteacher of the Cranford Community School):
mbrooks@cranford.hounslow.sch.uk
Martin Emerson (Emerson Consultancy):
MartinEmerson@compuserve.com
Sarah Davies (Science teacher and manager of Learning Resource Centre –LRC – in 1997)
Carrie Bendix (Manager of LRC in 1998)
Paul Smith (Director of Faculty, Humanities and Business Studies)
Kevin Prunty (Deputy Headteacher)


Project’s Time- schedule

Preliminary phase:

  • Project-planning
  • - European partners research and selection
  • - European partners definitive participation agreement April 27th, 1998
  • - Project proposal presented to EU Commission May 1st , 1998
  • - Project proposal approved by the EU Commission Agust , 1998

    Phase I: Novara, associated countries September/October 1998
    Selection of teachers and school librarians for local "working groups"
    First meeting among the coordinators of the three working groups in Novara, 8-10 October 1998

    Phase II: Novara September/October 1998
    training course for teachers and school librarians organized by the Province of

    Phase III: Oslo, Cranford November 1998
    - stages (5 days) organized by the two associated partners (Great Britain and Norway) with
    the participation of the Italian working group to share knowledge and experiences and
    point out the tasks of the further working groups activities:

    1. presentation of the local school system;
    2. presentation of the organization of local school libraries;
    3. participation of the Italian visitors to the local school library
        activity;
    4. working group on information skills teaching

Phase IV Novara December1998 (7-12)
stage (5 days) organized by the Province of Novara with the participation of the two associated partners’ "working groups" in order to produce in a co-operative way a self-study programme that can satisfy the main teachers’ and school librarians’ needs in order to teach information skills.

Phase V: Novara December 1998
international meeting among European school librarians, teachers and information experts, helded in Novara on Saturday 12 December with the participation of the associated partners and European specialists.
dissemination of the self-study programme in a hypertext software and on line via World Wide Web