ENTITLE – Europe’s New Libraries Together In Transversal Learning Environment

Project Coordinator and Partners

ENTITLE was coordinated by MDR Partners, UK.  The consortium members included:

• Aarhus Public Libraries, Denmark
• Acrosslimits, Malta
• Bulgarian Library and Information Association (BLIA), Bulgaria
• BVOE (Büchereiverband Österreichs), Austria
• Cluj County Library Octavian Goga , Romania
• Cross Czech a.s., Czech Republic
• European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations  (EBLIDA), Netherlands
• Helsinki City Library, Finland
• Libraries and Archives Department, Lisbon, Portugal
• MDR Partners, United Kingdom
• Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, United Kingdom
• National and University Library of Slovenia (NUK), Slovenia
• Publika MKK, Hungary
• The European Schoolnet Partnership (EUN)
• Veria Central Public Library, Greece 

Background

ENTITLE was a multilateral project under LLP KA4 Dissemination and Exploitation of Results , designed to support and extend the progress made to date (2008-2009) by Europe’s public libraries in supporting learning for all age groups and sections of society, by disseminating, consolidating and enhancing the work of key existing networks, projects and initiatives in this area.

The project focussed on the contribution to be made through informal learning settings in libraries to lifelong learning, combating digital illiteracy and social exclusion, paying special attention to gains achieved through the applications of ICT. ENTITLE supported learning for all age groups and sections of society, by disseminating, consolidating and enhancing the work of key existing networks, projects and initiatives in lifelong learning area.

Core Objectives

ENTITLE aimed to provide library and partner adult professionals, researchers and decision makers in Europe with a common, validated means of collecting and presenting data on the impact of their learning provision on learners, across their major target learning 'sectors' and to establish a basis upon which they can in future establish trends and developments in a manner which is convincing to strategic policy makers, funding bodies in the education, culture employment sectors etc.

Details

The specific case for investment in the area of public libraries is that they have a number of natural advantages including: their strong roots in local communities, a tradition of partnership with schools and provision of learning-oriented services of various kinds for children; and an increasingly established role as part of Lifelong Learning ‘landscape’. There is also a strong political assumption, both implicit and explicit, that informal/non-formal learning organizations such as libraries have a vital job to do by supporting individual learners’ needs, providing them with choices and flexibility, helping people to continue and return to learning, enabling adults to get a job or qualification, signposting and inspiring people to take up other courses, helping children to learn and supporting schools in diversifying children’s experiences.

ENTITLE aimed to provide library and partner adult professionals, researchers and decision makers in Europe with a common, validated means of collecting and presenting data on the impact of their learning provision on learners, across their major target learning 'sectors' and to establish a basis upon which they can in future establish trends and developments in a manner which is convincing to strategic policy makers, funding bodies in the education, culture employment sectors etc.

The ENTITLE consortium had access, through its previous and current activities, to some of the most active and important dissemination networks in the fields of digital services provided by libraries at local level (CALIMERA), school-based education (European Schoolnet) and Adult Education (European Adult Education Association). 

Results

The key result was an expert-validated impact assessment framework designed for use at institutional, regional/national level in supporting quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the impact of libraries' learning activities and services on learning participation, outcomes etc for children/schools, adult learners in general and learners involved in vocational education.

The framework is adaptable for conducting comparative studies in future at each of the levels described up to and including pan-European level.

The documents prepared during the project implementation and realization included:

• individual country surveys http://www.entitlelll.eu/eng/Country-Surveys
• a series of guidelines http://www.entitlelll.eu/eng/Guidelines-Recs
  • Guideline 1  Strategies, policies and advocacy for public libraries and Lifelong Learning
  • Guideline 2 Libraries and the Lifelong Learning Landscape
  • Guideline 3  Planning and Managing Learning Services
  • Guideline 4  Resourcing: staffing, funding
  • Guideline 5  Evaluation: outcomes, impact
  • Guideline 6  Learning Environment: ICT, physical environment

• Framework to Assess Impact of Libraries on Learning :

An expert-validated impact assessment framework designed for use at institutional, regional/national level in supporting quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the impact of libraries' learning activities and services on learning participation, outcomes etc for children/schools, adult learners in general and learners involved in vocational education are available in the documents prepared during the project implementation and realization. The framework is adaptable for the conducting of comparative studies in future at each of the levels described up to and including pan-European level.

/www.entitlelll.eu/eng/Assessment-Framework