1. PUBLIC LIBRARIES AS
COMMUNITY INFORMATION
CENTRES
Audronė Glosienė
Faculty of Communication
Vilnius University, Lithuania
audra.glosiene@kf.vu.lt

2. OUTLINE
n Information society:
n most pressing issues
n the three C’s
n global reach, local touch
n a case of Lithuania
n Community networks (CN) and community
centres
n Why public libraries (PL)?
n OSI library and information strategy
n CN and PL: linking together

3. Most pressing issues
Head of Unit Cultural Heritage Applications DG
INFORMATION SOCIETY
… unemployment in Europe is a
story of unfilled potential...
… the knowledge economy
means changing skills...
… ICT skills gap...

4. THE ANSWER IS:
GOING DIGITAL
n Europe's cultural and scientific
knowledge resources are a unique
public asset forming the collective and
evolving memory of our diverse
societies and providing a solid basis for
the development of our digital content
industries in a sustainable knowledge
society
Conclusions of the Lund experts meeting 2001

5. INFORMATION SOCIETY: THE
THREE C’s
nConnectivity
nContents
nCompetencies

6. INFORMATION SOCIETY IN LITHUANIA
n According to OSFL SURVEY (2001):
n have a PC at home – 13%
n have internet connection at home - 6 %
n plan to have a PC at home – 13,5%
n 19,5% have used internet at least once
n 11,4% use internet once a week
n don’t know how to use a computer but
would like to learn – 38%
n work or study in computerized institutions–
70,1%
n use computers at their work/study
institutions– 35% Source: M. Saulauskas, OSFL

7. ATTITUDES AND EXPECTATIONS
n 73% think that infosociety will have
positive impact on country’s development
n 95% of those who have children want them
to have skills to use internet
n 69% think that government does not pay
enough attention to the creation of the
infosociety
n 70% want to have public access to internet
and digital services
Source: M. Saulauskas, OSFL

8. WANT TO USE PUBLIC ACCESS
TO INTERNET IN/AT Source: M. Saulauskas, OSFL
Caffee
local government
School
Post office
Library
0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00%

9. INFORMATION SOCIETY: GLOBAL
REACH, LOCAL TOUCH
n Community netwoks
n Community multimedia centres
n Community activity centres
n Community information centres
n Global, regional and national
information policies

10. COMMUNITY NETWORKS (CN)
n Based on premise that access to information via
electronic means is a fundamental human right
n traditionally, networks have been elitist enterprise
n goal of CN is to promote computer literacy and to
provide free or low-cost access
n focus of CN is to provide local or community-
based information (social service, legal, local
authority, health information)
n interactive (post a question and receive and
answer) and democratic (forums, debates, el.
conferences)

11. PUBLIC LIBRARIES ARE
COMMUNITY CENTRES
n by definition PL are n “Safety net” for people
gateways to knowledge with low-income, not
and information for the familiar with ICT
local community n PL services reach out
n free, democratic, open to kindergardens,
and accessible to all hospitals, orphanages,
and to everybody elderly-care institutions,
n focus on prisons, housebound
disadvantaged groups, people, living in remote
fight social exclusion areas

12. PL AS QUALITY PORTALS TO KNOWLEDGE
AND CULTURAL EXPERIENCES
n PL operate in an n they provide support
information-rich and instruction to
environment of those who need
books, periodicals, assistance in using ICT,
music, films, navigation or seeking
databases, etc., they information
are not internet n help to bridge the gap
cafés between information-
n are committed to rich and information-
cultural diversity, poor
life long learning

13. PUBLIC LIBRARIES ALSO
n have staff whose n have premises,
profile is to gather, equipment,
cathegorize, retrieve infrastructure
and deliver information
n form a network in
to the community
each country
n have experience in
n can ensure the
working with
sustainability of
communities, groups
network/project
(minorities, refugees,
youth, pensioners) and
individuals

14. OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE (OSI)
n OSI Information strategy is based on convition that:
n human beings are not passive subjects or only economic
agents seeking personal gain, but civic beings who have
the power to shape the world they share
n the ability to exchange ideas, knowledge and information
is the lifeblood of citizenship and participation
n new digital technologies hold potential to enhance civic life
that is still largely untapped
n the strong and well established network and structure of
public libraries guarantees sustainability of efforts and
investment
n OSI support to libraries in 1994-2001 was $50 mil

15. OSI LIBRARY/INFORMATION
PROGRAM
n focus shift from core collections to
public libraries as community
information centres, development of
staff expertise
n to advocate and promote changes
happening in public libraries in CEE
n creation of electronic resources in
different languages
n to use what is achieved and to build on

16. OSI LOCAL COMMUNITY
INFORMATICS PROJECT
n Goal - to initiate digital communities
demonstration pilots
n digital community is a network of local
authorities, schools, NGOs, SMEs, libraries,
museums, archives and other local
institutions
n extend model public libraries initiative to the
Caucasus, SE Europe and Central Asia
n build cross-border networks to link and
support digital communities and model
libraries

17. EXAMPLES FROM CENTRAL &
EASTREN EUROPE
n InfoBus in Kosovo: mobile libray + electronic
information and communication “kit”
n Services for Roma population in Miran Jarc
Public Library (Slovenia)
n Utena PL: local community information portal
n Liublijana PL: information centre for
unemployed

18. CNs and public libraries:
similarities and diferencies
n “…we find ourselves unable to
imagine a 21st century in which we do
not have community computing
systems, just as in this century had
the free public library. Moreover, we
believe that the community computer
network, as a resource, will have at
least much impact on the new century
as the public library had on ours”.
Tom Grundner, founder of Free-Net

19. THREE LEVELS OF COOPERATION
n CN use PL as venues to place terminals
n PL support CN by answering telephone and e-
mail querries, offer public access to internet, e-
mail and online discussion forums
n PL are responsible for CN itself by housing
equipment on-site, providing staff to operate
and administer the network, creating and
maintaining local information data bases,
homepages, etc.

20. PARTNERSHIP
n Schools, colleges, n Other libraries (also
universities research and
n Local authorities scientific ones)
n Employment n Cultural centres
agencies n Museums
n Businesses n Archives
n IT companies n NGOs
n Broadcasting n Charities and
voluntary sector

21. CNs and PLs: linking together
n CN focus on local digitized information;
PL are also gateways to global
networks
n librarians are knowledgeable about ICT,
copyright, privacy, standards,
government information provision and
experienced in providing FREE access
to information
n pooling resources for one network
versus two or three different ones