[Pal-dc] IGF Baku - Workshop 168 outcomes 'Capacity building Initiatives'

[Julia Brungs]

Dear all, 

 

At an IGF workshop on Wednesday 7th November IFLA and other library
representatives made the case for libraries as key actors to help
vulnerable and marginalised people play a key role in the 

information society. Workshop 168
<http://www.ifla.org/news/igf-baku-capacity-building-initiatives-for-bet
ter-economic-and-social-inclusion-of-vulnerable> , titled "Capacity
building Initiatives for better economic and social inclusion of
vulnerable people into the Information society" included representatives
from a number of groups who agreed that libraries, as institutions in
the heart of the community long accustomed to providing services to
groups with special needs, were being overlooked when it came to finding
partners for technology projects serving the vulnerable.

 

The hour and a half discussion touched upon how public access to the
Internet was crucial to help the long-term unemployed and homeless find
jobs, and discussed examples from across the library community about
projects, particularly those from award winners in the EIFL Public
Libraries Innovation Programme <http://www.eifl.net/plip>  (PLIP). Also
discussed were library services to vulnerable youth groups, and the
long-term efforts libraries worldwide have made to provide services to
the visually impaired and people with learning difficulties. The
discussion was notable for the way panellists started moving beyond
general discussion towards active ideas for partnership with libraries
in terms of multilingual content for vulnerable groups and information
on employment. As one panellist remarked - access on its own is not
enough, there has to access to something relevant that can help people's
lives. When libraries help people find work by offering online services
offering jobs, or even printing a CV, they are doing just that.

 

Please see here for webversion.
<http://www.ifla.org/news/igf-baku-workshop-168-outcomes-capacity-buildi
ng-initiatives>  

 

Julia Brungs

Policy and Projects Officer

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)

P.O. Box 95312
2509 CH The Hague
Netherlands

 

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