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IOSSPL PROFESSIONAL FORMATION
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Activities for the professional formation of the Public Libraries representatives
in Romania were performed at several stages during the project and covered
different areas of interest, thus responding to the requirements of various
cathegories of public libraries personnel. The National Associations of Public
Libraries and the National Commission for the Automation of Public Libraries
were highly supportive during this phase of the project.
The first module of the professional formation was a preparatory stage providing
training on the basic PC utilization (MS Windows XP and MS Office XP), with a
focus on database utilisation (MS Access DB).  The second and third modules were
focused on the topical theme of library information and automation systems and
the new library standards, as well as the practical utilisation of the new library software system created by the IOSSPL project.
The obstacle initially brought by the "inertia" of some library personnel in
their professional views, not being immediately open to change and innovation
or finding it difficult to accommodate to the impact of a new generation library
system on their activity practices and processes, was soon counteracted by the
clear explanation of the benefits of integrating library services and making
them largely (and still securely) available as web-based services. Moreover,
the uniformization requirement in some professional practices was understood
as a potential enabler for large-scale integration, as well the substantial
benefits on the simplification of daily library activities that can be brought
by the libraries automation and integration process, along with the alignment
to the new library standards.
The solution we found to the lack of uniformity and the confusion regarding
various library automatic activity chains and workflows was mainly to discuss
with the experts from the National Commission for the Automation of Public
Libraries about the necessity to provide some guidelines and reccommendations
for the uniformization of the library practices and processes, regarding both
the informational and the activity flows. We further followed the guidelines
provided by the experts during this specific professional formation phase and
will continue to collaborate on extending the libraries automation and integration
initiative on a larger scale, both at the technical consulting and professional
formation levels, after the project finalization.
Among other new developments and various innovative trends recently promoted
within the automation libraries international environment,
the FRBR Cataloguing
standard was introduces and explained - which is the new standard for the
Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records. FRBR defines entities and
relationships and allows multiple levels of abstraction regarding bibliographic
entities, and proposes to integrate the bibliographic records framework of
various cultural fields, such as the libraries` and the museums` cataloguing
systems. Even if FRBR proved to be difficult to understand, as it introduces
new terms and terminology substantially different from the terms previously
used in the cataloguing practice, the new standard was easier accepted when
presented through a comparative maching guide between the long-used ISBD
terminology and the new FRBR terminology. This approach facilitated the
librarians` understanding of the terminology and the acceptance of the benefits
brought by the recent FRBR implementation.
Finally, the new approach of a library automatic system in the form of a web
portal was also introduced and explained, so that the libraries` personnel
attending the courses became aware of the benefits of the portal technology
and the supperior integration facilities that it provided to the library
system modules and functions. The administration of the library user groups
and accounts, with specific permissions and profiles, the entire security
system, as well as the content management facilities, became therefore accessible
and understandable to the library personnel as user-friendly features, entirely
web-based and using open-source technologies.
Besides the professional formation modules tailored for different levels and
topics of interest during the professional formation phase, there were also
performed on-site training activities at the location of all the public libraries
nominated as pilot libraries in the IOSSPL project, during the implementation
phase of the project. The utilization and administration procedures implemented
by the new library system were presented to the libraries` personnel and the
local library employees were particularly trained on how to fulfill their specific
activities the help of the IOSSPL system.
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In October 2003, the IOSSPL project worked out by CONTACT NET (Romania)
gained an international projects contest launched by the Italian government -
the Ministry of Productive Activities, under the framework of the Italian Law 212/1992.
The official launching of the IOSSPL project was announced on June 1st, 2004.
The Ministry of Productive Activities, by the General Direction for the Promotion of Exchanges – Division IV – ROMA, approved, by the Decree of the Ministry of Productive Activities issued on 29/12/2004, the IOSSPL Project (cod 212/03/ROM15) to be financially sustained under the Law 212/92 D.M. n. 171 from 19/04/2001, by 50% co-funding.
CONTACT NET involvement:
- project preparation for the auction
- project coordination for 2 years timeframe
The Italian partner is
PROGETTO SOFTWARE (Ragusa, Italy).
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