OLA

One library for all, all for one library

About the project

The OLA project starts from the need to improve the skills of the staff employed in libraries. All the partners believe in the importance of public libraries as modern learning hubs close to citizens and potential learners.Today, the modern library has the opportunity to influence the culture and thinking of people; to play an active role in the formation of their values and attitudes towards current problems, in particular integration processes and intercultural dialogue.

Objectives

The general objective of the project is to improve the quality of services provided by libraries through the enhancement of the European dimension in participating organisations.

The specific objectives of the project are:
1 Enhance the key competences and transversal skills of staff which will help address more effectively the intercultural challenges;
2 To develop the European dimension of the organisations by: improving the skills of the staff on Erasmus+ and learning mobility; building strong relations with European partners, gaining confidence with the processes of mobility project and their vocabulary.
3 To increase the professional competences of librarians thanks to the transfer of practices and know-how from other European countries and training activities.
4 Development of personnel assessment activities and related potential professional development within the organisation.

Activities

In order to allow librarians to increase their skills, the project provides two types of activities.

16 librarians within the consortium´s members will have the possibilities to take part in jobshadowing activities in one the hosting partners, for a period of 6 days.
The common aspects to all the job shadowers are:
1. A thorough visit within the hosting service/library to understand the differences in organisation with the Swedish system and how the figure of the librarian acts (what are the role and responsibilities).
2. To follow a librarian daily, both in the ordinary activities to be carried out with the users, both in the planning process with colleagues, superiors and other departments of the municipality.
3. To participate in team meetings to understand the working dynamics.
4. To participate in daily moments of reflection during which the participants will share, with the Italian colleagues in the hosting organisations, the highlights of the day.

Furthermore the project includes 2 training activities, 6 days long, with 6 participants each from the consortium members. The courses will be developed as below:
– Presentation of the local context and policies regarding culture and education, with a focus on the role of library and librarians in public and private sectors;
– Sharing of ideas, background, skills and knowledge of the librarians in the hosting countries;
– Presentation of the users of the library and communication techniques;
– An overview about the challenges of libraries and librarians in the future.

Training seminar

On the the 25 and 26 August 2022 took place the 2nd training seminar of the OLA project, entitled 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑳𝒊𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑼𝒌𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒈𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒔 organised by SERN in cooperation with the Municipality of Vänersborg, the project leader.

The seminar was an opportunity to compare the initiatives and projects implemented by the libraries involved in the Erasmus TALE and OLA projects with respect to the reception of refugees fleeing from Ukraine.

There was much food for thought and ideas during these two intense days of work for Swedish and Italian libraries. We would like to thank all the speakers and participants from the libraries of Vänersborg, Linköping, Cavriago, Scandiano and Parma, who with enthusiasm and dedication shared their knowledge and experience on the subject with their foreign colleagues . This seminar is the last missing piece of the OLA project, which like TALE is drawing to a closure.