Public Libraries Corner, Stories from the Web

Sarah Ormes, Public Libraries Officer     lisslo@ukoln.ac.uk     (UKOLN)

Ariadne 1997
(ReLIS:doi:doiari:y:1997:i:10:p:26)

Abstract:

Children's libraries have always had a crucial role in the educational development of children. However, they are now potentially in danger of appearing outmoded and potentially irrelevant to their readers. Leisure and some home-environments are becoming technology-rich: libraries may appear 'dull' in comparison. Increasingly children's libraries are going to be dealing with readers who will be familiar with and could want to use networked computers. Children's libraries need to begin to explore how they can integrate this technology into their traditional literature and literacy services if they are to remain current. In issue six of Ariadne I described the Treasure Island Web site which UKOLN had developed. This site was an experiment by UKOLN to explore, on a very small scale, one possible way in which libraries could manage this integration. As an experiment it was very successful with the site being heavily used and winning a number of 'site of the week' awards from prestigious educational Web sites around the world. Its success encouraged UKOLN to begin to develop a full-scale project which would evolve a transferable service model for the integration of the Internet into children's library services. In early 1996 UKOLN became partners with the library services of Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds in developing such a children's project. Over the course of the rest of the year the project partners developed a detailed proposal for a project called 'Stories From the Web'. This proposal was submitted to the British Library Research and Innovation Centre (BLRIC) in January 1997 as part of the centre's Digital Library Research Programme call. The proposal was accepted by BLRIC and the project is due to begin in autumn 1997. It will run for two years and will be managed on a daily basis by a specially recruited project officer. The project is being headed by Birmingham City Libraries and the project officer will be based at the Centre for the Child in Birmingham.

Note: In this issue Sarah Ormes talks about an exciting new BLRIC funded children's library project. This article appears in the Web, and not the print, version of Ariadne.
Month: Tuesday July 15th, 1997
Year: 1997

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