Issue 28 Spring 2000 First Byte: The People's Network and the Children's Library Catherine Blanshard, Head of Leeds Library & Information Service >>>>>>>>>> Next Conference Item	Collections under which this       article appears:       Libraries       Y L G Related Articles or Resources

The symbol for electronic connection (a lightening bolt) both speaks volumes and summarises what the introduction of IT, and the broadening of the concept to include communication, has done to libraries. It has struck like lightning and has caused chaos at the heart of librarianship. It has offered a huge new opportunity to reinvent our selves and become relevant to a whole new generation of users.

Words
We are all scrabbling to be hooked to the 'Peoples Network', to be part of a MAN, to use Z39.50, to find space for server farms, to have a Portal and a broad enough LAN, to employ smart agents and of course to use the Dublin Core standards.

Now don't panic or assume you are at the wrong conference I don't know what it means either!

Money
There is however a lot of money available if you use these words, Excellence in Cities, Learning Centres, UFI Learning Centres, Capital Modernisation Fund - Community Learning Centres, Learning to succeed, NGfL, EU 5th framework. I will come back to these later.

Initiatives
People have combined these two and developed some exciting initiatives around the country - Stories from the Web, Carnegie Video Conferencing, homework clubs, work with disabled youngsters, Online@leeds and children selecting library stock using Internet and CD-ROM.

But if we are not careful we can develop initiatives which, while exciting in themselves, have no sustainability so when the seedcorn funding runs out we wont know what do. Our own Online@leeds is a case in point. A superbly successful project with a running cost £160k a year that would not be easy to absorb into any basically underfunded authority.

Why
So before I go on to look at all the opportunities, initiatives and, above all, the money, I want to look at why. Too often we rush headlong into a good idea without tying it back to the annual plan or really knowing why we are doing it apart from because it is a really good idea. Your Chief Librarian will find it much easier to support a project if it is clearly tied to the objectives of the service and more especially the council's corporate plan. The modernising agenda of local government is there for the children's service as well adult services and should be used unmercilessly to get what you want. In my experience the children's service has done it before, and, for some, a little reinvention will let them continue. So what do I mean?

Objectives
IT offers wonderful solutions but to what? It is not an end in itself. Most of you now will have objectives for the children's service, you hopefully will also have identified outcomes and how you are going to measure success although the latter inadvisably is often left until the schemes have started and you have no base data from which to measure improvement.

Children's librarians, above all bits of the service in my experience, know why they are here and what they are trying to achieve. Objectives such as literacy, fun, learning and inclusion spring to mind.

Outcomes
You are trying to help children become creative, able to take responsibility, responsive, listened to, equal, able to share and tolerant, self directed and motivated, self believers, and able to make a difference.

Measuring success
This is much more difficult in a library context but we have to find a way if we want to be respected or even at the same table as those who attract the big money e.g. Education. In Leeds for example Online had some stunning anecdotes of how it changed young peoples lives but in this world of quantitative data education wanted something more tangible. The children's and young peoples' service has a huge role to play here in defining how ICT can help deliver our objectives and outcomes. You are the best at telling us how it can help meet the wants and needs of young people. Are you grasping that opportunity, can you get in between the 'techies'? Whatever views we may have, or what ever innovations the technical people come up with they are irrelevant alongside the wants and needs of the children.

So why ICT?
There is a massive desire to be connected wherever and whenever; you just have to see the number of schools banning the mobile phone and the queues for the first digital box. Interestingly the % of technophobes is now the same in the 18 - 25 age group as the rest. So ICT is not longer an age issue.

Bringing ICT into libraries gives us another dimension. The virtual library offers us convenience, allows individuality, privacy and flexibility with potentially 24 hours access. The static building meanwhile continues to give us access to people, environmental stimulus, stock, facilities and helpers.

For too long the library has been constrained by its walls and the three elements: books, local knowledge and memory. ICT gives us place and space. The old "place" used to have a limited but important community role, be local, deal with the individual and stand on its own for limited hours like an island of information. Queries could only be dealt with in real time and there is loads of stock around, just in case. This service is still well respected, widely used and the community's point of reference.

By adding ICT we are already seeing libraries becoming the community heart, with many partners. The context is now national, and international, with 24-hour access. ICT allows libraries to be a 'ship' in a sea of information with just in time stock - vital for us to cope financially and it enables us to change images and perceptions.

This will allow us to think in terms of making connections between libraries, and to information, rather than building large collections. In new library jargon this is called "stuff" - content, knowledge and information.

The question is can "stuff" be managed in a sustainable way to be of use - exploiting, integrating, organising and controlling quality.

But what about the books?
I think there is possibly still a bit of a niggle around that computers stop kids reading and ICT discussion in libraries are reducing the value of books. I disagree. It is not a case of either or. ICT is talked about more because it is new and needs a lot of planning and finance. It is seen as sexy by outsiders and therefore attracts finance. This allows us to target our original funds - however meagre to books etc. However, not all see it like that.

Only the other day I received a letter stating the following:

"Visiting the library this morning my pleasure and concentration in choosing books (and that of about twelve to fifteen others) was destroyed by a ten year old youth playing with what sounded like a cartoon on the computer screen. On asking an assistant what had happened to the tradition of quiet in libraries, she replied "we have to move with the times, you know, it is the Internet". What nonsense!
More now than perhaps at anytime since before the Great War we need to encourage our children in discovering the delights to be found in books. There may be an argument today for providing computer facilities for reference purposes but in no way should this be extended to indulging a child at the expense of causing disturbance to those many for whom the library is a traditional quiet area."

This allows libraries to really change their approach and for the new generation it offers them a new dimension of learning.

What is it used for
But it is not a matter of dump and run. ICT needs a lot of care and attention both to make it work in the first place and to help people use it. Young people will use ICT in libraries for a variety of reasons:

• They don't have a computer at home.
• They don't have comparable computers at school.
• The wide choice of software packages.
• The constant support of staff.
• The opportunity to develop peer support.
• They can set themselves individual goals.
• They feel comfortable in a non-threatening, unique environment.

• A wider range of learning styles can be supported.
• You can deliver fairly large parts of the national curriculum.
• You can teach traditional information handling skills in an IT environment.
• You can target specific year groups.
• It helps teachers and parents with poor ICT skills.

Initiatives
In Europe there are a number of exciting projects using ICT as a base for social inclusion projects. In The Hague there is a huge migrant population and one youth librarian is working with a group of Muslim young women through ICT to help them gain confidence and write stories. Despite poverty issues many have English and so can be e-mailed to.

In Stuttgart they have brought all aspects of ICT together in a Mediatec a really exciting learning centre. Sections of the space are designed for different age groups. The up to 8s PCs have fluffy ears and picture books on. There are educational as well as feature videos that can be watched in the Centre, there are 8 different CDs being played. There is homework space where books and software can be used side by side and 57 newspapers and periodicals are taken. It is the full range of information, communication technology in harmony squeezed into a small but very friendly place.

In Vancouver they have an Under 5's play area and an Under 5's computer area.

Video Conferencing
This has been slow to take off in this country in the public sector but a large number of private companies use it. In Leeds this year the first student got her A level by using Video conference at three sites, the college, the school and the library.

As part of Carnegie shadowing a very successful conference was held with Edinburgh. Many schools and particularly colleges are moving to video conferencing as a way to help students study for minority subjects. The library has a key role here and one to sell hard.

Consultation with young people
Real time over the Internet or on a loop on a standalone PC this can provide a groundbreaking way to consult with young people particularly off site. We worked with a group of young people with a wide range of backgrounds and interests to ask them what they wanted in a refurbished Central Library. We took it out to Breeze 99 in a field with E17, Mishka, Cinerama, Seafront, Bellamix, Fungus - no not that one!

You could put Childrens PLUS survey on the PCs in the library.

Online
In Online@Leeds project we are working in 4 of the most seriously deprived wards in the country and in many ways working with kids who for a variety of reasons are not fulfilling their potential. The Online Centres and dedicated learning librarians provide continuity for the individuals needs.

Lets look at a few examples:

One boy with learning and behavioural difficulties, SEN
On arrival at this school he found it extremely difficult to communicate, his language consisting of utterances and unrecognisable noises. He was difficult to teach and was excluded on several occasions for refusing to work, behaviour problems and his attendance and punctuality record was very poor. His self-esteem was low and he did not mix with other pupils in his peer group.
He would not make eye contact and if anyone came near him he ran off. To begin with he caused significant problems but instead of being thrown out he was talked to. With good management by staff and projects set for him using ICT the change has been astounding.
He is not just using CD-ROMs and Internet but also developing hard drives stuff. Now he is supportive of others. The staff took a risk and asked him if he would be willing to do a presentation to prospective parents about the work of online and this is what he did.
He also has great potential in art.
The language he is now using bears no relationship to that at the start. The computers have allowed a peer group to interact and it has been fascinating to watch as they have actively worked together to solve a problem or difficulty, their level of verbal skills have also been greatly enhanced.
As a result of his presentation he was awarded a 'Head Teachers Commendation'. More recently attendance problems looked like he was going to be banned from Online. But negotiation between Head of Year, Learning Librarian and him has resulted in him being made an Online technician so he is now in at 8 am in plenty of time for school.

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Two lads come in everyday and buddy each other.
They have introduced a CD of the month and designed Web pages. A spin off not imagined is Online Love - they both now have girlfriends and Online jobs. Coynet have asked one of the lads to help with their programme problems.

Rolling Zone
Hertfordshire is taking out to schools and youth meeting places a mobile ICT suite with the latest software. The aim is to train and offer people new skills.

So why are these successful?
Well it is self directed, so learning is subversive as it can be targeted to an individual and made fun without them realising they are learning. They are not being told they have to so they want to learn. They own Online - and this overcomes awful buildings, it is non-judgmental and allows for vitally important peer support.

There is vast evidence of development of crucial life skills, such as confidence, independence and responsibility, including socially responsible. They feel they have an equal place in society, and in the adult world, because they are being listened to by adults for a change. This increases self-esteem, self-reliance and negotiating skills promoting tolerance and acceptance of each other.

What does this mean for the children's service of the future?
The children's service should be in a constant state of flux. Constantly reinventing itself to cope with the changing environment of the people they primarily serve and the rest of society. Its tough there has been a lot of change and some core elements of the service have or are in need of serious examination. I don't think the children's service is under threat, in fact the future looks bright if principles are rigorously examined and some are let go of. If you are going to carry out Children's Plans; set standards for service delivery; benchmark; deliver a reading challenge; tackle youth information; stock selection and be part of the National Agenda bring in ICT, you can't do it all without something giving.

• What you need to do?
  • Develop an ICT Strategy.
  • Develop an evaluation strategy at the beginning that proves the child's development, not just this anecdotal/qualitative type, but key stage results, etc.
  • Incorporate the needs of children with learning or physical difficulties think about using CCTV, colour and improving access.
  • Identify the skills set the staff will require to learn and train them - our learning librarians have a mix of ICT skills, teaching skills, personality and youth work skills. Different from your typical children's librarian - whatever that is!
  • Use it to prove how the children's service fits the government agenda of Best Value, Modernising Local Government, and The Information Society including the Fifth Framework. I am sure you can sprinkle social inclusion, democracy, local decision-making, evaluation, attainment and consultation into anything just like me.
  • Ensure you dovetail with and are, in fact, fundamental to the rest of the service. Don't try to stand apart, be special or standalone - make what you do fit. It's a pain at times but that way next time the rest might ask you first.
  • Market the impact and value.
  • Have plans to tackle the information overload - e.g. bookmark children's websites, and use "Stories on the Web", etc.
• Why do you need to do this?
  • Learning for life.
  • Learning for living better.
  • Learning for working better.
  • Learning for leisure.
  • Episode learning.