Project title: Re-designing and co-creating innovative cultural heritage services through libraries (project acronym: iTSELF) The project consortium consists of six organizations from which two are libraries – National Library of Latvia and Belgrade city Library that are involved in and provide adult education activities in national and in regional level. Strong academic background for adult education tools and methods will be provided by three universities (Tallinn University, Hacettepe University and Universite De Marne La Vallee) and innovation ensured by the foundation Stichting Project Realisatie van Initiatieven door Modulatie van Entrepreneurschap that engages in innovative adult education and training activities. Consumers are becoming increasingly connected by the growth of affordable mobile (smart) technology. It is necessary to think upon new and innovative ways for acquiring, engaging and servicing these "connected consumers". It is important to focus on changing the services available in cultural heritage and research institutions (libraries, museums, archives and universities) by applying innovative methods to promote cultural heritage in general. The roles of cultural heritage and research institutions and as well role of the information professionals will continue to transform due to the rapid development of digital media. Due to these changes library is becoming more than a place to preserve the cultural heritage, it is evolving to educational and research center, it is adopting the new (smart) technologies and becoming a multicultural institution. Therefore libraries are chosen as the main instrument and librarians and information specialists (also as adult educators) as the main target group to implement new methodologies and to re-design existing and co-create innovative services to promote cultural heritage. The aim (goal) of the project is: to encourage society to become more involved in identification, preservation, and consumption of cultural heritage by developing training programs and educational materials for libraries (but which can be used by other cultural heritage institutions) during the project life time and making them available via Massive Open On-line Course (MOOC) thus promoting or contributing in re-designing existing and co-creating innovative services in cultural heritage institutions. Since cultural heritage is of very high value both for the present and the future of communities, promotion and education around it is essential for the improving quality of life. Re-designing and co-creating innovative library services is an effective way to encourage society to become more involved in identification, conservation, and consumption of cultural heritage. There are four objectives to achieve the project goal: 1) to identify the role of libraries in promoting cultural heritage; 2) to design the training programme and toolkit activities for developing innovative library services; 3) to implement the training programme; 4) to make project results (training programmes and educational materials) available via MOOC platform. To reach the objectives the project will integrate librarians and information specialists (adult educators) through series of activities: 1) multiplier events to promote project scope to associated partners and other cultural heritage actors; 2) short-term joint staff training events which include learning new methodology, designing training programme, toolkit and e-learning platform to develop innovative services. Methodology: 1) Agile Framework (SCRUM and KANBAN) 2) Lego Serious Play 3) Business Model You Impact and result: The impact of this project is not limited solely to benefit only project partner institutions and their associated partners at the local, regional and national level. It can also be used at the international level. A translation of training programme and toolkit into Latvian, Turkish, Dutch, French, Estonian or Serbian will also let to benefit from it in order to promote cultural heritage spreading the knowledge and awareness in all levels. As in all European countries, libraries and librarians are affected by the budget cuts that also touch lifelong learning. Project results will give librarians and other information professionals the opportunity of continuing to undergo training, as they will benefit from the Massive Open On-line Course (MOOC) produced during this project. Librarians can learn about innovative tools and methodologies to promote cultural heritage inspired by the management tools co-created with the end users. This project will increase library usage and popularity and fight against the risk of closure.
During the project "Re-designing and co-creating innovative cultural heritage services through libraries", a professional development program, short-term training for employees, as well as the development of an online MOOC course were created for cultural heritage and memory institutions. The project consortium consists of six organizations from which two are libraries (National Library of Latvia and Belgrade City Library), three universities (Tallinn University, Hacettepe University and De Marne La Vallee University) and Stichting Project Realisatie van Initiative door Modulatie van Entrepreneurschap, whose priority is offering innovative teaching methods to both business and cultural institutions to improve and expand their services and attract customers / users. The idea of the project arose due to the lack of innovative approaches and solutions in cultural heritage promotion services in libraries. Hence the aim of the project is to encourage society to become more involved in identification, preservation, and consumption of cultural heritage by developing training programs and educational materials for libraries, using methodologies that are actively used in other industries (IT, business, marketing). The tasks are directly related to the project goal and intellectual results (IO): to identify the situation (IO1), to design the training programme (IO2), to implement the training programme (IO3), to make project results available via MOOC (IO4). IO1 – State of the art report includes general overview and the situation in iTSELF project partner countries - Estonia, France, Latvia, the Netherlands, Turkey – regarding cultural heritage in libraries. IO2 – the training programme was developed using less widely used methodology in the cultural field: Agile Framework (SCRUM and KANBAN), Lego Serious Play, Business Model You. IO3 – four short-term joint staff training events which included learning new methodology, designing training programme, toolkit and e-learning platform to develop innovative services. IO4 – MOOC (Masive Open Online Course) was created, allowing a wide range of professionals to get acquainted with the results of the project and use them. These innovative approaches and solutions are further used by Belgrade City Library (promotion of cultural heritage in social networks) and the National Library of Latvia (game design and its potential use in the promotion of cultural heritage among users of different generations). The impact and long-term benefits ar provided by MOOC, giving librarians and other information professionals the opportunity in learning new various modern techniques, methods and tools and developing innovative services.