Best Practices

Vollsmose Learning Centre

[Vollsmose Learning Centre in Vollsmose Library, Denmark]
The LC’s role is therefore to provide the inhabitants of the area with access to online information resources support ICT Literacy and assist users in their contact with the local authorities. The main target group is adult refugees and immigrants (above 14 years of age), both as individuals or participants in integration projects. There is a librarian functioning as project manager and a ’bridge builder’, assisted by an IT specialist and by external tutors or volunteers, depending on the nature of the activity. The provided services are, as in the case of all Danish public libraries, free of charge. The LC should not be confused with an educational institution though. In fact deinstitutionalization is one of the main concepts behind the Learning Centre. It is the users who decide what their needs are and whether it is about sending an e-mail, participating in a chat forum or being assisted in formulating a job application, the personnel is there to help. It is our belief that, in the Vollsmose Library context, information literacy is not achieved by trying to follow a ’curriculum’, but by supporting the users in taking initiatives.

Source: Libraries as Gateways to the Integration of Immigrants in the EU (MKC Prague, 2006)

CONTACT
Vollsmose Library
Outlet Fyn. 5240 Odense N
Denmark