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HERCULE

Updated: 12 DEC 2000

Additional information is available from the HERCULE Web site. (http://www.hercule.org.uk/)

Action Line

Action line C: Library services for access to networked information resources

Call Topic(s)

8-9-10 bis: Adding value to networked information services delivered through libraries

Project description

HERCULE will develop the concept of young European citizens as information consumers and producers in the emerging Information Society. It will produce a Web site for European schoolchildren as library users. The site will contain signposts to learning resources linked to school curricula, validated by teachers and mapped by librarians. The Web site will also be a place for the viewing and exchange of multimedia cultural material produced by children and supported by Arts workers.

Technical approach

Technical facilities available through the World Wide Web will be used to develop wide-ranging resources for knowledge, information and learning which can be accessed through standard PC interfaces in the library, the school or from home.

Seeking, exploiting and manipulating information on the Web needs particular IT skills. If the correct learning environment is put in place with trained staff, IT skills can be taught quickly and effectively.

Tools and supporting methodologies will be developed allowing library staff to become expert mediators in guiding, sign-posting and assisting young library users in accessing networked information resources.

Care will be taken to ensure that interfaces can be customised to reflect the linguistic and cultural requirement of the participating countries and service as a model for wider replication.

Key issues

In developing web resources for schoolchildren, priority will be given to:

• Enhancing the role of public libraries as skilled intermediaries for organising and retrieving information resources.
• Improving the information skills of young people, whatever their background, via software facilities developed in the project.
• Development of a cost-effective model, capable of replication in any library or cultural institution.

Impact

The project will provide opportunities for schoolchildren to share the local culture and heritage of their area with students from other European countries and to explore how this is being affected by current issues concerning the environment and sustainable develop-ment.

The overall benefit will be that schoolchildren will have improved mediated access to learning resources via their public libraries. This will improve the quality of their education and assist in creating new IT skills as a basis for increased participation in the evolving information society.

HERCULE will serve as a prototype in widely differing regions of Europe and, if successful, will become a model for Europe-wide access to services for schoolchildren through public libraries.

Experience developed through the HERCULE project will serve as a guide for public library staff interested in supporting the needs of schoolchildren wishing to use library services for assistance in their learning requirements and related information searching.

Deliverables

The main public deliverables will be:

• Web-site development
• Multimedia content report
• Demonstration workshops
• User responses and performance review
• Annual and Final project reports.

An electronic newsgroup will be set up to allow HERCULE users to discuss, comment on and question the many exciting aspects of the HERCULE site.

Additional information is available from the contact below and from the project Web site:
http://www.hercule.org.uk/

Coordinator

Other Partners

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