Accreditation number: 2021-1-LT01-KA120-ADU-000043951
The Erasmus accreditation in adult education awarded to the Lithuanian Audiosensory Library (LAB) confirms that the organisation has a long-term vision for implementing high-quality mobility activities as part of its strategic development. LAB’s Erasmus Plan is based on several key challenges identified in its work.
Challenge 1: Staff competences do not fully meet the needs of diverse users
Although LAB has many years of experience as an institution serving the informational, cultural, social and self-education needs of people with visual impairments, its staff recognise the need for additional knowledge and skills to meet the needs of other adult learners who are unable to read standard printed text.
To better understand new and potential audiences and their needs, in 2021 LAB organised a series of six regional events entitled “The Library that Unites”. During these events, LAB users expressed the expectation that the Library should take a leading role in promoting inclusion across Lithuania’s library network.
Users expect libraries throughout the country to be open and accessible to visitors with disabilities not only in terms of their collections, but also in relation to services and the physical and information environment.
Challenge 2: Interlibrary cooperation is insufficiently developed in Lithuania
Both adult learners and libraries across the country lack information about the ELVIS virtual library managed by LAB and about the opportunities to use it when providing non-formal adult education and self-education services to people with disabilities close to where they live.
An effective solution could be to adapt for Lithuania the cooperation model between specialised and public libraries already used in Nordic and Western European countries.
Objectives of LAB’s Erasmus Plan
1. Improve the quality and accessibility of adult education services
The first objective is to improve the quality and accessibility of adult education services by strengthening LAB staff competences in attracting and serving people with disabilities and other individual needs.
To achieve this objective, LAB plans to draw on the experience of countries where different user groups, including people with disabilities and other needs, are routinely involved in staff training programmes for the services designed for them.
Based on the Lithuanian Library Accessibility Manifesto, a values-based action plan supporting libraries in becoming more open to people with diverse abilities, four training modules will be developed and training will be organised in five counties for county and municipal public libraries:
- competences and human resources, with an emphasis on learning from lived experience;
- building relationships with audiences and communication, including an accessible information environment;
- services and resources, including a variety of formats, educational activities and training;
- the physical and information environment of libraries, including universal design, signage and mobility.
2. Increase opportunities for adult learners with fewer opportunities to participate in education
The second objective is to increase opportunities for adult learners with fewer opportunities to participate in educational programmes by developing or adapting and implementing a cooperation model between LAB and public libraries in Lithuania.
A library located close to a person’s home can provide access to culture, information, self-education services and lifelong learning even with very limited resources, provided that it can use interlibrary lending and receive methodological support in serving people with disabilities. This can help reduce barriers related to location, social circumstances or other individual needs.
Through Erasmus mobility activities, LAB plans to develop a cooperation model between LAB and public libraries. The model will help readers with individual needs discover publications in alternative and accessible formats for non-formal learning and self-education, while enabling public libraries throughout Lithuania to offer accessible-format publications to their users.