The Mortenson Center for International Library Progams at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – known for helping initiate communication between librarians all over the world and strengthening international relationships between libraries – has recently announced that they will be supporting a Global Libraries leadership program for public libraries, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ‘Global Development Program’. This three-week training program in the United States will be followed by a one-week visit to another country.
Two of the foundation’s Global Libraries country programs will be selected to participate in the Mortenson Center program. The Mortenson Center program will expose potential public library leaders and innovators from these countries to different models of successful public libraries. The goal is to provide these individuals with the opportunity to study the policies, services, and funding sources that are necessary to fully support a library system, which is both responsive to the needs of a community and proactive in addressing the information needs of users.
More information about the Public Library Innovation Program can be found online.
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Also if you missed it, they have a podcast of the lecture, “Isolation and Information Famine Stifling Africa’s Growth by Ellen Tise, President of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA): http://www.library.illinois.edu/mortenson/lectures/2009/.
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