Beyond Access: Making information something of everyone

A project dedicated to encourage dialogue, bringing together the community and facilitating the creation of partnerships. Beyond Access seeks through access to information and technology, their adoption and the promotion of physical spaces for individuals and community development. This project places special emphasis on broadening the vision of the modern library, proposes ideas around key issues and opportunities, and documents innovative approaches and models for others to replicate and scale.

This project was developed by MAKAIA since 2013 to 2017 and benefited librarians and officials from organizations related to access to information and technology in Colombia, Uruguay and Peru.

In 2016 we arrived in Abuja, Nigeria, where we shared successful experiences from libraries in Medellín, Latin America and the world. We succeeded on inspiring national librarians to develop best practices by strengthening their ICT skills and competencies, generating a direct impact on the country’s young entrepreneurs mainly in terms of employability and opportunities.

During 4 days, librarians and officials from institutions related to access to information participated in the training for “Ambassadors Beyond Access Uruguay”. In these sessions the participants received training tools and strategies to expand the modern concept of libraries, literacy and access to information for community development.

In November the Uruguayan delegation visited the city of Medellín to learn about the model of library services implementation, sharing experiences with librarians from Medellín to establish possible partnerships and a bridge between the librarian work of both cities.

This project leaves more than 100 libraries and their librarians from Latin America, the Caribbean and Nigeria trained in agile, innovative and modern methodologies in:

• The modern conception of the libraries of the 21st century
• Electronic Government
• Work opportunities and workforce development
• Literacy, reading promotion and technology
• Innovative use of digital devices in library services