**Apologies for cross-posting**
     
     The British Library Research and Innovation Centre has recently 
     awarded two new grants for research. Full details of the projects are 
     available on the Centre's WWW pages at: http://www.bl.uk/services/ric/
     
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     COOL - Creating Opportunities for Others via Libraries 
     ------------------------------------------------------ 
     Grantee: University of Wales Aberystwyth
     Contact: Linda Tomos 
     
     Social exclusion is the result - for communities or individuals - of a 
     combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low 
     incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family 
     breakdown. The barriers for the disadvantaged in fully participating 
     in society will increase in the 'Information Age'. It is widely 
     recognised that to meet the rapidly changing needs of the Information 
     Society people will require not only stronger basic skills in numeracy 
     and literacy but also 'informacy', i.e. the skill of interaction with 
     new technology. A major challenge in planning economic strategies for 
     growth is to improve opportunities for those people who are not 
     economically active; such economic planning requires tested 
     methodologies. 
     
     This Project will aim to: 
     
     - quantify the benefits of utilising the 'wired' public library for 
     programmes which address social exclusion via ICT, and the potential 
     barriers, within 2 distinct socio-economic contexts (urban and rural)
     
     - identify and test a credible strategic role for public libraries as 
     agents of change for addressing social exclusion, within the context 
     of a regional economic strategy, based on the research conclusions. 
     
     The Project will work with CWLIS members including the Welsh 
     Development Agency (WDA) the Employment Service and the Welsh TECs. 
     The research conclusions will be used to develop the Wales Information 
     Society (WIS) Action Plan. The European Union under the RISI programme 
     jointly funds this strategic initiative, led by the WDA. It is 
     envisaged that the Action Plan will include strategies for the use of 
     ICT in the delivery of programmes to address social exclusion. The 
     Plan will then be developed within the Wales Economic Strategy Agenda 
     to be implemented by the WDA and the 4 Regional Economic Fora on 
     behalf of the National Assembly for Wales. 
     
     ------------------------------------------------------------ 
     Value and impact of end-user IT services in public libraries 
     ------------------------------------------------------------ 
     Grantee: Manchester Metropolitan University 
     Proposer: Peter Brophy 
     
     The project is based on the need to develop methodologies for the 
     analysis of the increasing numbers of IT-based user services, 
     including but not limited to Internet and World Wide Web access, which 
     public libraries are making available so as to improve our 
     understanding of their value and impact. 
     
     The overall project aims are: 
     
     - to develop and implement methodologies suited to the evaluation of 
     end-user IT-based services offered by public libraries 
     
     - to gather and disseminate authoritative information on the value of 
     such services and their impacts 
     
     - to advise policy makers on the value and impacts of different 
     services and of how values and impacts can be measured to further 
     develop UK expertise and leadership in this field 
     
     
     *******************************
     Simon Matty
     Information Officer
     Research and Innovation Centre
     The British Library
     2 Sheraton Street
     London W1V 4BH
     
     tel: 0171 412 7054
     fax: 0171 412 7251
     email: [log in to unmask]
     *******************************


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