Networks of school libraries in Portugal and Brazil: dialogues among public policies for education

• Grant number: 16/12332-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2017
• Effective date (End): March 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Information Science - Library and Information Science
• Principal Investigator: Claudio Marcondes de Castro Filho
• Grantee: Claudio Marcondes de Castro Filho
• Host Investigator: Gloria Maria Lourenco Bastos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Universidade Aberta (UAb), Portugal

Abstract

This research project operates in the field of Librarianship and Information Sciences. It aims to verify the public policies of book, reading and library in Portugal, focusing in the Programa de Rede de Bibliotecas Escolares de Portugal (PRBE), its model, characteristics, organizational structure, operational function, performance context and the use of a pedagogical project as an educational resource of network. Another objective is to detect the insertion of the school library as an institution in the world of digital culture and to describe the panorama of uses of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and social networks in the PRBE. This study will provide insights for evaluating how PRBE is organized, which are the characteristics, profiles and professionals who work in them. Programs such as RBE have a strong meaning as role model for improvements in education, dealing with failure and school dropout. This project continues the applicant's work in the Núcleo de Estudos dos Perfis dos Profissionais da Informação (NEPPI) and laboratory Centro de Recursos de Informação, Pesquisa e Ensino (CRIPE). In 2010, the applicant founded the Núcleo de Estudos dos Perfis dos Profissionais da Informação (NEPPI) which seeks to collaborate with improvement and expansion of learning process, with access to scientific literature, with strengthening of Librarianship and Information Sciences and Documentation courses at FFCLRP / USP. Just a few of the proposal's objectives: a) To verify public policies regarding portuguese school libraries; b) To bring contributions for the public policies for book, reading and library in Brazil, thanks to experiencing this reality in Portugal; c) To establish a permanent forum for national debate on the issue of school library, in order to organize a space to think and plan the mediation of knowledge. From a deductive method, the survey - exploratory, descriptive, qualitative and documentary analysis - will identify characteristics, opportunities and difficulties for inception of librarians in the school library networks in Brazil, the singularities of the portuguese professionals and the policy public concerning portuguese school libraries. Methodological procedures: a) Documentary analysis; b) Documentary resources; c) Structured interviews; d) Questionnaires application. In this sense, the research project presents hypotheses about the feasibility of implementing a model built from PRBE in networks of brazilian school libraries. Among the results to be achieved: a) Mapping of the "state of the art" in the areas of public policies of book, reading and (school) library, of librarian, of ICTs, of social networks, of Portugal's PRBE; b) Diffusion initiatives of knowledge and experience - such as national and international publications and scientific presentations - thanks to this Research Fellowship; c) Establishment of networks for collaboration among researchers and educational agents, in Brazil and abroad. The experience to be lived in Portugal would allow to deepen, in a concrete and effective way, the knowledge about philosophy and operation of PRBE. This proposal also seeks to present convergences and divergences between cultural and educational public policies in Brazil and Portugal. Thus, the research abroad will contribute to a breakthrough in the discussion of public policies of book, reading and library in Brazil, and it is key for considering the possible application and implementation of a model inspired by the PRBE experience and suitable for the reality of networks of brazilian school libraries.