1 Introduction
Lifelong learning is the answer to the crisis of increasing obsolescence of knowledge and skills. Will all libraries become involved from the beginning in the accelerated development of technological and social change and the rapid development of information and communication technologies and address the problems that are not small, or will they wait for solutions and examples of best practices, and simply apply them? How libraries and librarians started digitization, and how they expanded their competencies, will be discussed later in the paper.
How can we meet the ever-increasing demands on librarians? For each librarian to contribute to the collective and the community as a whole, they must acquire new knowledge and skills. This is vital if individuals are to become competitive, which is essential for both their development and that of their community. We are witnessing life shifting to the digital sphere, and accordingly, new knowledge must be acquired to make this possible. In the age of digitization, it is necessary to invest in individuals and enable them to develop and cope with the tasks of modern times.
2 Lifelong Education
Lifelong education and lifelong learning are two fundamentally different concepts. To what extent is the librarian able and willing to replace or continue his or her lifelong education, acquired through a mandatory, formal, conceptually organized system, with lifelong learning, which is a broader concept of learning?
Lifelong learning is a learning activity undertaken throughout life to improve knowledge, skills, and competencies, regardless of age and type of knowledge acquisition (formal, non-formal, informal). This type of learning is considered a continuous process in which a person’s outcomes and motivation at a given age are conditioned by the knowledge, habits, and learning experiences acquired in an earlier period. Some of the objectives of this type of learning are related to personal satisfaction and individual development, social inclusion and employability, as well as a more independent, critical and active attitude toward one's development.
The concept of lifelong learning is not new, in modern society, it was introduced in the early 70s of the 20th century, but it has its roots in antiquity. Already in Aristotle's (384–322) “Politics”, we find a connection with the emergence of free time, which is defined as a time of leisure and arbitrary learning throughout life.
J. A. Comenius (1592–1670), a Czech educator, speaks of a person’s life being a school “from the cradle to the grave”.
What does a librarian think and do in such situations? How well prepared is he for these challenges and how much can he contribute to his development and his library? With a lack of financial resources and professionals in various fields of library science, the librarian sets out on his own to find solutions. According to his own inclinations and the already mentioned, acquired formal knowledge, he turns to new solutions. One way of acquiring skills and knowledge is through projects, which can significantly facilitate involvement in mandatory and prescribed digitization processes and new trends. But they can also make it more difficult. With the multitude of projects being carried out in libraries, it can be useful to make a cross-section and “weigh” which projects will be realized and contribute to the continuation and further development of an idea, and which will fizzle out after the project ends. This complex question also implies whether the librarian is sufficiently qualified to involve other librarians in achieving the overall goal of the project and to demonstrate its benefits, or whether the goal was to complete the project itself. In these cases, does it make sense to have a trained project manager, or can an interested librarian be trained to do so?
Given these questions, continuing professional development is an idea that involves a legal requirement, which in some libraries amounts to meeting the mandated hours on an annual basis, and the various interests of librarians are reduced to a common theme. Methods of delivering lectures are changed from workshops or work on computers to theoretical lectures, from work in smaller groups to mass meetings. From the point of view of the increasingly understandable and above-mentioned financial reasons, this way of organizing lectures can perhaps be justified and understood.
Thus, the wishes and interests of librarians do not have to be realized, for financial, collective and many other reasons, or they can be realized for the same reasons. Where is the line between these realizations? Who can and who cannot make sense of all the changes in libraries in a committed positive way?
Before we talk a little more about the competencies of librarians for continuing education, we must emphasize a conclusion that is familiar to us from personal experience. The educational systems of today and that of a few generations ago are different. This is true not only for the teaching materials and methodology but also for the goals of education. From childhood, i.e. in elementary school, attention was on acquiring basic knowledge, or more precisely, reading and writing skills. Then, in high school, the emphasis was on acquiring or improving certain knowledge for practical work or further education. Later, in college, the emphasis was on providing the necessary training for the formation of complete knowledge for certain professions, and the process somehow ended there. There was no need for permanent training in all areas of knowledge; or rather, the speed of development did not require it. Science and technology did not advance at the pace we experience today. The availability of information forces not only permanent education but also faster education if we want to reach the new generations of young people and keep up with them.
Education is the acquisition of knowledge, theoretical and practical. Knowledge is information that enables a person to act differently or more productively. It is a prerequisite for all social development. Today, education is increasingly shifting from the school desks to the economy itself. Employees go through various development programs that enable them to acquire new knowledge and skills. In practice, there are three forms of knowledge acquisition. Lifelong learning is a combination of these three forms of learning, namely:
Formal – governed by laws and regulations of a country within the general education system;
Informal – a range of different activities, and educational programs that are not included in the curriculum of formal education; and
Non-formal – knowledge acquisition that is neither formal nor informal and can be characterized as independent learning or learning from experience. The term is often used in the context of workplace education.
In contrast to the past, today it is necessary to prepare children from an early age for the demands of the global world. The first task of formal education is to prepare individuals for further self-education and self-direction. When formal education is over, one enters another world of informal education, which each individual creates for himself.
To help us navigate the multitude of new knowledge and opportunities for progress in education, the Council of Europe has adopted a reference framework, eight key competencies for lifelong education. In summary, they are as follows:
Improve personal development. Develop work skills, social inclusion, sustainable lifestyles, fruitful lives in peaceful societies, health-conscious life management, and active citizenship.
Achieve literacy skills. It requires a developed individual ability to understand, express, create, and interpret ideas, feelings, opinions, and facts in written or oral form using visual, audio, and digital materials.
Master multilingual competence. The ability to use multiple languages appropriately and effectively.
Improve digital literacy. Includes an interest in digital technologies and their responsible use in learning, working, and participating in society.
Improve personal competence. The ability to study and learn to think independently and manage time and information effectively while working constructively with others, and the ability to manage one's own life and career.
Improve civic competence. The ability to act as responsible citizens and participate in social and political life based on an understanding of social, economic, legal, and political concepts.
Develop entrepreneurial competence. To enable ideas and opportunities to be transformed into value for others.
Work on cultural awareness. To have an understanding and respect for how ideas and meaning are creatively expressed in different cultures and through a range of arts and other cultural forms.
As we enter the third millennium, the role that libraries play in non-formal education is changing radically, as their traditional historical function – to guide, advise, and assist – has already been phased out. We are facing a new socio-technological scenario, the so-called knowledge management, in which libraries are at the starting point of information transfer and are thus responsible not only for the organization and dissemination, but also for the creation of innovative forms of knowledge transfer, which are not only carefully selected and organized, but also personalized based on the demand of users, whose requirements are becoming more and more demanding.
Libraries have assumed a role related to the educational process and the field of technologies focused on the widespread use of new media that increasingly change the dynamics of cognitive processes, rounding out the space of virtual collective knowledge that Pierre Levy called cyberspace. The library can play a key role in the circulation of knowledge by becoming a learning environment anchored in reality, where individuals learn independently based on their interests, driven by multiple interactions and personal relationships that can be physical, virtual, or both.
3 Librarians in the Light of Education and Learning
Perhaps we should again emphasize the fundamental difference between education and learning, which are often used as synonyms. Education is organized learning, while learning includes the unintentional, disorganized, and spontaneous acquisition of knowledge.
Advances in science and technology, digitization, and the availability of information are not the only ones and should by no means be the main reasons for continuous learning because reasons of a political and cultural nature must inevitably be added to them.
In the 1990s, lifelong learning was affirmed in Europe as a response to the problems of the economic crisis and rising unemployment.
Did not the simple act of registering on the website euprava.gov.rs to obtain various documents and the pandemic COVID-19 (which also requires the necessary knowledge to make appointments and later obtain certificates) prove that the need for continuous learning is real and present? All these changes in society show that lifelong learning should be supported and funded by the state and its institutions to fully utilize human resources.
Given that informal learning is defined as learning on its own or learning from experience, the question arises whether it is also a measure of the degree of motivation. A librarian who learns from his or her own experience may volunteer, among other things, and thus become closer to the local community through this learning process. Are not printed brochures and leaflets, social networks and specialized websites just a suggestion and a way to bring users closer to the library? The key question, although it may sound absurd, is: how can the library be brought closer to potential users, and assert itself? Is the digitization course or Transcribus described in this paper important for rural libraries, is it not more beneficial for this type of library to engage in volunteer work, for example, or to partner with non-governmental organizations? The experience of non-governmental organizations in working with children, the elderly or people with special needs, the joint practical work and the exchange of experiences are a form of permanent learning. Regardless of the techniques and technologies that are more or less available to us, fieldwork seems to be a source of knowledge that is underutilized.
Types and forms of further education are:
Courses that do not have to be directly related to librarianship, but contribute to a higher quality of professional work (foreign language courses or IT courses);
Workshops and seminars: workshops use experiential learning, skill development, role-playing, or scenario-based discussions. In seminars, participants are much more involved than the instructors themselves;
Conferences, which are particularly characterized by their social context;
Learning in the workplace;
Lectures, presentations, publications of papers, articles or books.
4 Challenges in Digitization
What determines the course and speed of progress and development of digitization in the field of culture are the goals of a government’s cultural policy? In 2006, the European Commission issued a Recommendation on the digitization and online accessibility of cultural material and its digital preservation, which certainly helps to define the above objectives. They can be summarized as follows:
In an era of accelerated information flow and remote communication, it is necessary to “catch up”, to facilitate the search and access to information, and to connect. The development of information technologies makes it possible to take advantage of the Internet and ensure the future of business operations for public administration, health care, education, culture and other spheres of activity of society, as well as for individual institutions and their integration into the information society. If the digital environment, the Internet and social networks are appropriately used and understood as an opportunity for progress, the future with new technologies is secured and open.
While the government of Serbia has set priorities based on economic development, education, and digitization, basing digitization on three pillars: eGovernment, education, and the economy, culture and librarianship remain on the sidelines. Although culture is highlighted as a strong factor in the empowerment of society and an important factor in development and national identity, priority is given to the digitization of the administration in the form of a complete transformation of business processes and the alignment of paper and electronic documents. Serious work on the development of the e-government project began in 2007. On the e-Government Portal of the Republic of Serbia, “electronic communication of citizens, legal entities and non-governmental organizations with the administration” is much easier, faster and simpler, more precisely, what was previously done by standing in line can be done electronically. The State Data Center was opened in 2017, housing the State’s information and communication infrastructure, important for the good functioning of the e-government.
In the education system, the e-classbook project was introduced in 2017 and in the 2018/2019 school year, a plan was made to implement E-required reading and electronic textbooks. Also, plans were made for an integrated public health information system, including online scheduling of examinations, electronic health booklets, e-prescriptions etc. However, as a society, we can only expect real results if access to digitization is enabled through the intervention of the relevant ministries and government agencies in all areas of human activity, with clear financial, professional and legal frameworks.
5 Digitization of Library Resources in Serbia
The Digital Library of Serbia was designed in 2002, and as a result, the following were created: Digital National Library of Serbia (https://digitalna.nb.rs), Digital Library of Matica Srpska (http://digital.bms.rs/ebiblioteka/), Digital University Library “Svetozar Marković” (http://www.unilib.rs/sadrzaji/digitalna-biblioteka/) etc.
The process of digitization in society is becoming more urgent. Librarians have recognized their opportunity in the continuous and permanent change of library activities and communication with users. By taking advantage of the Internet and digitization, libraries are providing credible, selective and reliable information to users overloaded with data in a digital environment
Like everyone in this complex process, libraries began digitization chaotically and with many problems, but in lockstep with new ideas. What made libraries unprepared for these new trends was the lack of equipment, finances and IT experts, understanding of the digitization process itself and its conditions, legal framework and copyrights. Because of the hiring ban, librarians were forced to select librarians from their ranks who were willing to take on the task of digitization and form a team that would handle these responsible tasks. As a result, the libraries organized themselves, each according to their abilities and with the support of their administrations, and individually created digital collections with different standards and formats. By using free software and applying for projects in the Republic of Serbia and the European Union, they tried to compensate for the lack of financial resources. What digitization offers, among other things, is the protection and preservation of materials, free access, and availability of collections to remote users, so librarians are aware of the importance of digitization and participate in large projects such as the Europeana portal or the European Digital Library, launched in 2008, despite the difficulties mentioned above. Through Europeana, the “Svetozar Marković” College Library participates in the “Europeana Libraries” and “Europeana Newspapers” projects. The National Library of Serbia participates in the project “Europeana Collections 1914–1918” and is also a full member of The European Library since 2005, which provides access to materials in digital and traditional form from 43 national libraries.
The World Digital Library, initiated by the Library of Congress in Washington in collaboration with UNESCO, is a portal launched in 2009. The Republic of Serbia participated through the National Library of Serbia as early as 2008.
One of the founders of the National Center for Digitization, launched in 2002, is the National Library of Serbia. The Center was established as a consortium of leading cultural and research institutions involved in digitization. Its goal is to coordinate the work of institutions involved in digitization, to introduce standards for digitization, indexing, preservation and presentation of materials, to digitize the national heritage and to make plans for migration of the digitized data in case of new technologies.
It is worth mentioning the first Serbian virtual digital library, the Rastko – Internet Library of Serbian Culture project, which was founded in 1994 with the idea to undertake electronic archiving and publishing of Serbian works from the fields of art and science to make Serbian cultural assets accessible via the Internet.
The aforementioned activities of libraries in the field of digitization are only part of the projects and undertakings with the goal of keeping pace with world and European achievements. We see that the libraries, despite the initial problems, got involved at the very beginning, recognizing the advantages of the digital library, the Internet and new technologies.
New ways of doing business and new technologies, everywhere, even in librarianship, impose the need for a new profession - the curator of digital collections. This new profession has already been implemented in the libraries of Western countries and includes content selection, creation of digital objects, preservation, archiving, evaluation, etc. The need for these experts is also recognized in our environment and we hope for a quick implementation of this profession in our country as well.
6 Transcribus as an Example of Good Practice in the Permanent Education of Cultural Workers
One of the projects that encompass the professional development of employees in cultural institutions is Transcribus. It is a platform with automatic recognition, transcription and searching of documents, and it consists of Expert Tool, Web User Interface, and cloud services.
It was developed by the Digitization and Digital Preservation Group of the University of Innsbruck and is completely free. It is intended for users dealing with the transcription of historical documents. It is part of the READ project – Recognition and Enrichment of Archival Documents (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/674943), whose goal is the identification and enrichment of archival documents, funded by the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program Horizon 2020 of the European Union.
In short, based on HTR models, Transcribus uses handwritten text recognition technology. They process whole words and even whole lines. They are based on machine learning algorithms. When starting, one needs to prepare a part of a manuscript of the same author (about thirty pages) to train Transcribus to “read” it. The material must be as diverse as possible. When the HTR models are created, the document can be transcribed.
How can Transcribus be used in libraries? Libraries are aware of the growing importance of the existence of data in digital form, and that they must offer it as such and make it available to its users. Using Transcribus, digitization in libraries can be performed both by volunteers and by users of library services themselves. All that is required is that they own a cell phone. The institution should provide conditions for scanning. ScanTent or a scanning tent is used for this purpose. One needs to install the free DocScan app, which is designed for ScanTent, on their cell phone. Both the ScanTent device and the DocScan app are part of the H2020 READ project.
The DocScan app is available at the Google Playstore. To use it, one needs to register on the Transcribus platform. The app can also be used anonymously, with slightly reduced functionality. Also, if used anonymously, only a scan can be performed, without using Transcribus.
The ScanTent consists of the dome, base, lighting and case. Because it is small in size, it is portable. Its simple structure makes it easy to install/mount and it is available at an affordable price. The dome, black or white, prevents the potential impacts of external lighting. If necessary, it is possible to use lighting that is installed on the inside of the dome (non-destructive LED light). The tent also ensures a constant distance between the material (book) and the camera because a cell phone is placed on a mount, preventing motion blur during scanning. Launching the DocScan app starts the scan. The DocScan app enables real-time scanning as well as image quality assessment. One can scan a single page or a whole batch. It is an option that is set on the phone before scanning. When scanning a batch, the user needs to flip the pages. The app is designed to detect hand movements and it automatically takes new pictures. Scanned pages are stored in a previously created folder. They are then processed (most often rotated, cropped, or deleted) and sent, i.e. uploaded to Transcribus using the option Upload.
As we mentioned earlier, Transcribus can be used in archives, libraries, and so on. The entire procedure takes place under the supervision of an employee, who gives the user permission to begin scanning. The scanned material also remains with the user who did the work himself.
The material collected in this way initially serves as a corpus used to “train” Transcribus to transcribe a handwritten text, which is followed by the transcription of an author's manuscript itself. In this way, a database of scanned documents is formed, which in itself is significant for the preservation of cultural heritage.
