Double Dutch Part I: IPA (Information Project Almelo)
| Published date | 01 January 1992 |
| Pages | 28-32 |
| Date | 01 January 1992 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040470 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Double Dutch
Part I: IPA (Information
Project Almelo)
Closely based on an original article by Jan Krol,
Director of Library Services in
Almelo,
and John
Leerentveld, Director of InformatieBeheer
Twente.
A
videotex-based community information
project
was instigated in 1988
in
the town
of
Almelo
in the
Netherlands.
The aim was to provide an efficient
and relevant system
to
be accessible by
all,
both
Institutions
and
private
citizens,
with special
atten-
tion being
paid
to socially vulnerable
groups.
Re-
search into the use
of
the system was intended to
hone the information content to the particular
needs
of
the users and some interesting
conclu-
sions were
drawn.
Unfortunately the project was
ended
prematurely due to funding
problems.
Introduction
The IPA project
was
a joint initiative by Al-
melo Public Library, the municipality of
Al-
melo and the Dutch Ministry of Welfare,
Health and Cultural Affairs. First im-
plemented in
1988,
the aim
was
to provide a
community information system for the
people of Almelo which would detail em-
ployment, education and recreation fa-
cilities throughout the region.
History
The humble beginnings of the project lay in
cooperation between the public library and
the local centre for adult education which
led to the compilation of a printed guide to
the adult educational facilities in the area.
Following publication of the guide, which
went to a second edition, it
was
realised that
this was not the optimal solution to the
problem - by the time the information was
compiled and printed and the guide dis-
tributed the information contained
was
al-
ready out of
date.
Updating the guide with
amended or additional material
was
not re-
garded as a practical solution.
Shortly after the implementation of an auto-
mated catalogue in the public library it oc-
curred to those concerned that the system
could be used to record the information pre-
viously published in the printed
guide.
In
this
way,
updating the information would be
a relatively simple matter and the database
could be accessed from a number of loca-
tions in the town of Almelo. The munici-
pality responded favourably to the idea but
wanted to widen the scope of the database
to include other information of general in-
terest to the community and to make it
available in more locations than hitherto en-
visaged. Consequently, the then Minister of
Welfare, Health and Cultural Affairs pub-
lished a note on the information function of
public libraries in which it
was
stated that li-
braries ought to play a greater role in pro-
viding the citizen with community informa-
tion in digital form. Consultations which
took place as a consequence of the involve-
ment of the Minister led to the cooperative
venture which became the IPA.
Aims of the IPA
Information
was
considered of major im-
portance in allowing an individual to play a
full and participative role in society. How-
ever the demand for information, as well as
its supply, was growing rapidly. If the rapid
developments in information technology
were also taken into account, then it be-
came clear that bottlenecks threatened to
form:
• on the supply side coherence was lack-
ing and this was perceived as a possible
28-VINE 86 (March 1992)
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