The Socrates project "The Public and the Library" is researching and developing New Methodologies to reach out to the public.

Its aim is to provide public libraries with sustainable policies to address the knowledge representation and distribution crisis which the radical transformation of the production process and the advent of Information Technology have launched since the late sixties.

During its first year the project convened public libraries which in recent years broke with the existing library conventions and engaged new distributive pathways - provocatively called Biblioteche fuori di se (Libraries outside themselves - Italy), De bib breekt uit (The library breaks out - Belgium), Det store brag (The Big Bang - Denmark)

In the manual they published these distributive methodologies are expanded on. Also policies are presented to collaborate effectively with social and cultural institutions and the private sector in order to reach out better to the public. Moreover, the literacy concept has come to be redefined with regard to the transfer of knowledge and information to electronic multimedia cariers.

During its second year the project brought together Helsinki, the Nordic Folk Academy at Gothenburg, Turnhout, Swansea, Castelfiorentino and Isolotto (Florence). Building upon the conclusions of the first year, the objective set forward is now to research and develop a Common Distribution System for the Educational, Social and Cultural Sector.

>From the participating institutions three were selected as pilot projects:

Isolotto
Since the Isolotto library implemented its "Stellar Model of distribution" it effectively succeeded in penetrating the local community. As a pilot project Isolotto is now using its distribution system to diffuse information and services from educational and social institutions.

Swansea
Within the Swansea context public libraries have been integrated effectively in the local and regional educational and social network. It now stands on the brink of enriching its physical distribution system with an electronic component.

Turnhout
The Turnhout public library has been researching and developing an electronic architecture, co-NEXuS, in which the educational, social and cultural services of local communities are meant to nestle. The co-NEXuS project has been running under the i3, Intelligent Information Interfaces Project, part of Esprit.

The know-how of the pilot projects augmented with the suggestions and findings of the monitoring institutions will be finalised in another published manual. It will provide the reader with a common distribution system for local communities in which the physical and electronic components are consistently integrated.