Projects: Inspire

About Inspire

Inspire is a national access and referral scheme. It brings together participating libraries from higher education, further education, health, special, public and national library services to raise awareness of resources and enable access for learners.

In April 2007 there were 457 library services registered with Inspire across the UK, involving over 3,400 individual libraries. These include 142 public library services, 111 higher education libraries, 77 further education libraries, 56 health libraries and 68 special libraries.

Each of the participating library services agrees to meet the Inspire kitemark criteria which can be seen below.

The aims and objectives of Inspire are to:

• develop an online, cross-regional library collections and access map for use by learners at www.findit.org.uk
• build on existing networks of successful access partnerships to create a single national pathway to resources irrespective of geography
• ensure that learners can have access to the best learning materials irrespective of their learner status or the location of the materials
• provide opportunities and access to learning for socially excluded individuals and groups
• provide a guide for learners to libraries with collections and materials relevant to their needs
• support and develop the library and information workforce by raising awareness of access agreements and collections in their own and other sectors
• set the pace for fulfilling key aspects of the 'Framework for the Future 2013' vision:
  - Any member of a public library can also access materials held in Higher Education and Further Education libraries
  - Anyone seeking opportunities for learning and training can be guided to a course through a public library

Key partners in the development of Inspire are SCONUL (the Society of College, National and University Libraries), SCL (the Society of Chief LIbrarians for public library authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland), the British Library and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

The full evaluation report of Inspire is available as a PDF document "Opening Ours" (below)

More information about Inspire can be found at www.inspire.gov.uk

Inspire in the East Midlands

Inspire in the East Midlands is an agreement between library and information services across our region. A full list of participating organisations is attached below.

If your library service would like to join Inspire, please contact the for more information or complete the registration form.

A Regional Steering Group supports the delivery of Inspire in the East Midlands. Follow the link to find out more about the Steering Group's work.

To help highlight awareness of the Inspire scheme in the East Midlands, two colouful roll-out banners have been produced for display in libraries and other suitable public venues. Under the heading: “With an Inspire in the East Midlands findit! card you can begin a journey of learning and discovery” are images of some of the richly varied resources to be found in East Midlands libraries.

The banners can be viewed in pdf format (appended below).

For more details please contact secretariat.

Want to know more about Inspire?

Follow these links for more information:

• Inspire East Midlands Steering Group
• Inspire staff information pack
• Findit!
• Electronic resources

Documents

Inspire banners  3.5Mb

Inspire East Midlands participants   44Kb

Inspire Kitemark Criteria  72Kb

Inspire Registration Form  54Kb 

Opening Ours  (2007)  1Mb

Site Conditions
© LIEM