Abstract:

The present paper is directed to show, on the one hand, the contribution given by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to teaching and learning activities that currently take place in various contexts; on the other hand it refers to other ongoing projects about the ways to archive and share educational resources.
Our attention will focus on:

• the importance of networking technologies for learning and for the management and dissemination of information and knowledge
• the creation of innovative learning tools
• the importance that is going to be taken by non-formal educational settings (such as libraries) in lifelong learning society
• towards which direction it’s important to work to ensure that information sources are actually available to every active citizen

In the first part they are analyzed the main contexts of use of new technologies, in line with lifelong learning society’s demands. Then it is described the role that public libraries, especially the academic ones, tend to assume on the Italian and European level, into knowledge building paths and knowledge management.
Finally we are going to examine some learning object repositories on Italian and international level, together with standardization matters regarding digital resources and their sharing and reusability.
After several years spent in discussions and conferences about an information based society, the focus is now on “knowledge” seen as a complex of attitudes, procedures and expectations that are the most relevant values of our society; the Lisbon Council in 2000 set a strategic goal to make Europe, within a decade, “the most competitive knowledge-based society”, encouraging in particular the spreading of ICT, digitalization projects, open standards and open source archives. Can we feel satisfied in achieving this goal?
It’s also important to consider that the role of informal education always exercised by libraries, at the dawn of the third millennium is radically changing and it has exhausted its traditional role of mediation, counselling and assistance. We are facing a new model called knowledge management in which libraries find their place at the beginning of information transfer circles, becoming responsible not only for the organization and dissemination of resources, but also for the creation of innovative forms of shared knowledge, not just carefully selected and organized but also dynamically customized according to the needs and language of more and more demanding and sophisticated users.

Keywords:

Library 2.0, e-learning, open archives, learning object repositories, longlife learning society, academic libraries.