Project Backgroud
History
SK-Libris: The Slovak Free Flow of Information Project was funded from a United States Information Agency (USIA) grant. USIA is now called International Information Programs and is part of the U.S. State Department. SK-Libris was originally established as a one-year project with $110,000 in funding. However, it was extended to a two-year project based on initial successes; therefore, the project duration was extended from April 1998 through May 2000 with total funding of $160,000. SK-Libris was directed out of the College of Education at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). Matthew A. Kollasch, Dr. Kurt Meredith and Dr. Jeannie Steele (Orava Project directors) wrote the initial project grant. Kollasch served as SK-Libris director and wrote the project extension grant proposal.
SK-Libris was borne out of the work initially done with Slovak libraries under the auspices of the Orava Project, which is an USAID funded project focusing on systemic school restructuring in Slovakia. The Orava Project had worked with Slovak university librarians and with the Slovak Parliamentary Library. The latter was at the request of USAID, Bratislava. In Nitra and Dolny Kubin, workshops were presented on the effective use of technology and the integration of information skills into the curriculum. These experiences provided insight into the challenges faced by the Slovak library community in a quickly changing political, cultural, and technical landscape. Thus, when a USIA Request for Proposal was announced for a library project to improve the free flow of information for Slovak citizens, we submitted a proposal. We believed that our understanding of the Slovak schools and libraries, along with experiences gained from working in Slovakia since 1994, would serve this project well.
