Mayor of Limerick Cllr Jim Long opened the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) hosted TEMPUS Conference held in the Strand Hotel Limerick recently. TEMPUS is the European Union’s programme which supports the modernisation of higher education in the Partner Countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean region, mainly through university cooperation projects.

In an unprecedented collaboration of countries the conference saw almost 100 librarians and academic staff from 13 higher education institutions including Ireland, Romania, Greece, United Kingdom,  Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro attend the meeting which focused on developing information literacy for lifelong learning in Western Balkan countries.

The holding of this important meeting of countries has its origins in an application for funding made by LIT in early 2011 under the Tempus EU funding programme. In July 2011 LIT Library was awarded €1.2 million funding under the Tempus IV EU funding programme. LIT is the first Irish institution to lead a TEMPUS project securing the largest sum ever awarded for a Library and Information Science project in the history of the programme.
Speaking at the conference President of LIT, Dr Maria Hinfelaar highlighted the importance of information literacy, “Over the past 10 years LIT has invested greatly in information literacy in our institution through initiatives such as our Library Network Support Services (LNSS). In parallel LIT has worked to develop strong partnerships with libraries and library schools in countries such as Romania, Greece and the United Kingdom which has ultimately resulted in funding for this  prestigious Tempus project on information literacy- the first of its kind in the history of Tempus. Information literacy is an essential skill for students these days, when confronted with an avalanche of information sources – some of which are less reliable than others.”

In his opening speech Mayor Jim Long welcomed all the international delegates attending the conference to Limerick and encouraged them to enjoy the many amenities the city has to offer. The Mayor also extended an open invitation to the delegates to visit the office of the Mayor during their stay.