ALL ABOUT THE INRS PROJECT

The INRS Project aims to reinforce and enhance knowledge transfer between academia and business in European Union countries and to enable HEIs to provide increased and specialist information support to Research, Business and Innovation in the EU and in the regions that they serve.

This will be achieved by improving and increasing the level of competencies and skills of Information Specialist staff in the EU partner institutions in the project. INRS will enhance and build on the skills of staff in these universities, so as to strengthen their abilities to provide quality, relevant supports to business, researchers and local enterprise in the Regions.

The project will develop an Information Specialist (IS) staff development strategy focused on improving the standards, range and quality of library performance in providing support to business, entrepreneurship, innovation and research in the EU with particular focus on improving key transferable, lifelong learning skills.

The INRS project aims to improve the relevance of higher-level skills provision to Society and to the economy in the Regions. The project will effectively expand Information Specialist engagement with employers and business for the development of key transferable skills in the Regions that are critical for business, research and innovation.

The project will enhance the quality of teaching and learning in the EU, hence it is vital that this project is carried out transnationally. INRS will increase participation in education, training and the labour market and will significantly expand skills supply to our stakeholders in the research and business community fostering key transferable skills.

INRS will incentivise continued reform and innovation in the provision of Information Specialist, Information and higher-level

Research Literacy skills training in the EU. The project will build on best practice nationally and internationally, robustly supporting Research, Business and Innovation.

The project will increase the capacity of the EU partner universities to provide more focused, targeted Information Specialist and Library engagement and training to business, entrepreneurship and research.

INRS will initially develop a suite of quality, relevant and modern Information Specialist Staff Development courses focused on enhancing the skills of university staff to enable them to provide enhanced, quality library support services needed for Research, Business and Innovation. These courses have significant innovative character, as they will address the most critical training needs of 21st century Information Specialist staff in the Information Age to enhance their library skills in the area of business, research and innovation.

During the first months of the project, the Preparation phase, we will conduct a training needs analysis of both the library situation as well as training needs analysis of university stakeholders in the EU countries in this project - and across the business and research community in the Regions they serve.

Following the important upskilling of the Information Specialist staff in the first year of the project, where they will build on existing skills and broaden their competencies, the INRS Training Curriculum will be developed and launched.