The project supported social cohesion through social, cultural and language exchanges between migrants and minority communities in the respective countries. By enhancing the libraries to local Libraries for All (that are local multicultural education centres - LMEC), the cultural capital of migrants could become an integral part of local libraries. In the same way these libraries have become educational centres for migrants and supported this group’s educational opportunities and therefore their opportunities for involvement in the new community. The Libraries for All thereby turned into intercultural contact points of communities capable of supporting cross-European integration strategies at the local level. The long-term objective was to help local public libraries throughout Europe to become Libraries for All for the entire population with their different needs.

The project created manifold advantages for different user groups: Local libraries user group The local libraries were able to develop their potential for supporting the integration of migrants and developing and handling cultural diversity. This generated interculturalism because the process itself took place in an intercultural setting, and because integration experts with a migrant background, together with library workers as active members of the Advisory Board for Multiculturalism (ABM), brought their skills to the planning and implementation of intercultural libraries. The libraries could therefore be developed into contact points for all citizens alike, irrespective of their ethnic, national or religious origins. The pilot libraries had a permanent stake in directly shaping the project while working in association with the ABM on the development and implementation of intercultural library services. Migrant user group This user group profits considerably from the new library services (support for acquisition of the national language, support for preserving languages of origin, finding one’s bearings in the new country, etc.) which have been developed by the pilot libraries in the course of the project. They have benefited a lot from integration experts with a migrant background being involved in the development and implementation process as members of the advisory board. These members represented the user group in the development process and ensured that their specific needs became included. Majority society user group The ESME project enabled the majority society user group to have a positive experience of their own region’s cultural diversity and to participate in it.

The central idea of the project was to realise local project activities that follow a shared methodology, which the project partners would adapt to the local context. In a second step, the partners would report their experiences. These experiences were the basis for the production of a manual, which was published at the end of the project realisation. The most important common principle was the establishment of an advisory board, where migrant representatives would inform libraries about the needs and wishes of their communities. One main task of the ABM was to assess the needs and demands of the local population with regard to multicultural library services. The different possible tools to conduct this needs assessment were also summarised in the manual. Based on the needs assessment, new offers and services were developed. This was quite an individual process for all pilot projects as the needs of the local populations in the various regions differed. All pilot projects realised an evaluation of the implementation of the new services. These local experiences of each pilot project are presented in the manual.

The main results of ESME are a manual which provides comprehensive information on new approaches to multicultural education in libraries (such as the operation of an Advisory Board for Multiculturalism in the library) and setup guidelines. They build on the project manual and provide a short overview of the experiences and activities of each of the project countries and a brief guide on how to implement the idea of libraries as Libraries for All / Local Multicultural Education Centres. Both publications were published in four languages: Czech, German, English and Swedish. Further achievements are the four pilot projects themselves, which conducted a needs assessment among the local migrant population, set up their ABMs, developed and implemented new services and products and promoted them within the local population. The know-how of the project consortium was transferred to expert organisations via the project website, a counselling system, workshops and congresses and further dissemination activities.

The main results of the evaluation of the four pilot projects are summarised in the following:

• In the local libraries of Götzis and Lustenau, small cities in the region Vorarlberg, Austria, 718 people visited the various events from autumn 2009 to summer 2010, 156 newly issued library cards as well as 1,318 loans are directly related to the project activities.
• In the Biskopsgården Library in Gothenburg, Sweden, since the project start in May 2009, the number of public activities more than doubled compared to the previous year. All in all, the activities and events have attracted 1,090 visitors. 1,245 new library cards were issued between 1 June 2009 and 30 September 2010, and the adult educational environment Adults in Learning gained 204 new members.
• In the Municipal Library of Prague, Czech Republic, the Czech language courses were visited by twice the number of students than similar courses offered in different parts of Prague by the Centre for the Integration of Foreigners (CIC) (616 participants, 378 attended the courses regularly); the foreign language materials are used above all else in the Central library, the library website and the infopoints were visited by migrants to a greater extent. 1,715 new library cards (readers without Czech citizenship) were issued during the project time.
• In the branch libraries Gallus and Sindlingen of the Municipal Library of Frankfurt/Main, 1,009 visitors attended the events in the course of the project. The number of visitors increased in the first half year of 2010 as compared to the first half year of 2008: in Gallus by 20%, in Sindlingen by 40%. In both libraries the turnover for stock in the section for parents and the International Library is approximately the same as that for the whole stock. In Sindlingen the circulation statistics for multilingual picture books and handbooks for parents increased considerably during the first half of 2010.

EU-Lifelong Learning Programme - GRUNDTVIG (Adult Education) (75%) Own resources and fundings of the partner organisations (25%)