A Pro-active University Library in the Brazilian Context.

This work aims to present some procedures that characterize a pro-active posture in Brazilian university libraries. For this purpose, aspects of the concept of pro-active libraries are presented in a context where growth in the number of needy students entering private higher education demands ever more use and application of information technology (IT) for their learning processes. However, it has been observed that most of these students have difficulty in using and applying this technology, not only in their academic lives but also in their professional lives. In our approach to Brazilian private sector university libraries, it was seen that their mission should go beyond the context of universities. They should thus include in their routines, programs and/or activities that can furnish users with the necessary information literacy to solve their problems in all phases of their lives. This work is developed in the context of the Library System of the Centro Universitário da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro – UNIVER CIDADE, Brazil – which makes its services available not only for the academic community, but also for the general public. Adoption of pro-active procedures in the UNIVER CIDADE Library System allowed greater reach towards the users’ information problems, thus offering support for efficient information management. Consequently, use of the system’s services and participation in the instituted programs grew proportionately to the pro-active actions adopted by the Library System.