The Federación de Gremios de Editores de España is an association beneficiary and collaborator with the Fundación Profesional FORCEM, and therefore, offers its publishers specific courses for the training and professional recycling of their employees. The member associations provide their publishers with the information on these courses.
The contents of the classes try to help the publishing companies facing the challenge of new technologies.
On the other hand, it is important to note the participation of the Federación, with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports and other associations of the book sector, in the project EN@E (Nueva Economía de Acceso a la Información or New Economy of Information Access), within the community iniciative Equal and whose fundamental objective is to support the adaptability of companies and workers of the book sector to the economic changes and to the use of the new information technologies. The project has a web page and is intended as a centre of information and education on the new technologies. It should be an important catalyst element to encourage companies and professionals of the book sector to start a true change so that Spain remain the main creator of Spanish content in this digital era
This is extremely important, not only from an inside perspective, but also if we take into consideration the role in publishing played by Latin America. This is why the adaptation of the workers and the companies in the book sector to the new technologies has to be seen as a basic element of the Government policy based on the importance of the Spanish language.
The project includes the following actions:
a) Analysis of the new jobs created in the sector as a result of the new economy, the new organisational forms, the new technologies and its characteristics, and the qualifications required to get those jobs as well as the abilities, techniques and knowledge necessary for the workers or for those who want to enter the sector.
b) Study of the current structure of the workers in the sector to determineselect those who need to adapt themselves to the new situations, as well as the underprivileged groups and the unemployed (women, older than 45 year old and young without any training).
c) Analysis of the training requirements arising from the introduction of the new economy and the new technologies in the sector.
d) Establishment of integrated programs of insertion and formation to establish criteria, orientations and plans for the workers of the sector, present and potential, to adapt to the new situations and create ways of consolidating their career.
e) Design of qualification, formation and recycling programs, especially conceived for the unemployed and the groups with difficulty of integration in the labour market of the sector, as well as for workers with special difficulties to adapt to the new forms of economical organisation and the new technology.
f) Creation of multimedia material, interactive and auto instructive that allow the teaching through telecommunication networks, particularly Internet.
g) Creation of a virtual formation centre online and multimedia, especially conceived for the formation for the use of new technologies of printing, publishing, edition and commercialisation of books and contents and in the new organisation forms (e-learning).
h) Creation of a virtual centre of guidance for workers of the sector, especially for the dedicated to the groups more deprived, with the objective of doing a exhaustive follow up of the changes that the new technologies and the new economy will bring about to the labour market, in terms of qualifications and knowledge, in such way that it can be used as a information forum and experience interchange with technologists specialised in those matters. It is also a mechanism for the orientation, advising and job searching, which is creating a virtual community of companies and workers. The Centre is also useful for updating the knowledge of the specialised trainers of the sector.
i) Offer training through the virtual online centre, both to workers and unemployed groups, and to trainers using the system.
j) Organisation of seminars and other actions of diffusion of the project EN@E to printers and digital pre-printers, publishers, librarians and distributors, as well as for the worker most affected by the changes and unemployed people and groups who want to enter in the labour market of the sector.
The project has been approved by the Comunidad de Madrid, who is going to provide 25% of the total cost, and by the UAFSE. The Federación de Gremios de Editores de Esapaña, the Federación de Asociaciones Nacionales de Distribuidores de Ediciones, the Gremio de Libreros de Madrid, the Gremio de Artes Gráficas de Madrid, the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte and the company Fotomecánica Rafael, S.A also participate.
In the international part of the project also participate projects from Holland, United Kingdom, Portugal and Italy, mostly in aspects related to culture and integration of the so-called underprivileged groups in the cultural scope.
The project is now in its study part, as well as in the design of the training and diffusion platforms and the creation of formative material. The planned schedule is being met and there should not be any problems for the finalisation of the project in May 2004.