Need for, demand for, and use of European Union information

The discussion and analysis of the diverse outreach activities in this article provide guidance and suggestions for academic librarians who are interested in outreach and community engagement of any scale and nature. Cases are draw from a wide spectrum and are particularly strong in the setting of large academic libraries, special collections and programming for multicultural populations. The aim of this study is to present the results of research carried out regarding the needs, demand and consumption of European Union information by users in European Documentation Centres (EDC). A quantitative methodology was chosen based on a questionnaire with 24 items. This questionnaire was distributed within the EDC of Salamanca, Spain, and the EDC of Porto, Portugal, during specific time intervals between 2010 and 2011. We examined the level of EU information that EDC users possess, and identified the factors that facilitate or hinder access to EU information, the topics most demanded, and the types of documents consulted. Analysis was made of the use that the consumer of European information makes of databases and their behaviour during the consultation. Although the sample used was not very significant owing to its small size, it is a faithful reflection of the scarce visits made to EDCs. This study can be of use to managers of EDCs, providing them with better knowledge of the information needs and demands of their users. Ultimately this should lead to improvements in the services offered. The study lies within a frame of research scarcely addressed in specialized scholarly literature: European Union information.

Access and use of european information: a comparative analysis

This paper presents some results of a survey on access to European information among a group of 234 users of 55 European Documentation Centres (EDCs), from 21 European Union (EU) Member-States. The findings of the questionnaire made to 88 EDCs' managers, from 26 EU Member-States, will also be analyse. Two different points of view regarding issues related to reasons to access European information, the valued aspects during that access and the use of European databases will be compare.

The European Project Semester at ISEP: the challenge of educating global engineers

Current engineering education challenges require approaches that promote scientific, technical, design and complementary skills while fostering autonomy, innovation and responsibility. The European Project Semester (EPS) at Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) (EPS@ISEP) is a one semester project-based learning programme (30 European Credit Transfer Units (ECTU)) for engineering students from diverse scientific backgrounds and nationalities that intends to address these goals. The students, organised in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, are challenged to solve real multidisciplinary problems during one semester. The EPS package, although on project development (20 ECTU), includes a series of complementary seminars aimed at fostering soft, project-related and engineering transversal skills (10 ECTU). Hence, the students enrolled in this programme improve their transversal skills and learn, together and with the team of supervisors, subjects distinct from their core training. This paper presents the structure, implementation and results of the EPS@ISEP that was created in 2011 to apply the best engineering practices and promote internationalisation and engineering education innovation at ISEP.

Auditorias energéticas – definição de um plano de ação para edifícios de serviços

O setor dos edifícios representa perto de 40% do consumo de energia final na Europa e cerca de 30% no caso de Portugal [1]. Para fazer face a esta situação foi elaborada e aprovada uma Diretiva Europeia Relativa ao Desempenho Energético dos Edifícios, que foi transposta a nível nacional através de um pacote legislativo assente em três pilares, nomeadamente o Sistema Nacional de Certificação Energética e da Qualidade do Ar Interior (SCE), o Regulamento dos Sistemas Energéticos de Climatização em Edifícios (RSECE) e o Regulamento das Características de Comportamento Térmico dos Edifícios (RCCTE). Atuando ao nível da eficiência energética o consumo de energia nos edifícios pode diminuir para metade, para tal é necessário proceder-se à execução de auditorias energéticas para poder determinar as soluções mais adequadas de forma a reduzir os desperdícios e custos associados ao consumo de energia. Nesta dissertação desenvolveu-se uma metodologia para a realização de auditorias energéticas em edifícios que assenta essencialmente em cinco etapas, nomeadamente: o planeamento, a análise do estado atual, o planeamento estratégico, a elaboração de relatório e a implementação de medidas com acompanhamento de resultados. A aplicação desta metodologia constitui uma grande ajuda na realização de auditorias energéticas conferindo uma maior qualidade à sua execução. De forma a validar a metodologia efetuada foi realizado o estudo de três casos práticos relativos a três agências bancárias (denominadas de A, B e C), em que duas delas pertencem a um projeto de eficiência energética que engloba 50 agências e uma outra que pertence a um outro projeto de apenas 3 agências. A metodologia segue a mesma lógica para as três agências, no entanto, em termos de validação, a última instalação baseia-se nos consumos dos dados monitorizados em contínuo.