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Designing successful workshops for digital tools

Margaret Burger (University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA)

Reference Services Review

ISSN: 0090-7324

Article publication date: 13 November 2007

1092

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to document the strategies adopted at The University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign's library to improve open workshops in which digital tools are used to teach two digital databases. Workshops that were not geared toward one particular group of people required different marketing, design and teaching strategies from those developed for one particular patron class.

Design/methodology/approach

To demonstrate the difference in both marketing and teaching strategies for such workshops, both were offered multiple times over the course of both semesters of the academic year 2005‐2006. All workshops were advertised to the campus community via multiple marketing outlets and registration was limited to 20. The instructors gathered information from both observation and post‐workshop evaluation forms.

Findings

The key finding of this work was a formula for successful digital workshops offered to a large and diverse academic community. With thoughtful advertising and course design and creating a learning‐centered environment, such workshops could be successful.

Originality/value

Best practices and other tips for creating successful workshops for digital tools provide a formula for other librarians to use as they begin to teach digital tools on a more regular basis. As the number of digital resources continue to grow, so too will the need to teach users how to use them effectively and properly.

Keywords

Citation

Burger, M. (2007), "Designing successful workshops for digital tools", Reference Services Review, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 552-559. https://doi.org/10.1108/00907320710838372

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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