Training courses

Citation

Siswell, A. (1998), "Training courses", Librarian Career Development, Vol. 6 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/lcd.1998.10206gag.001

Training courses

I definitely thought that a thematic approach to this column would be a good idea and I had a very good idea for this issue of looking out sites which offered library professionals the opportunity either to gain or update network/Internet/WWW skills.

After surfing a lot of shores, I was amazed at how little any of my searches could turn up. There seems to be plenty of material if you want to help your customers to learn more about the Internet and the Web and how to use them but when it comes to our own professional development ... so if anyone out there has any additions to this review then I would be very interested to hear from you. My e-mail address is at the end of the column.

A good place to start is the Internet Public Library site

Especially for Librarians

http://www.ipl.org/svcs/internet.html

This presents a collection of resources focussed on the importance of Internet skills for librarians, and Internet policies and implementations for libraries. It includes sections on practical applications (cataloguing, creating Web pages, innovative ways of using the Internet), Internet resource evaluation and Research and discussion. The IPL Especially for Librarians site also covers Online libraries (a collection of links to libraries worldwide with Web pages) and Organizing the Web.

Training courses ­ with travel involved

There are a number of organisations offering training courses which include introductions to the Internet, using the Internet for teaching and learning or to particular subject areas on the Internet. National professional associations are a good starting point for this area of professional development. Bulletin boards often contain events diaries which list courses, workshops and conferences. Examples from the UK include:

Library Association eventshttp://www.la-hq.org.uk/events.htm

As with appointments, the British Library Association runs courses and workshops on a variety of topics such as A guided tour of the Internet and Creating and managing information pages for the WWW. All courses are open to members and non-members.

Aslib professional development traininghttp://aslib.org.uk/training/index.html

Aslib provides professional development training in the UK in a variety of areas and current offerings include Using Internet search tools. They also offer non-site training and a number of open learning packages including Internet for absolute beginners on CD-ROM.

TFPL & traininghttp://www.tpfl.co.uk/training./Internet_&_IT_courses.htm

TFPL offer a range of courses related to the Internet, particularly for subject specific information and the use of intranets. Among their current programmes are Internet for business information, Internet for insurance and The effective Web page.

Social Science on the Internethttp://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/trining/socsci/

British Libraryhttp://www.niss.ac.uk/noticeboard/event/bl_98.html

NISS Noticeboardhttp://www.niss.ac.uk/noticeboard/event/lib.html

Listing of courses and workshops for library and information service staff from a variety of institutions, professional organisations and training providers.

Training courses ­ with no travel involved

A number of organisations and projects offer training either at a distance, using CD-ROM or the Web. For instance:

ALIAs continuing professional developmenthttp://www.alia.org.au/boe/cpd.html

The Australian Library and Information Association has developed a partnership with the Department of Library and Information Science at Edith Cowan University to offer distance learning in a variety of professional areas. Courses offered in 1998 include developing search strategy skills for searching some of the indexes of the World Wide Web.

Oh, the sites you'll see...http://www.wolinskyweb.com/jintro.htm

From Illinois, one reference librarian (who became an Electronic Resources Librarian)s approach to helping library staff become familiar with the Internet through her 101+ sites to see online workshop. Supplemented by Internet toolbox covering HTML, search engines, subject guides, etc.

See also Netskills below.

Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib)http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/

This set of projects really does deserve a section of its own within the column. eLib was established in the UK in 1994 as a response to recommendations in the Follett Report (the Joint Funding Councils Libraries Review Group report: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/papers.follett/report/) concerning the increasing importance of electronic information. Since then almost 60 projects involving over 100 higher education institutions have taken place. One of the areas of particular interest to eLib is training and awareness and a number of those are listed below.

EduLib http;//www.hull.ac.uk/edulib/ Based at Hull University, this project aims to enhance educational expertise and teaching skills in the higher education library and information services community. They are now planning their Phase Four programme of workshops and other activities up until August 1999.

IMPEL2 (Impact on People of Electronic Libraries) http://ilm.unn.ac.uk/impel/stffdev.htm One part of this project was concerned with development and training to meet the needs of staff in the electronic library service. Based partly on case study visits, IMPEL2 have produced a number of guides to provide direction and key points on relevant issues facing higher education electronic library service providers.

NetLinks http://netways.shef.ac.uk/ This project which ended in May 1998 concentrated on developing skills among library staff for networked learner support. Their Web site includes a resource base of reports, a bibliography, current activities, etc.

Netskills http://www.netskills.ac.uk/ Supported by Newcastle University, Netskills aims to help both the public and private develop the skills to make more effective use of the Internet. Unlike other projects, Netskills offers a range of approaches: they provide face-to-face training workshops (both general and subject specific), self-paced tutorials, training materials and support for Internet trainers. In particular, the tutorials can be used by anyone with some experience of computers starting out on the Web to help build confidence and the workshops provide valuable information on how to develop those skills and time to practice them. Current workshops on offer include Creating multimedia Web pages and Using the Internet for teaching and learning.

SKIP: SKills for new Information Professionals http://www.plym.ac.uk/faculties/research/skip1.htm The project which ran until June 1997 was concerned with identifying the skills LIS professionals need to support teaching, learning and research in higher education and with providing guidelines for library managers to identify areas for both staff development and requirements for new posts.

TAPin: Training and Awareness Programme in Networks http://www.uce.ac.uk/tapin/ Based on six West Midlands universities, TAPin seeks to improve the quality of teaching and research by identifying staff information needs, and developing their information skills. A model has been developed which librarians have used in supporting their academic colleagues: this included training in various areas such as Internet skills and end-user support.

And, as a final place to link into:

Library of Congress http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/internet/training.html LC directory of Internet guides, tutorials and training information provides access to a wide variety of sites listing collections of such materials, individual guides and resources for Internet trainers.

Ann Siswell(a.siswell@bathspa.ac.uk) Bath Spa University College Newton Park, Bath BA2 9BN, UK