Search results

The purpose of this paper is to focus on searches made by the patrons of the Library of the ATEI of Thessaloniki using its online catalogue during the spring semester of the academic year 2007/2008. A previous study had revealed that patrons experienced difficulties while searching the OPAC and did not make the most of the system's capabilities. As a result, the library re‐examined specific aspects of its services and its user education programnes, and updated its software. The present research was undertaken in order to assess the impact of these changes and to study whether the searching behaviour of its patrons has improved, or whether serious system limitations still persisted.

The data, collected from the transaction logs kept by the system's software, were processed and analysed statistically by using multivariate techniques.

The changes seem to have had a positive effect on patrons and their search attitude. Almost twice as many searches/sessions were carried out during the period of the present study compared with that of the previous one.

The research is based on the analysis of data gathered from a single university library, but the techniques used can easily be transferred.

Not only were areas for improvement identified and implemented, but also the results highlighted the shift towards, and the need to support, research‐based education.

The paper demonstrates simple techniques using transaction logging to identify areas for improvement in OPAC systems.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the contribution of, and the need for, information literacy and information literacy programmes in the undergraduate education process.

The paper presents the case of a Greek educational institute, via related research, and describes the information literacy programme of the Alexander Technological Education Institute of Thessaloniki (ATEITh). The paper is based on a study at the Institution with the education staff and also the undergraduate students – patrons of the library. In both cases data were gathered using the method of questionnaires.

The results of the study reveal the usefulness of information literacy programmes, and the need for the creation of an online information literacy tutorial in the ATEITh. The majority of the respondents in both studies believe that information literacy programmes could be exploited as a means of instruction and should be integrated in the departments' curricula.

The paper points up the contribution of the online information literacy programme in the teaching of courses dealing partially with information literacy that exist in the curricula of some departments and the motive for the integration of an autonomous credit information literacy course in every curriculum.

The Library of the ATEITh is the first Greek academic library that through a survey has highlighted the need for developing and evaluating information literacy programmes as a means of reinforcing information literacy in the Greek academic community and at the same time it is the first Greek academic library to have developed its own information literacy programme.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes and perceptions of Greek librarians regarding information literacy programs and their preparedness for such programs.

The study was targeted at all professional and paraprofessional staff of the academic libraries in Greece and Cyprus. The instrument was a specially designed structured questionnaire which included 20 questions, in sum 67 variables.

Most libraries do not deliver information literacy programs, but some kind of library instruction. Many respondents consider that more money, more librarians and an appropriately equipped space are the best ways to improve information literacy programs. Concerning the information literacy trainers, there are those who emphasize teaching abilities and/or pedagogical experience, and those who emphasize infrastructure and funding.

The paper contributes to the existing knowledge of information literacy skills by revealing certain issues regarding the academic libraries in Greece and Cyprus.

This paper aims to present real time user searches in a Greek academic library OPAC (University of Macedonia Library) in relation to user profile.

Using as a test bed a Greek academic library and its OPAC's transaction logs along with a system implanted questionnaire, data were gathered, processed and analyzed using multivariate statistical analysis techniques.

In making a synthesis of the analyzed data, a series of questions related to everyday library work were answered, giving libraries a tool to apply the gained knowledge in order to make decisions regarding their OPAC, their user education programs and their reference services.

The present paper focuses on the analysis of those variables that were considered to be the most representative for constructing a user profile.

This paper builds upon the techniques of data collection and presents a new tool for analyzing them statistically. Data derived from libraries were processed and analyzed statistically using the classical descriptive statistics. The suggested multivariate statistical method is designed to become a tool for analyzing qualitative data and to be used in a variety of library applications. It is also particularly helpful in analyzing cross‐tabular data in the form of numerical frequencies and allows all associations amongst pairs of variables to be analyzed as well as each association between a variable and itself.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate student information literacy skills in the Technological Education Institute (TEI) of Thessaloniki, Greece, and examine whether courses and/or library seminars make any difference and contribute to the development of information literacy skills.

The survey is conduct with students from all the departments of TEI that are enrolled at the sixth or seventh semester of their studies. The instrument of the survey is a structured questionnaire that included 12 questions, and measured a total of 73 variables.

A significant percentage of the students have not completed an assignment in the previous semester, are not acquainted with the scientific sources available in the library, and have not attended an information literacy course and/or a library seminar. However, there is a slight difference between those respondents who have “attended an IL course integrated in the curriculum” and those who have not.

The approaches described here may be helpful to librarians when they prepare guidelines for a program that assesses the level of students with regard to information literacy skills.