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Western’s
“Research Guides” Shared in Scotland
by
Michael Binder
This
past June I had the pleasure of traveling to Glasgow, Scotland,
to attend and present a paper at eLit2003, an international
conference on electronic literacy held at Glasgow Caledonian
University. I had first learned about the existence of this
conference and its “call for papers” at one of
the monthly meetings of SAALCK (the State-Assisted Academic
Library Council of Kentucky), which consists of my fellow
library deans from Kentucky’s higher education institutions.
There, Hannelore Rader, University Librarian at the University
of Louisville, had talked about this conference where she
herself had delivered a paper a year earlier.
Western
Kentucky University Libraries has been a pioneer in eLiteracy;
it has developed library research guides covering all the
subject areas taught in the departments at the university,
and has made them available in several formats, including
print-on-paper, on the web via the WKU Libraries’ Topper
InfoPortal (TIP), and even through a prototype PDA version.
Hence, it appeared logical that we should submit a proposal
to deliver a paper at this conference. It would provide an
ideal venue for increasing awareness about our research guides
project, and particularly how those guides served to empower
and enhance the research capabilities of our library users.
I
engaged Haiwang Yuan, Web Site & Virtual Library Coordinator,
and Bryan Carson, Reference & Instructional Services Coordinator,
both of whom have been involved in the development of the
research guides. Together we formulated a proposal for a PowerPoint
program to be delivered at the conference and submitted it
for review. Lo and behold, it was accepted! Entitled “Research
Guides at Western Kentucky University: Empowering our Users
through eLiteracy,” the final program would explain
the rationale behind the development of the guides, reveal
their content, and detail the collaboration between the teaching
faculty and the library faculty to produce them. We also planned
to discuss the incorporation of the guides in two primary
electronic access tools: our library portal (TIP) for desktops
and a reduced version customized for personal digital assistants
(PDAs). In our conclusion, we would emphasize our belief that
our “research guides/information portal” concept
could serve as a model for information professionals to empower
their users through eLiteracy.
On
the morning of my presentation, I opened my hotel door and
retrieved the local newspaper, The Scotsman. To my
amazement, I found on the front page of the sports section
a large color picture of Kenny Perry and his brother-in-law,
Bobby Bush, who were shown at their Country Creek Golf Course
in Franklin, Kentucky. The Scotsman also had a feature
article about the PGA legend’s “country retreat.”
I felt both floored and then suddenly more at home in this
faraway place. Later that morning, when I made my conference
presentation, I started out by showing the newspaper article
to my fellow attendees, and remarking that it seemed destined
I be with them that day.
The
presentation itself had a huge turnout, one of the largest
at the conference, with almost every seat taken, and was very
well received. It was quite an experience to talk about our
innovations at Western before an international audience and
have them viewed so favorably.
Conference
Report: 2003 Fiesole Retreat, Oxford, U.K.
By
Jack G. Montgomery
As
some of you know, this past July I received a full sponsorship
to attend the fifth annual Fiesole Collection Development
Retreat held at Somerville College in Oxford, UK. Entitled
“Authors to Readers: Who are We Serving? How? And How
Well?” Fiesole brought together leaders in the fields
of librarianship, international publishing, and even international
investment banking from the U.K., U.S., Europe, and Australia
to discuss current and new trends in the information industry
in which libraries play a key role. Limited to only 80 attendees
per year, Fiesole is considered the premier conference of
its type in the world.
Among
other topics discussed was how much time faculty members had
to spend accessing online resources. According to a recent
research report, only 35% of faculty members in research institutions
indicate they rely on online resources for the major portion
of their research. In general, time to spend online was indicated
as a major barrier to usage of online resources, but other
reasons included frustration with finding tools and credibility
of sources. Faculty also expressed frustration in the inability
of their libraries to integrate and repackage content.
Data
about user expectations and needs was also presented, and
the point was made that users, by now, have largely realized
that scholarly information has a cost, especially the information
published in serials. To be responsible, libraries must be
able to justify an investment in digital content, as the funds
are most often taken from other needed investments. We must
base our investment in digital content on intelligent consumerism
and demonstrated need for content.
In
further development on the idea of digital content, one speaker
asked his audience to remember that while most of the developed
world is tech-savvy, the rest of the world is way behind.
For the tech-savvy users, a phenomena exists called “the
satisfied inept.” This person mistakes a public-access
web search using Google for something approaching real research.
We need to remind students that most of the scholarly information
created before 1990 is not on the web.
Other presentations covered such topics as science journal
literature, research productivity and methods, electronic
journals, managing digital content, and scholarly publishing.
I don’t have room here to tell you everything I learned,
but I would be happy to discuss the details of this wonderful
conference with anyone who’s interested. You can contact
me at jack.montgomery@wku.edu.
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