Page 70 - DLIS102_LIBRARY_AND_ITS_USERS

Unit 11: User Education

The Middle States Association Commission on Higher Education has indicated in its “Framework Notes
for Outcomes Assessment,” issued in 1991, that faculty should assume some responsibility, along
with administrators, librarians, and other information specialists, for information literacy for students.
The statement implies that students need to acquire more complex information-seeking skills as
they progress in their academic education. The commission statement indicates that this can best be
done through partnerships across academe. The commission advocates examining course syllabi to
determine how well the teaching of these skills is integrated into the curriculum.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. The term “information literacy” first appeared in library literature during the year ...... .
2. According to ...... , books are for use. Every reader is a book. Every book is a reader.
3. The Gateway to Information, developed by the ...... Library.
4. “Framework for Outcomes Assessment,” issued in the year ...... .

11.2 Goals and Objectives

Academic libraries support the teaching and research needs of institutions they serve. It is the libraries’
responsibility to ensure that the use of its information sources, resources and services are maximized
to benefit its users, hence the necessity for user education programmes.
Developments in computers, microelectronics, and communication technologies have radically
changed the library and information environment. Gone are the days of stand-alone libraries, in
which a library was judged less by the quality of its resources and services than by the number of
documents it had available.
Traditional libraries were dominated by print publications and the access mechanisms were also by
and large manual. The paradigm shift from stand-alone libraries to library and information networks,
available via the Internet, can provide end-users with a seamless connection to Internet-based
services.
Moreover, we are surrounded by automated, digital, and virtual libraries as well as by networked
data, specialized networks, and library networks. Multimedia and the Internet have further made
the job of library and information professionals more challenging.

The development of new technology makes direct access to information easier for
users, and, while information skills are required to collect and present that information,
in the future there is likely to be less of a role for information workers as intermediaries
between users and information sources.

Definition

Fleming (1990) defines user education “as various programmes of instruction, education and
exploration provided by libraries to users to enable them to make more effective, efficient and
independent use of information sources and services to which these libraries provide access”.

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