Round Table On User Education

Bangkok, Friday, 27 August 1999

Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting, Open Session And Workshop

Attendance of EC Meeting

EC Members Present: Martha Castro (Mexico), Paulette Bernahard (Canada), Martin Kesselman (USA), Oili Kokkonen (Finland), Sinikka Koskiala (Finland), Jesus Lau (México), Doriana Loof (Sweden), Marina Zaluzhskaya (Russia).
Observers: Vilma G. Anday (Philippines), Ekaterina Zaitseva (Russia), Cristobal Pasadas (Spain) and, Angie Timbangcaya (Philippines).

Approval of Minutes

They were approved with the amendment of Teodora Oker-Blom as being standing committee member, instead of an observer in the previous year's meeting.

Financial Statement

All the budget was spent in administrative expenses by Marty Kesselman and the printing of the newsletter and the flyers in English and Spanish by Jesus Lau. The written report will be prepared by Marty after the meeting.

Bangkok Program

The Open Session, "Integrating Information Skills Into a Changing Curriculum", on Tuesday, August 24, 15:30-17:50, had a great attendance. There were 160 people, and chairs had to be brought into the room to accommodate the growing attendance during the meeting. The papers and the presentations were good. The works delivered were:

Search Strategies for Information Resources on the Internet (Chaim Zins, Univ. of Haifa, Israel).
Information Skills for Life-Long Learning (Jesus Lau and Jose Cortes, University Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez, Juarez, Mexico).
Teaching the Teachers; Experience with Teaching a Course in User Education (Evelyn Daniel, University of North Carolina, USA).
A Study of Undergraduate Information Literacy and Skills: The Inclusion of Information Literacy and Skills in the Undergraduate Curriculum (Mark Hepworth, Loughborough University, UK)

The Joint Workshop and Tour held in conjunction with the Section on Science and Technology Libraries "New Directions in User Education" was held in King Mongkut's Institute of Technology, North Bangkok on August 26. It was attended by 25 librarians, who had to register in advance. The program offered a good hands on experience. Our hosts did their best in providing the facilities and an abundant Thai buffet. The program included:

Welcome by the President of KMITNB Dr. Thanakorn Kiatbunloe, Library Director: User education at KMITNB
Short break for refreshment, Participants could test the university's user education program on computers on site under the guidance and help from Mr. Jeerapol Kumkiam, Programmer
Break for lunch
Martin Kesselman (on behalf of Tess Tobin): Good Design Features for Web-Based Instruction
Patricia Yocum: User Education at Shapiro Science Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
INTO INFO - the EDUCATE (End User Courses in information Access through communication TEchnology) project of European Universities, sponsored by the European Union.

Elections

Jesus Lau was elected Chair; Doriana Loof, Secretary and Information Officer; and Martha Castro, Treasurer. EC MEMBERS. Eva Trotzig stepped down from the Executive Committee, and Doriana Loof was elected to replace her. The members attending the meeting accepted to continue in the committee, the rest will be asked to confirm. Recognition was given to Marty for his work as chair during the past two years.

Medium Term Program

The action plan was revised to include "Tracking new developments of web-based instruction", which replaces the related project of the previous Plan. The second activity proposed was "Identification of web instruction sites in various IFLA languages". The second activity was proposed by Cristobal Pasadas, Secretary of the University Libraries Section, and he will take it as a possible joint project with his Section. The new draft to be sent to all EC members to discuss is as follows:

To organize an open session on applications of multimedia in user education materials, and a workshop on training the information user for the global library of the future in the 2000 IFLA Conference.
To organize an open session and a workshop in the 2001 Conference on information needs across space and time of learners, and discuss international guidelines for user education across continents.
Disseminate information on user education activities via the newsletter.
Evaluate and update the Directory of User Education Experts.
Encourage other institutions to work on the topic of user education, i.e. conferences, workshops, etc.
To keep track of new developments on evaluation criteria for web pages on library instruction.
Update the information brochure and have it translated into the IFLA official languages.

Project Report

The Chair reported the progress achieved by Tess Tobin, Rutgers University Libraries, New Jersey, on the research topic "The Evaluation of Web-Based Library Instruction Programs". This paper reviewed guidelines for web-based instruction and provides a framework for libraries worldwide in designing web-based instructional programs. The results of the IFLA Study includes a detailed examination of these criteria while highlighting worldwide library websites that demonstrate effective use of these design features. The project also reviewed the library use of new web-based courseware products now on the market such as WebCT. The full project report and Power Point presentation (part of this year's co-sponsored workshop) will be made available on IFLANET after the Bangkok conference. Marty Kesselman will be in charge of it.

Literacy Working Group, Final Report

On Monday, August 23 at 14:00 at BITEC conference center, Room 218, the IFLA Literacy Working Group will be hosting a review of its findings and recommendations with all interested IFLA participants. The Literacy WG has been active since 1996 when it was charged by the PB to propose a policy and specific course of action by IFLA, over the long term, to support the promotion of literacy, and the development of reading skills through libraries. The WG has completed a worldwide survey which for the first time examines the roles libraries and library associations play with literacy promotion. The review session provides an opportunity to discuss the recommendations first hand with the Chair (Irene Sever, University of Haifa), the secretary (Martin Kesselman, Rutgers University) and the consultant for the project (Dennis Blyth, Motive Research, USA). The Working Group will also be hosting a poster session on the survey on Tuesday and Wednesday of the conference. The availability of the final report will be announced on the user_ed mailing list after the conference.

Jerusalem 2000

The topic will be "Multimedia for User Education" and it will shared on a joint program with the Round Table on Audiovisual and Multimedia.

Brochure

The brochure was printed in English and Spanish during 1998 by Jesus Lau. Three hundred copies in each language were distributed during the Bangkok conference.

Report from the CB on Education and Research

First EC meeting. The Chair, Marty Kesselman, gave information of the first EC of Division VII on Education and Research meeting, where UE-RT is part.

A new handbook for new officers will be released after the conference,
The Arab and Israeli political issue was discussed, IFLA urged to involve both parties in meetings,
Division VIII may disappear, therefore, IFLA requests involvement of developing countries' members in all sections and round tables,
Budget for sections and round tables will be increased, and
SC Members can be included in the Division's discussion list, it was approved the SC of the RT. Doriana Loof will submit them.

Second EC of Division VII

The RT did not submit any project,
The use of the Division discussion list was urged,
Treasurers will be recognized as officers,
The Action Plan and Financial Forms should be send to the Division by October 1st. The RT chair will be an official observer of the Section for Education and Research, this means to receive communications but no need to attend the meetings.

Other Matters

Topics discussed during the RT EC meeting and some other business conducted during different personal meetings of the officers were:

Paulette Bernhard requested to avoid overlap with meetings and sessions of School Libraries Section.
Marty Kesselman placed an ad on the IFLA Newsletter requesting members for the EC.
The RT will remain as a roundtable, because it provides a more flexible structure.
It was agreed to request to the EC of Division VII to discuss at the PB level, the possibility of having a second EC for the RT. The answer was that the RT EC could program a second meeting and announce in the Newsletter during the Conference.
RT History. Oili Kokkonen and Sinika Koskiala will compile the history of the Round Table: chairs, SC members, meetings, origins, etc.
Marina Zaluzhskaya will translate the brochure into Russian and Paulette Bernhard will do it into French. Doriana Loof will be in charge of printing.
The RT officers attended the training session for new officers organized by IFLA.
The session and workshop topics for the Boston IFLA Conference, 2001, was included in the Action Plan. It will be discussed with the EC.
The RT will endorse the Second National Meeting on User Education from Mexico. It will also support the meeting, Marty Kesselman will deliver a paper at the meeting.

Respectfully Submitted

Jesus Lau, (Secretary and Chair-Elect, IFLA Conference '99)

Latest Revision: November 3, 1999