Libraries and IT : working papers of the Information Technology Sub-committee of the HEFCs' Libraries Review.

  • Great Britain. Higher Education Funding Council. Information Technology Sub-committee.
Date:
1993
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Libraries and IT : working papers of the Information Technology Sub-committee of the HEFCs' Libraries Review. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    postgraduates; and at Aberystwyth there is a 25 hour course on basic IT literacy using DOS 5 and Windows 3.1 and Works. Beyond the introductory level, the same opportunity to cover a wide variety of IT applications applies as at the undergraduate level - with some courses serving for both groups of students. Continuing education The information from departments on continuing education is less detailed but, again, there is a discernible pattern of short courses, higher-level diplomas/Masters' degrees, and research degrees. Short course provision in this area has been affected by the increase in student numbers, increased student:staff ratios, and the difficulty of securing take-up at economic rates. There is no doubt of the ability of departments to offer continuing education in the area of IT applications provided that they are properly resourced to do so, but there is little evidence from the field that organizations are willing to pay the kind of fees that would allow more courses to be offered and little evidence that a sufficient volume of demand exists. At UCE Birmingham, however, perhaps as a result of having the second largest population in the country, The School has offered a wide programme of short courses, aiming to work closely with local libraries... CD ROM seems to be the area where there is most interest in the profession, both in setting up CD ROM systems within the library, selecting the software and keeping up with new developments. There is a modest level of demand for more formal continuing education, with a number of advanced taught Masters' degrees available, some with a specialization in IT (as at UCL, with its MSc in Computerised systems for librarians), others of a more general kind, which allow for specialization within the programme (as at Aberystwyth and Sheffield). The take-up for part- time research degrees is also modest, but when the research deals with any aspect of IT applications to library/information systems it allow s the student to gain a considerable understanding of the chosen area. Networks All of the responding departments note an increasing use of networks in teaching - in many cases beginning with a network computer laboratory, linked to the campus network and thence to JANET, and INTERNET, and thence into Mailbase lists, LISTSERVE lists in N. America, CWIS, OPACs, BIDS, etc. LUT netes: Also heavily used is the JANET/PSS gateway to access commercial information retrieval services not available on the academic networks, including Dialog, FT-Profile, Lexis/Nexis. Access t 0 a CD-ROM network supported by the University Library is planned. UCE Birmingham reports that, ...students studying [the] Information Network module will devote considerable time to JANET, INTERNET, NISS, CWIS, Gophers/WAIS/WWW, etc. This pattern of development is repeated across the departments and can be expected to increase in significance.