1. Changing Times ALLCU 30th ANNUAL CONFERENCE Wadham College, Oxford 14-16 July, 2008 Judy Reading OULS User Education Co-ordinator Changes in learning styles: implications for user education

2. What is “user education”?

3. What do we offer here? We aim to: Ensure all our readers are given a clear and helpful introduction to the Library services as appropriate to their needs. Ensure all members of the University and its libraries are offered effective support and guidance in identifying and using appropriate information resources. Develop and promote information expertise as a general and transferable skill for students and researchers of the University at levels appropriate to their needs. see www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/trainingwww.ouls.ox.ac.uk/training

4. What is different now? Resource environment Student expectations and behaviour Researcher expectations and behaviour Library staff – up to the challenge? Environmental scan 2007

5. Sophisticated and complicated resource interfaces…

6. Our electronic resources, catalogues, indexes and full-text resources www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip

7. Our popular competitors

8. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/reppres/gg_final_keynote_11012008.pdf

9. Research suggests “In general terms, this new form of information seeking behaviour can be characterized as being horizontal, bouncing, checking and viewing in nature. Users are promiscuous, diverse and volatile…” p. 9

10. Young people Information literacy deficit may be disguised by IT facility Can they evaluate information for relevance accuracy or authority? Do they understand their information needs and develop good search strategies? Do they prefer natural language to considered key words? Do they read or just click, skim and print or copy?

11. Oxford students Are not homogeneous Prefer to find out for themselves? Find Library training and induction useful? Feel confident in locating information in their subject? Make very intelligent observations when asked for their feedback Do not necessarily understand basic things about how information is organised Gleaned from Freshers Fair survey and feedbackFreshers Fair survey at our Research Students Toolkit Event

12. www.rin.ac.uk/researchers-discovery-services

13. Academics and researchers Most researchers are using a range of resource discovery tools, selecting an appropriate tool for a specific inquiry and using a range of resources The main frustration is not with the research discovery services but accessing the material identified Generally researchers are satisfied with research discovery services but there is overlap and it can be difficult to know where to start They are largely self-taught and confident in their skills

14. www.rin.ac.uk/training-research-info

15. Key findings Many researchers are expert searchers and have adapted to new environment Some lack the skills they need Even those that feel competent may not be effective Library training is rarely integrated with institutional environment and policy

16. Our relationship is changing Are they coming into the Library any more? Do they know what we do? Do they care  Are they using quality information?

17. What do we need to do? Nurture our relationship with our readers Ensure support is online so when they try and find out for themselves the information is there Develop services which will offer the ease of use of popular services as well as quality content Make sure we know what our readers are thinking and doing

18. Developing web guides helps readers locate relevant resources from their desktopweb guides

19. www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/guides Our printed guides are in pdf, word and in many cases MP3 versions on the web

20. These database profiles have been designed for experienced researchers

21. We have developed a very popular training event for research students – but the aim is to embed information literacy in all courses

22. WISER: Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Resources www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/wiser www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/wiser Popular courses include Keeping up to date, Remote access, Electronic resources …

23. Skills training demand Reference management Critical appraisal and systematic reviews Expert overviews of relevant material One to one support for specific projects Needs to be high-quality, relevant, practical, tailored and hands-on…

24. Information literacy meets Library 2.0 / edited by Peter Godwin and Jo Parker – London : Facet, 2008 - 9781856046374

25. Oxford Podcasts http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/ http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/

26. Vere Harmsworth Library Blog

27. Future plans Revising guides Developing online tutorials Developing podcasts Improving communication with readers Embedding information literacy across the University courses…

28. Useful references See www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/services/training/librarians www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/services/training/librarians And the CILIP Information Literacy Group website at www.informationliteracy.org.ukwww.informationliteracy.org.uk Join lis-infoliteracy at www.jiscmail.ac.ukwww.jiscmail.ac.uk