Teaching the Internet to Library Staff and Users: 11 Ready‐to‐Run Workshops that Work (1st ed.)

Citation

Meaden, K. (2001), "Teaching the Internet to Library Staff and Users: 11 Ready‐to‐Run Workshops that Work (1st ed.)", New Library World, Vol. 102 No. 1/2, pp. 68-72. https://doi.org/10.1108/nlw.2001.102.1_2.68.2

With the ubiquity of the Internet, increasing numbers of people are being drawn towards it in their attempts to find information. For those without access from home, the public library is the first port of call and the workshops contained in this text are intended to equip staff with the knowledge and confidence to satisfy diverse customer needs. Designed for training both parties, the issues covered include a basic introduction to the medium and effective searching skills, in addition to specific modules relating to the areas of books and literature, university and college information and business sources on the Web. Three workshops are dedicated to HTML web authoring skills and another three are designed to inform trainers on current presentation principles and practice.

As can be ascertained from the above list, the sessions are highly biased towards educating staff in these areas, and it is improbable that public libraries could provide formal training sessions for their users due to the range of individual needs that would have to be encompassed. Potentially, the workshops would be of greater relevance to training co‐ordinators in libraries within other sectors, particularly those that emphasise group user education. The disparate selection of topic areas is intended to widen the scope and applicability of the text but as only certain sections may be relevant to each sector it would have benefited from a tailored approach.

This point aside, the excellent structure of each workshop offers clear, carefully planned guidelines for both trainer and participants. Additionally, the latter will find the content invaluable due to balance between substantiveness and comprehensibility. The focus on audience participation and activity, with the provision of ready‐to‐run exercises to ensure learning is reinforced, significantly highlights the motivation of the text and increases its usefulness. To orientate the trainer, the crucial “Who?”, “What?”, “Where?”, “When?” and “Why?” questions relating to each workshop are posed at the beginning of each section, followed by a list of preparatory actions. A detailed agenda/timetable is supplied as is a full sample script to convey express content and context. Each section ends with appropriate handouts.

The directive approach of the text is ideal for inexperienced trainers who require additional support to boost their confidence. However, there is a danger that following the scripts too closely (particularly in light of the American presentation) may result in the trainer appearing false because the style does not suit his/her own personality. In contrast, more experienced trainers could be frustrated by the highly structured nature of the workshops. However, they can be easily adapted to meet specific customer requirements and the structures or the handouts can be utilised in the production of other training sessions. Everyone can use the text to their benefit in some way.

The workshops appear to be intended for trainers who already have a sound Internet proficiency as the author assumes the trainer has a level of knowledge beyond the level of the book itself. However, the further reading/resources listed in the handouts for each section could be utilised in order to “plug the gaps”.

William D. Hollands offers a valuable set of customisable workshops of great use to both trainer and customer. Whilst it is appropriate to all sectors, it will be of greatest relevance to large libraries in which Internet searching, HTML expertise and customer education are key features of the service.