www.nlib.ee

Developing information literacy of usersin the National Library of Estonia

Hela OjasaarDeputy of the Head of the Research and

Development Center National Library of Estonia

www.nlib.ee

National Library of Estonia (NLE)

• Established on December 21, 1918.• The National Library carries out the tasks of

the national library, parliamentary library and research library of humanities and social sciences according to National Library of Estonia Act in accordance with described tasks in classifications of these library types passed in UNESCO, IFLA, ISO and in other international organisations.

www.nlib.ee

Main reader groups according to the service quality assessment survey

students, postgraduate

s48%

civil servants5%

researches, lecturers

7%

specialists14%

high schoolers

10%

others8%

creative people

8%

www.nlib.ee

User training at the National Library

• User training is a teaching activity and also an essential library service which objectives are – to achieve awareness of the Library’s services

and their active use,– to develop the user’s knowledge and abilities

to find, select and use information in the traditional and electronic library environment.

www.nlib.ee

User training program

• Elementary training– Module 1 Basics of information seeking– Module 2 Electronic library

• Advanced training– Module 3 Subject information courses– Module 4 Special courses according to the

requirements of those who order the training

www.nlib.ee

Basics of information seeking

• The objective of the module is to learn users to determine their information needs and to know, seek, evaluate, select and use different information sources either on the Internet or library environment. As a result, the participants will also be able to select and use independently the services of NLE.

• Learner groups: current and future library users, gymnasium students beginning with 15-years of age, university student, other “beginners”

www.nlib.ee

Basics of information seeking

• Information literacy skills are best taught at the point of need and of relevance.

• Skills are taught functionally and in the context of a topic of study, incl: – history, – social sciences, – economics, – native language, – English or German, – informatics, – music history, – art history,– basics of research.

www.nlib.ee

The oldest Estonian newspaper

www.nlib.ee

Electronic library• The objective of the module is to learn users to

find, retrieve, evaluate, select and use information sources in the electronic library environment. In the result of completing this module the trainee will be able to independently use e-services – to work with catalogues and universal databases, effectively perform information retrieval, select and assess information sources and specify a relevant source for finding necessary information.

www.nlib.ee

Electronic library

• Learner groups: higher school students to researchers with research requirements;teachers; researchers and lecturers etc.

• Developing collaboration with universities and higher educational institutions

• Collaborative instruction: course-related and course-integrated training sessions

www.nlib.ee

Subject information courses

• The objective of subject information training is to provide users with knowledge and skills to perform subject information seeking, selection and use in the field of the humanities and social sciences, such as history, linguistics, literary science, art, music, theatre and film, cartography and geography, psychology, economics, politics, law, the European Union and information sciences.

www.nlib.ee

Subject information courses

• Subject teachers• Students, Master’s candidates, Doctoral

candidates• Lecturers and researchers of higher educational

and research institutions• Directors and specialists of these fields• Library and information specialists

www.nlib.ee

Subject information courses

• Learners– High expectations– Different information needs– Different level of information literacy

• Teachers– Teacher training – A good knowledge of the subject matter,

including information sources – The analysis and assessment of trainings’

feedback

www.nlib.ee

Special courses

• Special training according to the requirements of trainees enables the development of information retrieval knowledge and skills in the special subject field or the use of selected information resources.

www.nlib.ee

Special courses

• Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament), Office of the President of the Republic of Estonia and state institutions

• Media enterprises• Organizations who arrange training courses• Others

www.nlib.ee

Training tips

• Instruction outside the library walls, incl visiting other libraries, schools and classrooms, training companies

• Teaching methods, incl hands-on learning techniques and demonstration

• Handouts as learning and advertising materials • Development of web-based instruction in

e-library

www.nlib.ee

The analysis and assessment of trainings feedback• Oral and written feedback

– training programme, training material– teachers– expectations, needs and skills of learners

• The results of analysis are used for– identifying the level of information competence of

learners and individual performance, – more effective use of educational methods,– chronological planning of the training,– compiling training material,– developing pedagogical skills of teachers.

www.nlib.ee

www.nlib.ee

Library user training and marketing

• FourPs and user training– User training as a service– User training and a price– User training and promotion– User training as place

www.nlib.ee

User training plays an important role in...

• developing the library/librarian-user relation• communication of the library’s information

and/or knowledge to the users• strengthening the image of the library

www.nlib.ee

Collaboration = Shared Responsibility = Greater Success