Information Science Training Research Articles

Library Professionology in Masters of Library and Information Science Training: Methodological Approaches to the Development of the Thematic Structure

The article deals with current issues of theory and methodology of library and information education. Its purpose is to substantiate the expediency of forming the thematic structure of the course “Library Professionology”, based on generalization of scientific ideas about the subject of library professionology as the library science discipline. The publication analyzes the methodological approaches of specialists from the leading universities of culture (Moscow State Institute of Culture, Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, East-Siberian State Institute of Culture) to the construction of the content of one of the special academic disciplines – “Library Professionology”, – which is included in the curriculum for training Masters of Library and Information Activity.The author proposes one of the variants of the structural and logical model of the course “Library Professionology” – the complex theoretical and applied discipline that covers a wide range of problems related to the place and role of the library profession in the society. Mastering the essence and content of the library professionology by the Master students necessitates the acquisition of various professional competencies, with the general pedagogical competencies being the most significant among them. For this reason, the central place in the course should belong to the study of issues related to professional education – from history to current problems of organizing the library professionals training, content, methods and forms of training at the present stage.

Artificial Intelligence as an Actual Trend of Information Science Training Content in Terms of Digitalization

Artificial Intelligence as an Actual Trend of Information Science Training Content in Terms of Digitalization

Learners’ and employers’ feedback on Library and Information Science training program, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City

Updating training program to meet practical requirements is one of the important tasks of educational institutions. A study accordingly was conducted to find out employers’ and learners’ feedback to the Library and Information Science training program, Faculty of Library and Information Science, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City. The study employs a survey research method through the use of questionnaires for 38 fourth-year Library and Information Science students, combined with the results from questionnaires and group interviews with 15 employers who are working in libraries and information centres in Ho Chi Minh City. Research results show that there is a consensus among employers and students on the training program. They provided positive feedback on the program. The study also found differences in opinions between employers and students. Despite positive feedback, changes to the curriculum objectives, learning outcomes, curriculum framework, and subject content still need to be made to ensure the practicality of the program. The study also helps to draw some experiences for future surveys.

A Google Sheet Add-on for Biodiversity Data Standardization and Sharing

For those biologists and biodiversity data managers who are unfamiliar with information science data practices of data standardization, the use of complex software to assist in the creation of standardized datasets can be a barrier to sharing data. Since the ratification of the Darwin Core Standard (DwC) (Darwin Core Task Group 2009) by the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) in 2009, many datasets have been published and shared through a variety of data portals. In the early stages of biodiversity data sharing, the protocol Distributed Generic Information Retrieval (DiGIR), progenitor of DwC, and later the protocols BioCASe and TDWG Access Protocol for Information Retrieval (TAPIR) (De Giovanni et al. 2010) were introduced for discovery, search and retrieval of distributed data, simplifying data exchange between information systems. Although these protocols are still in use, they are known to be inefficient for transferring large amounts of data (GBIF 2017). Because of that, in 2011 the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) introduced the Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which allows more efficient data transfer, and has become the preferred format for publishing data in the GBIF network. DwC-A is a structured collection of text files, which makes use of the DwC terms to produce a single, self-contained dataset. Many tools for assisting data sharing using DwC-A have been introduced, such as the Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) (Robertson et al. 2014), the Darwin Core Archive Assistant (GBIF 2010) and the Darwin Core Archive Validator. Despite promoting and facilitating data sharing, many users have difficulties using such tools, mainly because of the lack of training in information science in the biodiversity curriculum (Convention on Biological Diversiity 2012, Enke et al. 2012). However, most users are very familiar with spreadsheets to store and organize their data, but the adoption of the available solutions requires data transformation and training in information science and more specifically, biodiversity informatics. For an example of how spreadsheets can simplify data sharing see Stoev et al. (2016). In order to provide a more "familiar" approach to data sharing using DwC-A, we introduce a new tool as a Google Sheet Add-on. The Add-on, called Darwin Core Archive Assistant Add-on can be installed in the user's Google Account from the G Suite MarketPlace and used in conjunction with the Google Sheets application. The Add-on assists the mapping of spreadsheet columns/fields to DwC terms (Fig. 1), similar to IPT, but with the advantage that it does not require the user to export the spreadsheet and import it into another software. Additionally, the Add-on facilitates the creation of a star schema in accordance with DwC-A, by the definition of a "CORE_ID" (e.g. occurrenceID, eventID, taxonID) field between sheets of a document (Fig. 2). The Add-on also provides an Ecological Metadata Language (EML) (Jones et al. 2019) editor (Fig. 3) with minimal fields to be filled in (i.e., mandatory fields required by IPT), and helps users to generate and share DwC-Archives stored in the user's Google Drive, which can be downloaded as a DwC-A or automatically uploaded to another public storage resource like a user's Zenodo Account (Fig. 4). We expect that the Google Sheet Add-on introduced here, in conjunction with IPT, will promote biodiversity data sharing in a standardized format, as it requires minimal training and simplifies the process of data sharing from the user's perspective, mainly for those users not familiar with IPT, but that historically have worked with spreadsheets. Although the DwC-A generated by the add-on still needs to be published using IPT, it does provide a simpler interface (i.e., spreadsheet) for mapping data sets to DwC than IPT. Even though the IPT includes many more features than the Darwin Core Assistant Add-on, we expect that the Add-on can be a "starting point" for users unfamiliar with biodiversity informatics before they move on to more advanced data publishing tools. On the other hand, Zenodo integration allows users to share and cite their standardized data sets without publishing them via IPT, which can be useful for users without access to an IPT installation. Additionally, we are working on new features and future releases will include the automatic generation of Global Unique Identifiers for shared records, the possibility of adding additional data standards and DwC extensions, integration with GBIF REST API and with IPT REST API.

Health Libraries and Information Services in Tanzania: A Strategic Assessment

BackgroundThe intention of the Government of Tanzania is to establish more health information resource canters in all health facilities. With this regard, health information science personnel are needed to provide adequate and accurate health information services. However, availability of these personnel remains to be a challenge because of their non-existence. ObjectiveTo identify the current status and local impact of health sciences libraries and user perception of these libraries, as a prerequisite to the development of a competence-based curriculum for health information science training in Tanzania. MethodsA needs assessment was carried out using a convenience sample of local respondents, including librarians, trainers, academicians, students, health care providers, and patients and families, drawn from national, referral, regional, district hospitals, health training institutions, and universities from both government and nongovernment entities in Tanzania. A focus group approach was used to gather data from respondents. ResultsResults from this assessment revealed that health science libraries in Tanzania are faced with the challenges of insufficient infrastructure, old technology, limited facilities and furniture, inadequate and incompetent library staff, lack of health sciences librarians, outdated and insufficient resources, and low knowledge and use of information technologies by library clients. Most respondents would prefer to have both physical and electronic libraries, as well as librarians with specialized health information science skills, to cope with changing nature of the medical field. ConclusionsThe findings obtained from this assessment are strong enough to guide the development of a curriculum and training strategy and an operational plan and training packages for health information professionals. The development of a training curriculum for health information science professionals will mean better health information service delivery for Tanzania.

Shaping opportunities for the new health sciences librarian

Shaping opportunities for the new health sciences librarian

Short-term Library and Information Science Training Courses in India

Short-term courses have been the pre-cursor to the LIS education programmes. However, after the educational programmes came into being, the short-term LIS programmes stopped and not many of these were conducted during the 1960s and 1970s. With the advent of information technologies in Indian libraries in the late 1980s, the short-term courses have made a slow but steady comeback. The recent years have seen the strong resurgence of short-term LIS training courses in India with new players joining the LIS training bandwagon. However, these courses in India have not been a subject of exclusive study. The study traces the history, growth, and current status of short-term LIS courses in India.

English

English

2006 Award of Merit acceptance speech

2006 Award of Merit acceptance speech

教育サービスの新展開 情報科学の図書館における実習

教育サービスの新展開 情報科学の図書館における実習

Survey of practical training in information science

AbstractThis paper presents a survey of practical training being conducted in the United States. All the universities known by the authors to have programs to train information scientists and all the industrial organizations known or thought to have programs for this type of training were surveyed. No qualitative assessments are made by the authors. Rather, quantitative results of the survey are presented on various program characteristics. Tables 1 & 2 summarize certain facts about the programs of the organizations.