Library education (Information literacy programs)

The number of students enrolled at Curtin grew from about 33 000 in 2002 to almost 46 000 in 2010, adding impetus to the Library’s moves to provide a range of information literacy programs online.

The trend to online provision of generic information literacy resources had begun in earnest in 1999 when InfoTrekk 19 was launched, along with a number of web-based subject guides covering broad discipline areas. InfoTrekkPlus followed in 2002, providing an advanced information literacy package aimed at postgraduate students and researchers.

In 2004, the suite of online products grew to include View-it tutorials, short animated presentations intended to assist clients to make effective use of the catalogue, databases, EndNote 20 and the Library website.

MP3 podcasts 21 and an online tour of Robertson Library were added to the mix in 2006, offering a new way for clients to learn about Library services and resources.22 They proved popular - the 15 or so podcasts averaged a total of around 1 000 downloads a month and the tour was accessed by over 350 people in its first three months.

Tailored face-to-face classes, often in the form of hands-on workshops in the Library training rooms, were still provided for second, third or fourth year undergraduate units at the request of academic staff while the ‘sign-up’ sessions open to all clients on journal databases, EndNote and other topics were still popular.

In the rapidly changing online environment, Library staff needed to constantly update their own skills and in 2007, a self-managed training program in web 2.0 technologies was delivered via the staff blog. Run over a seven week period, the Library 2.0 in 7 hours program familiarised staff with technologies such as blogs, wikis, tags, podcasts, etc.

To better manage and present its many online information literacy resources, the Library implemented the content management system LibGuides after thorough consideration. Launched in early 2011, the newly created LibGuides provided flexible access and convenient retrieval of resources directly relevant to clients’ needs.

LibGuides incorporated both subject specific information and generic offerings, as well as hosting the Library’s interactive tutorials. LibGuides provided an easy way for teaching staff to embed Library resources into their courses using the University’s online learning space Blackboard.

LibGuides were well received by academic staff and students and the University acknowledged the LibGuide development team as one of the finalists in the 2011 Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence and Innovation.