Browsing by Author "O'Brien, Ann"

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Open Access
Digital Library Education: Some International Course Structure Comparisons
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2007) Ma, Yongqing; O'Brien, Ann; Clegg, Warwick
Digital Library Education (DLE) is assuming increasing importance and it is clear there is a pressing need from social trends and technology for educational developments in this new and fast moving area [1, 3]. Our latest review of progress in DLE and other recent studies [1, 2] pointed out that the number of library schools offering DL education is still growing. By the end of 2006 (based on modules titles shown on-line), 28% (5/18) of all universities with accredited programmes by CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) in the UK and over 60% (34/56) of all library schools by ALA (American Library Association) in the USA and Canada are offering specific DL education. Around 40% of DLE is now either specialized independent or certificate programmes and courses, mainly in North America. However, there is currently no widely accepted formal curriculum framework for digital librarianship [2]. A major difficulty for academics in library and information science (LIS) is how to incorporate all of the DL technologies to their DLE, and no formal widely accepted framework of DLE has yet been established [1, 2, 3, 4]. It is difficult to compare full-scale independent programmes with other programmes that are more traditionally-based but which have modules on DLs [3, 4]. This and others recent studies [1, 2, 5] show there is a pressing need for educators to explore the specific question of what should be the standard framework for DLE in LIS to ensure that students and their employers – can be assured of having an adequate skill set to work confidently and productively in this area. DLE taught in a Computer Science environment benefits from an outline framework from CC2001 but no such framework has yet been promulgated from LIS based programmes [1, 2].
Open Access
Digital Library Education: Some International Course Structure Comparisons
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2007) Ma, Yongqing; O'Brien, Ann; Clegg, Warwick
Following our recent review of progress in Digital Library (DL) education [1], we present here a brief overview of current work to investigate the commonality/diversity of course structure between ten institutions outside North America which offer DL education in their library schools. The weighting of specifically DL module topic credits as a proportion of the overall course taught credits varies between 13% and 63%, and coverage of a proposed core topic set [2] is as high as 85%.
Open Access
Digital Library Education: the Current Status
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2006) Clegg, Warwick; Ma, Yongqing; O'Brien, Ann
In this paper, we review and examine the current status of digital library education and compare the range of provision with that found in earlier studies [1, 2, 3]. It is found that the number of institutions offering programmes or courses in digital library education is still increasing. About 43% of these programmes or courses are stand–alone rather than integrated with wider material. The curriculum design and focused teaching areas appear more systematic and comprehensive than in earlier studies. Over half the institutions examined in this study have posted their detailed course information on-line. Most courses offered are now based on a combination of theory and practice, and are available at different levels. There are increasing opportunities for funding for developing new initiatives in digital library education. However, since digital library education is still at an early stage, an optimized model of best practice in digital library education has not yet emerged.