Use of EPIC by teachers in a New Zealand secondary school

Abstract

This is a study of the use teachers in a New Zealand secondary school are making of EPIC1, the collection of databases the New Zealand Ministry of Education has made available to New Zealand schools. Schools are not currently required to pay for this product, but provision by the Ministry of Education is also not guaranteed in the future. The researcher works as a school librarian and was interested in finding out how much teachers knew about EPIC and what use they were making of it. From a librarian's point-of-view, EPIC appeared to be a wonderful resource, but observation of teachers' behaviour in the library with regard to electronic resources indicated that they did not share this enthusiasm. The researcher interviewed ten teachers at one secondary school to gain insights into their perceptions of EPIC and ways in which school librarians might be better able to assist teachers in using electronic databases. Analysis of the interviews confirmed observations that many teachers are not fully exploiting EPIC and that many of them would require more assistance from library staff to do so. Librarians could assist with introductions to the electronic databases available in EPIC, their content, and how to search them for relevant information. Schools could assist with better provision of computer hardware resources and by providing time for teachers to familiarise themselves with databases. It is the opinion of the researcher, based on the data collected, that it would be desirable at present for the Ministry of Education to continue funding EPIC for schools, and that further research should be undertaken in around five years time to confirm that use and