Would ask if anyone can also offer suggestions to Avril if they could email
directly
Thanks
Ian Everall,
Corporate ICT Services Manager,
Centurion House,
T.P. Riley School,
Lichfield Road,
Bloxwich, Walsall,
WS3 3LU
Tel: (01922) 473642
Fax: (01922) 476724
-----Original Message-----
From: Field-Taylor, Avril
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 15 August 2001 14:45
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: User empowerment
Ian
I was looking for something completely different on the net, but came across
your name in connection with encouraging users in the public library sector
to keep up with the information explosion. I was cheered by the one user in
his/her fifties who felt that this was an enormous leap forward.
I run the Healthcare library for Reckitt Benckiser in Hull - it used to be
Reckitt & Colman - and I have spent the last three years attempting to
persuade my users that, for basic information at least, they would be far
better off if I trained them to look for it themselves. I built a homepage
interface to the company internet connection, split into subjects, with
shortcuts to pages relevant to their subject. I have found, like the TAPin
model that people far preferred to have one-to-one tutorials than a mass
presentation. However, I have only managed to convert a small number of the
users to this. The vast majority still feel that searching is what I get
paid for, and they get paid to do their jobs.
I haven't quite given up on the user empowerment idea, but have you any
suggestions as to what else I could try to convert my users - they are
mostly scientists, a large number of whom have PhD qualifications.
Thanks and regards
Avril Field-Taylor
Health & Personal Care R&D Library
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