September 9, 2003 Meeting of User Education Committee

Time and Location of Meeting

September 9, 200310:00 am - 11:00 am Library 428

Agenda Details

Agenda

Agenda not yet available.

Minutes Details

Attendees

Members Present: Lisa Hinchliffe (ex officio) – Chair, Joe Straw (ex officio), Greg Youngen (05), Phill Johnson (05), Lynn Wiley (05), Cindy Shirkey (ex officio)

Members Absent: Allison Sutton (04), Jing Lao

Additional Attendees: Ely Anderson (User Education GA)

Minutes

1. Welcome, Introductions, and Charge

Lisa introduced the newest members of the committee and gave an overview of previous committee work as well as an introduction to committee membership and the committee charge.

2. Housekeeping

The committee discussed the possibility of a new meeting time. Lisa will gather schedules and inform the group of the new meeting time.

Cindy and Joe volunteered to become the User Education Committee liaisons to the ISCC Training Committee and the Public Interface Team (PIT), respectfully.

3. Status Updates

Ethnography of the University – This group’s goal is to improve student research skills in certain entry-level courses in composition and anthropology. Joe Straw and a team of librarians have developed a website that contains information specific to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, including history, architecture, minorities, landscaping, and finances. This site can be found athttp://door.library.uiuc.edu/rex/instruction/eotuproject/; however, it is still under construction.

Instruction Statistics

The web-based forms are nearly ready for use. After a library unit has entered its statistics, a web-based interface will be available to create brief instructional reports. The Committee will be updated on further progress.

Online Tour of Undergraduate and Main Libraries

Joe and Cindy are working together to develop a virtual tour of the Undergraduate and Main Libraries.

E*vents Software

Lisa reported that the software has been working well and its users are very happy with its performance.

4. Mortenson Lecturer

Jesus Lau, chair of the IFLA Information Literacy division, will be speaking to library staff from 10:00-11:00 and to campus faculty from 11:00-12:00 on September 22, 2003.

Lau is also scheduled to give a public lecture from 4:00-5:00 on September 23, 2003 in the GSLIS Auditorium.

5. Request for Comment

SilverPlatter Interface (Wendy Shelbourne)

Acquisitions is asking the User Education Committee to comment on the general databases and database interfaces from an information literacy perspective. Lisa suggests that the Committee create a general set of principles that could be used in making interface decisions. The Committee agreed and began discussing general interface principles which potentially could include:

  • Fewer interfaces are best, but disciplinary groupings also have to be kept in mind
  • Levels of optimum timing (i.e. when should one consider switching interfaces)
  • Interfaces that don’t operate using Java Script
  • User-friendly interface
  • Interfaces should be browser independent
  • Maximize the number of simultaneous users that may use a particular database
  • Negotiate for additional access for instruction sessions

User Education Lunches

The Committee discussed the future of the User Education Lunches. The group agreed that the development of teaching/learning communities would be more appropriate for the Library. These groups would be formed based on academic/teaching interests. The Committee will discuss more possibilities at a later time. The User Education luncheons will be discontinued.

Respectfully submitted,
Ely Anderson
User Education GA