Personnel Development

Engineering librarians will best use their time to teach students and faculty how to locate, evaluate, and use information. They shall focus on training individuals in information searching and use, rather than on just source location and retrieval. However, librarians will train themselves to look for opportunities to learn or enhance their learning facilitation skills.

1 Need for instructional librarian role (Goldfarb, E. K., as cited in Stripling, 1999). New pedagogical methods used in teaching STEM courses at universities require librarians to play an active part in the learning processes. Therefore, librarians ought to:

  • Take the new roles as knowledge and instructional facilitators
  • Provide essential expertise on:
  1. a) accessing information,
  2. b) selecting information resources, and
  3. c) facilitating the use of information in the learning process (Kuhltahu, as cited in Stripling, 1999)
  • Learn and teach new information formats (linear and non-linear)
  • Facilitate non-traditional or constantly changing points of access as information media and resources evolve

2 Librarians´ self-growth (Goldfarb, E. K., as cited in Stripling, 1999). Professional growth of librarians shall depend on self-learning processes and actions. Librarian shall have to:

  • Develop their own information literacy skill
  • Develop the ability to facilitate learning and to teach critical thinking and inquiry
  • Be responsible for their own learning, and their own technological skills
  • Receive constant library training, a crucial form of learning new skills and concepts
  • Participate in professional organizations, attend conferences, and purchase technical literature
  • Allow adequate time for opportunities to collaborate with peers, have/give ongoing support, and offer/receive task-related curriculum advice

3 Institutional training. The library shall provide proper training according to its means. A programme to enhance or develop teaching skills shall include the following:

  • Comprehensive training programme for the IL team, including Engineering Librarians and lecturers
  • The programme shall be divided into separate sessions for basic, medium and advanced training
  • Suggested timeframe for workshops and courses that take place over more than one year
  • Include at least four types of courses: pedagogical, technological, self-management, and information-related competencies:
  • The pedagogical component of the programme shall include topics on how to create a course, instructional design, assessment and evaluation, class communication, conflict and group management, among other basic teaching skills;
  • The technological training shall include courses on office software, course management, web software design, reference management, and equipment management;
  • Under self-management, the programme must include time management, planning, motivational workshops, and general management;
  • The information-related training shall make librarians proficient in the tools and information resources available in the library as well as on the Internet, including search engines, databases, and electronic publications, among other information content available within or outside of the library.

4 Distance learning and e-learning. The task of facilitating IL to several groups of learners is more easily attained when distance and e-learning are used. This shall be a solution to the limited number of librarians currently experienced at the Engineering Library. Engineering librarians shall master new education and training modalities that employ networks, and especially the Internet, as virtual classrooms, instead of traditional physical classrooms. Engineering Librarians shall interact with their students online, such that the student may complete his/ her research and assignments from home, the office, or anywhere there is access to a computer and telecommunications networks, and similarly the librarian may undertake his/her tutorial work wherever there is access to a computer.