Proceedings ACURIL 2015 Suriname by ACURIL

COLLABORATIVE CONTINUING EDUCATION: LEARN, ACT AND INSPIRE Professional and Personal Development Opportunities For Lifelong Learning in Libraries, Archives and Museums in the Caribbean

Proceedings of the XLV ACURIL Conference Paramaribo, 7 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 11 June, 2015

Compiled by: Jane W.F. Smith and Margo Groenewoud

Paramaribo, May 2016

Foreword The 45th Conference of the Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL) was held from June 7-11, 2015 in Paramaribo, Suriname. This annual conference offers information professionals from the English, Dutch, French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean ample opportunity to share personal and professional experiences. The conference theme was â&#x20AC;&#x153;Collaborative Continuing Education: Learn, Act and Inspire Professional and Personal Development Opportunities for Lifelong Learning in Libraries, Archives and Museums in the Caribbeanâ&#x20AC;?. The choice for this theme evolved out of the inevitability for information professionals to keep up with developments in the field of information services, mainly due to the rapid changes of the information and communication technology field. The challenge is continuing education, continuously increasing our knowledge, competences and improve our performance. Continuing education is more than updating old skills and learning new ones. This life-long learning process, of learning new skills needs continuous personal development, which includes improvement of self-awareness and self-knowledge, development of our talents, and enrichment of our spirituality. Without the development of oneself it is impossible to help develop others. Improving oneself and developing others go hand in hand with personal development and it is a field of practice and research. The conference theme was elaborated in three sub-themes: 1. Assessing and Identifying Professional and Personal Learning Needs and Opportunities 2. Collaborative Learning for All: Developing and Implementing a Professional/Personal Learning Plan 3. Evaluating Learning Outcomes and Search for New Opportunities of Continuous Learning and Performance A total of hundred and fifty three (153) participants from twenty one (21) countries the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe were present at the conference. The theme was elaborated in fourteen (14) presentations, three (03) keynote speeches, five (05) workshops and seven (07) posters sessions. There were seventeen (17) Exhibitors in the ACURIL Exhibition. The seven (07) Special Interest Groups met twice and the Content Area Roundtables had one meeting each. Worth mentioning are the dedication of seven (07) cultural icons from Suriname, 03 librarians, one painter, one musician, one writer and one historian during the opening ceremony and a well-kept secret, a homage to dr. Luisa Vigo-Cepeda, ACURIL executive secretary, for her hard work and dedication for the organization. iii

This document contains chronologically besides the presentations (paper, poster and workshops) also the speeches at the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony. The presentations include abstracts, paper and/or Power Point slides. The speeches at the opening ceremony are the welcome address from Jane Smith, ACURIL President 2014-2015 and the vote of thanks (Stella PollackLeeflang, Conference Coordinator). Also included are the closing remarks from the outgoing ACURIL President, Jane Smith and the maiden speech from Elizabeth Pierre-Louise, ACURIL President 2015-2016 at the closing ceremony. We appreciate the hard work of the ACURIL 2015 Local Organizing Committee, the Programme Committee, the ACURIL Secretariat and the corps volunteers, with whom this conference would have been impracticable and impossible.

Jane W.F. Smith ACURIL President 2014-2015

Margo Groenewoud Rapporteur General ACURIL 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword

iii

Table of contents

v SUNDAY JUNE 7, 2015

Keynote Speech Opening Ceremony The Relevance of Computation for Collaborative Learning in the Global South : a perspective from Social Sciences Dr. Betty Sedoc-Dahlberg (Suriname)

MONDAY JUNE 8, 2015 The persona of the professional in international perspective. Dr. Marian Koren (The Netherlands)

New Pathways to Learning: A Toolkit for Enhancing Professional and Personal Development Cheryl Peltier-Davis, Kumaree Ramtahal and Niala Dwarika-Bhagat (Trinidad and Tobago)

New Pathways to Collaboration, Learning and Staff Development : A Case Study of UWISpace, The University of the West Indies Institutional Repository for Research and Scholarship Elmelinda Lara (Trinidad and Tobago)

Co-construire, partager, apprendre ensemble : L’expérience de la bibliothèque numérique Manioc / Building together, sharing and learning together : The experience of the Digital library Manioc. Anne Pajard (Martinique)

Working together to promote reading in the Dutch Caribbean! Regional cooperation between Aruba, St. Maarten and Suriname. Monique Alberts (St. Maarten) and Astrid Britten (Aruba)

Let Us Learn and Apply the standard Resource, Description and Access (RDA) in Caribbean Libraries Ruth M. Carrión-Meléndez and Rosa Lozada-Robles (Puerto Rico)

Equal Access to Information in the Creation and Development of Digital Repositories at University Libraries in the Caribbean for Persons with Disabilities Mario Torres-Ramos (Puerto Rico)

Desarrollemos las Destrezas de Información y Tecnologías utilizando las Bibliotecas Virtuales de Salud en el Caribe/ Lets develop information and technological skills using the Health Libraries in the Caribbean Carmen Santos-Corrada (Puerto Rico)

The CARPHA EvIDeNCe Portal : supporting evidence-informed decision-making in health Ernesta Greenidge (Trinidad and Tobago)

The Dutch Caribbean Digital Platform: how building a cultural heritage platform can improve education and research in a small island developing state Margo Groenewoud and Lisette Rosini (Curaçao)

Equitable Virtual Reference Service for People with Disabilities in the Academic Caribbean Environment Jeannette Lebrón-Ramos (Puerto Rico)

Informal Virtual Reference at an Academic Library Shamin Renwick (Trinidad and Tobago)

Aspiring for higher achievements: the determination to finding pathways to professional and personal development: the reality at the University of Guyana Debra Lowe and Simmone La Rose (University of Guyana)

Working with postgraduate students at the UWI Mona library – building rapport through one-on-one support Jacqueline Howell Nash (Jamaica)

TUESDAY JUNE 9, 2015 Balancing the Pros and Cons of Collaborative LIS Education : Making Professional Career Choices Keynote speaker: Prof. Fay Durrant (Jamaica) vi

Collaborative learning in Suriname: initiatives of the National Archives of Suriname Rita S. Tjien Fooh- Hardjomohamad (Suriname)

Links and entities: The next library (meta) data revolution! Daniel Boivin, Executive Director, OCLC Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean

105

Creación y Provisión de Servicios de Información en Bibliotecas Académicas Caribeñas para Personas con Discapacidad / Creation and Provision of Information Services in Academic Libraries in the Caribbean for Persons with Disabilities. Enid Torres-Sánchez and Gretchen Carrasquillo-Ramos (Puerto Rico)

116

Capacity building through a continuous education programme: The case of the University of the West Indies Mona Library Maureen Kerr-Campbell and Frances Salmon (Jamaica)

122

Building bridges: a framework for collaboration Simone Bernard and Juneann Garnett (Guyana)

125

132

Do you know your target audience? Eric Kokke (The Netherlands)

139

WEDNESDAY, June 10, 2015 Elevate and Inspire: A New Paradigm for Librarianship in the Caribbean Keynote speaker: Eric L. Block, Leadership and Development Consultant and Founder and President of the Block International Group (BIG)

144

Bridging the chasm between policy and practice: Retooling practitioners to effectively address Digital Rights Management issues presently being faced at The University of the West Indies, Mona Library Tanya Marie Manassi, Beverley P. Lashley and Karlene Nelson (Jamaica)

152

vii

Professional Growth and Collaborative Learning through Learning Communities: An Academic Library Experiment Jiselle Maria Alleyne (Trinidad and Tobago)

162

THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2015 Collaborative Continuing Education Opportunities with the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) Brooke Wooldridge and Laurie Taylor (United States of America)

167

Teaching Medical, Nursing & Allied Health Students Using Streaming Videos and Mobile Apps. Diane Campagnes, Regional Manager, Wolters Kluwer / Ovid

169

RESOLUTIONS

179

SPEECHES Welcome address Ms. Jane W.F. Smith, ACURIL President

184

Vote of thanks Mrs. Stella M. Lettys Pollack-Leeflang, Coordinator ACURIL 2015

186

Closing Remarks Outgoing ACURIL President 2014-2015 Ms. Jane W.F. Smith

187

Maiden speech of Incoming President 2015-2016 Dr. Elizabeth Pierre-Louis

189

INDEX ALPHABETICAL ORDER PRESENTATIONS AND SPEECHES

191

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The Relevance of Computation for Collaborative Learning in the Global South : a perspective from Social Sciences Keynote Speech Opening Ceremony Dr. Betty Sedoc-Dahlberg Paramaribo, June 7th, 2015

Source: http://globalalternatives.wordress. Good evening! Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s give a special welcome to our guests from abroad. Mrs. Jannash-Van â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;t Noordende I thank you for your kind words. Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my pleasure to deliver tonight a keynote speech for ACURIL. A professional regional organization. Once more an illustration of the new epoch we entered in the past century. An epoch wherein many of our Caribbean countries obtained statehood. An epoch wherein we made a start to overcome historical boundaries dividing us by language and other different experiences. ACURILâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s major objectives demonstrate that despite the Caribbean diversity, common professional interests prevail. Your President, Jane Smith, and I agreed that I will focus tonight on the theme of the conference and include my own experience. At this evening of the official opening ceremony I will, given the time constraint and the de facto beginning of the conference tomorrow, touch relevant issues. I have prepared this presentation with these circumstantial restrictions in mind.

Let’s start. The Relevance of Computation for Collaborative Learning in the Global South. Sciences

A perspective from Social

But first Two preliminary notes: I. You may have noticed the insertion of “Computation” to the title. In this context computation simply refers to the use of computers, especially for research or study. II. Last May I attended the Philadelphia Science Fair. On the boot of the mobile library: FREE LIBRARY HOT SPOT, one could read: Transform your life! Internet access, computers, and one-on-one help. All inside and all for free. I had a one minute talk with the librarian: she asked “are you interested” and then “please come in”. I told her that I was polishing my brain while in Suriname as a 76 year old living on an old coco plantation in the outskirts of our beautiful Amazonia. And, I was certainly impressed by the dissemination of knowledge. From my observation that moment I could not tell whether she was surprised because of my age or of my location in the jungle of Suriname. Maybe both! Both variables are relevant for this talk; age with regard to collaborative continuing learning and location with regard to the geographical distance from centers of knowledge. This keynote speech is divided in three parts: I. II. III.

Connecting my own case with the theme Computation, Glocalization and Collaborative Continuing Learning Impact and Opportunities for Professionals in the Global South

Part I. Introduction in which I connect my own case with the theme Last year, in July while on my way to Buenos Aires to attend the ISA conference, in Miami, Florida, I received a mail from Jane, your president, in which she invited me to deliver the keynote speech for ACURIL That same year 2014, I for the second time after 10 years got back in the academic arena by presenting a paper on Chinafication in the Global South1 arguing that the term colonization is inappropriate to characterize China’s relationship with countries in the Global South. Since 1997, the year that my late husband had heart surgery we decided to settle in Saramacca on an old plantation. Our choice was for quality of life. From my jungle location in Saramacca, I experienced more than before the advantages of computation: communication and access to information through internet.

After my husband passed away in 2011, I decided in 2012 to return to academia. And, when I decided to focus on China it was amazing how (through Google) I could start on line to fill in gaps and get informed about current research, recently published literature and reviews, scholarly talks on YouTube. And exchanged ideas through conference calls. During these calls I was most impressed by the newly emerged methodology in social sciences, known as computation in social sciences. David Lazer et al.2 referred to: “digital traces that can be compiled into comprehensive pictures of both individual and group behavior, with the potential to transform our understanding of our lives, organizations, and societies.”…”as a field is emerging that leverages the capacity to collect and analyze data at a scale that may reveal patterns of individual and group behaviors”. Computation in the context of social sciences is a new methodology that allows the simulation of complex systems and paradigm shifts3 through the use of big data. In respect to my research on chinafication big data and data mining4 are of crucial importance to examine the impact -in terms of cooperation and conflict between foreign policy goals of local governments, implementation and compatibility with goals of (strategic) partners- on civil society and other non-state actors. A relatively new field is recognized as a crucial field and opens, because of worldwide access to internet, opportunities for scientific advancement in countries of the Global South. And this is for me the relevance and significance of the theme of this ACURIL conference: Collaborative Continuing Education: learn, act and inspire. I realized when reading the flyer of the conference that my own case can serve as an example of the theme. Indeed: to be part of the true knowledge society, it is absolutely necessary for academics and professionals to participate in trendsetting and high quality research. Computation offers the opportunity for access to information as well as collaborative learning without the necessity to be affiliated with a university or other centers of knowledge. We will not focus on academic institutions though, but on contributions that can be made by scholars and professionals to minimize the knowledge gap between the global north and global south. Part II . Computation and Collaborative Continuing Learning: interaction between the `Global North and South After finishing our studies abroad or in our home country, many of us have been occupied with our jobs and consumed by society. There was often not much time left for further study and research.

We cannot ignore circumstantial factors such as: a lack of intellectual stimulation at the work place. However a lack of personal ambition may play a role as well. The main objective of collaborative continuing learning is not a certificate but its purpose is to follow developments, trends and dynamics in the field as well as to collaborate and be part of the continuing process of exchange of ideas. In learning communities education is no longer about solo performances. Emphasis is now on teamwork. We are today all consumers of electronic technology. Internet connected devices for collaborative lifelong learning at home as well as in facilities like libraries, cyber cafés, etc. make information accessible to everyone. The library is not anymore limited to books, periodicals, newspapers and manuscripts, films, maps, prints and documents. But microforms, CD’s, cassettes, videotapes, DVD’s and more recently Blu-ray Discs, e-books, audiobooks and databases are sources available for information. Though computation opens through virtual communication like in conference calls opportunities for collaborative continuing education, it is, in my view, evident that the nature and quality of in person interaction cannot be replaced. Spaces for collaborative learning in libraries is in this century a must. In the section that follows, I will relate computation, glocalization, and collaborative learning and make some observations with regard to local value systems. Given the time constraint I will just touch on the issue.5 So far computation is emphasized since online collaboration via virtual communities is part of today’s life for ordinary conversations as well as serious collaborative learning. By its nature computation stimulates continuing learning. De facto one may raise the legitimate question whether without computation collaborative continuing learning could be optimally exercised. Advantages of computation are threefold: 1. access for all/ democratization of information: dissemination of knowledge across geographical borders; 2. the ever widening scope wherein global issues are discussed and analyzed; 3. the alignment of local and global standards. Prior to the computer age, before the 1970s, the earth was seen on the map and from space but the world we interacted with, was a smaller world: the transfer of knowledge and information was basically defined for us in the Caribbean within colonial and post-colonial settings. With the process of decolonization followed by the Cold War, collapse of the USSR and the rise of new world players, texts in our history books and borders of colonial empires in geography books have changed, as for individuals and peoples the subjective meaning of concepts like sovereignty and political referential frameworks have changed as well. Globalization and computation are preconditions for collaborative continuing learning. Because of the recognition of local values (including those in the Global South), the concept of glocalization emerged. Let’s have a closer look at globalization and make the distinction between globalization and glocalization, a term composed of globalization and localization. This term was first used by the end 1980’s and in 1997 introduced by Roland Robertson at the conference on globalization and indigenous culture.6 Globalization is a popularized, universally recognized concept. It refers to the process of international integration which arises from the interchange of world views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture.7 With collaborative continuing education exchange of ideas between professionals take place. As a consequence exchange of opinions on critical issues imply that local and global values and standards are discussed in countries of the Global South. The input of professionals of the Global South are challenged and, local values of the Global South tested in the centers of knowledge as well as initiated by Global South scholars corrections are made in centers of knowledge on validity of causalities and interpretations. Two way process! A global breakthrough in the society of knowledge: from interaction dominated by a few in the North to access to knowledge to all. The term glocalization (see Ft.5) recognizes the importance of contemporary developments in the Global South as well as local cultural values. Referring to economics it is defined as the practice of conducting 4

business according to both local and global considerations. First relevant for consumption of products from the North, now generally recognized as relevant for global integration. Glocalization emphasizes the adjustment/transformation of standards of globalization to local standards. This is in economics as relevant as in politics, social and cultural life.

Source: Galaxy Newsletter http://www.gala-global.org/galaxy/features/customer-elements-within-glocalization

Ingfocus are now local value systems in the Global South. Harmonizing of these value systems with global standards is a precondition for international integration. l

o significance of this concept –glocalization- can best be illustrated by the impact of transfer of knowledge The incthe previous century. Three periods can be distinguished: First characterized by the colonial setting and a dominant western frameworks; second by the Cold War when in the Global South East and West competed and promoted their systems; third declining influence of the US/Europe in the Global South and the rise of l China i with its foreign policy of noninterference and establishment of Confucius Institutes. In wider scope : emerging of the BRICS. z distinction in these periods is made to examine the impact of external value systems on local cultures. Therewith The a identifying, as I will illustrate, continuation of a basic characteristic. It concerns a phenomenon I labeled: t

Exocentrism i Adaptation of values (ideological as well as cultural) of the West or the East to judge or condemn the country o its citizens by ourselves. This phenomenon is characterized by domination of external values and and n subordination of value systems of non-European ethnic groups as well as non-membership of the reference group. Most scholars returning from the Netherlands after their academic studies did not reject exocentrism. They either were proponents of the West or the East. For those of you who are interested and want to know more about this phenomenon than the caricaturesque picture I just presented, I refer to an ILPES bulletin8 in which my paper “Planning in the Caribbean” dealing with exocentrism, for the ECLAC in 1979, is published. The impact in the wider society as well as in academia has been palpable and is still evident. In social sciences hypothesizing was based on theoretical frameworks were causal relations were deduct from realities existing in the West or East. Moreover methods and techniques of research were often not appropriate for a substantial support of sustainable development and planning. Causalities linked with developments abroad were in focus and not finalities in terms of means and ends linked with goal defining in planning. Though diminished, the use of standards from abroad (often western values) to judge our people and the country still exist. It is interesting to observe that in cycles different generations of scholars have identified exocentrism in the Hemispheric Global South.9 In the 1970’s and 1980’s a number of scholars rejected 5

ideological western standards but promoted [Marxist or Marxist-Leninist] socialist values (USSR or PRC oriented): again exocentrism! But with a shift from the West to the East. In my opinion external sources of inspiration should be examined and adjusted if they are conflicting with local standards in these cultural multi ethnic societies. Implementation without adjustments creates imbalances. This process of political engineering is in status of nascendi. Progress with the development of a national culture policy linked with local value systems and aligned with universal standards of globalization, has yet to be made. The future will disclose whether dependent mind sets can dominate developments and, we will enter a new epoch wherein values from new rising powers will be adopted as dominant by ourselves. A process of decline of exocentrism coinciding with harmonizing of local values and integration of global standards, will indicate whether progress is made to nationhood: in Surinamese we have the proper word â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;srefidensiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.10 Irrespective of field of specialization, collaborative continuing learning can as well contribute to sustainable development and integration of local standards in the world system by setting the good example. Collaborative learning emphasizes learning in symmetric relations and it is critical, trend setting, stimulates new ideas from multiple perspectives and test them. This new approach to problem solving and innovative, productive thinking, can give substantial support to structuring the future. Of course an encouraging, political, social environment is requested to facilitate collaborative learning. An environment where dissent is not rejected and qualified as negative like in non-democratic systems, or by authoritarian decision makers acting in a democratic framework. Indeed freedom of opinion, access to information for all requires a democratic setting! Part III. Impact and opportunities for professionals in the Global South In this 21 century, the age of globalization, the countries of the Global South (among which many ex colonies) will be the longer the more confronted with issues like (1) a change of the dominant global position of the West US and the rise of China as well as the BRICS; (2) extension of the knowledge society; (3) new centers of knowledge in the Global South. Examining ARWU/ Shanghai Ranking 2014, we may expect China to take the lead in Asia, South Africa in Africa and Brasil in South America. These centers will be connected via internet with the rest of the world. Therewith an increasing number of scholars of the Global South may participate and contribute to research.11 Collaborative learning opens the opportunity for scholars in the Global South and professionals to adjust and influence developments in their field and beyond, whereby ideas can be challenged, experiences discussed and results of evaluation studies compared. By participation in discussions on critical issues substantial contributions can be delivered by those not living in centers of knowledge. Thus contributions from thoughts of scholars representing other cultures as well as those in diaspora. Interaction may result in the finest examples of glocalization. It stimulates critical and productive thinking and requires an on-going and permanent communication between colleagues and professionals. The importance of face to face contacts for networking should not be underestimated. As such collaborative continuing education narrows the gap between the North and the South. Let us realize once more that the way we are interconnected today is the output of progress of technology.

Collaborative continuing education can contribute to integration of countries in the international environment without losing their main cultural characteristics and identity. Learn, act and inspire! Source: http://globalalternatives.wordress.com

May I end by wishing you fruitful deliberations at this conference? My hope is that this keynote speech is an encouragement for you to explore and implement objectives, individually as well as collectively: collaborative and continuing learning with pride on our cultural diversity and national identity, inspired by opportunities offered in this digital epoch we all have entered. Think critical and select issues; Frame local interests in a global setting. Thank you Keynote speech conference ACURIL. Torarica 7 juni 2015. Paramaribo, Suriname. sedocs@gmail.com

Source: http://globalalternatives.wordress.com

Footnotes 1. See: Betty Sedoc-Dahlberg . Chinafication of the Global South? web.isanet.org/Web/.../f17baf3c-1c51-4427-bf3ba377e14ce4a2.pdf Jul 11, 2014 - Betty Sedoc-‐Dahlberg. ISA Conference, Buenos Aires July 2014.

Perspectives on the Main Processes Shaping our Future World. Dick de Zeeuw Lezing 2012. The Hague, 24 April 2012. 8.

Sedoc-Dahlberg, Betty. In ILPES Bulletin 1979: Planning for the Caribbean. Paper presented for CDCC/ECLAC January 1979. [CDCC/PO/WP/78/10 Rev.1]

David Lazer et al. “Computational Social Science,” Science, Vol 323, Iss 5915 (6 February 2009): 721-723.

See: Betty Sedoc-Dahlberg. Academicians in Politics https://books.google.com/books/about/Surinam e.html?id=btzePAAACAAJ. University of Florida, 1987 - 38 pages.

See. R.M. Chang et al. Understanding the paradigm shift to computational social science in the presence of big data, Decision Support Systems (2013) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2013.08.008

10.

Srefidensi (original/creative thinking) coined by Trefosa, pseudonym for Hennie de Ziel, Surinamese poet and writer (1916-1975).

See. O’Connor, Brendon. Research Statement —Carnegie Mellon University, Nov. 2013 http://brenocon.com/research_statement_20131 1.pdf With regard to chinafication collecting data in the Global South to 1.research the relevance of the concept in analyzing China's impact in the Global South. 2.rework the data and identify specific and common characteristics/features. 3.developing a simulation model for defining policymaking in the Global South in which dynamics are closely researched. Herewith underlining the crucial importance for computation and chinafication in geopolitics. Thus illustrating that computation as a new methodology in social sciences offers the opportunity to operationalize chinafication as a modern concept to measure China’s influence in the Global South as well as to indicate whether the US’ (the West’s) influence is declining.

11.

Financial resources (governmental as well as well private sector) for universities in the Global South are insufficient. Pointedly that in the Global South, China and Cuba made progress in computation by studying algorithms for carrying out input and output transformations. In my view research on the impact of computation (the use of computers for study and research including MOOC’s [massive open online courses/EdX MIT/Harvard] and the like), in the Global South is of crucial importance for policymaking and planning in the field of education. Acronyms: ACURIL : Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries ARWU : Academic Ranking of World Universities

For this Keynote speech were 30 minutes scheduled. Given the time constraint it was impossible to deal with the several issues more into depth.

BRICS : the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa

ECLAC : Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization 7. With regard to glocalization see: “Sharma, Chanchal Kumar (2009). "Emerging Dimensions of Decentralisation Debate in the Age of Globalisation". Indian Journal of Federal Studies 19 (1): 47–65.; - Van Ginkel, Hans. World 5.0. Geo-Political and Socio-Economic

ILPES : The Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning ISA : The International Studies Association

The persona of the professional in international perspective Marian Koren Director, FOBID Netherlands Library Forum, The Netherlands Learn, act and inspire others is only possible when professionals as persons are inspired themselves. Two sources offer ample opportunities: our users and the international context in which professionals work. The modern professional situation requires that we turn the inside out, and the outside in. This means: how do we get involved with our users, in such a way that a genuine dialogue leads to mutual inspiration? How do we get to new services, tailor- made for modern users of all kinds? The other source of inspiration for professionals comes from the awareness of the international setting and context of librarianship/professionalism in general. In spite of the diversity in local circumstances, facilities, infrastructure, true professionals understand each other regardless of these outside aspects; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why they can learn from each other and find mutual and shared insights and values, which encourage their development as professionals and persons in continuing education: new forms of learning. FOBID wants to be a bridge builder and started a project for professionals of all types of libraries/information institutions, focusing on a common denominator: the users. The persona â&#x20AC;&#x201C; method included interviews with users, plotting and mapping user styles, with a surprising outcome: professionals were inspired by their users, had learned new skills, and also understood better what innovation in service would really meet the needs of users. The paper/presentation will account for this project, the persona â&#x20AC;&#x201C;approach and useful outcome, regardless of what type of information user one is serving. A new perspective, also in international context will be to develop personas of professionals: what will they look like? An outline will inspire to learn and act! Learn, act and inspire others is an excellent motto to explore new ways for professional development. It shows the process of life long learning as part of professionalism. To stress this means a step away from the past in which the professional was the only expert. Professionalism was then expressed by the attitude of knowing it all, and knowing it better than the user. To admit that we as professionals are in a constant learning process, and that we never know it all, is a paradigm shift. This change in attitude does not take place based on accepting the reality that there is too much information or knowledge to be grasped by an expert; no it comes from the understanding, that in information services it takes two to tango. The user is not a service to be rendered or a question to be answered, but a living human being, seeking his/her way through life, in working, studying, enjoying literature and reading, learning, just as the professional. Professionalism is not to leave all the human relations outside the library service/inquiry process, but instead building up on this encounter as human beings. The importance of learning, the true ability to educate oneself as a human being should never be

underestimated. It is in fact our liberty and founding human right. (Koren, 1996) So, who is the professional? This question you can only ask yourself. Because it concerns how you are related to life, to work, to serve. What does it mean to you to work in a library, in a documentation centre to a museum or to the court? What processes are taking place, what role do you play? What do you like most in this role? Why is it important to you? The status of the environment, the salary, the type of users, your skills, what is it? And then also, what is hindering you to perform better? What would you like to know better, what skills would you be happy to improve? We cannot blame others for obstacles, nor should we blame ourselves, but we can make efforts, first of all to have a clear view of who we are. Learning and professional values: Outside in and inside out That is also part of the learning process. It is not something outside you, it happens inside, and will change they way you look at things, the way you 9

perform your tasks, the attitude with which you approach, meet your users. Before we can inspire others, we have to be inspired ourselves. So, when asked about professional development, we first have to look at ourselves. That has an individual and a collective dimension. The individual one is for you personally, to look in the mirror.

in Croatia the first two were almost equally important with preservation of cultural heritage on the third place. These types of study make us realize that our profession truly is an international profession. We can travel worldwide and meet and understand our colleagues regardless of language and circumstances. This is what I call the second source of inspiration. More to be discussed in the last paragraph.

Regarding the collective dimension some studies have been undertaken. We wanted to know whether some values are shared globally, and reflected in codes of ethics. FOBID undertook an international study on the values held by information professionals, together with Croatia (Horvat, Koren, 2006) and a similar study in Norway. The research was based on international pre-surveys (Dole et al, 2000) in which intellectual freedom, preservation of the record, equality of access and information literacy were seen as primary values for librarians and information professionals. We noticed that the day to day circumstances of information professionals worldwide differ significantly, due to historical reasons and current developments in society. Yet, they are performing the same profession and have formulated codes of ethics, as listed on the IFLA /FAIFE website. Aware of a gap between the professional values stated in some new codes of ethics and the real life situations, we wanted to find out if professional values differ from state to state and if it is possible to speak of professional values as an international basis for ethical issues in librarianship.

FOBIDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Persona project in the Netherlands Turning to the first source of inspiration, the users, what do they mean to us- how can we be inspired by them? FOBID focuses as the umbrella for all national library associations in the Netherlands on both advocacy and integration of the library sector. We seek cross overs and connection, not so much in structures and authorities, but rather in common experience and joint creation of perspective, serving the interests of society, the institutes and the information specialists as well. The entire library sector is facing the need to provide adequate service in a rapidly changing world. FOBID was looking for a project in which the different types of professionals, regardless of their type of institution (public, school, higher education or university or national library) would work on a better service and recognize their common users. The point of departure was the situation in the Netherlands: the knowledge society in progress, presupposes that all citizens are information literate, also regarding their knowledge and use of new media, both in their daily life, as in the area of learning and working. Many people struggle with the implementations and impacts of those media and digital devices on their private life. They experience insecurity regarding the use of digital content for their own benefit, for the creation of new expressions and products. Time and again people do not know how they should and can protect their privacy against infringements. Libraries are the public institutions by excellence which have to guide people in the digital world, infrastructure and uses. This applies first of all to public libraries, but is equally true for academic libraries with their services to teachers, students and researchers. All these institutions are grounded on the free and unhindered access to information, to the use for own benefit of citizens in the broad sense, equally

The research comprised surveys on professional values in two countries: Croatia and the Netherlands. Data were gathered by an electronic questionnaire on library discussion lists and websites of the library association, but traditional questionnaires printed and mailed by ordinary mail were also used. The research was based on international pre-surveys. The position and responsibility of information professionals confronted with international ethical issues such as defending the interests of readers and library users in the context of upcoming anti-terrorist and security legislation, as another side of the Information Society, was also discussed. The top three for all professionals in the Netherlands was Free access to information, Service to users, 3) Information literacy, whereas 10

benefitting the society at large. Libraries can and should acknowledge their societal task in enhancing information literacy of citizens. Information professionals who daily work with digital services know the possibilities and risks as nobody else. It belongs to their professional honour to apply that knowledge in an accountable and responsible way- in an informative, warning but also creative way. At the same time, they will face in their working environment ethical limits or even seek them, for example when they are writing blogs and use other forms of digital communication.

For these interviews participating information professionals were trained by Muzus to recruit users and sensitize them in a generative interview to collect data. Planning and opening up to inspiration The project has three steps: 1. Exploration- the context of the subject together with professionals and users, based on sensitizing and generative interviews; 2) Creation of personas, based on turning the collected data, segmented according to information needs and behaviour into personas 3) Generating new chances and ideas for offers, based on the personas and views/needs of users.

Recognizing this, we set up a common project, called it The Empowered Citizen. And we asked ourselves: do we know this empowered citizen in the broad sense, our audience? How do we serve them, what are the chances and possibilities for improved services. We looked for a different way of working (together), and turned to Muzus, as they had an inspirational approach, based on empathy for and insight into the users. By sparkling visualization of the data, the information gathered on the users starts to become vivid and gives meaning to products and services.

The steps were all prepared in workshops settings with the professionals, well prepared by Muzus with sensitizing materials, instruction charts, templates for recording insights/data collected by the interviewers/reporters. Each reporter interviewed four users. They gave them the sensitizing set to perform the creative task and returned after one week for the interview, discussing the results. Trigger sets in the form of funny stickers/labels helped the users to express themselves and clarify their activities and experiences.

With the help of Muzus, this young bureau specialized in user-centred research and design; we wanted to know more about the experiences, environment and needs of users. The method used is ‘context mapping’ in order to create personas, as a base for exploring new chances for the future. Muzus had some experience with this method applied in a library context as the University of Delft was looking for a new location plan for various user groups. The core of the method is that users share their latent needs and visualize their context/environment and experiences. This sounds very abstract, but in fact users share their stories by fulfilling well prepared creative tasks such as keeping a diary, making pictures off their context in which they work and live, their rituals, daily activities, physical and digital working space, job related networks, the relation work/private life, and their future dreams.

The data collected were analyzed and shared in the group; based on the exchange of insights a matrix was formed to segment the users according to their relevant needs. The axes were defined as: people are coming to the library with a specific purpose or for serendipity; they come to get something, or to do something. These two axes are forming quadrants, which were then filled each with two personas. And they were visualized, given names and surrounded by their views, based on the various interviews. This was real cocreation, between professionals and users, among professionals, and with experts. In this way we got acquainted with eight different personas, segmented according to their library- and information needs for the entire library field. They got names as the specialized knowledge collector, the content wise educator, and the concentrated worker, to name a few. Through this visualization it is so much easier for the whole library staff to really put the user at the centre and imagine chances and ideas for the future.

The power of the research method lies in the sensitizing (self-reflection) of users, induced by attractive materials for creative tasks, and the ‘make and say’ techniques during an interview.

Each persona has so-called ‘touch points’, the moments that the citizen can or wants to come into contact with the library. How do they visit the library, what do they expect in terms of services? These touch moments are filled and given meaning in perspective of the persona, with the help of customer journeys. In this workshop session ‘visualizers’’ in the form of (graduated) design students were present to record and translate the remarks and new ideas of the professionals, into images related to the persona. The visualized output of the brainstorm on the future could thus easily be understood by all.

How could they (and you!) work with the personas? The first thing is the get to know your audience and target groups. Get acquainted, familiarize with the eight personas of library users. Define for your own organization on which groups you want to focus. Are they current or future users? Which needs are interesting to meet with your services? Do get in contact and speak with some of these visitors from the target group(s) to really get to know them. The second thing is to create chances for the future. On the basis of the personas and the insights acquired, library services can be better tailor made to the needs of the users. One way to do this is to split your library services in various steps, from the perspective of the user group, in so-called customer-journeys. How do they orient themselves before they decide to come or approach the library; what do they see when entering the library, how are they moving around, how do they seek and find, and what happens after they have left the library; which image of the library and ideas about the services do they have in mind – will they come back, when and why etc. These customer journeys are the basis for generating chances and ideas for the future: which products and services match with the users expectations and needs? Which new offers can be developed?

Lessons learned The whole project resulted in much more than the design of eight personas, with which the entire library field can innovate its services. The participating professionals experienced how their users live and work, empathy with the user is at the core of good service. This empathy leads to mutual inspiration. Suddenly the professionals realized they had much more in common with their colleagues from other types of libraries, the sometimes dividing prejudices had to be dropped. Teambuilding through mutual professional recognition was one of the remarkable outcomes. Even more so, the ease with which the personas were taken for live individuals, although they were composed of data from the entire group of interviewed users. The ‘visualization’ approach worked so well, that follow up projects were inspired by them. The National Library continued with a project to map the digital use and behaviour of users, and turned them into a layer of additional persona aspects. FOBID organized a round table for all library organization involved in user studies, marketing, and data collection, to introduce the eight personas It invited them to connect the quantitative data collected by various organizations with the eight personas, and help local libraries to have an integrated set for user approaches and data collection. Furthermore FOBID shared the materials of the eight personas on its website, distributed ‘business cards’ of the personas and invited training organizations to include an offer ‘Working with the personas'.

One wish left: personas of professionals In this FOBID project one dear wish was not yet fulfilled. What would the personas of professionals themselves look like? we asked ourselves. Because if we know what users would like to see, and have as a service, who are we professionals corresponding, responding; are we matching with the personas, and which matches are best, successful? Can we apply the method of context mapping, data collection and creating personas to ourselves? Wouldn’t that help our inspiration for better performance and professionalism, knowing what to do, how to offer and to enrich the mutual experience of users and professionals.

What would such a project look like, and could we apply it in the Caribbean library and information field? It would be a perfect project for library associations to help future oriented librarianship.

denominators: focusing on knowledge and content, or focusing on users and access; or would there be other distinctive features. Together you are a team! Some services are easier and better performed by one type of professional and others by another type of professional behaviour.

We can distinguish the following steps: 1. Exploring

And of course, we all have a mix of these features, but it could be helpful to distinguish some patterns in professional approaches, which can be visualized in personas. In this way, there is more than only Marian the librarian!

2. Creating personas of professionals 3. Future orientation: matching with the personas of users, necessary skills, new learning opportunities, creative service, and inspired work.

This exercise and exploration can be done within one library organization, or within one island, or within one region, it doesn’t matter – it will enrich every professional, as it is a learning process. That gives inspiration!

Regarding the exploration of the type of professional, it would be good to ask each other, in a mutual interview or dialogue: what kind of librarian/professional are you:

International inspiration and co creation What always has given me inspiration is the international character of our profession. Regardless of the size of your library, you are part of the worldwide network of libraries, part of the international community of library professionals. You are related to famous librarians, who lived in very different centuries, like Lao Tse and Luis Borges. You are connected to the first libraries in Mesopotamia, in Egypt, in India, and also to the newest libraries in the 21st century in Birmingham, Qatar and the Caribbean Digital Library. We are collecting, in UNESCO terms ‘works of the imagination’ and giving access to them, but we should also use imagination ourselves to enjoy the advantages of international librarianship. ACURIL is one of these opportunities to experience the richness of the profession in this region. The diversity of cultures, their histories are so intermingled, that one cannot work on preserving the heritage and giving access to it, without touching on the heritage and services of others. Instead of letting ourselves being victimized by the various regulations, due to different state systems, information professionals, librarians, conservators may co create an integrated service for the benefit of users in the entire Caribbean. There is something to offer, going far beyond the examples in the (former) home countries in Europe etc. My statement is, based on all types of research on comparative librarianship (Lor, 2008), that you can learn far more from each other than

Are you a librarian by education, by training? Are you a professional by performing your function or role, including being director? Are you a professional by talking around? Or by reading, by studying, by trying new activities…? What makes you feel a professional? And, just as we asked from our users, map the context in which you live and work: what interests do you have, how do you spend your time; what is attractive for you? What gives you inspiration? What would you like to learn? Whom would you like to meet, what would you like to do? We could make use of the materials developed by Muzus to map these aspects, and in this way gather data and insight into ourselves and colleagues. Just interviewing each other might already be a new experience, generating new insights, because you never talked about your life and professional work in this way! You might discover, you have much more in common with fellow information professionals, you never have met before. The second step would be to bring all those (inter)views together and find some common 13

from directives or examples from London, Paris, Amsterdam or Madrid. Wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a joint project such as exploring user groups and information professionals following the same method of context mapping and creating personas help to engage in this new form of professionalism? There is a lot to learn, and at the same time, it is fun: the best motivation for collaborative learning for all that is co-creation in its original meaning! Take your freedom to learn, act and inspire!

References Dole, Wanda. J.M.Hurych and W.Koehler "Values for librarians in the information age: an expanded examination", Library Management, Vol. 21, No.6, 2000, pp.285-297. Horvat, Aleksandra, Marian Koren, Professional values - an international basis for ethical issue? In: Proceedings of the 14th BOBCATS Symposium. Information, innovation, responsibility: information professional in the network society, Copenhagen: Royal School of Library and Information Science, 2006, pp. 328341. Koren, M., Tell me! The Right of the Child to Information, University of Amsterdam, 1996. Lor, P.J. (2008), Critical reflections on international librarianship, Mousaion, Vol.26, No. 1, pp.1-15. Related issues at: http://peterlor.com/international-comparativelibrarianship/ FOBID Persona project: www.fobid.nl/personas

New Pathways to Learning: A Toolkit for Enhancing Professional and Personal Development Cheryl Peltier-Davis, Kumaree Ramtahal and Niala Dwarika-Bhagat The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago Caribbean academic libraries are increasingly embedded in and challenged by their evolving environments. Against a backdrop of competitiveness among tertiary level institutions, technological changes, shifting modes of instruction, declining budgets and variance in users and their expectations, academic librarians continue to play an important role in supporting teaching, learning and research. Fortunately, the proliferation of changes is matched by an acceleration of continuous learning and professional development opportunities. Library and information science (LIS) professionals are increasingly discovering that the best results come from collaboration and finding new pathways to learning. This presentation provides an overview of the existing environment in which LIS professionals operate and some of the challenges therein. It also provides an insight into some of the professional and personal skills and competencies that are required in this technologically-driven environment. As information professionals commit to keeping abreast with the demands of the profession, there is much to be discovered through a plethora of learning opportunities available in virtual and face-to-face modes. As such, a toolkit of online resources supports this presentation. It offers pathways to free, and fee- based professional and personal development opportunities such as webinars, conferences, Listservs, professional library organizations and grants. It is hoped that this presentation will increase awareness of how Caribbean LIS professionals can embrace these learning opportunities to advance their personal and professional growth and jumpstart innovation to create dynamic library services and spaces.

New Pathways to Collaboration, Learning and Staff Development : A Case study of UWISpace, The University of the West Indies Institutional Repository for Research and Scholarship Elmelinda Lara The Alma Jordan Library, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago

Like many other academic campuses the move to establish an Institutional repository (IR) at the Alma Jordan Library (AJL), St Augustine followed on a trend started in the 1990s in response to shrinking budgets, high subscription costs and the need to take advantage of new and emerging technologies to provide access to the scholarly output of the institution. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the experiences of The Alma Jordan Libraryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pioneering efforts in establishing an Institutional repository at the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies, which now serves as a model for the University of the West Indies Campus Libraries. The development of the IR at the AJL was not without its challenges. These included evaluating and choosing suitable content management software, customization of the software, content recruitment , financing of the project, staff training, metadata, security and copyright issues, as well as marketing. These are continuous activities. With its mandate to collect, preserve, and disseminate indigenous Trinidad and Tobago information and that of the wider Caribbean, the AJL possesses a valuable collection of West Indiana materials, including, but not limited to, theses, manuscripts, rare books, maps, and special archival collections which were available for digitization. With grant support in 2002, two collections were selected for initial digitization and this process highlighted the benefits to staff in planning and implementing a digitization project and contributed to the development of capacity in this field. This was followed by increased digitization in subsequent years. In 2008, the institutional repository, now called UWI Space was established by bringing together previous digitization projects and expanded to include Faculty publications and learning objects. Notwithstanding the challenges inherent in establishing an institutional repository, opportunities were provided and continue to exist for staff continuing education and training, the acquisition of new skills and competencies, collaboration with faculty and interdepartmental cooperation, information literacy, publicity and promotion of the repository and open access, finance and income generation, legal and security issues and sustainability of the Institutional repository efforts.

Co-construire, partager, apprendre ensemble L’expérience de la bibliothèque numérique Manioc Anne Pajard Université des Antilles On présente souvent les bibliothèques numériques collaboratives comme des projets ayant comme principal intérêt la mutualisation des coûts, des infrastructures, des ressources technologiques et documentaires. Pour de petits territoires ou de petits établissements, il semble en effet difficilement concevable de réaliser des projets d’ampleur seuls et la collaboration apparaît comme une nécessité pour ceux qui souhaitent s’engager dans des projets innovants et pérennes. Au-delà des économies d’échelles réalisées, l’expérience montre que l’engagement d’un établissement dans un projet de ce type, s’il peut assurer une plus grande notoriété à l’établissement et accroître l’usage de ses collections, a également un effet direct sur le développement des compétences des personnes qui contribuent au projet. La participation à un projet collaboratif s’inscrit dans une dynamique de partage d’expérience qui stimule les membres du groupe et permet à chacun d’acquérir de nouvelles compétences et connaissances plus spontanément qu’au cours d’une formation, c’est-àdire sans s’inscrire a priori dans une démarche d’apprentissage. L’attention est motivée par l’engagement et par l’atteinte des objectifs. Dans le groupe de travail de la bibliothèque numérique Manioc, chaque personne investie dans le projet a un rôle clé en relation avec ses fonctions professionnelles et ses compétences : sélectionner les ouvrages, préparer les envois, rédiger les spécifications, réaliser les développements informatiques, renseigner les usagers, assurer la médiation numérique… La fonction légitime la participation au projet dans son ensemble et permet à chacun d’aborder le travail en groupe avec une certaine confiance, de ne pas être freiné par la peur de ne pas savoir. Chaque individu sait qu’il œuvre au succès du projet, y apporte sa contribution, en fait partie. Parallèlement, le rôle de chacun construit une expérience propre qu’il sera en mesure de partager et qui sera toujours différente de celle d’un autre membre du groupe. La fonction sert de point d’entrée mais ouvre en réalité vers tout un champ de partage des compétences professionnelles théoriques et pratiques, de connaissances culturelles, de savoirs-être favorisés par la convivialité et les liens qui se tissent entre les acteurs d’un groupe hétérogène ; ces éléments constituent un apport considérable et souvent sous-estimé, tant pour chacun des acteurs, que pour le projet dans son ensemble. Nous présenterons les modalités d’acquisition des compétences et analyserons les résultats de l’enquête anonyme adressée aux membres du groupe de travail Manioc, montrant concrètement les effets directs de la participation à une bibliothèque numérique collaborative. Mots-clés : compétences professionnelles, projets collaboratifs, bibliothèques numériques, interactions de groupe, formation informelle, bibliothécaires, professionnels de la documentation bibliothécaires connaît d’importantes mutations qui nécessitent la mise en œuvre permanente de capacités d’adaptation, de compétences sans cesse renouvelées faute de voir des services documentaires inadaptés aux besoins des lecteurs et le risque de la remise en cause de l’intérêt de la profession.

Introduction Le niveau de formation des personnels de bibliothèques a toujours été en étroite corrélation avec l’efficacité du service aux usagers et la performance des établissements documentaires. Pendant longtemps, les efforts se sont principalement concentrés sur la formation initiale, universitaire et professionnelle. Depuis quelques décennies, l’environnement des

La formation tout au long de la vie s’est parallèlement très largement développée, 26

s’appuyant sur des technologies numériques, et est devenue plus accessible, proposant ainsi une première réponse à cette problématique : formations diplômantes via des plateformes d’enseignement à distance, modules spécifiques proposés par des MOOC... Ces offres s’avèrent d’autant plus essentielles pour les bibliothécaires de la Caraïbe qui sont confrontés à des coûts de déplacements élevés et à une offre en présentiel généralement limitée.

de la bibliothèque numérique Manioc (Pajard, 2014), à partir d’une expérience d’animation de ce groupe sur une durée de six ans mais également d’une enquête anonyme qui a été adressée à chacun des partenaires en 2015. 1. Les bibliothèques numériques collaboratives : espaces multidimensionnels et co-construction des savoirs On présente souvent les bibliothèques numériques collaboratives comme des projets ayant comme principal intérêt la mutualisation des coûts, des infrastructures, des ressources technologiques et documentaires pour mettre à disposition des collections en décuplant les accès aux citoyens. Pour de petits territoires ou de petits établissements, il semble en effet difficilement concevable de réaliser des projets d’ampleur seuls et la collaboration apparaît comme une nécessité pour ceux qui souhaitent s’engager dans des projets innovants et pérennes. Il s’agit donc pour chacun des acteurs de s’investir ensemble, de coconstruire des collections pour des lecteurs et de créer des espaces communs à partir de la diversité des contextes culturels, économiques, institutionnels, des savoir-faire des uns et des autres. La base du partenariat est bien que chacun doit apporter quelque chose, qu’il s’agisse de moyens humains ou financiers. Chaque structure investie est donc partie prenante du projet commun qu’elle contribue à façonner par sa participation.

Si les modalités de formation ont parfois radicalement changé, la façon de concevoir l’acquisition des compétences dans une relation duelle apprenant-enseignant, même lorsque ces derniers sont à distance, est restée relativement constante et fait face à des processus d’autoformation ou l’individu est isolé. Pourtant, ces modèles d’apprentissage ne constituent pas les seuls moyens d’acquérir et de développer des compétences, des capacités, des savoirs et des connaissances (Marsick & Watkins, 2001). Selon certains chercheurs, 90% de l’apprentissage se ferait de façon informelle. A ce jour, les formations informelles ont été peu explorées pour les professionnels des bibliothèques et on mesure encore peu l’impact joué par l’organisation du travail, de moins en moins verticale dans les services documentaires. Nous souhaitons valoriser ici, un exemple de ces formations informelles, souvent peu explicitées, induites par des pratiques professionnelles et qui nous semblent présenter un potentiel intéressant tant pour les individus que pour les établissements. Il s’agit celles qui se développent dans le cadre de la participation à des projets collaboratifs de bibliothèques numériques qui mettent en œuvre la plasticité des compétences professionnelles (Rey, 2011). Ces façons d’apprendre, fondées sur l’échange, le partage et l’investissement du sujet autour de la coconstruction de projet présente l’avantage de bénéficier aux agents tout en ayant un effet direct sur les réalisations (Cross, 2011). Le travail proposé s’appuie sur l’analyse du groupe de travail

L’exemple de la bibliothèque numérique Manioc est particulièrement intéressant à ce titre, car, si le groupe de travail des professionnels de la documentation que nous étudierons ici, au cœur du pilotage du projet, comprend une quinzaine de personnes, plusieurs centaines de personnes, issues d’une dizaine de structures (laboratoires de recherche, associations, fondations...) contribuent d’une façon ou d’une autre à accroître le nombre de documents disponibles : enseignantschercheurs dans toutes les disciplines, informaticiens, secrétaires de laboratoire, représentants d’institutions, politiques, prestataires 27

assurant la captation vidéo... Cette bibliothèque numérique en accès ouvert est un projet atypique qui inclue en effet plusieurs volets : 



rencontrent les besoins, des usages, qui ne sont pas calqués sur les logiques organisationnelles auxquelles répondent les groupes spécifiques. Outre le travail lié à la numérisation des fonds anciens qui constituent les collections physiques de leur établissement, les bibliothécaires assurent une fonction essentielle : la médiation, transversale à l’ensemble des volets de la bibliothèque numérique, médiation entre documents et lecteurs au cœur de laquelle se trouve l’activité de description des métadonnées des documents.

la numérisation de collections anciennes (livres numérisés, archives, fonds iconographiques) et la captation contemporaine (conférences filmées et travaux d’études), collections intégrées dans un même logiciel documentaire ; l’édition numérique de revues universitaires et de bases de données spécialisées, chacune disposant de son propre environnement informatique ; un moteur de recherche fédérée qui interroge via le protocole OAI-PMH de nombreuses bibliothèques numériques et sites partenaires.

2. Projets collaboratifs : motivations, confiance et économie de l’attention Au-delà des économies d’échelles réalisées, l’expérience proposée montre que l’engagement d’un établissement dans un projet de bibliothèque numérique collaborative, s’il peut assurer une plus grande notoriété à l’établissement et accroître l’usage de ses collections, a également un effet direct sur le développement des compétences des personnes qui contribuent au projet.

Le projet, qui compte chaque année de nouveaux partenaires, n’est pas physiquement localisé en un lieu. Certains acteurs se trouvent aujourd’hui en Guyane, d’autres en Guadeloupe, en Martinique, ou en France hexagonale et il a vocation à accueillir de nouveaux partenaires issus des pays de la Caraïbe, du Plateau des Guyanes et de l’Amazonie. Il est donc difficilement envisageable que des centaines d’acteurs se retrouvent simultanément en un même lieu. Il a donc fallu mettre en place un fonctionnement qui permette de s’adapter aux configurations changeantes tout en maintenant de la continuité entre les groupes d’acteurs. Si la coordinatrice et les responsables scientifiques assurent ce lien quotidien entre les différents groupes, cette de continuité est aussi assurée par l’interface numérique qui propose l’accès unifié à l’ensemble des volets et renforce le sentiment d’appartenance à des dynamiques communes.

La participation à un projet collaboratif s’inscrit dans une dynamique de partage d’expérience qui stimule les membres du groupe et permet à chacun d’acquérir de nouvelles compétences et connaissances plus spontanément qu’au cours d’une formation, c’est-à-dire sans s’inscrire a priori dans une démarche structurée d’apprentissage, ni dans une relation spécifique apprenant-enseignant. L’attention est motivée par l’engagement et par l’atteinte des objectifs. Dans le groupe de travail de la bibliothèque numérique Manioc, chaque personne investie dans le projet a un rôle clé en relation avec ses fonctions professionnelles et ses compétences : sélectionner les ouvrages, préparer les envois pour la numérisation, rédiger les spécifications, réaliser les développements informatiques, renseigner les usagers, assurer la médiation numérique sur facebook, wikipédia ou le blog… La fonction légitime la participation au projet dans son ensemble et permet à chacun d’aborder le travail en groupe avec une certaine confiance, de ne pas

L’organisation est donc complexe et le rôle du groupe de travail qui réunit les professionnels des bibliothèques et de la documentation est central. Il est garant de ce décloisonnement qui permet que les documents et les informations proposées 28

être freiné par la peur de ne pas savoir. Le rôle de chacun construit une expérience propre qu’il sera en mesure de partager et qui sera toujours différente de celle d’un autre membre du groupe. De plus, chaque individu sait qu’il œuvre au succès du projet, y apporte sa contribution, en fait partie. La fonction sert de point d’entrée mais ouvre en réalité vers tout un champ de partage des compétences professionnelles théoriques et pratiques, de connaissances culturelles, de savoirsêtre favorisés par la convivialité et les liens qui se tissent entre les acteurs d’un groupe hétérogène ; ces éléments constituent un apport considérable et souvent sous-estimé, tant pour chacun des acteurs, que pour le projet dans son ensemble.

digressions en présentiel, la pause méridienne sera l’occasion de discussion directement liées ou non à l’activité professionnelle, qui permettront à chacun de s’intéresser à l’autre, de développer une certaine proximité, voire fréquemment familiarité. Les conditions seront réunies pour penser le devenir des projets avec davantage de liberté et de créativité souvent porteuses d’innovation. Chacun va acquérir au cours des échanges et travaux des connaissances et des compétences sans même en avoir une conscience immédiate. 3. Retour d’expérience : qu’ont appris les acteurs du projet ? Nous sommes partis de l’observation de situations concrètes du groupe de travail et des compétences que les acteurs nous semblaient acquérir au fil des années –observation nourrie de l’expérience que nous avions capitalisée dans le domaine de la formation professionnelle en présentiel et à distance — pour concevoir le questionnaire anonyme qui a été adressé à chacun des participants.

Le groupe de travail de Manioc comprend une quinzaine de personnes. Les échanges tout au long de l’année, prennent différentes formes : 



échanges collectifs par email concernent tout ce qui est relatifs aux réalisations et changements importants et sont surtout unilatéraux ; échanges interpersonnels (par email, téléphone, skype, rencontres physiques pour les acteurs situés sur les mêmes territoires).

L’observation a fait apparaître le triptyque suivant : situation (liée à l’engagement), action du sujet (en relation avec son engagement), compétences et/ou connaissances acquises.

Chaque année, pendant trois jours, les professionnels se retrouvent également physiquement pour échanger autour de bilans, d’ateliers collaboratifs, de réunions destinées à construire ensemble le devenir du projet. Ces interactions en présentiel sont essentielles et n’ont pas d’équivalent avec ce qui pourrait être organisé via des technologies telle que la visio-conférence. Elles permettent à chacun de nouer des relations avec les autres membres du groupe, relations qui auront un impact fort sur la motivation des membres mais également sur l’attention qui sera portée aux informations ensuite transmises par voie numérique par l’un ou l’autre des membres (Eraut *, 2004). L’individualisation des relations est au fondement d’une économie de l’attention que les technologies et services numériques tentent de recréer ou réinventer et qui se trouve ici capitalisée. Chacun va s’autoriser d’avantage de 29

Schéma. Exemple du processus observé : situation, actions du sujet, compétences, savoirs ou connaissances acquis. Situation •Mon établissement s'engage dans projet collaboratif de numérisation. •J'aurai un rôle dans ce projet.

Actions du sujet

Compétence (s)

•s'intéresse à la question et être attentif aux informations qui circulent •tente de comprendre les enjeux, les implications •consulte des exemples de projets similaires

•Connaissances théoriques professionnelles •Problématisation des connaissances par rapport à un objectif •Développement d'une expérience utilisateur

Voici quelques exemples de situations observées qui conduisent à l'engagement de l'individu et à l'acquisition de compétences : 



Communiquer avec des partenaires à distance >> je vais chercher à utiliser les outils nécessaires pour communiquer les informations et échanger >> Acquérir des compétences en bureautique, logiciels et outils de communication divers (email, skype, facebook), google site, interface professionnelle du site... Participer à l'analyse des usages >> je vais chercher à comprendre les outils statistiques, essayer d'interpréter les données et m'interroger sur les pratiques numériques >> Compétences outils (logiciel d'analyse statistiques comme google analytics), développement des capacités d'analyse des interfaces à partir des usages Ecouter chaque “spécialiste” présenter son travail >> je vais bénéficier de son expérience : exemple, le catalogueur explique les choix fait par le catalogue national, la procédure de traitement et



montre les notices dans un catalogue national, le reversement dans worldcat… >> Compétences théoriques formats bibliographiques et échanges de données Travailler ensemble pendant les ateliers de médiation numérique des collections >> je vais rédiger avec d'autres des articles pour valoriser les collections, nous recherchons des informations sur un personnage, un événement, un auteur, une thématique pour écrire notre article >> Développement de la culture générale et de la connaissance des collections, développement des capacités rédactionnelles. Compétence d'écriture numérique selon les dispositifs (réseaux sociaux, wikipédia) et de conception d'animations.

L'une des clés du développement des connaissances et compétences des acteurs tient probablement à l'hétérogénéité du groupe : différents parcours professionnels, origines géographique distinctes, services ou spécialités différentes, types d'usagers quotidiennement accompagnés différents1...

Il est cependant important de noter que plus des 3/4 des acteurs ont un niveau de formation supérieure relativement élevé (bac +3 ou plus), une formation professionnelle et une expérience de plus de 10 ans en

bibliothèque ce qui contribue probablement à renforcer la légitimité du groupe.

Certains ont 30 ans, d'autres 50, le groupe se compose d'hommes et de femmes, certains viennent de Guadeloupe, d'autres de Guyane ou de France hexagonale (et donc ont une culture différente), certains maîtrisent les techniques de catalogage, d'autres ont développé une connaissance approfondie des collections patrimoniales, certains sont particulièrement à l'aise avec l'environnement numérique, d'autres encore ont d'importantes capacités rédactionnelles ou sont aguerris au renseignement bibliographique... Enfin, certains sont en contact

quotidien avec des étudiants et des chercheurs alors que d'autres accueillent quotidiennement dans leur établissement des enfants, personnes âgées... Cette diversité des profils se retrouve dans les réponses à la question ou il était demandé de mentionner ses principaux atouts pour le projet. En dehors de la motivation, aucune proposition ne rassemble plus de 50% des acteurs, ce qui montre bien la disparité des compétences

. 

On peut alors supposer que le sentiment de complémentarité favorise la dynamique de groupe et l'investissement des acteurs et s'avère favorable au déroulement du projet.



Parmi les douze personnes interrogées, toutes ont considéré qu'elles avaient acquis des connaissances et/ou compétences du fait de leur participation au projet. En moyenne chaque personne considère avoir acquis entre sept et huit compétences parmi celles proposées.

  

Plus de la moitié des personnes interrogées indiquent que la participation au projet leur a permis de :



de rencontrer des professionnels et de d'échanger sur des pratiques professionnelles (75%) de découvrir des outils de travail en commun (google site, client manioc...) (75%) de partager des expériences sur les besoins des usagers et les possibilités de valorisation des collections (66.7%) d'acquérir des connaissances sur les collections Antillo-Guyanaise (66.7%) de mieux comprendre les enjeux de la numérisation (58.3%) de mieux comprendre les étapes de la numérisation (58.3%)

Les autres compétences sont toutes sélectionnées par un ou plusieurs interrogés mais de façon plus hétérogènes, ce qui montre, comme nous en faisions l'hypothèse, que chacun acquiert des compétences différentes, complémentaires, effet lié à l'hétérogénéité du groupe. On constate aussi que la participation à ce projet collaboratif a renforcé la motivation des personnes interrogées pour développer leurs compétences mais aussi rénover leurs pratiques professionnelles. On peut supposer que l'impact dépasse donc le cadre du projet collaboratif visé et que les répercussions touchent d'autres activités exercées dans l'établissement de rattachement et donc agissent sur la performance.

Enfin, onze des douze personnes interrogées pensent que la participation au projet peut avoir un effet favorable sur leur carrière professionnelle (avancement, concours...).

Conclusion L'observation réalisée de même que l'enquête auprès des acteurs du groupe de travail de la bibliothèque numérique Manioc démontre clairement que la participation à des projets collaboratifs de ce type, composés de groupes hétérogènes, peut avoir un fort impact sur le 32

développement des compétences des professionnels. Outre l'acquisition immédiate de connaissances théoriques et de savoirs-faire pratiques, l'expérience révèle la corrélation entre la participation au projet et la motivation des personnels pour s'inscrire dans une dynamique de formation tout au long de la vie et de rénovation des pratiques professionnelles au sein de leurs établissements permettant de favoriser la performance et l'innovation. Malgré les critiques de certains chercheurs face à la demande d'engagement des sujets de plus en plus croissante dans le monde professionnel (Wittorski, 2008), demande perçue comme une pression du monde du travail, on constate une perception positive à très positive de l'engagement déclarée par l'ensemble des acteurs dans le cas de notre exemple. Ces conclusions pourraient conduire les travaux critiques à interroger davantage les modalités de l'engagement et d'organisation des groupes dans le cadre professionnel plutôt que l'engagement lui-même.

Marsick, V. J., & Watkins, K. E. (2001). « Informal and Incidental Learning », New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2001(89), 25-34. doi:10.1002/ace.5 Pajard, A. (2014). « Visibilité sur le Web du patrimoine Caraïbe-Amazonie : le projet « Manioc.org » », In C. Frémaux (Ed.), Rencontres Caraïbe-Amazonie : méthodes et expériences d'inventaire du patrimoine (Ibis Rouge ed., ). Cayenne: Ibis Rouge. Rey, L. (2011). « L'étonnante plasticité des compétences professionnelles et la bibliothèque numérique », Bulletin Des Bibliothèques De France, (4). Wittorski, R. (2008). « La professionnalisation », Savoirs, 17(2), 9-36. http://www.cairn.info/revuesavoirs-2008-2-page-9.htm

Les bénéfices de ce type d’organisation, assurant le décloisonnement de services, de territoires, de compétences et favorisant le partage d’expérience, concernent probablement en premier lieu le projet lui-même en rendant possible l’émergence d’idées originales et créatives. Cependant, il nous est apparu intéressant de souligner ici les dynamiques sous-jacentes qui irriguent les individus et restent encore des pistes peu explorées pour repenser les modalités de développement personnel et professionnel dans un rapport très différent, et probablement complémentaire, de celui des dispositifs de formation. Bibliographie Cross, J. (2011). Informal learning: Rediscovering the natural pathways that inspire innovation and performance. John Wiley & Sons. Eraut, M. (2004). « Informal learning in the workplace », Studies in Continuing Education, 26(2), 247-273. doi:10.1080/158037042000225245 33

Working together to promote reading in the Dutch Caribbean! Regional cooperation between Aruba, St. Maarten and Suriname. Monique Alberts Philipsburg Jubilee Library, St. Maarten Astrid Britten Bibliotheca Nacional Aruba

Let Us Learn and Apply the standard Resource, Description and Access (RDA) in Caribbean Libraries Rosa Lozada-Robles, Ruth M. Carrión-Meléndez, Isamar Abreu-Gomez Graduate School of Information Sciences and Technologies, University of Puerto Rico This study presents the nature of the new standard RDA (Resource Description and Access) and its implementation in a sample of academic libraries in the Caribbean region. Our interest is to contribute to the continuing education of Caribbean library personnel in the area of organization and retrieval of information. It introduces the new rules, its historical background, the purpose of its establishment and developments. It pinpoints trends in cataloging in order to facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge and skills development of interested library staff and to stimulate to share projects. Shows the elements of the basic structure of the RDA, changes among RDA and AACR2Rev, RDA in MARC format, and provides policies, procedures and examples. Includes the results of a survey in progress on the implementation of RDA cataloging services within the Caribbean academic community and its impact on reference services. The study aims to share information in order to contribute to the improvement of services in the units of information within the region. Keywords: AACR2Rev, RDA, Resource Description and Access, descriptive cataloging, MARC format

Aprendamos y Apliquemos la normativa Recurso, Descripción y Acceso (RDA) en las Bibliotecas del Caribe El propósito de este trabajo es presentar la naturaleza de la nueva normativa RDA (Recursos, Descripción y Acceso) y su implantación en una muestra de bibliotecas en la región caribeña. Interesa contribuir a la formación continua de la comunidad bibliotecaria en el Caribe en el área de la organización y recuperación de la información. Se introduce la nueva normativa, su trasfondo histórico, el propósito de su creación y desarrollo. Da a conocer las nuevas tendencias catalográficas con el fin de aportar nuevo conocimiento y el desarrollo de destrezas del personal bibliotecario interesado y estimular la elaboración de proyectos conjuntos. Muestra los elementos de la estructura básica de la RDA, las diferencias con AACR2Rev, el ingreso en formato MARC y se aportan políticas, procedimientos y ejemplos. Incluye los resultados de una encuesta en progreso sobre la implantación de la RDA en los servicios de catalogación dentro de la comunidad académica caribeña y su impacto en los servicios de referencia. El estudio se orienta a compartir la información a nivel caribeño, con miras a contribuir a la mejora del servicio en las unidades de información en la región. Palabras claves: AACR2Rev, RDA, Recurso Descripción y Acceso, catalogación descriptiva, formato MARC

Equal Access to Information in the Creation and Development of Digital Repositories at University Libraries in the Caribbean for Persons with Disabilities Mario Torres-Ramos Sistema de Bibliotecas, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras University libraries should serve the needs of study and research of its community as a whole, on equal terms, and it is extremely important to raise awareness and educate all staff members regarding this principle as part of their professional development. The purpose of this presentation is to make known the importance of developing open access digital repositories that meet the needs of study and research of the university community, especially of people with disabilities, fulfilling the university's commitment to social justice and equity. The presentation pinpoints to the library staff the basic elements that must contain open access digital repositories in order to meet the different needs of study and research of its academic community, within a framework of social justice and equity. Today, academic libraries are faced with new challenges and opportunities, requiring a proactive role in its performance aligned to the university’s administration. The rapid advances in Information Technology and Telecommunications (ICT) and the diversity of digital platforms, that proliferate daily, contribute to facilitate the rapid access to educational content. Libraries are starting to create and develop open access digital repositories in order to post the university’s intellectual output in digital format in order to organize, store and disseminate electronic resources and, moreover, to provide access to its educational content. With this action libraries are expected to share and contribute in the processes of learning - teaching- research at the university. It is noted, however, that libraries offer traditional services excluding or limiting the disability sector. This sector is continuously growing and demanding their legitimate right to access digital resources, for which new legislation has emerged internationally in this field. An example is the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization ), that through the Treaty of Marrakech http://www.wipo.int/treaties/es/text.jsp?file_id=302979, has been working on issues related to the right of access to information for people with visual disabilities and other difficulties, in order to facilitate access to works published in printed text. This presentation includes results from a survey being conducted in university libraries, both in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, in order to demonstrate the types of disability of existing users in libraries, accessibility elements, equipment and programming that libraries have or need to acquire, technology skills development offered or need to be offered to users, and technology skills development needed to library staff working with people with disabilities. It attempts to present a general analysis of the social inclusion and web accessibility situation in these libraries. In addition it pinpoints the need to develop digital repositories of open access on equal terms for people with disabilities within the Caribbean academic community, for study and research, for the benefit of the teaching - learning - university research endeavor. The presentation aims to share information with the Caribbean colleagues in order to emphasize the urgent training needs in this area and to contribute to the improvement of services in university libraries with equal access, without frontiers. Keywords Web accessibility, open access, equitable access to information, educational resources, digital format, Social inclusion, People with disabilities, electronic resources, digital repository, accessible technologies.

Acceso Equitativo a la Información en la Creación y el Desarrollo de Repositorios Digitales de Bibliotecas Universitarias en el Caribe para Personas con Discapacidad Las bibliotecas académicas deben servir a la comunidad universitaria en igualdad de condiciones para el estudio y la investigacion, y es sumamente importante concienciar y educar a todo su personal sobre este principio en el servicio, como parte de su desarrollo profesional. El propósito de esta presentación es dar conocer la importancia de desarrollar repositorios digitales de acceso abierto que respondan a las necesidades de estudio e investigación de toda la comunidad universitaria, y en especial a personas con 40

discapacidad, cumpliendo con el compromiso universitario de justicia social y equidad. La presentación da a conocer al personal bibliotecario los elementos que deben contener los repositorios digitales de acceso abierto tanto en Puerto Rico como en el Caribe, con el fin de atender a las distintas comunidades académicas, dentro de un marco de justicia social y equidad. Las bibliotecas académicas se enfrentan hoy en día con nuevos retos y oportunidades, exigiendo el desempeño de un papel proactivo integrándose a la gestión universitaria. Los adelantos vertiginosos en las Tecnologías de la Información y Telecomunicaciones (TIC) y la diversidad de plataformas digitales que proliferan a diario contribuyen a que los integrantes de la comunidad universitaria puedan acceder rápidamente a contenidos educativos. Las Bibliotecas están creando repositorio digitales de acceso abierto con el propósito de publicar su producción intelectual de su institución en formato digital, en el que se puedan organizar, almacenar y difundir recursos electrónicos para toda la comunidad universitaria y ofrecer acceso a sus contenidos educativos, contribuyendo a los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje-investigación de la institución. Se observa sin embargo, que las bibliotecas ofrecen servicios tradicionales excluyendo o limitando al sector de las personas con discapacidad. Este sector está en continuo crecimiento y reclamando su derecho al acceso legítimo de recursos digitales, para lo cual ha surgido nueva legislación a nivel internacional en este campo. Un ejemplo es el de la OMPI (Organización Mundial de Propiedad Intelectual) que, por medio del Tratado de Marrakech http://www.wipo.int/treaties/es/text.jsp?file_id=302979, ha estado trabajando sobre la problemática relacionada al derecho de acceso a la información para las personas con discapacidad visual y con otras dificultades, con el propósito de facilitar el acceso a las obras publicadas en texto impreso. La presentación incluye el resultado de una encuesta administrada en bibliotecas universitarias, tanto en Puerto Rico como en el caribe con el fin de evidenciar los tipos de discapacidad de los usuarios existente en las bibliotecas, los equipos y programados de accesibilidad con que cuentan o necesitan las bibliotecas, las destrezas tecnológicas que se ofrecen o necesitan ofrecer a los usuarios, las aptitudes y destrezas tecnológicas con que cuenta el personal bibliotecario para trabajar con personas con discapacidad, e intenta presentar un análisis de la situación de inclusión social, de accesibilidad web en dichas bibliotecas. El desarrollo de repositorios digitales de acceso abierto en igualdad de condiciones para personas con discapacidad dentro de la comunidad académica caribeña, para el estudio y la investigación, y su impacto en los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizajeinvestigación de la universidad es clave. La presentación se orienta a compartir la información a nivel caribeño con miras a alertar a nuestra comunidad bibliotecaria de la urgente necesidad de capacitación en este área y contribuir al mejoramiento de los servicios en las bibliotecas universitarias en igualdad de condiciones, sin fronteras. Palabras Claves Accesibilidad Web, Acceso abierto, Acceso equitativo a la información, Contenidos educativos, Formato digital, Inclusión social, Personas con discapacidad, Recursos electrónicos, Repositorio digital, Tecnologías accesibles.

Let’s develop information and technological skills using the Health Libraries in the Caribbean and the Evidence-based Practice focus. Carmen Santos-Corrada Puerto Rico The focus of the Evidence -Based Learning emerged in the field of medicine under the heading "Problem Based Learning" (Eldredge, 2008) but, at present, has been oriented to assist information professionals in the process of research and informed decision-making (Booth & Brice, 2004). Among the competencies that information professionals, related to the field of health, must develop is the responsibility of finding rigorous information, in the field, to support the study and research endeavor, so that the result of the search will contribute to the better decision making . This presentation aims to show how to develop the strategy of this approach using the Virtual Health Libraries in our Caribbean region. The presentation introduces the BIREME protocol developed to organize and publicize the contents of health developed by the participating countries; provides the opportunity to know their databases, and ways to develop skills for effective access to them. The session encourages strengthening the responsibility of each country representative of the contents of health in the region and stimulated to contribute to the enrichment of the particular databases. Consequently, the presentation seeks to alert librarians in our region of the need to know and apply the search methodology. For a doctor or health specialist, to make responsible, informed decisions is mandatory. In the context of health, a surgeon in the operating room must know how to act immediately applyng the best of his knowledge to save a life. The information specialist must help in the search and must contribute to provide the best alternative to assist in the decision making. In the search of evidence to take action, if the specialist information is not well trained or cannot identify the appropriate information can incur in malpractice. Knowing how to develop the skills of finding the information by using the Virtual Health Libraries databases in the Caribbean, applying the evidence-based practice approach can contribute to the informed decision-making with effectiveness and accountability, after rigorous evaluation.

Desarrollemos las Destrezas de Información y Tecnologías utilizando las Bibliotecas Virtuales de Salud en el Caribe y el enfoque de la Práctica basada en la Evidencia/ El enfoque del Aprendizaje basado en la Evidencia (evidence based learning) nació en el campo de la medicina bajo la rúbrica “Problem Based Learning” (Eldredge, 2000) pero, en la actualidad, se ha orientado a los profesionales de la información (Booth & Brice, 2004) para ayudarlos en el proceso de investigación y la toma decisional informada .Entre las competencias que el profesional de la información, relacionado con el campo de la salud, debe desarrollar se encuentra la de la búsqueda de información responsable, rigurosa, en dicha área, en respaldo al estudio y la investigación, para que el resultado contribuya a la mejor toma de decisiones. Esta presentación se orienta a mostrar cómo desarrollar la estrategia con el enfoque de la práctica del profesional de la información basada en la evidencia, mediante el uso de las Bibliotecas Virtuales en Salud en nuestra región caribeña. La presentación introduce el protocolo que ha desarrollado BIREME para organizar y dar a conocer los contenidos de salud desarrollados por los países participantes; brinda la oportunidad de conocer sus bases de datos y desarrollar destrezas para el acceso efectivo a las mismas. Estimula a fortalecer la responsabilidad de cada país representante de los contenidos de salud en la región y a aportar al enriquecimiento de las bases de datos. En consecuencia alerta a los bibliotecarios en nuestra región sobre la necesidad que hay de conocer y aplicar la metodología.. Para un médico o profesional de la salud, el tomar decisiones informadas es mandatorio. En el contexto de la salud se requiere que un cirujano en sala de operaciones pueda actuar de inmediato para salvar una vida. El que el especialista de información contribuya y aporte en esa búsqueda para facilitar la decisión con la mejor alternativa a utilizar es clave. En la búsqueda de evidencia para tomar acción, si el especialista de información no es diestro/a o no identifica la información adecuada incurre en la impericia (malpractice). Conocer cómo desarrollar las destrezas de búsqueda de informacion para utilizar las bases de datos de las BVS caribeñas, aplicando el enfoque de la práctica basada en la evidencia, puede contribuir a la toma de decisión informada con efectividad y responsabilidad, luego de la evaluación rigurosa correspondiente.. 45

Referencias /References BIREME Biblioteca Virtual em SaĂşde. Recuperado de http://bireme.br/php/index.php Booth, A. & Brice, A. (2004). Evidence-based practice for information professionals: A handbook. London: Facet. Recuperado de http://www.academia.edu/225730/Evidence_Based_Practice_for_Information_Professionals_A_Hand book Eldredge, . (2000). Evidence based Librarianship. In Medical Reference Services Quarterly Volume 19, Issue 3, 2000. pages 1-18. Medical Library Association. (2007). Competencies for professional success. Chicago, IL: The Association. Recuperado de https://www.mlanet.org/education/policy/index.html ;https://www.mlanet.org/education/policy/executive_summary.html

The CARPHA EvIDeNCe Portal : supporting evidence-informed decisionmaking in health Ernesta Greenidge Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies at St Augustine Campus, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) is currently developing the EvIDeNCe Portal as a way to make available both published and grey literature to the following target audiences (which have been provisionally prioritized as follows): 1)

Ministry of Health technical staff (e.g., medical officers of health, epidemiologists, health planners, policy advisors/analysts, nurses, and chief medical officers);

CARPHA staff (e.g., technical officers and interns);

regional (i.e., sub-national) health authority policy and planning staff;

health system stakeholders (e.g., members of medical associations, nursing councils, and civil society associations such as the cancer society and diabetes association); and

university staff (e.g., researchers, teachers, students and librarians).

The Portal will include clinical, population health and health systems research and exclude basic/biomedical research. The Portal will build on three existing resources: 1)

BIREME’s Virtual Health Library, which provides both a very powerful search engine and a remarkably diverse array of published and grey literature;

MedCarib’s interface for uploading published and grey literature to a database already contained in BIREME’s Virtual Health Library (which includes all literature on which a Caribbean researcher is involved as a author;

a guided overview of sources of Caribbean data, pre-appraised research evidence, other types of information, and tools to support evidence-informed decision-making.

The participation of the MedCarib network will be key to successfully populating the portal and keeping it up to date. New documents to be added to the database via MedCarib's interface would include: CARPHA research documents and Caribbean government and stakeholder documents This presentation will focus on introducing the concept of the portal; engaging the MedCarib contributing countries with regard to contributing to the success of the portal; the sustainability of their contributions; and will gauge interest in / potential for establishing additional contributing centres. Changes made to the MedCarib data-entry interface to add significant value to users would also be explained.

The Dutch Caribbean Digital Platform: how building a cultural heritage platform can improve education and research in a small island developing state. Margo Groenewoud and Lisette Rosini Library & Research Services, University of Curaçao As a university library in a Caribbean Small Island Developing State (SIDS)1, the University of Curaçao has to function as a hybrid library. We need to be ‘everything for everyone’ in the areas of education, academics and cultural heritage preservation. Internet offers great opportunities for this. Building our own repository – a clone of the Digital Library of the Caribbean – has enabled us to connect and improve our services in all of these areas. Instead of just digitizing the core library functions of collecting and offering resources, we also offer educators a place where they can develop and share localized digital learning materials. Preservation of cultural heritage material in this platform is central to all functions and uses. This paper will elaborate on the specific context of being a small island developing state, and how that influences our core functions as a library. We will show how we have developed a repository as a platform instead of ‘just’ a digital library and why we have chosen to work with dLOC. Further, we will demonstrate from the perspective of our various stakeholders – education, research and the community – how this platform can help them in overcoming the burdens of ‘being small’ and how the platform can improve not just their work on an individual level, but also the learning curve of, and cooperation within, the community. 1

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/priority-areas/sids/education-capacity-building/

Equitable Virtual Reference Service for People with Disabilities in the Academic Caribbean Environment: Creation, Development, Provision and Access Jeannette Lebrón-Ramos Biblioteca de Derecho, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras The advent of new information technologies is rapidly transforming the traditional services offered in libraries, particularly in the university sector. An example is the reference service where the reference librarian is supported with new technological tools to meet the demand for information from users, and expanding their work in what is known as the Virtual Reference Service (SRV ). Among others, the American Library Association (2004) defines the concept as "... reference service initiated electronically, often in real time, where users employ computers or other technology to communicate with librarians, without being physically present.". Pinto y Manso (2012) include in the definition: mechanisms bidirectional, synchronous and asynchronous communications, between the library and the user, in order to ensure that the information need is satisfied from a single communication interface. It is observed that in academic libraries –special and general- the user training on bibliographic resources for all community members, aligned to the study and research endeavor, is inserted into the Virtual Reference Service. However, the way in which the VRS is rendered to people with disabilities is unknown. This presentation aims, first, to provide an overview of virtual reference services offered by university libraries in the Caribbean, to all community members, including people with disabilities; and second, to contribute to the training of library staff on how to create, develop and provide equitable Virtual Reference Service for the university community, including people with disabilities, emphasizing the basic skills needed and development of initial skills required to implement the service. The presentation will show the results of a survey in progress, aimed at reference librarians in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, demonstrating the diversity of users with disabilities served in universities; what’s the level of inclusion of VRS for users with disabilities; response regarding the types of VRS available to satisfy the information needs of users with disabilities in those campuses; how is the library staff trained and sensitized to meet the information needs of users with disabilities; and the type of knowledge and skill development required to develop a VRS for all members of the university community, on equal terms. Finally, a bilingual VRS thematic guide, will be presented, addressing the issue and focusing on the right to equal access to information for people with disabilities to support the reference librarian’s work in the Caribbean. Keywords Virtual Reference Service, SRV, People with Disabilities, social inclusion, equality, equal access to information Referencias / References American Library Association, Reference and User Services Association (RUSA). (2004). Guidelines for implementing and maintaining virtual reference services. Recuperado de http://www.ala.org/rusa/resources/guidelines/virtrefguidelines Corda, M. C. & Ferrante, M. (2014). Servicios bibliotecarios accesibles para personas con discapacidad visual en la Universidad Nacional de la Plata, Argentina. E-Ciencias de la Información, 4(1). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/eci.v4i1.12860 Manso Rodríguez, R. A. (2007). Del escritorio tradicional al virtual: Nuevas posibilidades para el servicio de referencia. Acimed, 15(2). Pinto M. & Manso, R. (2012). Virtual reference services: Defining the criteria and indicators to evaluate them. The Electronic Library, 30 (1), 51-69

El Servicio Equitativo de Referencia Virtual para Personas con Discapacidad en el Ambiente Académico Caribeño: Creación, Desarrollo, Provisión y Acceso El advenimiento de las nuevas tecnologías de información está transformando vertiginosamente los servicios tradicionales que se ofrecen en las bibliotecas, particularmente en el sector universitario. Un ejemplo de ello es el servicio de referencia en donde el bibliotecario-referencista se está apoyado en las nuevas herramientas tecnológicas para responder a la demanda de información de los usuarios, ampliando su quehacer en lo que se conoce como el Servicio de Referencia Virtual (SRV). Entre otros, la American Library Association (2004) define el concepto como “… servicio de referencia iniciado electrónicamente, a menudo en tiempo real, donde los usuarios emplean computadoras u otra tecnología de Internet para comunicarse con los bibliotecarios, sin estar físicamente presentes”. Pinto y Manso (2012) incluye en la definición mecanismos de comunicación bidireccional, sincrónica y asincrónica, entre el bibliotecario y el usuario, con el fin de asegurar que la necesidad informativa se cumpla desde un solo interface de comunicación. Se observa que en las bibliotecas universitarias – generales y especializadas- en donde se ofrece una formación académica a todo usuario sobre los recursos bibliográficos, integrada a la gestión de estudio e investigación, éstas ofrecen los servicios tradicionales para toda su comunidad, insertando la Referencia Virtual y, generalmente, la extensión que pueda hacerse a personas con discapacidad se desconoce. Esta presentación persigue, primero, dar a conocer un panorama general sobre los servicios de referencia virtual que brindan las bibliotecas universitarias en el Caribe, para todos los integrantes de su comunidad, en particular para personas con discapacidad; y, segundo, contribuir a la capacitación del personal bibliotecario sobre cómo crear y brindar un servicio equitativo de referencia virtual para la comunidad universitaria, incluyendo a personas con discapacidad, destacando los conocimientos básicos necesarios y el desarrollo de las destrezas iniciales requeridas para aplicarlos en el servicio.

La presentación mostrará los resultados de una encuesta en progreso dirigida a bibliotecarios de Puerto Rico y el Caribe orientada a evidenciar la diversidad de usuarios con discapacidad que se sirven en las universidades; cómo responde el Servicio de Referencia Virtual a los requerimientos de información de los usuarios con discapacidad en dichos recintos ; cuál es el nivel de inclusión del Servicio de Referencia Virtual para los usuarios con discapacidad; cuán capacitado y sensibilizado está el personal bibliotecario para atender las necesidades de información de los usuarios con discapacidad; y, el tipo de conocimiento y desarrollo de destrezas que se requiere para poder desarrollar un servicio de referencia virtual de calidad para todos los integrantes de la comunidad universitaria, en igualdad de condiciones. Finalmente se presentará una guía temática virtual bilingue que aborda el tema y orienta sobre el derecho al acceso equitativo a la información del Servicio de Referencia Virtual para personas con discapacidad en respaldo a la gesta bibliotecaria caribeña. Palabras Claves: Referencia Virtual, Servicio de Referencia Virtual, SRV, Personas con Discapacidad, inclusión social, igualdad, acceso equitativo a la información

Informal Virtual Reference at an Academic Library. Shamin Renwick Alma Jordan Library, UWI, St. Augustine (Trinidad and Tobago)

Aspiring for higher achievements: the determination to find pathways to professional and personal development: the reality at the University of Guyana. Debra Lowe and Simmone LaRose University of Guyana Library This major aim of this paper was to examine the pathways taken by senior staff members at University of Guyana Library towards the pursuit of professional and personal developments. The was study was part of research undertaken to ascertain the educational pursuit by senior staff and support provided for professional development activities, at the Turkeyen and Berbice Campuses, of the University of Guyana, in light of the developments in the field of Library Science. A convenience sample of 18 senior staff members from the Turkeyen and Berbice Campuses was chosen to be a part of the survey, using interviews and questionnaires, of which 16 responses were received. Results of the analysis showed that after entering the profession, the majority (12) of the senior staff members have pursued higher degrees in basic subject disciplines either at the level of Degree, Post Graduate Diplomas and Masters Degrees and (2 ) persons have pursued studies leading to Masters in Library and Information Science (MLISc). Four persons did not pursue any higher studies beyond their first degree, since being employed at the University Library. The results also indicate that against the odds, developments in ICT, upward mobility, and quest for personal enhancement of knowledge and skills were positive influences on the library professionalsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; attitude towards continuing education programmes. Highlights of some of the benefits derived from pursuing higher education as well as challenges faced together with recommendations on the way forward also form the basis of the study. Keywords: Professional development; Continuing Education Programmes (CEP); Library Professional and Information Communication Technology (ICT). INTRODUCTION The future of the academic library is a topic of continuing concern for the professional librarians. This concern is particularly so when the digital age seemingly serves as the driving force influencing changes in library functions and ultimately bringing about new and evolving roles for librarians.

(1987) posited that librarians needed to update their skills, methods, and approaches continually to meet the challenges and changes in technology and within the spheres of their responsibilities. Continuing education programmes are therefore an important way of keeping librarians' skills and knowledge current.

The era of technology has had a tremendous impact on societies bringing with it changes which have affected all institutions, including libraries. Besser (1997, p 133) citing Milton Wolf et. al. (eds.) Information Imagineering: Meeting at the Interface, argued that social forces in society such as economic change and technological developments, are mainly responsible for the reshaping and redefining of what constitute libraries in the 21st Century.

BACKGROUND Staffing Reality at the University of Guyana Library Over the years there has always been a dearth of professionally trained Librarians in Guyana generally and particularly at the Turkeyen and Berbice Campus Libraries of the University of Guyana. This is because Library and Information Science has always been on the back burner for Governments and University Administration. Scholarships in Library and Information Science was never treated as a priority subject area when opportunities for scholarships become available. According to the records of University of Guyana, the unit responsible for sourcing scholarships, only

Many libraries, including the University of Guyana Library, are in transition and are continuously working to adapt to technology to derive a better model for the provision of services which includes the acquisition of e-content and establishing commitment with publishers so as to prevent a digital divide, among others. Thus Matarazzo 62

four senior staff at the University of Guyana library were granted scholarships for further their studies over the last ten years. Of the four, only two of the scholarships were in the area in Library and Information Studies. This is an insignificant amount when compared with the number of Lecturers who were granted scholarships across the Faculties. Faced with constraints, the University of Guyana Library (UGL) was hardly able to recruit professional librarians.

broken this trend by acquiring diplomas and degrees even before reaching the level of a paraprofessional; however, they are not automatically promoted to the senior level because promotion is dependent on the vacancy at the senior level of the library structure. The current composition of staff at both campus libraries is as follows: - Turkeyen Campus - 15 senior staff and approximately 80 junior staff; and Berbice Campus - 3 seniors and 4 junior staff members.

As a result the staffing level at the University of Guyana Library always had a gap between the professionally trained and academically trained. For the purpose of this research the concept professionally trained refers to persons with either a certificate, a Bachelor or Master degree in Library and Information Science and academically trained being persons with a Bachelor or Master degree in an academic area. To provide a service to its clientele, recruitment of staff in the library was based primarily on academic qualifications. For employment at the senior level a subject degree usually is required. This is supported by Larsen (2005.a), who noted the practice of hiring personnel based on academic qualifications as a means of addressing the problem of limited number of professionals in the field of library science. In summary, what obtains is that recruitment efforts to match Librariansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; academic background with their subject areas and responsibilities are switched around and redistributed to accommodate staffing shortages. However, after recruitment, there seems to be limited scope for continuous training in the field of library science which should provide the requisite needs for the development of subject expertise.

Opportunities for Pursuing Higher Studies in the Digital age at the UG Library In this digital era where numerous changes are taking place within the field of library science, the University of Guyana finds it difficult to provide financial support for staff members to pursue higher level professional development (PD). This situation contributes to an almost complete reliance on scholarships. Previously, scholarship offers were limited generally across the University of Guyana campuses. Library staff members had to compete with other academic staff members from the faculties. To further compound the problem for library staff members, scholarship offers from donors and the University tend to give priority to persons pursuing higher studies in the Natural and Health Sciences and Technology. Recently, while several scholarship opportunities were available at the University of Guyana, there were limitations with regard to Library and Information Science. Librarians at the University of Guyana Library have recognized that personal and professional development would have to be self-acquired. Such thinking was based on the fact that moving from one professional stratum to another and enhancement of their thought processes point to their willingness to retool themselves. Finding opportunities to pursue professional education and continued professional development is very challenging. However, information managers/ librarians at the University of Guyana Library understand that while the prescribed path to achieving lifelong goals may not be readily and easily available, seeking alternative avenues is a productive strategy to explore. This paper intends to highlight some of the steps taken to achieve professional and personal development of staff members at UG library.

Recruitment Practice at the University of Guyana Library The criteria for basic recruitment at the junior levels, has always been the CXC CSEC/GCE Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; level/Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; level certificate. The ideal trend for upward mobility at the UG Library is through continual in-house training during the first six years of employment, leading to possible promotion to the level of a para-professional (Senior Library Assistant II) after which the employee is required to pursue studies at the first degree level to be promoted to the senior staff level. However, currently at UG Library junior staff members have 63

DEFINITION/CONCEPTUALIZATION OF KEY CONCEPTS

For the purpose of this paper Professional Development is conceptualized according to ALIA (2009) definition as learning activities that may relate to: an extension of general or specialist areas of library and information management education; development of the body of knowledge underlying professional practice; development of the reflective practitioner; development of research expertise; or studies from another discipline which lead to personal and professional development. Professional Development also, refers to Varlejs (n.d.) basic principles which points to membership of professional associations, participation at workshops and conferences, as well as the provision for informal learning projects, among others.

Below are some key terms which are crucial to the understanding of the concept of this paper Librarian For the purpose of this research Librarian refers to a member of the senior staff which forms the sample of the study and has a first degree in a subject discipline. Para-professional For this study para-professional refers to a junior staff member who would have reached the level of Senior Library Assistant I or II and functions as the link between the junior and senior staff. Professional Development There are many definitions of professional development (PD), most of which refers to both formal (which leads to certification) and informal learning experiences. Both processes lead to deepened understanding and improvement of practice. Havener and Stolt (1994) noted that despite widespread support for the concept of professional development, there is a lack of consensus on the purpose of such developmental activities.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Varlejs (n.d. : p.4) in her report prepared for the IFLAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Workplace Learning Section (CPDWL) provided a broader spectrum pertaining to the basic principles of CPD: The responsibility for continuing education and professional development is shared by individuals, their employing institutions, professional associations, and library/information science education programs.

Gelfand (1985) has defined professional development as activities to enhance the ability to perform work-related functions which include activities such as availing oneself to professional literature, attending relevant related workshops and seminars, or international meetings, participating in continuing education courses and programs, and enrolling in academic courses.

Varlejs (n.d.) further noted that the demands for continuous quality improvement and public accountability mean that all support staff, researchers, managers, and academic staff must be able to demonstrate that they are keeping abreast of new knowledge, techniques and developments related to their roles, and be keenly aware of the changing higher education landscape.

However, Webb (1992) expanded on PD to mean a range of activities aimed at developing and enhancing knowledge, skills and attitudes, which prepares the individual to carry out the job in the most effective manner as well as heightens motivation, and contributes to an individual's long term progress and achievement. Webb (1992) further stated that the kind of development portrayed is not narrowly aimed at the individual's current responsibilities, but should enhance overall lifelong performance. This would certainly require continuing professional development (CPD).

For the purpose of this study, pursuing CPD requires on the part of the librarian who possess a professional interest in their jobs to be prepared to pursue varying ways to enhance their skills and competencies. Therefore, it allows for sustained capabilities and competency to perform effectively in current role.

LITERATURE REVIEW

opportunities face the ever-present challenge of maintaining and enhancing their professional skills while balancing work demands and limited funds (Larsen, 2006).

Impact of the Digital Era Rao and Babu (2001) is of the view that the use of the Internet and World Wide Web have changed the fundamental roles, paradigms and culture of libraries and librarians. They noted that this paradigm shift took place and will continue to do so as the base of recorded information continues to accelerate in increasing variety of formats such as texts, numeric, graphic, video, audio, images, etc. This change, together with the increasing levels of computing and emerging technologies, create new options and opportunities for the development of information capture, storage, retrieval and delivery.

Hurych (2002), as cited in Cooke (2011), argues that CPD is essential and noted that education for contemporary professionals no longer ends with certification. CPD strengthens knowledge and skills as well as values and attitudes necessary for the service orientation dimension of a profession. Consequently, Weingand (1999) is of the view that continuing professional education is no longer an option but a requirement of professional practice. Meanwhile, Rauhala, Harjunpää and Mölläri (2013) posited that Librarians have to re-think and reassess their position in the information society since success depends upon individuals’ adaptability, innovation and flexibility which in turn necessitate and force individual and organizational change.

In the prevailing situation, Librarians will be called upon to assume new roles and perform tasks, namely, providing guidance, facilitating, sifting information resources and preserving access. They will be required to act as intermediary, facilitators, end-user trainers, Web site builders, researchers, interface designers, knowledge managers and sifters of information resources (Anyira, 2011; Ingwersen, 1992; Spies, 2003).

Morgan (1996) referred to the rapid changes in higher education serving as push factors in propelling library and information professionals to reflect on the nature of the services they provide. In addition, the changes serve as a means to measure the appropriateness of professionals’ skills and to explore the kinds of skills which will be required by academic, and in particular, subject librarians in the future. The librarians also noted that while technological developments clearly have implications for libraries they should not overshadow the more people-oriented skills which are equally essential for the organization.

In order to be able to function in this ever changing paradigm shift, librarians at the University of Guyana Library will require continuing professional development to keep abreast with the ever-changing digital era. Continuing Professional Development – why it is necessary? Generally in most libraries the trend is that most of the library staff members would have already been in place prior to advent of the digital age, and with a low turnover rate, library managers were not in the position to replace all existing staff with new staff possessing the requisite skills in keeping with the technology. In order to achieve this paradigm shift in role and function in the provision and delivery of services, librarians would require the acquisition of new skill sets. It is also imperative professionals focus on developing personal skills and attitudes when developing professional skills and competencies (Larsen 2007). The perception is that access to education has become much easier and accessible given the technological advancement of delivery modes. However, librarians seeking professional development

Professional development: Whose responsibility? The perspectives of whose responsibility it is to ensure professional development has always been discussed both in traditional and contemporary era. From the onset there has seemingly been conflicting views regarding whose responsibility it is to ensure professional development of the workers with pros and cons to support both perspectives. A third school of thought suggested professional development should be a dual process with inputs from both the employer and the employee. Donnelly, (1987) noted that over half of the participants in a survey conducted by ACRL (1996) indicated that their PD activities were funded 65

through a combination of personal and institutional resources. Further, the results from a study conducted by Hare (1989), found that there was a strong correlation between the importance the academic library director placed on professional development and the funding that was provided for professional development activities. Hareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s study revealed that 88 percent of the directors surveyed believed that providing release time encouraged such professional development activities. Similarly, Saw (1989) pointed out that effective professional development cannot proceed without the institutional provision of financial support and leave of absences.

capital. Constantine (2012) opined that only those organizations that understand the true value of professional development, culture, innovation and creativity recognizes the value and importance of continuous education. According to the Human Resource Webpage of the University of Berkeley California [n.d], the provision of assistance to staff for their professional and career development is one of the key responsibility of the manager. The contention is, that although the primary responsibility for an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development rests with the individual, the supervisor/manager has an important role in encouraging, supporting, removing obstacles and providing resources for their development. Sourcing the opportunities will assist staff to develop their knowledge, skills, abilities, tools, resources, and opportunities which will result in success in their job as well as personal career. The Vice Chancellor responsible for Administration and Finance provided the following areas where Faculty could provide assistance to staff:

Havener and Stolt (1994) refute the claims by Donnelly, 1987; Hare, 1989, Saw 1989, Constantine (2012) and the University of California and argued that institutional support of finance and release of time do not result in PD. The findings from their study showed that even without institutional support, a substantial percentage of librarians attended at least one workshop during the year. Kenney and McMillan, (1989), as cited in Havener and Stolt (1994) argued that many academic librarians continued to pursue professional development activities even without institutional support, and that individuals' internal motivations, such as personal satisfaction, play an integral role in their level of professional growth. The arguments on pursuit of professional developments without support as proposed by Havener and Stolt (1994) lends similarity to what obtains at the UG library. Constantine (2012), pointed out that while employers are challenged to afford the costs to support employeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s professional development, it is the company that ultimately reap the benefits when its employees have the capacity to embrace change and innovate. Constantine (2012) further noted that employees are responsible for their long term development but that changes when they are recruited. From the onset of employment the responsibility lies with the employer. Further, although the employee is recruited with a level of required knowledge, skills and abilities, at some point there will be changes in their roles and responsibilities. As such, they will require training in order to function efficiently and effectively which will ultimately benefit the organization. To accomplish this, the employer has a corporate social responsibility to invest in their human

the provision of on-the-job training and coaching;

Equipping them with performance goals and feedback;

Conducting continuous queries on their professional development which could form the basis for supporting their development goals;

Providing guidance with the compilation of an individual development plan (IDP).

While support and self-determination are imperative for PD, certain demands may also be seen as factors to pursue professional development. According to Sapon-White, (2004) in Pan and Hovde (n.d.), being in an academic environment, academic librarians are evaluated for their performance in scholarship as well as librarianship. These institutions require that librarians pursue successful research and publication in order to achieve promotion and tenure. The writer noted with concern that there is an unofficial consensus that many librarians are ill-prepared either by lack

of appropriate education or insufficient release time to successfully complete these requirements.

Ekot (2013), in his study of employee and development opined that knowledge and skills development is vital to the health of any organization, especially with the accelerated advancement through the use of the technology. As such, Ekot (2013) noted that the value of an organisations no longer rests with their physical structure but rather on their intellectual capital. To achieve critical thinking and adaptation of the technologies would require training and re-training of human resources as a vital investment with the production of high returns, rather than an expense. Ekot (2013) is of the view that untrained or poorly trained employees cost significantly more to support than well-trained employees. In short, efforts at professional development should be an organisational effort aimed at helping employees to acquire the basic skills required for the efficient execution of the functions for which they are hired with simultaneous organizational benefits.

Kinash (2012), noted the demise of teachers in terms of professional development as it relates to the acquisition of training in the use of education technology. Although the use of education technology which once designed and optimized in keeping with learning principles, will result in advanced knowledge, skills and attributes for the students, much emphasis is not placed on the acquisition of this expertise. Kinash (2012) further explained that this is because education technology training is not perceived as being integral to teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s professional development by the Education Administrators hence the problem as who should be responsible for cost if teachers are desirous of pursuing this training. Benefits of Professional Development

AIM AND OBJECTIVES

Pan and Hovde (n.d.) contended that the process of professional development can be perceived as continuous learning which benefits both the individual and the institution.

Aim The aim of this study is to examine the pathways taken by Senior Staff members at University of Guyana Library towards pursuit of professional and personal developments. The objectives of the study are:

For the individual, the ongoing process of acquiring new information and skills promotes job competencies for performance upgrades and promotion. In terms of the psychological aspect, strengthened competency may result in reduce jobrelated stress and increase interest, thereby promoting job satisfaction (Block, 2001 cited by Pan and Hovde (n.d.). Professionals who are engaged in continual learning are often professionally equipped since they are informed and thereby able to offer efficient services clearly indicating that quality ongoing educational opportunities is of vital importance. According to Shaughnessy (1992), an active professional development programme offers the institution a corporate strategy for dealing with change. The ultimate enhancement of staff ability leads to the holistic development and growth of the organization. This was supported by Constantine (2012) who noted that while there may be some challenges for the organization to absorb the cost for staff professional enhancement, the rewards for the organization far outweighed the cost invested.

To identify steps taken by senior staff members at UG Library to achieve professional and personal development;

ii)

To establish what support was provided by the University administration to assist in supporting professional and personal development;

iii)

To deduce the conditions that hindered professional development efforts made by senior staff members at UG Library;

iv)

To ascertain the benefits derived from pursuing the various pathways;

To propose some recommendations for improving the knowledge and skills of library professionals

METHODOLOGY

qualifications at the commencement of and those acquired during employment. Year of employment, designation, information regarding the professional activities of senior staff members including participation in continuing education programmes (CEP), publication trends, membership in professional associations etc. The data generated were analyzed by frequency count and percentage analysis.

The study population included senior members of staff from the University of Guyana, Turkeyen and Tain Campus Libraries. The Senior Staff members covered in this survey have acquired their undergraduate or postgraduate qualifications from a formal education programme in a number of disciplines offered at the University of Guyana and the library and information studies from external Universities.

RESULTS AND FINDINGS

The research design for this study was the survey, using structured questionnaires and observations. The convenience sampling method was used, where the questionnaires were personally administered to the senior staff members permanently employed at the two campuses while three were emailed to the respondents pursuing studies overseas. Out of a total of 18 senior staff members across both campuses, responses were received from 16 (88.9%). The questionnaires collected data on age, gender, educational

General Characteristics The analysis of respondents showed that the 16 library senior staff members who participated in the survey fell in the age group below 39 years (50 percent) while 31.25 percent are above but below 50. The remaining 18.75 percent are above 50 years of age. The majority (15) of the respondents (93.75 percent) are female and one (6.25 percent) is male.

Table 1: showing the Age Group of the respondents surveyed Age Group Frequency

Percentage (%)

Below 39 yrs.

Above 39 yrs. but below 50 yrs.

31.25

Above 50 yrs.

18.75

Total

100

Table 2: showing the Gender of the respondents surveyed Gender Frequency

Percentage (%)

Male

6.25

Female

93.75

Total

100

Table 3: showing the qualification of the respondents at the time of recruitment Qualification at time of Recruitment (Junior & Senior Level) Frequency Percentage (%)

Junior Level Caribbean Examination Certificate (CXC)

Degrees in the Social Sciences

18.75

Degree in the Natural Sciences

6.25

Degree in the Humanities and Education

18.75

Certificate & Degree in Library and Information Science

6.25

Total

100

Senior Level

In Table 3, the study showed that 50 % of the current senior staff members were recruited at the junior level with the basic entry requirement of Caribbean Examination Certificate (CXC) for appointments at UG Library while 44 % were employed with degrees in the Social Sciences (3), Natural Sciences (1), and the Humanities and Education (3). Only one (6.25%) person started working with both a Certificate and Degree in Library and Information Science specialized for public libraries. The majority of the seniors recruited held Degrees in either Social Sciences or Humanities and Education

library is a Bachelor Degree. Those persons who entered as junior staff with the basic CXC (now referred to as CSEC) /Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; level requirements pursued various measures to acquire different levels of higher education. A few pursued preUniversity entry technical courses and subsequently Degrees, Post Graduate Diplomas and Masters programmes in various basic subject disciplines as shown in Chart 1. Further, two staff continued with professional studies at the level of Masters in Library and Information Science (MLISc) (Chart 1). One has completed studies while another is currently at Library school. Chart 1 also depicts the steps taken by those senior staff members who were recruited at the senior level with a basic subject degree and also pursued studies at the Post Graduate and Master levels.

Formal Qualification of Respondents The basic qualification for promotion to the level of senior staff member at the University of Guyana

Chart 1: showing the general achievement of formal qualifications of respondents

Table 4: Qualification of Respondents Qualification Master Lib Sc Master in basic subject disciplines Grad. Dip in basic subject disciplines Bachelor Degree in basic subject disciplines TOTAL

Frequency 1 2

Percentage 6.25 12.5

43.75

37.5

100

An analysis of the overall results showed that at the time of the survey, all of the senior staff at UG Library were qualified with Bachelor Degrees in basic subject disciplines with one of them holding a Certificate and a Bachelor Degree in Library and Information Science. Seven (44%) have additional Post Graduate Diplomas and two (13%) have Masters Degree though in basic subject disciplines. Only one staff member pursued professional qualifications, a Master Degree in Library and Information Science (LIS) (table 1).

While not illustrated in table 4, but as shown in Chart 2, five (5) staff of the sampled study are currently pursuing higher education, (2) of whom are currently at the Bachelor Degree level with one pursuing a Post-Graduate Diploma in a basic subject discipline in (education ) and the other in a Master of Library and Information Science (MLISc). Three (3) staff holding Post Graduate Diplomas are currently reading for a Master Degree in basic subject disciplines.

Chart 2: showing the qualification of respondents not mentioned in the table above.

Experience of Respondents Table 2: Years of Experience at the Junior Level before promotion Experience Below 5 5-10 10-15 Over 15 TOTAL

Frequency 3 1 2 2 8

Percentage 37.5 12.5 25.0 25.0 100

The scenario varies since some staff were employed at the junior levels and elevated through the system to senior positions. Half of the sample who were employed as a junior staff have 5-16 years of experience (table 2) before promotion to Senior staff with an additional 3-20 years of experience at the Senior level.

Table 3: Experience of all senior staff at the time of the study Experience Below 5 5-10 10-15 Over 15 TOTAL

Frequency 4 2 7 3 16

Percentage 25 12.5 43.75 18.75 100

The study showed that for those who were initially employed as senior staff, most of them either have below 5 years (37.5%) or 5-15 years (37.5%) years of experience and 20% with over 15 years of experience. It can be seen that out of the 16 senior staff 8 were employed as juniors and 8 as seniors. Further analysis shows that out of the 8 employed as seniors, evidence revealed that all those with more years of experience seems more interested in further their studies, in whatever options are available Additionally the seniors have more years of experience than the juniors before entering into further studies Further analysis also revealed that at the time of the study therefore most of the senior staff (62.5%) have between 10 to over 15 years and 37.5% have below 10 years of experience (table 3). It can be safe to say that with more years of library service, they improved level of competence on the job. Table 4: Category of Respondents Experience Librarian IV Librarian II Senior Assistant Librarian

Frequency 1 2 8

Percentage 6.25 12.50 50

While 81.25% are categorized either as Senior Assistant Librarian or Assistant Librarian, 12.50% are at the level of Librarian II with only 6.25% at Librarian IV (table 4). Participation in Continuing Education Programme In addition to the formal education, and since the absence of opportunity for formal support, that senior staff at UG library on a sporadic basis sought continuing education by participating in other library continuing educational programmes. Some of these were as follows:

ii)

vi)

iii) iv) v)

Participation at workshops, seminars and training sessions in library related fields for example:  understanding library databases such as Mini-Marco CDS/ISIS, WINISIS, Koha ILS, Virtual Health Library and Health Information (BIREME);  Indexing and abstracting journals;  Classification training in MARC II;  Information literacy

Publications in conference proceedings, journals and books; Participation in and presentation of papers at Internal library conferences, such as ACURIL, IFLA ; Participation in and presentation of papers at local library professional seminars; Reading of professional literature to keep current with new and emerging trends; In –house discussions on varying subject matters.

Membership in Professional Associations Membership in professional associations plays a major role in supporting and raising awareness in professional development and provides opportunities to gain practical skills through participation in professional activities. An examination of UG records revealed that UG library has active membership in one international 72

association (ACURIL) and the lone local association, Guyana Library Association (GLA), which is currently non-functional. UG library was also an active member of IFLA, however due to non-payment of membership fees, this membership became inactive from 2014.

library also use this time to seek attachments at libraries both local and overseas. Scholarships for studies in library and information science from the institution are sparse. Those offered by external agencies are usually limited in numbers and more often tailored specifically for persons within specified age range and level of qualification. Those persons who already hold a Master of Education Degree in a basic subject discipline are excluded. However, once scholarships become available, the University provides staff development leave with full remuneration package.

Further, over the past fifteen years, only 6 of the 16 senior staff at UG library attended ACURIL Conference, with 2 participating at IFLA Conference. Staff members attended ACURIL either one time with the exception of two staff members who attended an average of 4 times, while attendance at IFLA was 1-2 years. Sponsorship for attendance varied.

It is important to note here that while leave and some financial support if provided by the University sourcing avenues for staff development for improving skills is depend largely on self as there is hardly encouragement at the administrative level due to financial constraints as well as library staff having to compete with faculties for the limited resources. During the interim, what obtains is more in-house training among library personnel, mandatory research in library science and other related fields, with presentation of findings at library professional seminars which helps to provide knowledge in current trends. This has led to the perception that senior staff members at UG are mainly responsible for their professional development and continuing studies.

Support for PD and CEP Senior staff at the University of Guyana Library participation in continuing educational programme is usually based on seniority as has always been the policy of the University Library. With seniority being the staff member recruited for a longer period and not necessary by age. This was to allow for a fair advancement in the rank based on not only qualification level but also year of service. Participation in continuing educational programme is also largely dependent on sponsorship from the parent institution, donor bodies and the government. Support for career development is very limited at UG library. As mentioned earlier, the employer has a corporate social responsibility to invest in their human capital (Constantine 2012). Senior staff members who pursued higher education locally for a diploma or Bachelor and then to Post-graduate Diploma and then to the Master in the basic subject disciplines, received tuition waiver for only one of the programmes. With the exception of one staff who received term relief to pursue a degree, full-time off to attend these programmes were not granted.

Deterrent to pursuing professional and personal development The following reasons were provided by the senior staff member at UG Library as the main hindrance in the pursuit of professional and personal development: the lack of financial support and access to scholarships to pursue professional studies, the challenges of joggling regular work load and school work as well as personal work. This rationale for this seems to resonate in the fact that they are not pursuing programmes in the field of Information and Library Science and therefore will not achieve their professional and personal goals. There is also the perception that the monetary incentives would not be adequate with the acquisition of advanced degrees in the basic subject areas.

As part of the leave entitlement and for support for professional development the University of Guyana provides senior staff members with Earned Study Leave (ESL) (after 3 years of employment) and Sabbatical Leave (SL) (after 6 years of employment) with full emoluments. Staff members are required to use this time to engage in research or to pursue higher education. More often to enhance knowledge and requisite skills through hands-on learning, senior staff members at UG 73

Benefits derived from increase Personal and Professional Development

integral role in their level of professional growth. While some personal characteristics, such as age, qualification level and personal issues affected library professionals in their professional activities, lack of substantial support from the institution was a major hindrance, thereby resulting in only a small cadre of staff with higher professional qualifications.

Senior staff at UG Library identified the following as benefits derived from pursuing professional and personal development:  Interest in personal development;  Professional and personal growth;  Requirement by the University to pursue higher degrees;  Upward mobility for increase remuneration;  Enhanced knowledge in the field and a means of keeping abreast with new and emerging areas and trends; this knowledge allows for applicability into everyday work, enhancement of capacity for training junior staff members and provision of assistance to university clientele;  Professional Association plays a major role in supporting and raising awareness in professional development and provides opportunities to gain practical skills through participation in professional activities;  Attachments at other University Libraries during ESL and SL provide hands-on exposure, knowledge and skills in current trends in those libraries on a broad base and more particular in the specific area of research. It also provides avenues for personal growth and hindsight for the research papers;  Library professional seminars provide the opportunity for research in the field of research, forums for presenting research findings, capacity building as well as allows for critical peer assessment of research, services offered and critical thinking.

The overall trend in publishing research articles and attendance/participation at professional conferences was found to be poor among the senior staff members. Institutional membership restriction to one professional association illustrates that level of importance placed on professional association in career development is very low and ought to be improved. The analysis found that a majority of the senior staff members indicated positive approach to continuing education programmes and noted that they participated in these programmes because of interest in personal growth, to keep abreast with new and emerging trends, and upward mobility for increased remuneration. Analysis of the opinion about continuing education programmes indicated that participation in such programmes has helped to update their professional skill though at a minimum level. This opinion lends some similarity to the findings in the study conducted by Pan and Hovde (n.d.) who noted that individuals indicated acquiring skills and job competencies while pursuing higher education. With the majority of senior staff only having academic qualifications, access to scholarships to pursue higher professional education is important and ought to be on the priority list of things to do by the government and institution. This is particularly so with the new and emerging roles of Librarians in this digital era.

From the analysis of professional developmental activities such as pursuing higher education from the basic requirements to a Master level, research activities, attendance at professional conference, workshops and trainings and participation in continuing education programmes. It is evident that although senior staff members at UG Library were disadvantaged, personal quest for development was the driving force in their accomplishment. Kenney and McMillan, (1989), as cited in Havener & Stolt (1994) argued that many academic librarians continued to pursue professional development activities even without institutional support, and that individuals' internal motivations such as personal satisfaction played an

Attendance at professional conference must not be sporadic or only when papers are to be presented. Participation must be facilitated for all since it allows for networking in the field and enhancing professional skills and expertise. Professional development activities ought to be encouraged from the junior level to develop the competencies of professionals in order to provide various technology based services. The lone and dormant professional association needs to be resuscitated and to take the initiatives to organize on a regular 74

basis, continuing education programmes to ensure that the working professionals are competent to face the challenges of the profession.

promotional prospects deter them from striving towards professional development. RECOMMENDATIONS

In addition to the basic qualification and requirements for a career in library and information science, senior staff members on their part, have to continuously update their skills to maintain and support user-centred applications and face the challenges of ever-increasing demands for wideranging IT-oriented services from the academic community. The university administrators have to encourage and sponsor staff members for participation in continuing education programmes, for which most of the senior staff has a positive attitude. However, issues like financial constraints, limited or no scholarships in the field, time for studying and conducting research, lack of or limited access to up to date readings in the field and fewer

Based on the study the following recommendations were made: -- there is need for  Access to more scholarships for higher education in the professional field of professional organizations;  Recognition and value for achievement of higher education;  Participation in professional conferences, seminars and training workshops;  Investment in up-to-date professional literature, on line access databases and time for reading of same.

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3. Besser, Howard. (1998c). The shape of the 21st century library. In Milton Wolf et. al (Eds.), Information Imagineering: Meeting at the Interface, ( pp. 133-146). Chicago: American Library Association. 4.

Cooke, N. A. (2011). Professional development 2.0 for librarians: developing an online personal learning network (PLN) World Library and Information Congress: IFLA General Conference and Council 13-18 August, Puerto Rico.

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Gelfand, J. (1985) . Professional development for reference and adult services librarians, RQ 24 , Summer, 402. 75

Hare, A. (1989). Professional development in the 1980s in college libraries in the Southeast. Southeastern Librarian 39, Spring ,18-19.

Havener, W.M. & Stolt, W.A. (1994). The. professional development activities of academic librarians: does institutional support make a difference? Retrieved on March 2, 2015 from www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/41730on

10. Ingwersen, P. (1992) . Information retrieval interaction. London: Taylor Graham. 11. Kinash, Shelley (2012). "Professional development: Whose responsibility should it be?" Learning and Teaching papers. Paper 35. Retrieved on September 21, 2015 from http://epublications.bond.edu.au/tls/35 12. Larsen, Gitte (2005a) .Continuing professional development: trends and perspectives in a Nordic context. World Library and Information Congress: IFLA General Conference and Council August 1-18 Oslo, Norway. 13. Larsen, Gitte. (2006b). Preparing for New and Changing Roles in Research Libraries – the Need for Continuing Professional Development. Journal of the Association of European Research Libraries. library quarterly. Retrieved on April 16, 2015 from www.liber.library.uu.nl/index.php/lq/article/view/URN%3ANBN%3ANL%3 AUI%3A10-1-113467/8056. 14.

Matarazzo,J. M. (1997). Continuing professional education. Special Libraries 78, Fall, 247. Morgan,S. ( 1996) . Developing academic library skills for the future, Library Review, 45 (5), 41 – 53.

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Working with postgraduate students at the UWI Mona library – building rapport through one-on-one support Jacqueline Howell Nash Librarian (Postgraduate Learning Commons), University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica There are many skills which are beneficial to the library professional. Proposal writing, project management, interviewing, budgeting, strategic management and marketing are all useful. There’s also stress management, risk management and team building. Through interactions with postgraduate students in the library at UWI Mona one realises that there is another skill that is essential – the ability to build a connection with them, to form a professional relationship based on mutual respect and empathy. The postgraduate student’s studies are concentrated and focused, oftentimes over long months and hours. Librarians must like people and not just reading, books or information. A working relationship can be created which goes beyond the provision of facilities and services. We all have our strengths and also weaknesses. Is there a particular approach that works well? Is it the customer-service approach? Is it “servant-leadership?” Reflection and observation can assist us to answer these questions. To be useful and effective one must begin where the student is, with their immediate needs as priority while being mindful of any underlying issues. Life-long skill learning is essential but we each will develop a particular style. Eventually a personal “philosophy of librarianship” may evolve. Do you have a philosophy of librarianship, a set of values that guides your practice? Keywords: library practice; learning commons; postgraduates, skills-set; servant leadership; philosophy of librarianship The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. Mahatma Gandhi

Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy. Mahatma Gandhi

…..Humans are social creatures, and we all react emotionally to face-to face encounters. What’s more, we’ve all had memorable customer service experiences—both good and bad—and have felt how that affects us. (Schmidt 2014)

Reference service is about a relationship between the user and the librarian, not about a specific answer to a question (Tyckoson 2011,2) professional development of co-workers, and by fostering the aspirations of potential members of the profession. (ALA Core Values of Librarianship 2004)

Student Focus One of the core values of the American Library Association is service. We provide the highest level of service to all library users . . .. We strive for excellence in the profession by maintaining and enhancing our own knowledge and skills, by encouraging the

This paper is about service in the academic library and the abovementioned description reflects the theme of ACURIL, Suriname, 2015. Students benefit immensely from one-on-one contact with the librarian but this will occur only if rapport is established. 82

Jennerich and Jennerich (1987) were not the first to identify characteristics suitable for a reference librarian. They identified “a genuine liking for people” as an important trait. In the academic library, the quality of interaction between librarian and student must be paramount in spite of the current focus on technological improvements. Students are people first and they are users of the services and equipment second. The focus must be on the students and their needs against the background of the academic library’s role as a support service to the University’s teaching and research priorities.

i.e. under 24 years. Increasingly these are recent school leavers with less experience in handling life challenges and less financially independent. They are just emerging from an education system with strong authority figures managing their lives. Second, the postgraduate students are taking longer to complete their programmes of study as some are enrolled on a part-time basis and others take breaks from their studies. Many are faced with financial challenges. If they use the library this may result in longer periods of interaction with library staff. Third, some years ago it was the norm to see a significant number of students at the Jamaica campus from the other Caribbean countries. Then there was a decline in the diversity of nationalities and the campus was almost entirely populated by Jamaicans. This is now changing and the number of students from other Caribbean countries has been increasing since 2011/2012. This is a welcome development. However, these adults are not familiar with Jamaica and they have left their traditional support systems at home.

This paper is neither about ethics nor librarians` values nor the customer-service model per se and neither is it about the development of research skills by the students. It is concerned with the interaction between professional staff and students using the library. It is not about students’ perception of the library. It is centred on the librarian and the focus that should be placed on the student. The University of the West Indies The UWI opened its first office on 1st February, 1947 at 62 Lady Musgrave Road in Kingston, Jamaica. A few months later the Mona Campus was opened. UWI is now a regional institution of the English-speaking Caribbean countries. It is intended that it will always be regional in structure and this commitment was exemplified in the Grand Anse Declaration of 1989 when the Heads of Governments of the Caribbean community decided that “it should remain a regional institution indefinitely.”

At the libraries general reference service is provided to students who are preparing assignments and who need research assistance. We also provide a space dedicated to postgraduate students in the Main and Science libraries. Technology, Social Media, Internet, Mobile phones “Reference Librarians, despite the advances in technology must remain focused on their patrons.” (Judith A. Wolfe, Ted Naylor, and Jeanetta Drueke 2010)

One of the strategic goals of the UWI Strategic Framework for 2012-17 is to provide a high quality student experience. When one does a thesaurus search for “experience” results include “encounter,” “contact,” “involvement,” “understanding,” “acquaintance,” “involvement, ” and “participation." So the objective must be to have a positive encounter with students.

The pendulum will swing back and the importance of the reference librarian will regain prominence, probably redesigned and renamed to fit Generation Z, perhaps “Research Librarian” or “Personal Librarian.” This is inevitable as students are human beings first and users of technology second.

There are three noteworthy trends at the Mona campus. The undergraduates are getting younger 83

Can there be any doubt that this generation of aficionados is attracted to social media not only because of the need for quick information but also for self-expression, a need to form relationships and a need to be a part of groups with similar interests? Social media is not really about technology. Technology is just the tool, a means to an end. It`s about interaction with characters, and personalities real or otherwise. TECHNOLOGY IS A PROBLEM-SOLVER BUT IT IS NOT FACE-TOFACE INTERACTION. DECADES AGO THE NEW

been identified as contributing to this anxiety. Of great importance is Steinerová’s assertion that as much as 80% of human communication is nonverbal. This is significant. Many skills are valuable to the library professional. Proposal writing, project management, interviewing, budgeting, strategic management and marketing are all useful. There’s also stress management, risk management and team building but what is the appropriate response to students’ need for attentive, earnest engagement? We can all be more responsive to the students.

TECHNOLOGY WAS THE TYPEWRITER AND THE BALL-POINT PEN. NOW IT IS THE SMART PHONE, TABLET, LAPTOP AND THE INTERNET. DON’T

WHAT STRATEGIES CAN WE UTILIZE TO

GET CAPTIVATED BY TODAY’S TECHNOLOGY AS

ENABLE US TO IMPROVE THE LIBRARIAN -

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ROOM FOR PERSON-TO-

STUDENT INTERACTION ?

PERSON INTERACTION. PREPARE AS THE

KNOW YOUR

STUDENTS AND BE AWARE OF NEW FACES .

PENDULUM WILL SWING BACK.

Perform as a personal librarian. Develop a philosophy of librarianship. This cannot be prescribed for anyone as it is a personal journey peculiar to each librarian.

Rapport Steinerová (2001) notes that information professionals are “complex human beings.” In spite of the emphasis today on skills-sets and technical aptitude “social and communicative competence and emotional intelligence” are also required. She recognizes and discusses the human element at work within any living library pointing out that intuition and emotions are to be considered. Other factors of influence on information communication and use include cultural differences, personal (emotional) attitudes, cognitive evaluations, social behaviour and environment. Different possible affective states of human beings can affect patterns of information use (e.g. sensing, recognizing, understanding, synthesizing, but also interest, uncertainty, anxiety, surprise, engagement or boredom). (Steinerová 2001)

I’d like to share with you some of the interactions that I have had with students in the library. They vary. Some leave you with a smile on your face but others are moving. I think of a male student who was preparing a presentation but who could barely hold up his head to speak to me, let alone look me in the eye. Perhaps it was low self-esteem? I gave him some advice. I advised him to prepare a handout as the group was small and this would not be too expensive. This would help him to deliver his material given that his oral presentation skills might be weak. What he could not say in words I had to interpret from his body language. Jamaica’s experience with the Chikungunya outbreak which started in July, 2014 resulted in the hospitalization of staff and also students. In particular I recall the hospital experience of a sickler who just a few weeks later lost his beloved grandmother. Then there was the gentleman who helped nurse his friend during the last stages of his life. Hands-on care. I was one of two library staff members who received a thank-you card from a

Several persons have researched the notion of “library anxiety” as a phenomenon now recognized as a real emotion affecting a significant number of students. A number of factors have 84

student who became sick while in the library. It might have been a panic attack as her computer had crashed. The card read:

A wise approach is to address their immediate need first and that is oftentimes not their assignment or research interest.

“I deeply appreciated your concern for me. Thank-you, sincerely.”

A word of caution is necessary. Avoid dependency. Avoid a scenario where the student becomes dependent on you and is reluctant to help themselves. There is an overarching skill that is essential – the ability to build rapport with them, to form a professional relationship based on mutual respect and empathy. Librarians must like people not only reading, books or information. A working relationship can be created which is as important as the provision of facilities, services and programmes.

The keyword here is “concern.” Librarians must be approachable. A female student asked the Reference Librarian: Student:“Do you have any band aids?” Reference Librarian: “No, What happened?” Female Student:“Ankle” (pointing to ankle) What if the librarian were unapproachable? The student would have preferred to suffer in silence. The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) includes a section on “Visibility/Approachability” in their “Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers.” Librarians must be visible and available. They must listen for the unspoken word and be observant of basic body language. Students sense if they have been “accepted” regardless of appearance, shaved or unshaved, age, or political adherence.

Which Model? Is there a particular model that works well for staff-student interactions? Is it the customerservice approach? Is it “servant-leadership?” Is it “moral leadership?” Reflection and observation can assist us to answer these questions. Robert Greenleaf developed the servant-leader model and much has been written about his contributions e.g. Spears 2005 who identified ten characteristics of servant-leadership including listening, empathy and awareness. Heaphey (2006) questioned why public libraries have not embraced servant-leadership as they are people-focused. He suggests that perhaps this is because it has been promoted mostly in corporate organizations; perhaps it is because of a lack of resources to reorient staff or perhaps because of the religious connotation of the word “servant.” He asks the question, “but is not service at the very core of what public libraries do?” I recommend Anzalone’s 2007 article in which she goes through each of servant-leadership’s guiding principles and considers their suitability in a law library setting.

The librarian must display empathy and discernment – try to see beneath the surface. A female first year undergraduate student wanted me to help her select her courses for the following year. This would normally be a part of academic advising within her department or faculty. She went on to explain that she was having difficulty keeping up with the speed of her social science lecturer. The student’s strength was in quantitative work and she was struggling in courses which required discussion and argument. She said “I have an exam now, can I come back and speak with you?” I received this e-mail from a postgraduate student:

The servant-leadership model is ideal for teamleaders and managers but is inadequate in the context of the academic library where placing the students and their needs must be priority number

“I got back the draft proposal with the possible changes. Can you assist me some more with it. I am a little confuse right now. i really need help Thanks alot.” 85

one. Endorsing and adhering to a professional Code of Ethics is also insufficient. Ultimately, each individual must arrive at their own philosophy of librarianship.

Library Leaders." Law Library Journal 99(4): 793-812. CARICOM. 1989. “Grand Anse Declaration and Work Programme for the Advancement of the Integration Movement, Grand Anse, Grenada, July 1989.” http://www.caricom.org/jsp/communica tions/meetings_statements/grand_anse_ declaration.jsp?menu=communications

CONCLUSION What is at stake? If we don’t watch that pendulum and anticipate its swing we run the risk that the academic library will be underutilized. The entry count statistics will decline. Students will avoid seeking professional assistance and will rather ask their peers for help. The library’s primary function will be relegated to being a physical study space and the library’s value to the academy will be underrated.

EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. 2011.“7 Things You Should Know About the Modern Learning Commons.” http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/e li7071.pdf

Librarians must build rapport with students as part of a supportive experience. Life-long skill learning is essential and we each will develop a particular style. Eventually a personal “philosophy of librarianship” may evolve. Do you have a philosophy of librarianship, values that guide your practice? A postgraduate student came in my office and after asking about APA style she then got to the meat of the matter. She explained with a fake grin and fake laugh that she had too many deadlines to meet within 2 days. She knew she would not meet the most important of the deadlines. Upon leaving, she said “Thank-you for listening.” This she said three times all while grinning and laughing.

Heaphey, Joe. "Servant-Leadership in Public Libraries." Indiana Libraries 25(3): 22-25. Jennerich, Elaine Z, and Edward J. Jennerich. The Reference Interview as a Creative Art: 2nd ed. Littleton, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited. Office of Planning and Institutional Research, Mona Campus, University of the West Indies. 2015. “Academic Profile of Students.” http://www.mona.uwi.edu/opair/profile /academic2011-12to2013-14-1.pdf http://www.mona.uwi.edu/opair/

REFERENCES

Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), “Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers.” http://www.ala.org/rusa/resources /guidelines/guidelinesbehavioral

American Library Association. 2004. Core Values of Librarianship. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedo m/statementspols/corevalues American Library Association. 2008. “Statement of Professional Ethics.” http://www.ala.org/advocacy/proethics/ codeofethics/codeethics

Schmidt, Aaron. 2014. "Developing a Service Philosophy." Library Journal 139(18): 21. Spears, Larry C. 2005. “The Understanding and Practice of Servant-Leadership.” Servant Leadership Research Roundtable. School of Leadership Studies, Regent University.

Anzalone, Filippa Marullo. 2007. "Servant Leadership: A New Model for Law

https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/pu blications/sl_proceedings/2005 /spears_practice.pdf Steinerovรก, Jela. 2001. "Human issues of library and information work." Information Research 6(2). http://InformationR.net/ir /6-2/paper95.html Tyckoson, David A. 2011. "History and Functions of Reference Service." In Reference and Information Services : An Introduction, edited by Richard E. Bopp and Linda C. Smith, 20. Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited Wolfe, Judith A., Ted Naylor, and Jeanetta Drueke. 2010. "The Role of the Academic Reference Librarian in the Learning Commons." Reference & User Services Quarterly 50(2): 108-113.

Balancing the Pros and Cons of Collaborative LIS Education : Making Professional Career Choices. Keynote speech Prof. Fay Durrant Department of Library and Information, Studies University of the West Indies, Mona Paramaribo, Tuesday June 9, 2015 Collaborative learning is increasingly being employed as a means of developing skills in critical thinking and problem solving. Collaborative learning has also been recognized as the result of a complex set of mechanisms which facilitates interaction within groups or teams and develops consensus among stakeholders. In this context, this paper seeks to assess the pros and cons of collaborative learning, and the conditions under which the tools are being used and can be used in the workplace, and in providing public services in Caribbean libraries and information units. Previous research shows that there are several conditional elements related to the successful implementation of collaborative learning. In addition to development of critical thinking and problem solving skills, there is need for changing roles of instructors and learners. Web 2.0 provides collaborative tools which are being employed in business, organizations and communities, and Library 2.0 can facilitate the incorporation of blogs, wikis, instant messaging, RSS feeds, and various categories of social networks into the delivery of library products and services. These collaborative tools have been found to support user generated content, capacity for harnessing the power of the crowd, and access to the architecture of participation.

As we look at the concept of collaborative learning in the context of library and information studies, we see that there are several related issues which influence the way learning takes place. Collaboration, cooperation and connectivity are three related indicators of the influences on learning. Connectivity is of course playing a greater and greater role in facilitating cooperation and collaboration.

INTRODUCTION

Examination of research on collaborative learning shows that there has been increasing use of this methodology for developing skills in critical thinking and problem solving. Adoption has been found to be active in school and university systems.

Collaboration across disciplines does show that there can be collaboration among librarianship, information systems, archives and records management, and museums and with related, overlapping disciplines such as business management, and management information systems.

Workplace restructuring with increased use of the Internet and connectivity, often points to collaborative learning through teamwork as being able to create an organizational panacea or perhaps an ideal organization. As librarians contemplate expanding use of collaborative learning, there is value in assessing the conditions under which collaborative learning can be achieved, provide benefits, or may present challenges of implementation.

Previous research, relates mainly to the level of primary and high schools, colleges and universities, but has extended to collaboration and teamwork in the workplace. 92

Definitions and related concepts have been discussed in the research undertaken earlier. Researchers including , Bruffee in 1984 and 1973, Dillenberg in 1999, Gokhale in 1995 and others have focussed on students developing skills of critical thinking and problem solving. Lee and Bouk more recently have studied perceptions of collaboration in the workplace, use of collaborative tools, and some of the factors which need to be taken into consideration for successful outcomes.

acceptance of responsibility for the group’s actions.

The researchers have defined collaborative learning as follows:

2. THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT AND LIBRARIES The environment in which library and information units function, can be seen to be composed of users, data, hardware, software, communications media, techniques, systems, and procedures. Much of the environment experiences changes, and librarians are expected to be able to make adjustments particularly in relation to the way they collaborate and interact, and how their services match the users’ characteristics and needs.

Overall we can see collaborative learning as a means of improving capabilities in critical thinking and problem solving. The conditional elements, however, need to be studied and analysed including: the problem , the situation and context, group size, viewpoints, gender, specific tasks, interactions, processes, availability of collaboration tools, and the effects of the activities.

Gokhale’s definition states that the term "collaborative learning refers to an instruction method in which students at various performance levels work together in small groups toward a common goal.” Gokhale also considers that “with collaboration students are responsible for each other's learning as well as their own and that, the success of one student helps other students to achieve the agreed goal.”

Recently Steve Denning as the keynote speaker at the Combined meeting of the Library Leaders Summit and the annual Computers in Libraries Conference held in January of 2015, identified some of the changes which have taken place in the business sector, and which have changed the ways in which services are delivered. He also indicates some dramatic changes which mean that physical banks, tellers and cheques are being replaced by online banking, car rental has been replaced by “car sharing” whereby a user or client can locate a participating car, sign on with his or her “smart” card, and travel right away usually without let or hindrance.

Lee and Bonk’s definition on the other hand treats with the workplace and states that “collaborative learning refers to instructional methods that encourage learners to work together on agreed academic tasks”. Kenneth Bruffee states that “collaborative learning is an educational method where two or more students work together to learn something. This is based on the general premise that groups of students can learn more from each other through knowledge sharing, and social interaction, than they would if they learned on their own”. Panitz’s definition of collaborative learning mentions a personal philosophy, not just a classroom technique. In situations where people come together in groups, it suggests a way of dealing with people which respects and highlights individual group members' respective abilities and contributions. There is a sharing of authority and

Closer to home, printed books, and magazines are changing to e-books and online and interactive encyclopaedias. At the same time Open Access has become a major factor in increasing the accessibility of Internet-based information. We find increasing difficulty in separating or isolating the activities or components of the 93

library environment. The content is increasingly integrated with the technologies, and the activities of people who produce and use information services are converging with the roles of the librarians. Christine Borgman predicts that: of all ”we will see more convergence of information and communication technologies, blurring the lines between tasks and activities and between work and play.”

information users. They suggest that the digital information users act like “information players” who interact with the Internet in a multidimensional relationship, and who form part of the system rather than being on the outside on the receiving end of services. The roles which our users play are changing in what is sometimes described as “the shift of power” from information provider to information consumer. The user is now often an informed consumer who can choose among many possible sources including the library and the reference librarian, and can determine which source is most appropriate to the particular need.

The term convergence which has been much used in relation to converging technologies can be used to describe the information and communication flows within a library and information system so that a person may receive information of all kinds via the Internet - email, websites, blogs, wikis, radio, television, print newspapers, magazines, books, music, drama.

We see indications that today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, the challenge continues to be effective evaluation and rationalization of the increasing range of information sources and services. Users speak of Google with familiarity while it is sometimes said that “the best search engine is a librarian”.

The number of formats, functions and locations related to libraries are increasing as “hybrid libraries” combine print and digital versions of materials, and use networking technologies that facilitate varied forms of access to services, and increased interactivity between librarians and clients.

4. USERS’ INTERESTS, ABILITIES AND INFORMATION NEEDS Users’ interests, abilities and information needs should be documented and analysed as discussed by Marian Koren in her presentation at this conference. I agree with Koren that the user’s persona must be studied and understood. These studies should therefore be specific enough to provide guidance on services and products to be made available to users. Our users, the members of the general public are addressing their own information needs and can benefit from ongoing interaction with librarians and with other users. Koren therefore states that “The user is not a service to be rendered or a question to be answered, but a living human being, seeking his/her way through life, in working, studying, enjoying literature and reading, learning, just as the professional.”

Another kind of convergence is evidenced in the mergers of libraries and archives as is the case of the National Library and National Archives of Canada into one unit officially established in 2004 as Library and Archives Canada. This organization has worked towards the integration of its collections and consequently has been dealing with some of the issues of making the resulting databases accessible. This move towards a single access point is one which other libraries are likely to consider in the future with a view to making access easier for the user. 3. CHANGING ROLES OF USERS Convergence is also evident in the changing roles of information seekers, and librarians who are also increasingly authors, producers, and publishers. Nicholas and Dobrowolski writing in 2000, discussed terminology to describe digital

We can picture our users with possible access to many sources which may be accessible via “smart 94

phone.” While the users may have virtual access and may not have to enter a library, there are also additional sources such as the products of agencies like the national statistical Institutions and the national land agencies which can be linked into the national information networks and can guide users to relevant data and information.

reducing distance and for communication, collaboration and community building among, Caribbean librarians. Facebook, Twitter, What’s App, are among the social media tools which are available to Caribbean librarians, and which have the potential to go beyond communication to interactivity, collaboration and joint creation of new products and services.

5. CARIBBEAN WEB 2.0 AND LIBRARY 2.0

6. PREPARATION OF LIBRARIANS

Collaborative learning can be seen as facilitating the development of national and subject information networks such as The regional Caribbean Energy Information System (CEIS), and associations such as ACURIL, and networks such as the Jamaica Library and Information Network (JAMLIN). The introduction of the Internet and the World Wide Web have facilitated connectivity, communication and collaboration among individuals and groups, librarians and other information professionals, and users. These networks and associations began collecting and sharing printed information, holding face to face meetings and workshops, and various aspects of collaboration. There were costs, benefits and challenges to achieving effective collaboration. These challenges included communication across the distant locations, opened possibilities for ongoing interaction.

Let us consider the preparation of librarians and how we can get from entering the profession to continuous lifelong learning; whether the career choice should be between the general or the specific, and how a professional can link into the information needs of the users, the information resources which are relevant, the capacity to utilize the various technologies, and to deliver information services which match the needs of the users. Denning in his presentation mentioned earlier, encourages librarians to understand and delight users with their products and services, to aim for and practice continuous innovation and to move from being controllers to enablers. The ”smartphone” is an example of a device which combines multiple capabilities, and which is already being used for convenient delivery of services. Denning also encourages librarians to track and monitor “user /customer delight” and to identify the “things which users already like” so that where possible more of the desired products and services can be offered. An exceptional user “outcomes log” could provide a guide for new or additional services.

The introduction of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 provided additional scope for collaboration. WEB 2.0 facilitates greater user interactivity and collaboration, more pervasive network connectivity, and enhanced communication channels. LIBRARY 2.0 on the other hand provides new tools to make the infrastructure and library space (both virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative and driven by community needs.

7. COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN PRACTICE Collaboration in teaching and learning has increasingly been incorporated into the educational practice. Schools, colleges and universities have moved the role of the teacher and lecturer from that of instructor to that of facilitator. There has also been recognition and

Beverley Wood, a colleague at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Library, writing in Library Hi Tech News, advocates use of social networks, blogs and discussion groups for 95

adoption of team work and collaboration in the business and corporate workplace. Networks of libraries and information units have also facilitated collaboration within and across organizations.

collaborative activities for the delivery of library services and for undertaking innovation. The National Library of Jamaica is one of the libraries which has been using its Facebook page to present information on Jamaican history to the general public. There is room for comments, and more indepth discussions of the information provided. This is a tool which can be further adapted to facilitate greater interaction and collaborative learning is anticipated.

Drivers of adoption of collaborative learning include the expanding online environment, online and distance learning, and the availability of collaboration tools. Many people have had some experience in studying online, and have taken courses online and may have had the opportunity of collaborating with people in their school, or college. Several universities including the UWI Dept of Library and Information Studies have been extending their enrolment to students who may be geographically separated from the campus.

8. COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN LIS EDUCATION AND PRACTICE In discussing collaborative learning for library and information science education and for practice in the workplace, we need to consider and identify appropriate areas. At the University of the West Indies the Department of Library and Information Studies has expanded the formats of course presentation to include courses offered online and .

The motivation for collaborative learning relates to practical issues and concerns, and there is the expectation that it will have positive impacts on productivity, individual competence and organizational performance. Research shows that collaborative learning can foster deeper level learning, critical thinking and problem solving through sharing and discussion of others ideas and experiences.

As in most disciplines offered online, participants who are distance or face to face learners, work in teams to assess a significant question or undertake an activity as coursework. Discussion, analysis and evaluation is then used to determine the way forward. Members of the group need to take responsibility for successfully completing the activity, and this should mean sharing strengths, developing interpersonal skills, and dealing with conflict.

Collaboration can be achieved in the workplace through team meetings, aimed at solving problems or at jointly assessing and creating proposals or developing projects. Some or all of the problems or issues can be assessed and worked on in these groups. Members of the teams now use collaborative tools to foster deeper levels of learning and critical thinking through sharing and discussion of othersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ideas and experiences.

The lecturer or facilitator then needs to be sure that the objectives of the activity are clearly defined, while ensuring that the participants feel challenged. The size of the groups also contributes to effectiveness â&#x20AC;&#x201C; particularly the active participation of all members.

The tools which are employed in collaborative learning, include wikis, blogs, electronic discussion groups and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. These are being created and used in some Caribbean libraries for exchange of information and ideas among staff. In general a lot of Interest and energy goes into the use of Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, and the lessons learned can be transferred into 96

9. ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES OF COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

and managing meaningful learning experiences and stimulating students' thinking and analysis of real world problems.

There are undoubtedly benefits and challenges related to collaborative learning. A benefit which is usually anticipated is the possibility of incorporating various points of view and experiences into the scope of the project or activity. It is also expected that individual differences will be acknowledged and that there will be scope for interpersonal development, that participants will be actively involved, and that there will be opportunities for personal feedback.

Factors which influence the effectiveness of group selection include heterogeneous versus homogeneous groups, group selection and size, structure of collaborative learning, amount of teacher intervention in the group learning process, differences in preference for collaborative learning associated with gender and ethnicity, and differences in preference and possibly effectiveness due to different learning styles.

Facilitators and coordinators of collaborative learning courses need to recognize some of the questioning perspectives held by some teachers and some members of the general public. The apparent lack of clear objectives may be seen as the norm, and the clarification of objectives could be considered as an important missing element. The apparent lack of oversight may also be seen as the facilitator’s avoidance of teaching and some degree of responsibility. There may also seem to be an overbalance whereby the stronger students do most of the work. Additionally the facilitator should that all participants are challenged to achieve excellence rather than focus on achieving the task at basic levels.

I trust that as our libraries and other institutions will be able to advance in collaborative learning, and in the development of skills for educating ourselves, and in studying the profiles of the users. I wish you every success in developing your capacities in collaborative learning, and in using the tools which you have for creating key products and services to “delight” your users.

WORKS CITED Anuradha A. Gokhale Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking Journal of Technology Education 7 1 Fall 1995 http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v7n1/go khale.jte-v7n1.html

10. COMPENSATING FOR POSSIBLE CHALLENGES

Bruffee, Kenneth A Collaborative Learning and the “Conversation of Mankind” College English 46 (7) Nov 1984 http://www.reiffad.com/genre/Bruffee.pdf

There is consensus among researchers that collaborative learning fosters the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills through discussion, clarification of one’s ideas, and evaluation of the ideas of other members of the group.

Kenneth A. Bruffee Collaborative Learning: Some Practical Models College English, Vol. 34, No. 5 (Feb., 1973), pp. 634-643 http://www.jstor.org/stable/375331

Teaching in this context is therefore a process of developing and enhancing students' ability to learn. The instructor’s role is not to transmit information but rather to, facilitate timely interaction and learning. This involves creating

Pierre Dillenbourg. What do you mean by collaborative learning?. P. Dillenbourg. Collaborative-learning: Cognitive and

Computational Approaches., Oxford: Elsevier, pp.1-19, 1999. <hal-00190240>

Koren, Marian The persona of the professional in international perspective. http://www.fobid.nl/sites/fobid/files/MKorente xtAcuril2015.pdf

Kate Davis, Gillian Hallam, Katya Henry, Wendy Davis, Kysira Fairbairn, Ellen Heidelberger, (2012) "Connecting across continents: collaborative learning in a Web 2.0 world", New Library World, Vol. 113 Iss: 9/10, pp.415 - 428

Panitz, Theodore Collaborative versus Cooperative Learning: A Comparison of the Two Concepts Which Will Help Us Understand the Underlying Nature of Interactive Learning. 1999 13p. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED448443.pdf

Denning, Steve Do we need libraries? Forbes 28 April 2015 Dennis N. Ocholla, (2008) "The current status and challenges of collaboration in library and information studies (LIS) education and training in Africa", New Library World, Vol. 109 Iss: 9/10, pp.466 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 479 http://dx.doi.org.rproxy.uwimona.edu.jm/10.110 8/03074800810910496

Sirje Virkus, Lawraine Wood Change and innovation in European LIS education. New Library World 2004 105:9/10 , 320-329 Lisl Zach and Denise E. Agosto Using the Online Learning Environment to Develop Real-Life Collaboration and Knowledge-Sharing Skills: A Theoretical Discussion and Framework for Online Course Design MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching Vol. 5, No. 4, December 2009

David M. Hodgkinson Collaborative behaviour amongst LIS students: study of attitudes and practices at Loughborough University Education for Information 24 (2006) 125â&#x20AC;&#x201C;138 125

Wood, Beverley A Using Web 2.0 technologies for communication, collaboration and community building: a Caribbean perspective. Library hi tech news 2013 vol:30 iss:7 -11

Kingma, B., & Keefe, S. (2006). An analysis of the virtual classroom: Does size matter? Do residencies make a difference? Should you hire that instructional designer? Journal of the Education for Library and Information Science, 47(2), 127-143. http://www.kaganonline.com/free_articles/dr_sp encer_kagan/ASK06.php

Collaborative learning in Suriname: Initiatives of the National Archives of Suriname Rita S. Tjien Fooh- Hardjomohamad The National Archives of Suriname ( Ministry of Home Affairs) The National Archives of Suriname (NAS) has, for several years now, taken the lead in Suriname in offering cultural heritage institutions, training/workshops in the field of conservation. Besides this, as the official custodian of public records, the NAS has offered (still offering) a one year records management training (midlevel) for the records managers of the Government. Collaborating with colleagues through training/workshops programs is a way to achieve certain common targets. It all started before 2010 with the upgrading of the staff members of the NAS by creating opportunities through short/long term training in their respective fields of work. Since then the NAS has broaden their scope by involving colleagues from other cultural heritage institutions and government records managers in specific training programs related to their field of work. The main objective for implementing these programs is to ensure that the cultural heritage of Suriname will be expertly maintained for posterity and also to ensure that government records will be transferred in good, orderly and accessible state to the NAS. In this context, training the staff members /records managers of cultural heritage institutions and the government has a spin-off effect on the overall society. In this paper the rationale for collaborative learning will be discussed, also an overview of the training programs will be given and finally the result's the collaborative learning has in Suriname will be dealt with. The National Archives of Suriname (NAS) has, for several years now, taken the lead in Suriname in offering cultural heritage institutions, training/workshops in the field of conservation. Besides this, as the official custodian of public records, the NAS has offered (still offering) a one year records management training (midlevel) for Government officials.

several projects were identified: Training of archival staff from midlevel to academic level as archivist, conservation specialist and technical staff, building a new archives, institutional strengthening of the organization. Before the building activities even started in 2006, three persons ( two history teacher and one Law student) started their education program on academic level at the University of Amsterdam and the Archief school majoring in Archival science. One of the three persons that would be me. After we ended our our education program successfully, we took charged of the Management of the National Archives ( 2004).

How did we developed ourselves from scratch to a professional organization? It all began early 2000 when the plans to build a new archive building began to take solid forms. At a early stage a group of very concerned historians and government officials recognized the need of archives professionals in Suriname. What's a frame without its solid foundation? A modern archives building is one thing, but without trained and motivated staff, it would be not very effective. Our staff is the very heart and soul of the organization. Without trained and qualified staff we are severely handicapped.

It is since this period that we invested in the continuous education as well as collaborative learning activities by creating opportunities through short/long term training for the staff in their respective fields of work In collaboration with the Netherlands (The National Archives of the Netherlands, the University of Amsterdam, the Archiefschool and several other partners in the Netherlands), we

A Comprehensive Plan was then drafted to support the Archives in Suriname. In this Plan 99

started a training program for archivists on midlevel and training in conservation. By the beginning of 2009 most of our staff members were trained and qualified to execute their specific tasks. In April 2010, when it was due time to inaugurate the new archives building, we achieved to have trained staff who were highly motivated to work in the new building. At the same time, one of the Management members, were appointed as the National archivist/Director of the National Archives of Suriname.

From 2014- 2015: Currently 46 staff members from various Ministries are attending the course. Aims of the conservation training:  Participants gains knowledge of conservation techniques to preserve Surinamese cultural heritage, expand and share practical knowledge and also raise awareness of the importance of preservation and management of cultural heritage in Suriname (with emphasis on preventive conservation, care and handling of the objects, precautions to prevent damage on objects, disaster management)  To train Surinamese professionals als qualified teachers  Building partnerships and strengthening interrelationships between the cultural heritage institutions in Suriname.

Since then the NAS has broaden their scope by involving colleagues from other cultural heritage institutions and government records managers in specific training programs related to their field of work. The main objective for implementing these programs is to ensure that the cultural heritage of Suriname will be expertly maintained for posterity and also to ensure that government records will be transferred in good, orderly and accessible state to the NAS. In this context, training the staff members / government officials of cultural heritage institutions and the government has a spin-off effect on the overall society.

From 2011- 2013  Thirty one (31) participants were trained from various cultural heritage institutions in Suriname: National Archives Suriname, The Archives of the Moravian Church, The Museum of Fort Nieuw Amsterdam, Cultuurstudies, The Library of the Culture Center Suriname, Numismatic Museum, Sanatan Dharm, The office of the Civil Registry, Department of Culture, National Herbarium, The School Library, The Library of the University of Suriname, The Roman Church Archives, The Library of the Surinamese Bank, NAKS, Pikin Slee Museum, The Library of the Central Bank of Suriname, National Foundation  Seven (7) professionals were trained as qualified teachers.

In collaboration with colleagues from the Netherlands we started a train - the trainers course for Surinamese professionals (most were from the National Archives) so that they could gave the conservation and records management training by themselves. Our goal was to have qualified Surinamese trainers who are able and have the capacity to organize both trainings. It was in 2011 that we started with the training in conservation and records management. Since 2011 we organized two more trainings for cultural heritage institutions and government officials. After completion of the records management course, participants can execute the core tasks associated with the position of a Records manager: The key tasks are: Intermediate role between the public and information, manage the information supply, making the information accessible.

The aim of the National Archives of Suriname by implementing both courses is to guarantee the preservation of documentary heritage for future generations ( conservation course) and to ensure that government records will be managed according to the principles of a good and effective records management plan (records management course). This to promote good governance.

From 2011- 2013: Forty seven (47) government officials from various Ministries were successfully trained by the National Archives of Suriname.

What is the outcome of the trainings?  awareness of the importance of their work 100

 building partnerships  better performance on the work floor  better understanding of the importance of each other field of work On regional level, as member of the Caribbean Archives association, the National Archives participated in the trainings and workshops that was offered by CARBICA such as digitalization, conservation, access and description. Recently one of our staff member participated in a training regarding web design as part of the MIGAN (Memory of the Island Gateway for Archival Networking) project. In September and October a training on description will be organized in Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. At the same time, 4 of our staff members have been selected for the online archival courses that will start in August this year at the UWI Campus in Mona, Jamaica and two of our staff members will finalize their master degree in history this year. In August also a workshop will be organized by the National Archives regarding audiovisual records; this in close cooperation with the Institute for Sound and Images from the Netherlands. For this training we also will invite the government media to participate. For next year 2016, besides organizing the conservation and records management trainings, we have set as a priority to organize a Bachelor’s degree in Archival Studies in close cooperation with the University of Suriname. This way we have a breeding ground for archives professionals in Suriname. To conclude, collaborative continuous education, is a way of keeping our organization in the run. Not only, we trained our staff continuously, but also we build partnership with other organizations For us to be able to reach this level, it took us very hard work, dedication and commitment and above all the support from our staff. Collaborating with colleagues through training/workshops programs is a way to achieve certain common targets. As a ultimate goals we have set for ourselves is to become the Knowledge center of the region. 101

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Links and entities: The next library (meta)data revolution! Daniel Boivin Executive Director, Canada, Latin America & the Caribbean, with the collaboration of Ted Fons, Executive Director, Data Services ＆ WorldCat Quality Management

As librarians and library workers, we are all familiar to various extend with the key standards used in our field, especially when comes the time to talk about MARC, AACR2 and now RDA. The move to managing data at the entity level contrasts to the method of data management that emphasized the quality of a metadata “record” following an encoding regime (cataloguing rules) and a document format such as MARC21. AACR2 has recently been upgraded and improved by RDA. Is the same thing going to happen to MARC? Is BIBFRAME the next major change to hit libraries? What about link data and initiatives like schema.org? Should librarians start investing time and energy learning and implementing these new models? Such changes seem to promise benefits to library workflows if the data is well implemented and current experiments with library data “entification” are successful. This presentation will talk about link data, entities management, show some concrete examples in the field, touch on tools being implemented and developed such as schema.org and BIBFRAME, and will point to expected possible benefits for libraries. It will also touch on what libraries should consider moving forward.

possibly building bibliographic descriptions from entities available on the network rather than requiring someone to build from scratch such a full description.

As librarians and library workers, we are all familiar to various extend with the key standards used in our field, especially when comes the time to talk about MARC and AACR2. We have learned them over time at library school, conferences or on the job.

Indeed, the traditional approach to managing our data focuses on the whole record which is acting as a block of information that requires to be pretty much used as a whole unless deconstructed on a word by word basis for indexing purposes. It takes time to learn MARC and AACR2 / RDA and pretty much only librarians know the syntax and structure behind such a record.

There are many years of analysis and reviews behind these standards but in both cases, they have been criticized due to their lack of flexibility and complexity. AACR2 has recently been upgraded and improved by RDA. Is the same thing going to happen to MARC? Is BIBFRAME the next major change to hit libraries? What about link data and initiatives like schema.org? Should librarians start investing time and energy learning and implementing these new models?

Link data and Web entities bring sets of linkable “pieces” of potentially validated information that can be reused without necessarily knowing a whole infrastructure like MARC. Those linkable pieces should be authoritative sources of information, like the authority files we know today, and being able to work and use these could mean improvement to library workflows and enduser discovery experiences.

There are various indications today that seem to support the possibility of a slow but steady evolution from MARC to something else, something easier to learn and to integrate with other initiatives on the worldwide Web / network. The factors that favor this eventual transition are ease of use, openness and the opportunity to rely on other profession to help maintain (authorities / entities) and describe valuable content to libraries. With link data and entities, we are talking about

To help visualizing how a MARC record could compare with a Web entity, let’s use the analogy of the brick and mortar library (figure 1) that constitutes one solid piece (the MARC record). If 105

this house instead was made of removable pieces (entities) it would make it much simpler to improve, continue renovating and upgrading.

Web entities could make creating bibliographic descriptions easier, possibly even more complete and more importantly, that it could create further opportunities for libraries and cataloguers to increase their relevancy on the Web. But let’s first give a formal definition of linked data. Thus, link data is “a method of publishing structured data based on an ontology, using HTTP URI's as identifiers, so that information can be linked within and across web domains.” A simpler description of this is to say that linked data is “structured data” using entity identifiers (uniform resource identifier (URI)). This new way of looking at how information can be built, disaggregated, rebuilt and shared seems to be a good match, a good model for libraries in what they are trying to accomplish for their communities, which is provide access to information. More importantly, Web sites and portals have grown up to not be static pages any longer but active pages using pieces of information or as named these days, Web entities. These pieces can be persons, places, concepts, organizations, etc., as illustrated in the following graph of relationship (figure 2).

Figure 1. Each block could represent entities or authoritative files because entities work like authorities in some ways. These Web entities then provides two benefits: 1. improved data quality and management—the data changes as the authoritative source is updated, and 2. it allows others who consume our data to link to other sources and provide a richer experience for the end user. We are familiar with the first one as we currently use and manage authority files in library’s local systems. Authority files allow us to change only the main authority to then see all the records using that authority to be automatically updated. The same is true with Web entities. But using Web entities could make a real difference in libraries. Indeed, some specialists think today that

Figure 2. This graph of relationship is believed to be the future of library data management in quite a few organizations now. It introduces many changes to our landscape and if we can take advantage of them, we will see improvements in many areas of librarianship.

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The web has started to represent these entities in knowledge cards/graphs. These knowledge cards are not so new.

Figure 4.

Umberto Eco Works Subjects Semiotics | Religions | Quotes

Born: 5 January 1932 Alessandria, Italy Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist.

Find Umberto Eco works at: Libraries near me | Online Retailers Figure 3.

“The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.”

The search engines are now all on board and are providing information from entities. They discovered that if they could find more and better entities from authoritative sources and “pages”, they can provide better context and better search experiences for the end users. If they do that, they get more traffic, more Web time and possibly more revenues. Of course, there is a commercial purpose behind all this and it is all right.

That library knowledge card is built, has you might have deducted, by using and linking the various entities as we know them today in our field. Our role as librarians or organizations like OCLC is to identify the entities and to associate their role to one another. Some can be done manually by people but lots can be automated as well.

We in libraries can bring some of these advantages to our field. In using these links, it is clear libraries can improve as well the end user experience and have better fulfillment / delivery options. This seems like the right direction to take with libraries’ data as illustrated in figure 4 which is showing a possible library display based on the author Umberto Eco.

The lines in the graph of figure 2 represents the links between the entities and those lines are the relationships one can start building to improve what one is trying to describe. As illustrated in figure 3, one line/link could help displaying item availability, bring more subjects to the users, linking outside of the library for different valuable information or anything one can imagine as useful to the person researching information. Not only could this offer better information to the end user trying to find something, it will also:  

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Give them higher quality information or in library terms, show them a better record; It will increase the discoverability of valuable information since library records will be linked outside of the library world;



in libraries manage our data. Instead of focusing uniquely at the work level, we can continue defining and improving entities where these updates and creation can be cascaded, or linked, to a more complete manifestation. The traditional records as we know them will continue being created but this in the future could be created out of these entities instead of being created in a closed MARC/RDA environment. This is where the fundamental changes will probably happen.

All in all, a better user experience.

The graph of relationship concept is nothing new, at least not on the Web. It has been present on the Web for quite sometimes now: social networks have used this, like Facebook. Understanding these relationships allowed them to improve the users’ experience which in returns guarantee that these users come back if they liked it. If they come back, this can attract more advertising, more traffic and of course this has a huge commercial impact for many organizations living on the Web. By being able to understand where there users go, their preferences, what they work on, search on and the like, they are even in a position to target the type of advertisement they post.

Naturally, discovery will benefit from this as indicated before. This is already happening and organizations like OCLC are delivering some of these benefits to libraries. By having deployed schema.org to all WorldCat work descriptions, this allows search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing and Yandex to link to parts of MARC records from WorldCat records which in return takes end users back to WorldCat and ultimately to the libraries having their holdings in WorldCat (WorldCat is OCLC’s union catalog made of millions of records from libraries around the world).

But, what can libraries and librarians learn from this? There must be purposes we can adapt to ourselves in libraries to improve our own environment and our own users experience. For example, if we look at this model under the « works » view, we know we can have simple but improved display. Indeed, we now have started to see things like FRBR being implemented in systems which allows software to show one record linked to all other similar manifestations or expressions of a given work. This means that editions, or items described in various languages or titles available in various formats are all grouped together to simplify the display, i.e. it presents one record instead of ten different ones. That one record however links to the ten different manifestations through a few clicks and allows the user to find these other pieces if they were looking at a different format or medium than a print copy, for example.

Going back to cataloguing, colleagues at OCLC and myself believe Web entities could improve quality, production and workflow. RDA is being implemented and this is truly one of the first step to start bringing some of these changes in libraries as it does deal with works, entities and manifestations. We need to continue in that direction. Right now, the metadata is for the most part locked in a solid frame called a MARC record. It constitutes a whole that needs to be broken down. It needs to be broken down if we want more identifiers, more links and more entities to be used from it and with it. We need to unlock our MARC records much further than we have through index files. We need to mine the MARC records to create new entities and this can be done algorithmically. We have done it at OCLC.

We have the responsibility as librarians to find ways to continue presenting and exposing our collections more openly on the Web. Similarly, we need to continue finding ways to do more with less. If we can find ways to continue improving our services like cataloguing more rapidly various type of material, why not use these new methods.

The idea is to truly start moving away from creating rigid MARC records so that we can take better advantage of also other data elements currently made available on the Web. We know we have plenty of possible entities in a MARC record. We can follow the routes used by authority files and continue expanding on this as a

Expanding on the cataloguing tasks performed in libraries, using entities can transform the way we 108

community because what authorities have been doing is/was using forms of entity based management.

create and to update these existing and future entities. In fact, there are not enough of these out there right now, especially if we continue building these entities and authoritative sources. The future cataloguers will need to learn how to find these other entities and sources on the Web to integrate them in their workflow which means that we will see a « mixed » environment for them for a long time.

In « splitting » so to speak the parts of a MARC record using technologies like schema.org, we can and we have at OCLC created links and entities for what is currently described in our member libraries. This needs to be expanded as we need to create and grow the number of possible connections.

But, their task might evolve to assemble these complete knowledge cards which will possibly become the next generation for the MARC records as we know them. Cataloguers will consequently see their role expanding. An example could be that they will be expected to define or to provide even more information about a given author like its education level, where he/she was educated, the city the author(s) lived in, etc. If these entities are not there, they cannot be linked to and used. So for the cataloguers’ workflow, he or she then moves on from the author/authority name/entities to building the details of the work / manifestation.

But in a linked data world – which is what the Web is becoming – there is no single, wellestablished “frame.” There is only data. If we look at a visualization of a generic knowledge card in that way, all the different data points become visible and more logic to us librarians like presented in figure 5. As mentioned, we have pieces we can rely on in our MARC records such as authorities and we can proceed with creating entities from these.

Lots of data exists out there on the Web and it needs to be mined and extracted to free them up. The challenge then becomes to have the resources to manage all these new entities and deliver quality metadata. Lots can be automated but human / manual intervention remains required. We all need to deal with legacy formats and this will be true still for a long time. We have barely started such a transition to link data and Web entities so now is time for libraries and librarians to position themselves as « entities experts ». Figure 5.

I have referred to the cascading benefits that using entities and link data can bring. You change one small piece in one place and all the places using it are updated. We in libraries know how this works as we have been using authority files in local system and we see this more and more with cloud based computing solutions where there is no need to re-enter tones of times the fixes and improvements. This is one example of the benefits Web entities can bring to libraries but it can go much further than that for libraries. It can go as far as inserting ourselves, libraries and “library metadata/collections”, one layer further within the Web and all its players.

Of course, we need to start relying on other things on the Web such as places, create new kind of authority files like for « works ». There are currently many existing thesaurus and vocabulary we can build on. What would the cataloguing job become or evolve to then if this becomes how descriptions are being built? One can imagine that cataloguers will continue to play a key role in developing and using these authority files of all kinds. We need real people to 109

Libraries now have the chance to become a much more visible force on the Web. We have the knowledge of managing quality data, we have quality data many providers want and we know how to build authority files, in other words, Web entities. Let’s start playing with others on the Web to continue expanding our relevancy. Or should I have said let’s continue playing on the Web because we have at OCLC starting doing this since 2005 on behalf of libraries.

To conclude this summary on link data and entities, I would like to share with you some information on a few initiatives you might have heard of. I have referred a lot to schema.org and I would like to expand a little on this “standard” as we are not the only organization at OCLC to have deployed this. Schema.org is an agreed ontology for harvesting structured data from the web that creates efficiencies for the engines and allows sites more control of what is important to publish. The schema.org vocabulary is a set of terms used to describe “things” fairly broadly. It was made broad, because the group that started it – largely search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex) – wanted it to be inclusive and as expandable as possible.

In 2005 we started sending MARC records to various search engines and Web partners to expose libraries’ holdings and collections. But, by getting schema.org into WorldCat, library resources are now in the same metadata workflow used by all kinds of Web services and environments. All those standards to connect and to link will gradually be much better understood by numerous search engines and other services over time and will potentially increase libraries visibility in the process as this grows.

Thus, schema.org provides a way to identify all kinds of “things” on the Web, including “things” important to libraries, of course, like the description of creative works in a variety of, again, broad categories. And that’s one way that schema.org data in WorldCat.org is helpful as it provides a way for us to “translate” between what the rest of the world calls “things” and what we in libraries call MARC records.

Just to give you an example of all the efforts we have made at OCLC implementing and using schema.org on behalf of our member libraries, it is appropriate to describe the various steps we have taken to get there: a) we have put through schema.org so far 197+ million work descriptions, b) we used many different formats in addition to RDF, c) we linked back to WorldCat manifestations where the works (items) are, d) we performed all this using to start with existing an authoritative entities like Dewey and VIAF staying compliant using ODC-BY (Open Data Commons Attribution).

To be understood, we need to use and to adapt a more open standard vocabulary and this is what schema.org offers us. We at OCLC hope this initiative will also give confidence to other library related providers to try using schema.org more broadly as well. Also, I am sure that many of you have heard of the Library of Congress (LC) initiative called BibFrame. LC defines BibFrame as the foundation for the future of bibliographic description that happens on the web and in the networked world. Although the BIBFRAME initiative has for objective to define a new way to represent and exchange bibliographic data – that is, replace the MAchine Readable Cataloging (MARC) format – its scope is broader. As an initiative, it is investigating all aspects of bibliographic description, data creation, and data exchange. In addition to replacing the MARC format, this includes accommodating different content models and cataloging rules, exploring new methods of data entry, and evaluating current exchange protocols.

For those interested in reading more on OCLC’s research and development efforts on link data and Web entities, you can visit the following site: http://www.oclc.org/data. At the beginning of 2015, we at OCLC were in the midst of our various planned initiatives to continue exposing further the whole of WorldCat using linked data and Web entities. We are confident this will help us improve our services to libraries and possibly develop and deliver new solutions to libraries in the process. As a not-for-profit organization, we need to continue remaining relevant to all our member libraries.

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Interestingly, a colleague of mine at OCLC published recently the following working paper: « The Relationship between BIBFRAME and OCLC’s Linked-Data Model of Bibliographic Description: A Working Paper”( http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/pub lications/library/2013/2013-05.pdf). I invite you to read this if you are curious to know how this connects. In a nutshell, the key result is that the two efforts are complementary except for some common vocabulary that might still be needed to facilitate a better collaboration between the two initiatives according to one of the author of the paper, Carol Jean Godby. Of course, OCLC continues working with LC to assure duplication of efforts are limited and that both efforts complement each other. The Web is moving from strings to things. Thus, what can you do at your library to follow that trend? Is your library following these implementations? If not, why not? Your library needs at a minimum to start focusing more at making its collections and services visible and usable on the Web if you have not done some of these efforts already. It is clear that libraries need to be pushing more their various providers and local institutions to see if any of these initiatives can and will progress in the future. The more we work at OCLC with entities, the more we believe that entities would revolutionize discovery and workflows in libraries. Library systems need to find ways now to enable more active and open ways to expose and syndicate library content to the Web. Together, we need to set regional, national and global context so that our resources and collections are visible and used more widely. If we accomplish this, we will have made libraries relevant, truly relevant, on and in the Web.

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Creación y Provisión de Servicios de Información en Bibliotecas Académicas Caribeñas para Personas con Discapacidad Enid Torres-Sánchez, MHSA, Tomás Marín-Quintero, BA Estudiantes de Maestría EGCTI-UPR: Gretchen Carrasquillo-Ramos, BA Estudiante de Maestría en Consejería y Rehabilitación:

De acuerdo con la Declaración de los Derechos de los Impedidos, de las Naciones Unidad, del 9 de diciembre de 1975, la persona con discapacidad tiene derecho a que se respete su dignidad humana y tiene los mismos derechos civiles y políticos que los demás seres humanos incluyendo la educación y servicios que aseguren el aprovechamiento máximo y aceleren el proceso de su integración social. Por tanto, la persona con discapacidad tiene derecho a solicitar, acceder y recibir servicios bibliotecarios. Una persona con discapacidad se refiere a toda persona que tiene un impedimento físico, mental o sensorial que limita sustancialmente una o más actividades esenciales de su vida; tiene un historial o récord médico de impedimento físico, mental o sensorial; o es considerada que tiene un impedimento físico, mental o sensorial (Ley Núm. 238 del año 2004). Las bibliotecas académicas, entiéndase las de nivel de educación superior, ofrecen servicios tradicionales para su comunidad y, en ocasiones, los servicios extendidos a la población de personas con discapacidad es invisible. Nuestra presentación tiene como propósito dar a conocer elementos básicos de equidad en el acceso a la información y documentación, para el estudio y la investigación en bibliotecas académicas en la región caribeña, y ofrecer estrategias claves para que los servicios bibliotecarios, tanto presenciales como virtuales, en dichas unidades de información se puedan brindar dentro de un marco de justicia e inclusión social. La presentación incluye los retos y las oportunidades con las cuales cuentan las bibliotecas académicas en el Caribe, con el fin de satisfacer las necesidades de estudio e investigación de las personas con discapacidad en su acceso equitativo a la información. Tiene como base una encuesta en progreso administrada a una muestra de bibliotecas académicas en la región caribeña. Se espera establecer un diálogo con los presentes en la conferencia para allegar evidencias adicionales. La recopilación de esta información contribuirá a los esfuerzos de ACURIL de concienciar y capacitar al personal bibliotecario, particularmente sobre las necesidades de la población de personas con discapacidad y las alternativas diversas para ofrecer la oportunidad de inclusión a todos, en igualdad de condiciones. Se tendrá a la disposición una guía temática virtual bilingue como referencia para profesionales de la información que puedan acceder y utilizar para crear servicios dirigidos esta población en la región caribeña, en igualdad de condiciones. Palabras claves: Acceso equitativo a la información, discapacidad, impedimentos, personal bibliotecario, equidad en servicios de información, educación continua bibliotecaria, servicios bibliotecarios, bibliotecas académicas

Referencias

Ley Núm. 238 (2004). Ley de la Carta de Derechos de las Personas con Impedimentos. Recuperado de http://www.lexjuris.com/lexlex/leyes2004/lexl2004238.htm. ONU, Asamblea General (1975). Declaración de los derechos de los impedidos. sesiones. pp. 92 Recuperado de

Asamblea General – Trigésimo período de

http://www.cc.gob.gt/ddhh2/docs/Instrumentos/Discapacidad/Impedidos.pdf http://www.ordenjuridico.gob.mx/TratInt/Derechos%20Humanos/INST%2006.pdf United Nations , General Assembly (1975). Declaration on the rights of disabled persons.http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/RightsOfDisabledPersons.aspx

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Creation and Provision of Information Services in Academic Libraries in the Caribbean for Persons with Disabilities According to the United Nations’ Declaration on the rights of disabled persons, of 9 December 1975, the disabled person has the inherent right to respect for their human dignity and has the same civil and political rights as other human beings, including education and services to ensure maximum utilization and accelerate the process of social integration. Therefore, the disabled person has the right to request and have access to library services. A disabled person is considered as any person who has a physical, mental or sensory impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities ; has a medical history or record of physical, mental or sensory impairment; or is considered to have one physical , mental or sensory impairment ( Law no. 238 of 2004 ). Academic libraries, understood as those units in the level of higher education, offer traditional and innovative information and documentation services to their diverse community members. In many information units, services to persons with disabilities, although being part of the academic community, are invisible. Our presentation aims to present basic elements to provide equitable access to information and documentation, for the study and research endeavors in academic libraries in the Caribbean region, geared to persons with disabilities; and to provide key strategies for library services, both onsite and virtual, so that within their possibilities try to provide adequate services for persons with disabilities within a framework of justice and social inclusion. The presentation includes the challenges and opportunities that academic libraries in the Caribbean may encounter in their planning and development of equitable access to information, in order to meet and satisfy the needs of study and research of the clientele with disabilities. The presentation is also based on a survey in progress administered to a sample of academic libraries in the Caribbean region. It hopes to establish a dialogue with those present at the conference in order to raise additional evidence. Gathering this information will help us contribute to ACURIL in its efforts to raise awareness and train library staff, particularly on the needs of the population of persons with disabilities and the various alternatives to offer the opportunity of inclusion to all on equal terms . A bilingual virtual thematic guide as a reference for information professionals who can access and use to create services for this population in the Caribbean region, on an equal basis, will also be shared. Keywords: Equitable access to information, disability, disabilities, library staff , equity information services, continuing education, librarian, library services, academic libraries

Referencias

Asamblea General – Trigésimo período de

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Capacity building through a continuous education programme: The case of The University of the West Indies Mona Library Maureen Kerr-Campbell, Systems Librarian, Frances Salmon, Head, West Indies and Special Collections The University of the West Indies, Mona Library

The continuous changes in the work environment as a result of advancement in technology, and new demands from clients have resulted in the information professional seeking new avenues to upgrade her professional, personal and social abilities. To fulfil these needs, the information professional has to do an inward assessment of what is required for the job or occasion against her current competencies, abilities and interest. Whenever there is interest in the job as well as an inquiring mind, the information professional will constantly pursue the quest for new knowledge for the implementation of new services in various packages to meet evolving user demands. Several options are utilized by information professionals at The UWI Library at Mona. These include, but are not limited to brief informal/formal negotiated attachments to universities with the requisite knowledge, expertise and equipment; short training courses at reputable institutions; related library conferences and workshops; selected user group meetings where problems encountered are discussed etc.; membership of group lists where one can keep abreast of current happenings pertaining to a particular subject/software, as well as, individual self-training on and off the job. Some of these options are used in the short to medium term to successfully implement projects. The paper provides a case study of the simultaneous implementation of a comprehensive shift in collection emphasis and the introduction of new technological advancement in a special collection at The University of the West Indies Mona and the use of various continuing education solutions to acquire skills and expertise in implementation and deployment.

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Building bridges: a framework for collaboration Simone Bernard; Juneann Garnett; Danniebelle Mohabir University of Guyana Library Within recent times the realm of information and its management have changed drastically. No longer is information and information management only within the domain of librarians and information professionals. Information is global, everyone is involved. As Todd (2001) commented, “The information environment of the 21st century is complex and fluid, connective and interactive, diverse, ambiguous and unpredictable, and one is no longer constrained by physical collections, time, place and national boundaries.” Today the impact of new computer technologies is changing how information is acquired and manipulated. The world is moving a lot faster than it was in the past decade. Now new discoveries and information gush out through our televisions, mail, the internet, telephones, and friends at a staggering rate. Everything seems to be faster. Although the Internet and these new technologies have seemingly made things easier, there is an increased need for information managers to ‘step up’ and make themselves more vibrant in this paradigm shift. Forward-looking academic libraries should take this opportunity to rethink their activities with the intention to reinvent or reposition themselves and to find new ways and means to build new partnerships. Unless we want to be left behind, we information professionals must develop personally and professionally to remain relevant within the learning organization. To achieve this level of relevance and vibrancy information managers/ librarians need to know more of what’s happening around them. For us to understand what is happening out there we require certain key competencies. Collaboration is a means for us to acquire these new competencies that will assure our continued existence in this new information era. Embracing collaboration in librarianship calls for librarians to partner with stakeholders in order to make the library a valued and contributing community member. There are several avenues for collaboration with teams, communities and organizations which academic libraries in Guyana can pursue which can only result in tremendous benefits for information and knowledge workers that will ultimately filter down to the wider society. For many local librarians it’s a great challenge to find and pursue opportunities for professional education and continued professional development. This paper intends to propose a plan for collaboration that will see our librarians collaborating in the learning process, and acquiring new competencies while aiding their professional development. Reference: Todd, R. 2001. Transitions for preferred futures of school libraries: Knowledge space, not information place, Connections, not collections, Actions, not positions Evidence, not advocacy. Paper presented at the 30th Annual conference of the International Association of School Librarianship, Auckland, New Zealand. Available: http://www.iasl-online.org/events/conf/virtualpaper2001.html Introduction

Drivers for personal development

For many local librarians it’s a great challenge to find and pursue opportunities for professional education and continued personal and professional development. This presentation illustrates a proposal for collaboration that will see our librarians collaborating in the learning process, and acquiring new competencies while aiding their personal development and continued learning.

University of Guyana librarians’ need for personal development is driven by three (3) main factors: the changing information environment; the need for focus-driven information professionals; and the new competencies required in this new information era. The changing information environment Within recent times the realm of information and its management have changed drastically. No longer is information and information management 125

only within the domain of librarians and information professionals. Information is global, everyone is involved. As Todd (2001) commented, “The information environment of the 21st century is complex and fluid, connective and interactive, diverse, ambiguous and unpredictable, and one is no longer constrained by physical collections, time, place and national boundaries.”

are what will ensure that librarians and information professionals are needed. Information handling skills, training and facilitating skills, evaluation skills, and concern for the customer are key skills which will continue to be required. However librarians in this era need to build upon these very skills to enhance what they have to offer the profession. This is regardless of if they find themselves in administration, acquisitions, technical services, users’ services etc.

Today the impact of new computer technologies is changing how information is acquired and manipulated. The world is moving a lot faster than it was in the past decade. Now new discoveries and information gush out through our televisions, mail, the internet, telephones, and friends at a staggering rate. Everything seems to be faster. These electronic networks and different information formats are changing the information environment existing in academia.

Forward-looking academic libraries and librarians should take this opportunity to rethink their activities with the intention to reinvent or reposition themselves and to find new ways and means to build new partnerships. Unless we want to be left behind, we information professionals must develop personally and professionally to remain relevant within the learning organization. Garrod (1999) explained that the academic libraries and library staff need to adapt swiftly to the new learning environment. We must focus on the reality that we live in an information society where the development of information technology and telecommunication networks is accompanied by a corresponding increase in knowledge, with a rapidly growing flow of information, and therefore we must be ready to change and rebrand in keeping with the revolution. Choi and Rasmussen (2009) put it quite succinctly when they argue that we must have the ability to perpetuate learning all the time. To do this the qualities of self motivation and enthusiasm endorsed by Orme (2008) are very relevant to today’s information professional. These are all qualities which information professionals need to incorporate in his/her repertoire of skills to remain focused on the true nature of the profession as it evolves.

Academic researchers and students now have access to a variety of resources outside the control of library and information professionals. There is explosive growth of mobile devices and applications to drive user demands and expectations (Smart phones, iPads, and other handheld devices) and they are changing the way information is delivered and accessed (Murphy, 2012). Roles that were once unique to librarians are now being offered by hundreds of different institutions, companies and professions in society at large. According to Coffman (2013) there are hundreds of self-publishing services including Amazon, Google, Smashwords, and Lulu. Google and Amazon now offer larger collections than all but a few of the biggest libraries. The need for focus driven information professionals The second factor that drives our need for personal development and continued learning is the importance and need for focus driven information professionals. The Internet and the many new technologies have seemingly made things easier, but there is an increased need for information managers to ‘step up’ and make themselves relevant in this paradigm shift. Bin Hashim & Mokhtar (2012) explain that although information may be accessed differently in today’s information environment, the skills that librarians and information professionals need can be adapted from established practices. The foundations of the profession and the skills and roles inherent therein

The need for new skills and competencies The third driving force behind the need for us to pursue personal development and continued learning, is the need for new skills and competencies. There will be times when the new information environment will require new skills be used in conjunction with traditional skills, in seeking, processing and using information. Traditional library skills should therefore be reassessed and their value to information services in the electronic environment applied. For example, the skills of cataloguing and classification can be used to improve the end users experience of 126

networked information retrieval and the creation of catalogues including electronic resources can ensure access, authenticity, reliability and validity of networked resources and traditional user education skills with the appropriate shift can be very relevant in this current information environment as well.

Collaborative opportunities for librarians Collaboration is a means for us to acquire new competencies, and achieve personal development and continued learning that will assure our continued existence in this new information era. Many researchers argue that information managers need to find new ways of working together in order to understand and take full advantage of the changing information environment. Embracing collaboration in librarianship calls for librarians to partner with stakeholders in order to make the library a valued and contributing community member. Technological, ecological, social, economic, and political complexity is increasing at an accelerating rate, and thus collaboration and partnerships grow more important every day. There are fewer and fewer arenas in which individual action suffices. Almost all valuable work is done in a community. Creativity and innovation rarely emerge from people working alone.

Despite traditional librarianship skills being applied in the era of the new information environment, information managers and professionals must recognize the importance of them acquiring new skills which will ensure that they achieve the required level of relevance and vibrancy needed in this era. According to Jain (2003) academic librarians are to be equipped with new skills and competencies in order to play new roles in the twenty first century environment. Some of these new skills are: marketing skills, leadership skills, information technology skills, information literacy skills, digital collection development skills, and blended librarianship skills.

Collaboration can enrich the student experience by creating learning communities. Collaboration can enlarge research and learning opportunities for both faculty and students. Collaboration can embrace the needs of diverse communities and create a broader sense of identification with the academy. Collaboration can demonstrate the value of learning and build a culture of lifelong learning that transcends the campus. Collaboration can allow us to solve the really big problems.

For us to understand what is happening out there and to be able to fit in we require certain key competencies. The Special Library Association (2003) recommended two core competencies for information professionals as: 1) Professional competencies related to the practitionerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s knowledge of information resources, access, technology and management, and the ability to use this knowledge as a basis for providing the highest quality information services; and 2) Personal competencies representing a set of attitudes, skills and values that enable practitioners to work effectively and contribute positively to their organizations, clients and profession. Corbin (1993) classified competencies into personal characteristics, basic skills, general knowledge, and specialized knowledge. Morgan (1996) grouped competencies future academic librarians should possess, in addition to core library skills, into four areas: credibility with academic staff; teaching and training; IT-related skills; and management skills. According to Griffiths (1998), new information professionals should have the skills and competencies that allow them to guide in the face of an uncertain future; collaborate; empower; and negotiate.

There are several avenues for collaboration with teams, communities and organizations which academic libraries and librarians in Guyana and other developing countries can pursue which can only result in tremendous benefits for information and knowledge workers that will ultimately filter down to the wider society. The following is a proposal for collaboration which is still a work in progress.

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Collaborative Activity/ Action with:

Type of Activity

Expected Outcome (as aligned to personal and professional learning needs)

Community based teams

Training in needed areas such as IL and reading skills; and facilitating community access to tools for education and empowerment through the library resources

The ability to organize groups, organize information flows, communicate, and move groups forward

Peer institutions

Cross institutional collaboration in the following areas:

Development of user-centered skills

IL training Learning commons for the provision of access to specialized information resources such as databases; writing services

Development of research skills Enhanced knowledge in subject specificity Enhanced communication and teaching skills

Scholars commons which provides specialized services for higher learning, such as research assistance Resource sharing Skills sharing, e.g., librarians from other libraries can be trained in special areas Organizations ď&#x201A;ˇ ď&#x201A;ˇ

National International

Development of subject specific national integrated information systems such as, agricultural information networks, health information networks, education information networks, etc.

Ability to network, ability to manage networks, database management skills, development of multi-disciplinary knowledge base. Personal knowledge base is widened. Ability to link national development to the provision of relevant information Negotiating skills

Faculty

Development of standardised practices for teaching of IL skills to students, whether taught from the library or integrated into the curriculum Training workshops on emerging and topical issues whether on-site or online Thesis consultations

Enhanced knowledge of curriculum planning and development Development of IL instructional techniques Ability to package and deliver information

Building relationships with faculty Enhanced knowledge of subject discipline

Organise localised collections to widen access Joint assignments and research projects

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Improved research ability

Conclusion

http://www.infotoday.com/OnlineSearc her/Articles/Features/So-Now-WhatThe-Future-for-Librarians-86856.shtml Corbin, J. (1993). Competencies for electronic information services, The Public-Access Computer Systems Review 4, 5–22. Retrieved from http://www.info.lib.uh.edu/pr/search/co rbin.4n6 Garrod, P. (1999). Survival strategies in the learning age-hybrid staff and hybrid libraries. ASLIB Proceedings, 51 (6), 187194. Griffiths, J. M. (1998). The new informational professional, Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science 24, 8-12. Jain, P. (2013). A paradigm shift in the 21st century academic libraries and librarians: prospectus and opportunities. European Journal of Academic Research, 1 (3), 133-147. Morgan, S. (1996). Developing academic library skills for the future, Library Review 45, 4153 Murphy, K. (2012). The challenges facing academic libraries in the 21st century. Retrieved from http://www.mhpbooks.com/thechallenges-facing-academic-libraries-inthe-21st-century/ Orme, V. (2008). You will be …: A study of job advertisements to determine employers' requirements for LIS professionals in the UK in 2007. Library Review, 57(8), 619– 633. Special Library Association. (2003). Competencies for information professionals of the 21st century. Retrieved from https://www.sla.org/aboutsla/competencies/ Todd, R. (2001). Transitions for preferred futures of school libraries: Knowledge space, not information place, connections, not collections, actions, not positions, evidence not advocacy. Paper presented at the 30th Annual conference of the International Association of School Librarianship, Auckland, New Zealand. Retrieved from http://www.iaslslo.org/virtualpaper2001. html

In a world of, unequal opportunities, dwindling resource allocations, and the concomitant competition between academic departments for limited resources, information professionals must find novel and innovative means of reaching their audience while remaining relevant to them. It is clear from this research that collaboration can be a key tool in this process. Collaboration of any kind will bring a number of challenges, especially related to the culture of faculty and librarians’ unwillingness to work together; and administrative practices such as lack of a formal policy at the university level to encourage collaboration, incompatible organizational structure and the complicated and bureaucratic procedures. But the need for collaboration is real due to the changes in the information environment, the paradigm shift in the library and information profession and for us the limited available opportunities for personal development and continued learning. Collaboration may not be the answer to all the problems we as information professionals face but it can help us to create a platform for knowledge sharing and set a framework for personal development. Efforts at collaboration may be thwarted for various reasons but as long we remain committed to our users and our personal development, retaining that ability to seek knowledge, create positive change, and motivate ourselves and others, small efforts will eventually be the catalyst through which development occurs.

References Bin Hashim, Laila and Mokhtar, Wan. (2012). Preparing new era librarians and information professionals: Trends and issues. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 2, no.7: 151- 155. Choi, Y., & Rasmussen, E. (2009). What qualifications and skills are important for digital librarian positions in academic libraries? A job advertisement analysis. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 35(5), 457–467. Coffman, Steve. (2013). So now what?: The future for librarians. Information Today 37, 1 January/February. Retrieved from 129

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The Department of Library and Information Studies, UWI, Mona: Empowering Information Professionals to Meet the Demands of the 21st Century Information Environment through Continuing Education. Rosemarie A. Heath The University of the West Indies, Mona Since October, 1971, the Department of Library and Information Studies (DLIS), The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, has been developing information professionals equipped to manage information effectively. Recognizing that with the modern day trend towards electronic resources/applications in libraries and technological modes of communication the world over, information professionals need to keep pace with the rapid changes in the information society, the DLIS has been offering opportunities for continuing education amongst information professionals in the Caribbean. These opportunities include: special admission to semester courses (for non-DLIS students) throughout the academic year, an annual Summer Institute, research fora, summer workshops in Jamaica and across the Caribbean, full postgraduate programmes, offered through a blended mode of delivery, as well as several workshops throughout the year, examining topics such as: Advanced Cataloguing and Metadata, Legal Information Resources, Media and Information Literacy, Information Technology and Business Information Resources. The DLIS is using this medium to inform Caribbean information professionals of the opportunities available to them through its offerings and to encourage participation at various levels of opportunity for professional development and personal growth. Introduction The survival of any profession relies greatly on the professional development and continuing education activity amongst its members. Over the years, libraries, archives and museums the world over have been faced with many challenges, the greatest being, budgetary constraints, partly due to their not-for-profit mandate. Regardless of this, users continue to have very high expectations of their information units, and rightly so, since, with the current intake of what I refer to as “infogen” by all who exist in the information society, information units are forced to remain relevant.

and skills, as well as, the development of personal qualities. It contains both the acquisition of new skills, to broaden competence, and the enhancement of existing skills to keep abreast of evolving knowledge.” According to Robyn Ellard, 2003, “Being involved in CPD in the library industry enables you to maintain and improve your technical knowledge, professional skills and competencies. It allows you to remain flexible and adaptable by keeping yourself up to date through activities such as professional reading, seminars, courses and conferences.”

Like other professionals, information professionals have been impacted by the rapid changes in the world over the past decade. It is incumbent on us to keep pace with the changes at almost the same speed at which they are occurring. This means that information professionals must embrace Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities, as a means of constantly acquiring new skillsets to meet the needs of users in such a dynamic information environment.

Traditional role of the information professional Three main traditional roles have been identified by J. Russell, 2014 as:  Custodian: Managed, selected, organized and provided access to information that guided policies, standards and academic programmes.  Media Guide: Tour guide in the digital Media Guide information environment.  Public Relations officer: Maintained good relationship with management, clients, other libraries and vendors.

The European Federation of National Engineering Associations (FEANI), 2015, defines CPD as, “the acquisition of knowledge, experience 132

With the major transitions in the information field, however, a new professional has been born.

Generally, what this is saying is that the 21st Century information professional must be well rounded and balanced. Such a person must assume new roles such as:  Information Broker: Identifies/retrieves/ organizes/repackages/provides electronic or physical access to digital information.  Change Agent /Application Leader: Collaborates w/ IT Services to design and evaluate systems that would facilitate eaccess.  Facilitator: Makes access easier, e.g. network access, purchases software & ejournal licenses.  Educator: Trains clients to be 21st century information users. Use of webbased instruction and online tutorials.  Policy Maker: Develops/participates in information policy for an organization, ensuring total or selective access.  Image Maker: Adds value to the organization/ project a positive image to the outside world.  Collaborator: Expanded area of collaboration, not just with fellow librarians but with IT people, the community, etc.  Image Maker: Adds value to the organization/ project a positive image to the outside world. (J. Russell 11-13)

Who is a 21st Century Information Professional? The Special Libraries Association (SLA), 2014 describes the Information Professional (“IP”) as one who “strategically uses information in his/her job to advance the mission of the organization. The IP accomplishes this through the development, deployment, and management of information resources and services. The IP harnesses technology as a critical tool to accomplish goals. IPs include, but are not limited to librarians, knowledge managers, chief information officers, web developers, information brokers, and consultants” (1). Competencies of the 21st Century information professional: SLA Competencies. According to the SLA, in its 2014 revision of a document entitled, “Competencies for Information Professionals of the 21st Century,” the 21st Century information professional needs to possess both professional and personal competencies. Professional competencies are seen as those which are related to the information professional’s knowledge base in relation to the existence of the various information resources, how to access and manipulate these resources in order to provide the best possible information service to users. Three major professional competencies were therefore identified:  Creating and maintaining collaborative relationships.  Managing information resources and information services.  Understanding and applying information tools and technologies. Personal competencies include the attitudes skills and values that the individual professional possesses, which will help him/her to make a valuable contribution to the work of their organization, users and profession. The SLA states that, “These competencies range from being strong communicators, to demonstrating the value-add of their contributions, to remaining flexible and positive in an ever-changing environment.”

Professional organizations have been offering many opportunities to support this need, such as: conferences, symposia, training workshops, conferences and events, e-learning programs, best practice techniques and sharing of ideas, all focused towards assisting an individual to improve and have effective professional development. Understandably, many professionals rely on their respective professional organizations to provide professional development and continuing education opportunities. Ellard, however, suggests that information professionals should take personal responsibility for their CPD. This may be done, she says, through involvement in Email lists, professional reading and E-Alerts, publishing, mentoring, networking, seminars and conferencing (Ellard 1). Additionally, library schools across the world have been embarking upon programmes to facilitate this well needed support. 133

recognizes its responsibility to its graduates and other information professionals who wish to be a part of the DLIS experience. The department has therefore been offering opportunities for CPD amongst information professionals. These opportunities include: Special semester courses throughout the academic year, an annual Summer Institute, research fora, summer workshops in Jamaica and across the wider Caribbean, full postgraduate programmes, offered through a blended mode of delivery, as well as several workshops throughout the year, examining topics such as: Advanced Cataloguing and Metadata, Legal Information Resources, Media and Information Literacy, Information Technology and Business Information Resources. The DLIS is using this medium to inform Caribbean information professionals of the CPD opportunities available through its offerings and to encourage participation at various levels of opportunity for professional development and personal growth. A view of the DLIS CPD activities over the last five years, for example, will reveal:

CPD opportunities in the DLIS, UWI, Mona, Jamaica

In October, 1971, funding form United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) gave birth to the Department of Library and Information Studies (DLIS), in the faculty of Humanities and Education, at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. The main objective behind this move was, according to Ownali Mohamedali, “…to provide professional education and training for librarians/information specialists in the English speaking Caribbean countries” (99). This aim is similar to those of other library schools across the world. In fact, to date, the DLIS is the only established library and information studies school in the Caribbean region.

Annual Summer Institutes: June 21 to June 25, 2010. The DLIS hosted a Summer Institute on Trends and Developments in Caribbean Libraries and Information Services. This was geared towards offering information professionals a unique opportunity to enhance their career, by gaining new knowledge and skills in three critical areas of regional Caribbean development:  enhancing leadership and management in today’s information services;  techniques and technologies for access to information;  creating and developing new services to users. The team of presenters linked theory with practice and regional developments. The team shared a vision of the active and central role of information in the 21st Century. Participants had the option of registering for the full week or for specific days.

Since its inception, the DLIS has been guided by its mission statement: “To provide the highest standard of teaching and research to produce information professionals, well equipped to face the challenges of the dynamic information environment, and to provide leadership in managing the information needs of the Caribbean for the twenty-first century and beyond.” True to its mandate, the DLIS has for more than forty years, been producing professionals who are goal oriented, able to offer effective leadership, are good critical thinkers, are flexible/adaptable to change and who are visionaries - equipped to deal with information change in the information environment within the Caribbean region. This is made possible through keen attention to academic instruction and research, allowing for the constant review of programme offerings to meet the demands of the information society. Recognizing that with the modern day trend towards electronic resources/applications in libraries and technological modes of communication the world over, information professionals need to keep pace with the rapid changes in the information society, the DLIS

June 27 to July 1, 2011. The DLIS hosted its second Summer Institute on Business Information Services and Resources. This institute offered information and business professionals a unique opportunity to enhance 134

their careers, by gaining new knowledge and skills in critical areas of information access and development and use. In this particular year, the session focused on:  business information needs resources and services;  techniques and technologies for access to information;  creating and developing services for business users. Participants had the option of registering for the full week or for specific days.

 

Literacy. Teaching Media Literacy: Definition, Content and Strategies. Teaching Information Literacy Using Web2.0.

July 29 to 30, 2013. The DLIS hosted a special workshop for HEART Trust/NTA librarians, entitled: “Delivering Information Literacy Instruction.” This workshop was geared towards meeting the needs of the library personnel at the HEART Trust NTA who were now being expected to deliver information literacy instruction to students of the various HEART Trust institutions, but who were feeling ill equipped and therefore were lacking the confidence needed to deliver such a programme, because their formal training would not have prepared them for this new task of instruction.

June 17 to June 21, 2013. The DLIS hosted its third Summer Institute, entitled: Legal Information Sources Unravelled. While information is widely accessible, answers can still be hard to find. The exponential growth in legal information, demands different competencies. Summer Institute 2013 provided the knowledge and skills to discover and use the wide range of legal resources and tools for effective research and information management. Participants were exposed to traditional tools and current technologies for accessing and communicating legal information. Presenters included Law librarians and lawyers and other resource persons who explored issues such as: • “The Legislative Process: from Bill to Act", • "Understanding the Gazette and its Supplements" • "Tracking Court Cases & Legislation" This gave rise to the development of a course on Legal Resource Management, which is now offered by the department. Workshops: Workshops are also hosted by the department as opportunities for CPD. Given the vibrancy of the information environment, particular attention needs to be placed on information literacy skills development.

July 7 to10, 2014 - Open Campus, St. Lucia. The DLIS hosted two workshops in St Lucia, on information literacy for teachers, college faculty and library personnel. The Workshop set out to equip participants with:  An understanding of the concept of information literacy and its importance for learning; and the standards, models and curriculum for information literacy.  Knowledge of some of the principles and strategies for planning, implementing and evaluating information literacy instruction.  Knowledge of how to evaluate media and information source.

Workshop 1 (July 7-9, 2014)

Workshop 2 (July 10, 2014)

“Administering the School Library”

“The nature and concept of Media and Information Literacy”

Target Audience: For School library

June 4 to 5, 2013. The DLIS hosted a workshop entitled: “Information Literacy for Teachers and Information Professionals.” This workshop covered topics such as:  Information Literacy: Concept, Standards, Models & the Curriculum.  Approaches to Teaching Information

supervisors and school librarians.

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Target Audience: Teachers, College lecturers and library personnel responsible for teaching information skills and guiding students conducting research.

July 24, 2014. The DLIS hosted a workshop, entitled: “Introduction to Integrated library Systems.” Since information and communication technologies have significantly changed the face of libraries through the development and use of integrated library systems/library management systems, this workshop became necessary. The objectives of the workshop were to:  Promote an awareness of integrated library systems and their use within libraries, globally and in the Caribbean region with emphasis on Jamaica  Provide librarians and IT professionals with the information and tools needed to identify and evaluate major components of an ILS as related to the essential library functions  Highlight the benefits which can be derived through the use of an integrated library system  Provide hands-on experience with an ILS Presentations therefore covered topics such as:  Database relationship with ILS software / Library Management System  Modules – Circulation, cataloguing, serials, acquisitions and the OPAC  Evaluation and selection strategies

Dr. Paulette Stewart addressing participants in St. Lucia

Courses: Individual information professionals, who want to learn more about teaching information literacy, are welcome to join the Department of Library & Information Studies for either of two formal courses on the topic during the second semester of each academic year. These courses are:  LIBS6003 – Information Literacy Instruction (Postgraduate)  LIBS3604 – Teaching Information Literacy (Undergraduate) As long as individuals meet the UWI’s matriculation requirements for the desired level, such persons may register for either course as a Specially Admitted student. The same applies for any other course which the department offers.

Dr. Cheryl Robinson addressing participants in St. Lucia

Postgraduate programmes in a blended delivery mode: The DLIS currently offers three postgraduate programmes, namely the MALIS, the MLIS and the MPhil/PhD. The MALIS is offered to persons who hold an undergraduate degree in Library and Information Studies, while the MLIS is offered to

A group of participants and presenters at one of the workshops in St. Lucia. 136

persons who hold an undergraduate degree in any other discipline and who wish to enter the profession at the Master’s level. The MPhil/PhD is offered to persons who have completed either the MALIS or the MLIS, or to persons who have completed the undergraduate degree with first class honours.

The DLIS in its bid to foster a culture of research/publication amongst information professionals, embarked on a series of Staff/graduate research presentation sessions in which both groups participate in sharing their research work (Complete/incomplete) on a weekly basis, while benefitting from constructive criticism/suggestions for improvement/encouragement/or a tap on the shoulder for a job well done...This we have all found to be very beneficial. As a result, for the past two years, the DLIS has been staging annual research fora, to encourage and showcase research from the DLIS as well as from library and information professionals within the Caribbean. This is done via poster presentations, accompanied by a formal programme.

Over the years, the single mode of delivery has been that of face-to-face. The DLIS, is however aware that in a technology driven world, information professionals can now access continuing education opportunities through virtual media such as webinars, teleconferencing and online course offerings, and so it has widened its scope to increase its reach to as many information professionals as possible. Through this multi-modal approach, information professionals from the Caribbean and Latin America are being invited to become a part of the DLIS experience, as through partnership, we push towards the common ultimate goal of user satisfaction through effective and efficient service delivery.

October 17, 2013. The theme was – “Showcasing Research in Library and information Science: Implications for Practice.” May 29, 2014. The theme was – “Research in Library and Information Studies: Charting the Course towards National and Regional Development.” Projections for the future:  Online Master’s Programmes.  The Master of Arts in Archives and Record Management, is scheduled to begin in the academic year, 2015 – 2016 on a phased basis.  A workshop on RDA: June 24 – 26. RDA stands for Resource Description and Access. It is the new cataloging standard, replacing AACR2. RDA is based on the FRBR (functional requirements for bibliographic records) and FRAD (functional requirements for authority data) concept models. FRBR and FRAD are models which are internationally recognized as viable and valuable ways to conceptually structure and retrieve information.

Through the online component of the Master’s degree programme, information professionals can now study in the DLIS at their convenience while they remain in their countries and continue to work. The idea was introduced in the academic year, 2014 – 2015, but a full launch of the blended programme is expected to take place at the start of the academic year, 2015 – 2016. So far the response has been encouraging, since 38 persons from Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region have been accepted to begin the programmes in August, 2015. NB. Professionals may pursue the full Master’s programme or select a course for professional development. DLIS research Fora: CPD also includes research activity. Continuous research helps to foster growth and development of the individual, the organization and, of course, the wider society. One cannot, therefore, overstate the value of research especially in struggling economies. The information professional, must then lend support in the provision and production of information which will assist in national and regional development.

Conclusion Continuing Professional Development (CPD) describes a commitment to lifelong learning, a skill that is invaluable to all people across every segment of society. Employers and institutions across industries are adopting a structured, 137

practical and methodical approach to learning in order to retain key staff, and develop the skills & knowledge in the organization to maintain a sustainable and competitive advantage.

Elard, Robin (2003). Finger on the pulse: How to develop your own Continuing Professional Development (CPD) plan. Retrieved from http://www.liscareer.com/ellard_cpd.htm.

CPD can be more simply defined by the learning activities through which professionals develop their abilities and ensure they remain effective, and increasingly capable. The DLIS encourages CPD amongst Information professionals and stands open to suggestions as to how it can improve its CPD support in order to meet your personal and professional needs.

FEANI News Issue (2015, March). Retrieved from http://www.feani.org. Mohamedali, Ownali (2004). Adapting to changes: DLIS experiences in the Caribbean. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science; ALISE. 45(2), 98-110. Rossell, Jollette (2015). Roles and Responsibilities of Information Professionals in the 21st century. Retrieved from http://www.liaja.org.jm/sites/default/file s/liaja/roles-and-responsibilities.pdf.

References Abels, E., Jones, R., Latham, J., Magnoni, D., Marshall, J. (2014). Competencies for Information Professionals of the 21st Century. Prepared for the SLA Board of Directors. Retrieved from http://www.infonista.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/05/Core-CompetenciesRevisions-4-30-14- draft.pdf.

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Do you know your target audience? Eric Kokke Marketing & Communications Manager GO opleidingen, The Netherlands

Libraries, Archives and Museums play a very important part in the education of children, teenagers, students and adults. We know it and the users of our services experience this! Still most of the libraries, archives and museums feel the pressure of the continues growing supply of free available digital information. We also feel the pressure of the management of our organisations who not always acknowledge the importance and value of our work. We know the importance of our work. Although we probably all feel that more people could make use of our information services. Most of the time we don’t really understand why people (students, clients, management) fail to see the importance and added value of what we do. Sometimes we dare to look at ourselves and question why we have problems sending out our message of added value, relevance and importance to our target audience. This workshop is for the Information specialists who are not afraid to have a good look at how we approach their clients and /or target audience. Because knowing and understanding your potential customer is essential to ‘survive’ as a library, archive or museum in the modern digital age. In this workshop you will get introduced to a new way of looking at your target audience. We will focus on wishes, demands and behaviour. So that you will not only get to know your customer, but also will understand them and be able to act according to their specific needs. When we determined the different ‘persona’s’ (your customers) we will have a closer look at how to communicate your added value to them. The result; more customers and a higher customer satisfaction!

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A New Paradigm of Leadership : Emotional Intelligence and

Conscious Creation

Eric L. Block Leadership and Development Consultant and Founder and President of the Block International Group (BIG)

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Bridging the chasm between policy and practice: Retooling practitioners to effectively address digital rights management issues presently being faced by The University of the West Indies, Mona Library Tanya Marie Manassi; Beverley P. Lashley; Karlene Nelson The University of the West Indies, Mona Library

The University of the West Indies, Mona Library wants to establish a Digitization Center. This unit will lead the implementation of the Digital Rights Management (DRM) programme within the organization. As digital activities become mainstream and are integrated into the workflows, there is an acute need for actions that will effectively address DRM issues presently being faced by the Mona Library. Formalized policies and procedures are necessary for the development of a comprehensive programme that can implement the DRM mechanism organization-wide. This paper contends that within this context, digital library initiatives represent a significant change event affecting the Library’s organizational structure. It explores the organizational and human resources challenges apparent in the adoption of this strategic direction. A staffing strategy articulating revisions to the existing organizational structure and workflows based on analysis of the required skills sets and processes is presented. Key Words:

Digital rights management; Digital libraries; Preservation planning; Data management; Organizational change; Management strategy; Strategic change.

The UWI Mona Library and Digital Rights Management The University of the West Indies is a multicampus tertiary institution. In 2001 a resources sharing strategy, utilizing a concept of “one university/ three campuses” was implemented among the sister campuses, (Cave Hill, Mona, and St Augustine). With the joint acquisitions of the research database products, ABI Inform Global and Academic Research Library, the approach to eresources management became coordinated and more integrated. The newly established Open Campus later joined the consortia. This has made the products more affordable as costs are shared. Access to e-resources purchased through joint subscription is achieved through a Cross Campus Electronic Information Resources Team. This team is comprised of representatives from each campus. It is responsible for product selection and vendor negotiations. Presently, all four campuses purchase 15 joint subscriptions.

(DRM) programme within the library. Presently, inhouse digital initiatives, such as the Caribbean Disaster Information Network’s virtual library (CARDIN), Caribbean Leaders Collection, Mona Digital Collections2, Electronic Dissertation Theses (EDT), and UWISpace (the UWI Institutional Repository) and have their workflows across various units Bindery, Branch Libraries, Cataloguing, Systems and the West Indies and Special Collections (WI&SC). Based on The UWI’s Strategic Framework 2012-17 this paper will address DRM issues presently being faced by the Mona Library based on the Internal Operational Processes perspective. Proposals presented are linked with the strategic theme and goal of “reengineer academic and administrative operational processes and procedures (UWI, p. 2). As digital activities become mainstream and are integrated into the workflows, there is an acute need for actions that will effectively address DRM issues presently being faced by the Mona Library. Formalized policies and procedures are necessary for the development of a comprehensive programme that can implement the DRM mechanism organization-wide. This paper

The University of the West Indies, Mona Library is situated in Jamaica. It wants to establish a Digitization Center. This unit will lead the implementation of the Digital Rights Management Included in this collection are: the Cousin Hereward Postcard Collection, UWI Historical Photographs and Roger Mais Manuscript. 2

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contends that within this context, digital library initiatives represent a significant change event affecting the Library’s organizational structure. Boucqueau describes DRM as “controlling and managing rights to digital intellectual property”. This simple definition of DRM generally captures the concerns of the operations related to DRM systems. However, other authors propose definitions that focus on the inputs for the creation of digital products. They outline specifically that all inputs which have consequences for the use of digital information products throughout the entire life cycle of the content should be considered a DRM issue. Bohner contends that, when looking at the rights for digital content, the question to be considered is: what requirements exist for the description of the rights in a digital environment (p. 598)?

initiatives at the UWI Mona Library will be impacted by the opportunities for the advancement of a programme grounded in best practice. Achieving all aspects of a DRM programme will have to become a strategic direction of the Library since significant effort is required to overcome human resource and organizational challenges. Figure 1: DRM Programme using software

The technical limits for the use of digital rights description have changed the work of librarians. The required hardware and software, services and technologies governing the authorized use of digital content and managing any consequences of that use, are the concern of a digital rights management framework (Boucqueau). Within this context, the apparent organizational and human resources challenges are also relevant. Digital objects are differentiated from physical objects significantly by their mode of access. “The object is stored on some form of digital media, usually located within the bounds of the parent institution. It is maintained, backed up and hopefully preserved appropriately in the digital context” (Fox, p. 171). Now that there is a shift in academic publishing to digital, the Mona Library will be faced with devising different staff strategies for the management of its resources. The development of a comprehensive programme would involve an assessment of the various pieces of policy documents that are already in existence (Digitization Policy; Inter-Library Loan Policy; Open Access Policy) and those which are yet to be drafted.

Source: http://pdfdrmenterprise.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/03/enterprisepdfdrm80.png Organizational Structure of the Mona Library The Mona Library operates on a structure of sectional divisions based on functions. Figure 2 details the sectional divisions of the Library. Library staff are employed under three categories: Professional; Administrative and Technical; and Service. A staffing strategy articulating revisions to the existing organizational structure and workflows based on analysis of the required skills sets and competencies for staff responsible for digital projects needs to be formulated. Additionally, pertinent processes, procedures and policies guiding digital initiatives should be implemented. Together these actions will frame the required DRM mechanism.

Figure 1 highlights the best practices of a DRM programme using software which can protect the document throughout its life-cycle, both inside and outside of The UWI firewall. Of the ten features identified only the watermarking of PDF images is practiced. It becomes obvious that the examination of the various in-house digital 153

Figure 2: Organizational Chart, UWI Mona Library

Presently, some of the digital initiatives are the responsibility of the Systems Section. They scan, edit, and upload the branded UWI watermarked PDF files on the respective digital management system. Some digital initiatives which affect born digital documents are not routed through Systems such as CARDIN. The Systems Section presently comprises of 3 professional staff and 3 support staff. All the professional staff hold library professional qualifications, with computer science competencies. Support staff on the other hand have on the job work experience in computer science, with one holding a degree in library and information science and another one having formal digitization training.

informed by a gap analysis. The researchers reviewed the job descriptions of all the staff in the Systems Section and compared them with library job postings on British, North American, Australian and Asian job posting sites3. This search was conducted between January and April 2015, using the key terms “digital rights management” and “systems librarian”. An interesting observation was that when a basic search was conducted these terms usually resulted in few hits. However, the advanced search proved more fruitful. When the more general job sites were searched these revealed job opportunities for software engineers and they demanded comprehensive training in computer science. Current job announcements indicated that a working knowledge of DRM is a key criterion and requirement for securing a position in an academic library. While there is theoretical knowledge of the

Staffing was identified as one of the factors affecting the DRM implementation. Proposed revisions to the staffing of the Systems Section was 3

Job posting sites visited: ALA job list, jobrapido, Monster.com, HotJobs.com, Indeed.com, SimplyHired.com).

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issues of DRM to date the practical aspects have not yet been introduced by the Systems staff.

Collaborations between the Systems Section and the West Indies and Special Collections Section4, for example, have been geared at preserving and making accessible unique West Indian collections. These digital surrogates of both print documents and images are made accessible through the CONTENTdm interface and from the discovery platform UWILinc. The overarching intention is in keeping with the university’s and library’s strategic objectives to support the teaching, research and learning.

The Mona Library Workflows The Mona Library is now faced with two issues regarding the implementation of a DRM mechanism organization-wide. First, there is the management of numerous licensing agreements from varied subscription vendors. Library management has to ensure that perpetual access to the e-resources is protected via the database products supplied through vendors. Some eresources are only available on the campus as they are linked to an IP address or on standalone computers such as TEEAL. Apart from TEEAL all the databases are available to the UWI community by way of authentication via EZproxy. The Library provides “remote control” over subscribed digital content.

While the Mona Library has creator rights for some of the digital products it has generated, these rights must be balanced against the users’ access rights to the digital objects. The rights to the digital content that are generated are policed by a suite of legislations. These are notably: Copyright Act; Access to Information Act; and the Cybercrimes Act. Therefore, a good working knowledge of the legal issues applicable to DRM is an essential competence for staff. The design of the workflow must also be an important consideration

The second issue concerns the collaborative digital initiatives which the Systems Section engages in with other sections of the Mona Library.

Figure 3: UWI Mona Digital Initiatives 4

Houses the unique, often irreplaceable collection and most prized holdings of the Mona Library

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Figure 3 details the existing accessibility of the various digitization initiatives of the Mona Library. What is lacking from the process is an e-commerce system facilitating trading and payment. These digital initiatives will have to be expanded to incorporate online payment. Tracking the provision of access to original digital content and the activation of document use restrictions have to be included in the process. Presently, the delivery of documents is still routed through traditional methods, with payment via cheques mailed to the Library. A system for document delivery and links to the university’s e-commerce platform needs to be established that prevents unauthorized sharing.

A staffing strategy that effectively addresses DRM issues being faced by the Mona Library should take the following factors into consideration: Restructuring of the Mona Library Sections (Bindery, Systems and WI&SC) physical space, operations and processes

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Revisiting policies that DRM will affect

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Standardizing agreements with vendors regarding access rights and vendor obligations in resources provision

Reviewing the competencies and functions of all the Systems Section staff

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Training of staff to meet these changing trends

The staffing strategy being proposed is one which will bring to the fore the need for staff gaining specialist training dealing with DRM. Revisiting job requirements and updating the skills set of staff to meet the challenges that come with digital rights management therefore becomes necessary. Those who manage digital contents but more specifically digital rights must have specialized skills tailored for this environment from those who are concerned with the storage facilities.

Staffing Strategies Visited for DRM

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Figure 4 highlights the framework for a staffing strategy supporting a DRM programme that could be introduced at the Mona Library. Working within the strategic framework of the Campus will set the parameters for the functioning of such a programme. Reviewing the current state of technical competencies for the Systems Section’s staff versus the required technical competencies for a DRM programme has revealed a gap. In order to close this gap, a staffing strategy comprised of the following methods is being proposed personalizing the strategy, promoting of transferring staff and finally, recruiting to fill the gaps.

Figure 4 – Framework for Staffing Strategy at Mona Library

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Personalizing the strategy – this includes peer coaching, cross training and using hybrid staffing model

teams (Allen, 2005). A workforce team of this nature pulls together members from different specialties to work on projects that require a blend of talents. Specifically, a technologist from the Mona Information Technology Services (MITS) could be assigned at the Library to take on the technical aspects of DRM. However, at the core of this mix would be the hybrid librarian who will need to have a technical background to understand the group task.

In retooling practitioners to take on DRM, the Library may have to consider peer coaching. Levene & Frank (1993) describes peer coaching, in which librarians interact as equals, as a “confidential formative process that can aid librarians in fostering skills they choose to examine" (p. 35). Embracing this approach will provide opportunities for Library staff to learn from each other. With this in mind, peer coaching does not necessarily have to be done in a formal way Pan and Hovde (2010). In this regard, it can take the form of informal meetings in the catalogue hall, in someone’s office or even in the lunch room as librarians interact with each other during the workday. During these informal meetings, the sole librarian who has the theoretical knowledge of DRM could transfer these skill sets to the other members of the team.

Since, the systems librarians at the Library have the technical background they would fit nicely into this role. As mentioned by Cain (2003), the relationship would be of a complementary nature where the systems librarians would provide the content and the MITS personnel the infrastructure. Further, Allen (2005) sees this link as “collegial in nature, future oriented and facilitative.” With the right fit of persons, this partnership should result in an effective high functioning DRM team at the Mona. Promotion, Transfers and Recruitment

Cross training at Mona would provide a rich mine of resources for professional development. The Systems Section may now have to collaborate with the Bursary (for collection of payment) and the Mona Information Technology Systems for content capture, content management and content use. The operational functions (public services, cataloging and acquisitions, etc.), of the library will gain filtered down expertise through mechanisms such as cross-training. Legal knowledge impacts the DRM framework (Owens & Akalu, 2004). This talent in negotiating licensing agreements is presently accessed through the professional staff who hold degrees in Law in the Mona Library system. Additionally, the services of The UWI’s Legal Counsel will have to be utilized. Other skills required related to preservation and conservation and subject specialist knowledge will also be utilized as the need arises.

Of all the decisions that the Library will make concerning DRM, there is none more important than having the right fit of professionals and paraprofessionals. From among its core staff, the Library will have to identify persons who will buy into the initiative as well as having the competencies required to work on a DRM project. In light of this, the Library may have to transfer persons across branches/departments or even promote some persons to get the job done. Also, it may have to consider recruiting persons with specialist training to drive DRM. Making the Case for Change – Implementing the Strategy In order to effectively manage desired changes within an organization Cervone (2011) has recommended three major activities:

Even though service models have changed at the Mona Library, in many instances our staffing models have not. Adoption of a hybrid staffing solution would somewhat addresses staffing needs that DRM would require. As a result, this would demand that the Library makes the best use of it physical resources particularly it human resources. With the hybrid model, employees can come from different backgrounds. For example, librarians and technologists serving together on cross functional

Strategic Plan Tie-in - Orchestrate a linkage between the change being implemented and the strategic plan and goals of the organization. Showing that the rationale for the change is soundly grounded in the overall vision of the University. This mainly involves determining the change management goals and creating a relationship with the supporting objectives of the project.

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Communication - Effective communication in a change effort involves meeting with organizational leaders and representatives often. The proposed plan could be presented at the Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Senior Management Meeting.

Boucqueau, J. Digital rights. Retrieved from https://www.ieee.org/about/technologies/emergi ng/digital_rights.pdf

Engagement - Consideration should be given to potential opportunities for communicating the rationale for the change with different audiences, for example, visit meetings arranged in other sections; plan for responses to initial criticism and define how different groups within the library will benefit from the project. Plan for meetings on a regular basis where library staff can ask questions, air concerns, and discuss project issues.

Cain, M. (2003). The two cultures? Librarians and technologists. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 29(3), 177. Cervone, H. F. (2011). Overcoming resistance to change in digital library projects. OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives, 27(2), 4. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10650751111135391

The DRM programme would have to be evaluated and the software tested along projected timelines, any changes made for efficiency (Cervone, p. 97).

Fox, R. (2012). Digital libraries: the systems analysis perspective. OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives, 28(4), 6. doi:

Conclusion The establishment of a properly equipped and staffed digitization center at the Mona Library does promise scope for the sustainability of DRM. It suggests that there will be opportunities for the Library to benefit financially from sound practice as this will encourage the exploration of interventions and innovations that are culturally relevant and local. Staff at Mona Library require training and retraining to achieve the competencies to implement and operate a DRM programme. The adoption of strategies that effectively address digital rights management issues, and respond to and account for local needs will allow the Library and its collections to remain relevant. Employing these strategies will enable The UWI Mona Library to retool its practitioners to effectively address digital rights management issues.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10650751211 279102 Levene, L., & Frank, P. (1993). Peer coaching: Professional growth and development for instruction librarians. Reference Services Review, 21(3), 35-42. Owens, R. & Akalu, R. (2004). Legal policy and digital rights management, in Proceedings of the IEEE , .92, (6), 997-1003. doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2004.827366 Pan, J. & Hovde, K. (2010). Professional development for academic librarians: Needs, resources, and administrative support. Chinese Librarianship: an International Electronic Journal, 29. http://www.iclc.us/cliej/cl29PH.pdf

REFERENCES Allen, L. (2005). Hybrid librarians in the 21st century library: A collaborative service staffing model. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/c ontent/conferences/pdf/allen05.pdf

The University of the West Indies, Office of Planning and Development (Ed.). (2012). The University of the West Indies Strategic Plan 2012-2017. Mona, Jamaica: The University of the West Indies.

Bohner, D. (2008). Digital rights description as part of digital rights management: a challenge for Libraries. Library Hi Tech, 26(4), 8. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07378830810920923 158

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Professional Growth and Collaborative Learning through Learning Communities: An Academic Library Experiment Jiselle Maria Alleyne Campus Librarian, College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad & Tobago (COSTAATT)

The creation of functional learning communities engenders greater effectiveness in service delivery in the academic library. Staff is better able to apply best practices as a result of engaging with and applying new practices learnt. Shirley Hord of Learning Forward describes it this way, “professional learning through learning communities promotes continuous learning, collective responsibility and supports alignment of the library’s strategic imperatives with that of the parent institution.”(Hord, 2015 introduction) The establishment of a learning community during the month of July in the summer semester of 2014 was seen as a necessary strategic intervention to create a culture of learning and continuous development amongst para-professional library staff at COSTAATT Library Services. In addition, the purpose of the learning community was to be a system of re-tooling, where identified skill competencies would be enhanced. The learning community it was felt was the best environment for this to materialise. This presentation will describe the creation of a learning community at COSTAATT Library Services dubbed “Think Tank Thursday”. Two perspectives fuelled this creation, the first is by Charles Darwin when he states, “It is not the biggest, brightest or the best that will survive, but those who adapt the quickest.” and the second by Alvin Toffler where he states, “The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”- Therefore, to ensure that COSTAATT Library Services did not fall behind the rest of the library world, we needed to create opportunities for the discussion and analysis of issues that were impacting the Library and Information profession. To that end the Think Tank Thursday Learning Community was born. Keywords: professional growth, transformative learning, learning environment, learning communities, academic libraries.

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Workshop on Collaborative Continuing Education Opportunities with the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) Brooke Wooldridge Program Director, Digital Library of the Caribbean, Florida International University (FIU) Laurie N. Taylor Digital Scholarship Librarian, University of Florida The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) Workshop will introduce the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC; www.dloc.com). This workshop will offer an introduction to resources in dLOC, using dLOC, new dLOC features and initiatives, and the dLOC community and model for ongoing successful collaborative development of a shared digital library and a community of practice. The dLOC Workshop supports the ACURIL conference theme “COLLABORATIVE CONTINUING EDUCATION: LEARN, ACT AND INSPIRE: Professional and Personal Development Opportunities for Lifelong Learning in Libraries, Archives and Museums in the Caribbean” and focuses on Sub-Theme II “Collaborative Learning for All: Developing and Implementing a Professional/Personal Learning Plan” in that the workshop will support attendees in gaining new competencies and growing new opportunities related to digital libraries and digital professional communities. dLOC is a cooperative digital library for resources from and about the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean, providing access to digitized versions and curated digital versions of Caribbean cultural, historical and research materials currently held in archives, libraries, and private collections. dLOC's diverse partners serve an international community of scholars, students, and citizens by working together to preserve and to provide enhanced electronic access to cultural, historical, legal, governmental, and research materials in a common web space with a multilingual interface. The amount of open access content available through dLOC surpasses many commercial Caribbean collections and includes newspapers, official documents, ecological and economic data, maps, histories, travel accounts, literature, poetry, musical expressions, and artifacts. dLOC now provides access to 2,261,458 pages of content related to the Caribbean. As the largest open access repository of Caribbean content, dLOC is a significant resource for finding materials from and about the Caribbean for use in teaching, research, and cultural and community life. Cultural heritage and information professionals in the Caribbean are supported by the materials available in dLOC, dLOC tools for supporting users, and the broader dLOC community for supporting life-long learning and professional development. Workshop Outline 

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Introduction to dLOC o Resources in dLOC o Using dLOC o dLOC community New dLOC features and initiatives o Curator Tools o Seed grants o Digital Humanities and Digital Scholarship, DOCC course, online exhibits with About Face and Haiti: An Island Luminous dLOC Community and dLOC Model o dLOC model for ongoing successful collaboration on digital libraries and a community of practice 167

    

UVI new site Dutch Caribbean Portal Jewish Diaspora Collection for Florida, Latin America, and the Caribbean (JDoC) Duke and UM harvesting

Activity o Workshop participants form small groups and decide on an online exhibit based on an area of core interest, need, problem, etc. In the groups, come up with the:  Topic  Materials  Partners o Reporting out by the groups.

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Teaching Medical, Nursing & Allied Health Students Using Streaming Videos and Mobile Apps Diane Campagnes Regional Manager, Wolters Kluwer / Ovid

The technology today can make a difference in the classroom. Class time is valuable. Streaming videos and mobile apps allow students to access course materials outside of the classroom. This saves valuable class time for discussions and review. Streaming media and apps put the learning in the hands of the student. Students can access the material anytime on their own schedule and replay as needed. Streaming media and apps give the instructor options as to when to make the materials available. The material can be available before the lecture to allow students to prepare in advance for the classroom discussion. The material can be available after the lecture as a review of the discussion that was covered in the classroom. Lastly, the material can be made available to students that miss a class. The key to success in using streaming media and mobile apps depends upon how the instructor ingrates them into the syllabus. They should:    

Have clear concise instructional goals Have students use the media to meet instructional objectives Prepare students for viewing the media by introducing the topic, explaining the purpose of the topic and key things to listen for in the media Have students participate in a discussion after the media is viewed

Scenario 1 Student taking Anatomy & Physiology. Using the Visible Body mobile app I will demonstrate how an instructor would use 3D visualization as a learning tool to interact and explore the systems of the human body. Scenario 2 Nursing student preparing for first time patient encounter. Using Bates Guide to Physical Examination database I will demonstrate how streaming video can be used to prepare a student for a patient encounter. The clinical skills videos feature headto-toe and systems-based physical examination techniques.

Technology is everywhere! It affects every aspect of our lives – how we socialize, how we shop, how we interact, how we play and finally how we learn. With the strong presence of mobile technology in our lives it makes perfect sense to have this type of technology in the classroom.

juggling many responsibilities and classroom and lab hours are being cut. Streaming videos and mobile apps allow students to access course materials outside of the classroom. This saves valuable class time for discussions and review. “ Schools are definitely adopting mobile technology for students across the board,” said Elizabeth Crawford, who handles educational

The technology today can make a difference in the classroom. Class time is valuable. Instructors are 169

marketing and strategy at Intel. “The concept of 1 to 1 computing, in which every student has their own device, and the bring-your-own-device-toschool models are at the center of this. It’s impacting how students learn today. It’s preparing them with the 21st century skills they’ll need in today’s workforce.” (Chambers, 2014).

Streaming media and apps put the learning in the hands of the student. Students can access the material anytime, on their own schedule, and replay as needed.

Streaming media and apps give the instructor options as to when to make the materials available. The material can be available before the lecture to allow students to prepare in advance for the classroom discussion (flipped classroom). The material can be available after the lecture as a review of the discussion that was covered in the classroom. Lastly, the material can be made available to students that miss a class.

Understanding How to Teach Millennials To have success with teaching students using Mobile technology we must also understand and appreciate the new generation of learners – the Millennials. The Millennials are defined as those students who have turned 18 since the year 2000 and enter university. The first indication that the Millennial Generation may be different from previous generations is to consider how many different names we have for the generation and the people who belong to it. They’re referred to as Generation Y, Nexters, Baby Boom Echo Generation, Echo Boomers, Digital Natives, Generation Next, Generation Me and, of course, Millennials (See Appendix A for more information on the generational differences). If nothing else, they’re one of the most studied generations. And while it’s important we don’t stereotype an entire generation of individuals, the large body of research on those born between 1981 and 1999 (or there about) has provided us with unique insights into their learning preferences, behaviors and attitudes. Christy Price, EdD, a psychology professor at Dalton State College, became interested in Millennial learners when she noticed a gap between students’ expectation for success and the effort they put forth in the classroom (Price, 2009). Price then conducted a qualitative analysis of narratives provided by more than a hundred Millennial learners to get a more accurate picture of what makes them tick. Research-based methods: Research suggests Millennials prefer a variety of active learning methods. When they are not interested in

Why Schools Should Implement Mobile Technology in the Classroom 1)

and encouraging students where and how to obtain the best data for the topic they are researching. They become the tour guide and provide the road map to obtain relevant, accurate and current information. Mobile technology allows for the integration of electronic components in the classroom on a daily basis it will help students stay focused and engaged. Let’s face it the Millennials of today embrace and love technology – it is how they think. Lastly, mobile technology allows for adapting to any type of learning style a student may have.

Mobile technology will help to prepare students for the real world. Students of tomorrow will need to be tech-savvy in order to be successful in the working environment. In addition, it will be a competitive edge when seeking employment. Mobile technology gives students the ability to interact with their peers and classmates in a collaboration style. The days of the individual learning space and the lone study carrell in the back corner of the fifth floor of the library space is gone. Mobile technology allows students the ability to access up-to-date information twenty-four hours a day and at a fast rate of speed. Information today is at our fingertips. Students can research any topic instantaneously. Mobile technology allows students to become more aware and responsible for their own learning and the skills that they develop for learning today. They begin to think for themselves and make their own decisions. Mobile technology allows the instructor to become the coach and adviser. Instructors and librarians are now tasked with teaching 170

something, their attention quickly shifts elsewhere. Interestingly, many of the components of their ideal learning environment – less lecture, use of mobile apps, streaming video, multimedia, collaborating with peers – are some of the same techniques research has shown to be effective, Price said. Relevance: Millennials have grown up being able to Google™ anything they want to know, therefore they do not typically value information for information’s sake. As a result, the professor’s role is shifting from disseminating information to helping students apply the information. One of the greatest challenges

for teachers is to connect course content to the current culture and make learning outcomes and activities relevant, Price said. Rationale: Unlike Boomers who were raised in a more authoritarian manner in which they more readily accept the chain of command, Millennials were raised in a non-authoritarian manner and are more likely to comply with course policies when teachers provide them with a rationale for specific policies and assignments. Relaxed: Millennials prefer a less formal learning environment in which they can informally interact with the professor and one another. In interviews with students, the term “laid back” was used repeatedly. Rapport: Millennials are extremely relational. They are more central to their parents’ lives than previous generations and are used to having the adults in their lives show great interest in them. They appreciate it when professors show that same interest, and they seem to be more willing to pursue learning outcomes when instructors connect with them on a personal level. Twelve Tips for Facilitating Millennials Learning (Roberts, 2012)

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)

Recognize that Millennials value (and expect) aesthetically appealing educational presentations 8) Emphasize opportunities for additional help and support 9) Encourage modern forms of curiosity and exploration 10) Recognize the importance of team dynamics and encourage collaboration 11) Be fair and straightforward 12) Identify the limits of multi-tasking! Introducing Mobile Technology in the Classroom Develop a Mobile-Friendly Syllabus

The key to success in using streaming media and mobile apps depends upon how the instructor integrates them into the syllabus. They should: a) b) c)

The curriculum needs to be tablet-friendly. The syllabus should include interactive projects and programs that are specifically designed for the tablet. If apps are required be sure the programs are available for the iPad and the Android unless your institution is providing a specific tablet to each student. In the education arena there are still more programs offered via the iPad than the Android. Most companies are offering apps for the iPad first, followed by the Android second. Also, select programs that catch the attention of the student such as 3D technology. This is where you the librarian can play a key role in the move from traditional to technology based curriculums (See Appendix B for device ownership overtime).

Educate yourself about the concept of generational differences Recognize the environmental and cultural forces that affect the Millennial Learner Understand how potential intergenerational tension may impact learning Millennials need guidance and focus in their learning Identify your teaching or life philosophy Learn how to utilize current eLearning technologies

Librarians have the key vendor contacts, read reviews, attend conventions and blog with other librarians across the country. 171

Be sure to include the librarian as you evaluate programs. All of the

Mode” at the beginning of class. You need to keep the student focused on the class assignment and material.

materials provided by the instructor or library should be formatted properly for the tablet and easy to view. Word files are desirable for sharing and annotations. 2)

It will be important for students to learn how to organize their digital work. One option would be to set up a cloud storage folder for each class. On the surface, cloud storage has several advantages over traditional data storage. For example, if the instructor stores their data on a cloud storage system, they will be able to get to that data from any location that has Internet access. With the right storage system, they can allow students to access the data, turning a personal class project into a collaborative effort. Organizing digital content will be essential to students just beginning the move to mobile technology in the classroom.

Have a Pilot Program and Test the Waters Trial ALL new apps in advance. Set up Survey Monkey and make it mandatory that the instructors use the trial and evaluate the apps. Make note of app’s capabilities and shortcomings, if any. Practice, practice, practice before you announce and set forth the new curriculum. Conduct “mock” classes with other faculty members. Discuss what seems to be working and what is not working. Try and identify progress benchmarks as students are tech-savvy. With that said, there will still be a learning curve from the student’s perspective as the program will be feature rich and instructors will need to provide a road map. This is another step of the process where the librarian can work with the instructors to develop training materials such as tutorials, PP decks, etc.

Mobility = Sharing Have students connect their tablet to a projector or use a new software called Air Server. AirServer Universal turns your Windows PC into a universal mirroring receiver, allowing you to mirror using AirPlay and Miracast simultaneously to the same screen (patent pending). Users can collaborate using an iPhone, iPad, Surface, Windows Phone or Android devices that support AirPlay mirroring or Miracast. AirServer also supports multiple simultaneous connections, so one or more students could mirror their iPads to share their ideas and their work with the rest of the class. You can monitor what your students are working on and encourage collaboration. Now the entire class can share in the discussion of the topic.

Students Should Also Test Drive the New Resources Let the students experiment with the new programs, apps and streaming videos. Ask for their feedback as this will make the student feel a part of the whole process of moving towards using mobile technology in the classroom.

Organize, Organize, Organize….

There Needs to be Boundaries Strongly consider limiting access on the internet. It would not be of any benefit to have the student accessing Social Media, YouTube, etc. while you are trying to present course materials. One idea is to have the students turn on “Airplane

End Result Should Be “Paperless” Try not to print. This is easier said than done and should be a “future” goal. Have students use their devices for taking

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notes. Instructors should have class assignments on their tablet and use a projector as noted above. 8)

techniques, as well as coverage of diverse patient populations such as pediatric and geriatric conditions. Students are mandated with clinical encounters in the early part of their training, and without proper simulation, those encounters can cause anxiety and lead to mistakes. I’ll show how video-based learning can help the extended healthcare team be better prepared.

Learning Offline Instructors need to be careful and not cause technology burnout with the students. There should be times when the traditional classroom is used and we go back to paper and pen! Case Studies Using Mobile Technology & Streaming Videos

Scenario 1 Student taking Anatomy & Physiology. Using the Visible Body Anatomy & Physiology mobile app, I will demonstrate how an instructor would use 3D visualization as a learning tool to interact and explore the systems of the human body. This app will address all learning styles as it includes anatomical concepts delivered through text definitions, 3D imagery, animations, and Q&A and allows students to customize the anatomical view through annotation to improve mastery of the structure. The app can also serve a regional or systemic approach to anatomical teaching, which will help make it a successful teaching tool for integrated and system-based medical curricula. I will also share a key tool to integrating a mobile app like Visible Body’s Anatomy & Physiology into a traditional anatomy course. Many anatomy instructors build their syllabi around a major A&P textbooks, assigning chapters each week that map to the course structure. Instructors using Visible Body’s Anatomy & Physiology product will receive a Textbook Correlation Guide that helps map specific Visible Body modules to chapters from the major A&P textbooks used by instructors. Scenario 2 Nursing student preparing for first time patient encounter. Using Bates’ Guide to the Physical Examination database I will demonstrate how streaming video can be used to prepare a student for a patient encounter. The clinical skills videos feature head-to-toe and systems-based physical examination 173

References

Project Tomorrow: Creating our future: st

students speak up about their vision for 21 century learning. (2010 March). Retrieved from http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs /su09NationalFindingsStudents&Parents.pdf

Chambers, T. (2014 May 7). Teaching with tablets: mobile devices transforming the classroom: Education Technology. Hamilton K, (2009 July 22). Who are the millenials (video file). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VehkaF OHO1A

The Pew Research Center’s Device ownership over time (2014). Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/datatrend/mobile/device-ownership/

Professional/Scholarly Publishing Bulletin (2011 Winter/Spring 10(1&2). Retrieved from http://www.pspcentral.org/documents/PSP Winter-Spring2011.pdf

Roberts, D. (2012). Twelve tips for facilitating millenials’ learning. Medical Teach, 34(4):274-8. doi: 10.3109/0142159X.2011.613498.

Appendix A Generational Differences

Source: Twelve Tips for facilitating Millenials’ Learning

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Appendix B Device Ownership Overtime Source: Pew Research Center

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RESOLUTIONS ASSOCIATION OF CARIBBEAN UNIVERSITY, RESEARCH AND INSTITUTIONAL LIBRARIES ASOCIACION DE BIBLIOTECAS UNIVERSITARIAS, DE INVESTIGACION E INSTITUCIONALES DEL CARIBE ASSOCIATION DES BIBLIOTEHEQUES UNIVERSITAIRES, DE RECHERCHE ET INSTITUTIONNELLES DE LA CARAIBE

RESOLUTIONS FORM / FORMULARIO DE RESOLUCION / FORMULAIRE DE RESOLUTION

Vote of Thanks Whereas / Por Cuanto/ Alors que This ACURIL Conference was a successful one because of the support of a dedicated working group, also ACURIL 2015 Suriname expreses its sincere gratitute to all Special Sponsors: The Local Organizing Committee, The Exhibitors, The Presenters, Anton the Kom University of Suriname, Spangmakandra, Surianme Airways, STAASOLIE, DBS the Surinaamsche Bank, TELESUR, GRASSALCO, EBSCO, JSTOR, and The Hotel Torarica & Casino And all those that collaborated with the Local Committee. Be it resolved, that /Se resuelve que/ Il est décidé ce qui suit : That ACURIL Secretariat send a letter of thanks to the list of individuals and institutions named above. Action required / Acción requerida / Action demandée X Inmediate action required ASSOCIATION OF CARIBBEAN UNIVERSITY, RESEARCH AND INSTITUTIONAL LIBRARIES

179

ASOCIACION DE BIBLIOTECAS UNIVERSITARIAS, DE INVESTIGACION E INSTITUCIONALES DEL CARIBE ASSOCIATION DES BIBLIOTEHEQUES UNIVERSITAIRES, DE RECHERCHE ET INSTITUTIONNELLES DE LA CARAIBE

RESOLUTIONS FORM / FORMULARIO DE RESOLUCION / FORMULAIRE DE RESOLUTION

Topic of the Resolution / Tema de la Resolucion / Thème de la résolution

Equal access to information for people with dissabilities Nature of the Resolution / Naturaleza de la Resolución / Nature de la résolution __ X__ Policy/Política/Politique

Non Policy/General/Génerale

Name(s) of the Mover(s), local places of contact, telephone number(s) and e-mails Enid Torres-Sanchez, Puerto Rico, 787-397-0001 enid.torres3@upr.edu, Name(s) of the Seconder(s), place(s) of contact, telephone number(s) and e-mails Gretchen Carrasquillo-Ramos, Puerto Rico, 787-475-0571 gretchen.carrasquillo@upr.edu WHEREAS / POR CUANTO/ CONSIDERÁNT QUE All members of the Society have the right to Access information for study, research and daily living; WHEREAS / POR CUANTO/ CONSIDERÁNT QUE At this Conference the issue of the people with disabilities to have access to information in libraries has been raised and has awaken interest; WHEREAS / POR CUANTO/ CONSIDERÁNT QUE Libraries must provide access to information and inclusion to persons with disabilities; BE IT RESOLVED / RESUÉLVASE / IL EST RÊSOLU The access to information for persons with disabilities is included in the content area roundtables as a subject to be treated in all conferences; Action required / Acción requerida/ Action demadée That the Content Area Roundtable be created as a subject to be created from Haiti Conference on. Calendar / Calendario / Calandrier 2015Date submitted / Fecha sometida / Date de proposition June 11, 2015 ASSOCIATION OF CARIBBEAN UNIVERSITY, RESEARCH AND INSTITUTIONAL LIBRARIES

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ASOCIACION DE BIBLIOTECAS UNIVERSITARIAS, DE INVESTIGACION E INSTITUCIONALES DEL CARIBE ASSOCIATION DES BIBLIOTEHEQUES UNIVERSITAIRES, DE RECHERCHE ET INSTITUTIONNELLES DE LA CARAIBE

RESOLUTIONS FORM / FORMULARIO DE RESOLUCION / FORMULAIRE DE RESOLUTION

Topic of the Resolution / Tema de la Resolucion / Thème de la résolution

Core competencies Standards for Caribbean Librarians Nature of the Resolution / Naturaleza de la Resolución / Nature de la résolution __X_ Policy/Política/Politique

_____Non Policy/General/Génerale

Name(s) of the Mover(s), local places of contact, telephone number(s) and e-mails Kumaree Ramtahal, UWI St Augustine, Niala Dwarika-Bhagat, UWI St Augustine, Cheryl Peltier-Davis, UWI St Augustine Name(s) of the Seconder(s), place(s) of contact, telephone number(s) and e-mails Carme Santos-Corrada, University of Puerto Rico WHEREAS / POR CUANTO/ CONSIDERÁNT QUE ACURIL has been devoted to promote continuing education; WHEREAS / POR CUANTO/ CONSIDERÁNT QUE Continuing education offers opportunities for professional and personal development of information professionals, archivists, documentarists and others; WHEREAS / POR CUANTO/ CONSIDERÁNT QUE ACURIL is committed to promoting the education of its membersship since it was established in 1969. BE IT RESOLVED / RESUÉLVASE / IL EST RÊSOLU ACURIL consider developing core competencies standards for librarians in the 21st century in the Caribbean Action required / Acción requerida / Action demadée

To present this resolution to the ACURIL Executive Council for consideration and action. Calendar / Calendario / Calandrier ACURIL 2016 Date submitted / Fecha sometida / Date de proposition June 11, 2015 181

ASSOCIATION OF CARIBBEAN UNIVERSITY, RESEARCH AND INSTITUTIONAL LIBRARIES ASOCIACION DE BIBLIOTECAS UNIVERSITARIAS, DE INVESTIGACION E INSTITUCIONALES DEL CARIBE ASSOCIATION DES BIBLIOTEHEQUES UNIVERSITAIRES, DE RECHERCHE ET INSTITUTIONNELLES DE LA CARAIBE

RESOLUTIONS FORM / FORMULARIO DE RESOLUCION / FORMULAIRE DE RESOLUTION

Topic of the Resolution / Tema de la Resolucion / Thème de la résolution

Health Content Area Nature of the Resolution / Naturaleza de la Resolución / Nature de la résolution _X_ Policy/Política/Politique

___Non Policy/General/Génerale

Name(s) of the Mover(s), local places of contact, telephone number(s) and e-mails Carmen M. Santos-Corrada Name(s) of the Seconder(s), place(s) of contact, telephone number(s) and e-mails Ernesta Greenwidge, Dulce María Nuñez WHEREAS / POR CUANTO/ CONSIDERÁNT QUE ACURIL meets yearly / every year; WHEREAS / POR CUANTO/ CONSIDERÁNT QUE ACURIL has been developing content areas within their organization including health. BE IT RESOLVED / RESUÉLVASE / IL EST RÊSOLU PAHO - BIREME headquarters consider the ACURIL Annual Conference to promote Caribbean VHL concept within Caribbean … Action required / Acción requerida / Action demandée Inmediata. Present this proposition to BIREME headquarters Calendar / Calendario / Calandrier ACURIL 2016 Date submitted / Fecha sometida / Date de proposition June 11, 2015 182

RESOLUTIONS FORM / FORMULARIO DE RESOLUCION / FORMULAIRE DE RESOLUTION

Topic of the Resolution / Tema de la Resolución / Thème de la résolution Organización y recuperacion de la información en el Caribe Nature of the Resolution / Naturaleza de la Resolución / Nature de la résolution ___X__Policy/Política/Politique

____Non Policy/General/Génerale

Name(s) of the Mover(s), local places of contact, telephone number(s) and e-mails Dulce María Nuñez de Taveras Name(s) of the Seconder(s), place(s) of contact, telephone number(s) and e-mails Luisa Vigo-Cepeda WHEREAS / POR CUANTO/ CONSIDERÁNT QUE Todas las bibliotecas del Caribe necesitan alinearse a los estándares en la organización y recuperación de la información para facilitar el acceso e intercambio a la información; WHEREAS / POR CUANTO/ CONSIDERÁNT QUE Se requiere que el personal que labora en las unidades de catalogación estén capacitados para trabajar con los códigos y las revisiones de las nuevas reglas; WHEREAS / POR CUANTO/ CONSIDERÁNT QUE En esta Conferencia se ha discutido la transición de los códigos de AACR2 rev. a RDA y la necesidad de capacitar al personal. BE IT RESOLVED / RESUÉLVASE / IL EST RÊSOLU Que ACURIL establezca una Mesa Redonda de área de contenido sobre la organización y recuperación de la información con el fin de crear una Comunidad de Práctica que comparta experiencias y mantenga a los bibliotecarios del Caribe al día. Action required / Acción requerida / Action demadée Inmediata. Creación de la Mesa Redonda para la Conferencia en Haiti. Calendar / Calendario / Calandrier ACURIL 2016 Date submitted / Fecha sometida / Date de proposition June 11, 2015 183

Welcome address Ms. Jane W.F. Smith, ACURIL President Sunday 07 Jun 2015, Opening Ceremony, Royal Ballroom, Torarica Hotel and Casino, Paramaribo Thank you, Madame Chair Director of Culture and other specially invited guests, Distinguished Past Presidents of ACURIL ACURIL Executive Board, Members of ACURIL, Participants 45th ACURIL Conference, Sponsors and Exhibitors Members of the media, Ladies and gentlemen,

Goedenavond, Good evening, Buenas noches, Bon Nuit. I am so happy to welcome you all in Suriname, my beautiful country. It is one of the smallest countries in South America. It contains the Central Nature Reserve which is the largest protected tropical rain forest in the world. The Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL) is the main association for information professionals in the Caribbean. It aims to facilitate:   

developments in information services, strengthen the information profession and unite all information workers.

Originally only for academic libraries, today, ACURIL includes all information units in the sector: all types of libraries (public, national, school, special and academic) as well as, archives and museums. We all work hard, but are we really happy with the job we do? Doing a good job can only be realized when you educate yourself continuously. Therefore, continuing education is the key to staying on top of developments. This means getting ahead in the sector, updating old skills and learning new ones, advancing your career and staying up-to-date.

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Bear in mind, what is happening in libraries is a result of what is happening to social life, social organizations and global economic trends. Change is happening and more change is coming!!! In the coming days we will discuss the benefits of continuing education; we will hold a mirror up to a look at ourselves as information professionals. I am happy to inform you that the conference theme â&#x20AC;&#x153;Collaborative Continuous Educationâ&#x20AC;? has three subthemes which will be elaborated upon by three keynote speakers, Dr Harold Koning, Professor Fay Durrant and mr. Eric Block. Furthermore there are more than 20 papers, 25 presenters, 8 workshops, and posters as well as 03 library visits. For social activities: First, we have a Cultural Night on Monday evening, sponsored by the Government of Suriname (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). You will learn more about the various cultures in Suriname. Second, a real Suriname party to feel the way we Surinamese celebrate. I urge you to attend as much presentations as possible, make sure to visit the ACURIL Exhibition and chat with the vendors, you can also register for the vendors lunches. As these days will be a lot of business, try to take advantage of any spare time to learn more about Suriname. I tell you, I am sure that you would like to return to have a vacation and explore Suriname. Hosting the ACURIL Conference for the first time in Suriname was quite a challenge. Planning for nearly 175 participants was really not easy, butâ&#x20AC;Ś.. we are here! A special thanks to the Local Organizing Committee under the direction of Mrs. Stella PollackLeeflang. I am indeed very grateful to all sponsors for their contribution and to you, exhibitors and attendees, for participating in this conference. I sincerely thank you! Dank je wel, grantangi!!!

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Vote of thanks Mrs. Stella M. Lettys Pollack-Leeflang, Coordinator ACURIL 2015 Sunday 07 Jun 2015, Opening Ceremony, Royal Ballroom, Torarica Hotel and Casino, Paramaribo

Dear Special guests and of course: dear Acurelean, It is our pleasure to welcome ACURIL 45 to our beautiful country Suriname. The theme of this year brings us to an interesting exploring expedition wherein we can discover the most professional and personal development opportunities for lifelong learning in libraries, archives and museums in the Caribbean, Suriname and all other countries all over the world……………And of course it will be a challenge to put each discovering into practice! But…… this conference would not be possible without the fantastic contribution of several sponsors. My heartfelt thanks to all of them. It is good to mention the exhibitors in my vote of thanks! Your contribution brings always a special dimension to our Acuril conferences Mrs. Betty Sedoc, you were – as usual a fantastic keynote speaker! Reverent Raymon Wimpel thank you for your inspiring words. The members of the Police band and of course mr. Valpoort … thanks … Dear Acurelean: thank you all for coming to this 45th conference and share with us the discoveries of the exploring expedition about opportunities for lifelong learning in libraries, archives and museums in the Caribbean. Furthermore I want to thank all people who received an award this evening…: thank you for your special way you carried out the culture of our beautiful country Suriname…. Mr. Erwin de Vries, I am grateful to have you here this special evening! May this 45th Acuril conference not only create new partnerships and friendships, but also gain new knowledge and a better understanding of the successes and challenges that lies ahead.. May you be challenged, informed, and inspired. Let’s close together my vote of thanks with the opening verse of our ACURIL Song: I sing with passion this opening verse You are a large garden of the Caribbean Whose rose is the immortal book. ACURIL, ACURIL.

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Closing Remarks Outgoing ACURIL President 2014-2015, Ms. Jane Smith Thursday, 11 June 2015, Closing Ceremony, Chamber of Commerce, Paramaribo

Distinguished Past Presidents Members of the Executive Council Attendees, Exhibitors, Sponsors Members of the Local Organizing Committee Ladies and Gentlemen Last year, in the Bahamas, I told you about my dream to become President of ACURIL since 2004 at my first ACURIL Conference. It has been a challenge, but extremely rewarding. I’ve grown personally and professionally and my view about librarianship has broaden. I always think out of the box, but in the last year, I saw my profession in a broader perspective. It is not always the way libraries are developing, it is more like ‘what is the vision and mission of the staff’. How many libraries have a vision or a mission? and is it relevant to today’s world? The world of IT developments, challenges concerning staff development…. This is just what we talked about this last few days. Holding a mirror about who you are and what you want will reflect on your performance. Be aware of your strength, your possibilities, your capabilities and share them with others. You are never alone. You can’t do it alone! Together you can accomplish more. I hope this conference gave you the awareness and the urge to do something on this matter. I hope you have networked, shared experiences and learned more about yourself. The inspiring keynote speakers, dr. Harold Koning, prof. Fay Durrant and Eric Block will have left something behind with each of you. I’m sure of that. The presenters of more than 25 paper and poster presentations did a wonderful job by transfer experiences and knowledge about many topics. I thank you all for that. The opening ceremony with a deep keynote speech from dr Betty Sedoc about glocalization of knowledge and the homage to seven Surinamese cultural icons set the tone for the conference. The paper and poster presentations were an excellent reflection of the conference theme and subthemes. The exhibitors, well represented in the Exhibition area, were involved in the conference and accomplished a lot of business. The breaks without coffee were taken very sportingly by everyone.

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The social events were much appreciated by all. The Cultural Night where all cultures from Suriname were exposed and the Suriname party was a real celebration. I did not, in my wildest dreams, expected it to be such a success. Of course, Suriname benefited from this conference. Suriname has been exposed on the regional map. The participants are excited about our food and the friendly people. Our library community got a boost from networking with colleagues. Commerce did good business, especially the shops in the Hermitage mall.

Thank you, My lord, My family, mammy, Lydia, Shamin, Gina, Program committee, ACURIL Executive council, especially Luisa, Margo, at the last minute agreed to be Rapporteur General, Stella Local Organizing Committee, Volunteers, Event Bureau OrgaNice, Staff Library University of Suriname, especially the fund raising committee, Ingrid Dors and Helen Bakboord, University of Suriname for all the support Last but not least, all sponsors, all participants and all exhibitors. Thank you again.

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Maiden speech of Incoming President 2015-2016, Dr. Elizabeth Pierre-Louis Thursday, 11 June 2015, Closing Ceremony, Chamber of Commerce, Paramaribo

Bienvenue, Welcome, Bienvenida, Wilkommen I will say a few words in French for my colleagues but will translate and in finish in English Je suis très fière de représenter Haiti aujourd’hui en tant que présidente d’Acuril 2015-2016. Je suis d’autant plus contente que les membres d’Acuril témoignent tant d’enthousiasme à venir ou revenir en Haiti. Cela me touche profondément. Je compte sur vous collègues francophones pour m’aider à mener à bien cette conférence. Dear colleagues of ACURIL It is for me a great honor to be representing Haiti as the President of ACURIL 2015-2016. I am very touched and pleased by all the enthusiasm this has generated. I have been attending ACURIL since 1997, I was barely of legal age then and nothing more than an observer. It took a very special person, Pedro Padilla Rosa, may he rest in peace, to get me more involved in ACURIL in 2006 by inviting to the executive council in Aruba. I then truly entered the ACURIL family and what a time it has been. As all family we love each other, as well as misunderstand, fuss, worry, but we all believe in Acuril. But we can do more, we can be more. Yes we can! When I chose the theme of Leadership I received mostly positive feedback. One comment that stuck with me is that librarians are rarely leaders; we tend to hide behind our stacks of books. But want it or not, we are put in managing or directing position. When you do your job well, you have more responsibilities. We may not all be born leaders but we can develop leadership skills in order to better manage, better organize, better delegate, better lead. Which we can translate into LEARN, ACT INSPIRE, right Jane? Same goes for institutions: we create services, we adapt innovations because there is a void and it has to be done. By doing so we become leaders, our institutions become leaders. But how do we promote it? Do we share our best practices in order to tweak or correct our initiatives or to help others start from scratch? Mrs Francoise Thybulle, President of Acuril 2011-2012, often says that she graduated from Library School at Colombia University and come back to work in Haiti. Soon asked to manage the National Library, she found herself unable to apply anything she had learned in her prestigious New York University. She turned to ACURIL and through discussions with her Caribbean colleagues learned the how to. That is ACURIL. That is what the Association of Caribbean University, research and Institution Libraries stands for. Because it is frankly the real example of leadership to be able to continue to function after 45 years, reuniting over 20 countries, 4 languages groups, 6 special interest 189

groups, 6 content area round tables: functioning in the ever changing field of libraries, archives, museums and information units with publics, tools, resources that have changed so much. Here lies the relevance of my theme : Leadership a bridge between tradition and innovation. We must recognize the work of the past in order for us to go forward. That will be my first subtheme: 1) Lessons from the past: recognizing leaders in Caribbean libraries. Coming to the present, how to we adapt these lessons to our lives and to better our institutions subtheme 2) Developing leadership skills. And finally how do we prepare our future, by sharing what exists in the Caribbean in terms of innovation subtheme3) Best practices in Innovation in the Caribbean. These subjects overlap and build from another and I am very positive about the outcome of the 46 Conference in Haiti. I would like to give a hand to members of the Local organizing committee who traveled with me and helped with the stand in the exhibit area or the blog: Erick Toussaint, Islande Baptiste, Vanessa Casseus, Watsuze Leonard, Barbara Desir and Evains WĂŞche. I will finish by congratulating Jane Smith, outgoing president, Stella Pollack-Leeflang and Olga Jannash Vanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Noordende for great preparation, organization and hospitality. Here are small tokens from Haiti to Suriname. May we all be inspired throughout the year and prepare to lead

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INDEX ALPHABETICAL ORDER PRESENTATIONS AND SPEECHES Alberts, Monique

Lozada-Robles, Rosa

Alleyne, Jiselle Maria

162

Manassi, Tanya Marie

152

Bernard, Simone

125

Nelson, Karlene

152

Block, Eric L.

144

Pajard, Anne

Boivin, Daniel

105

Peltier-Davis, Cheryl

Britten, Astrid

Pierre-Louis, Elizabeth

189 186

Campagnes, Diane

169

Pollack-Leeflang, Stella M. Lettys

Carrasquillo-Ramos, Gretchen

116

Ramtahal, Kumaree

Carri贸n-Mel茅ndez, Ruth M.

Renwick, Shamin

Durrant, Fay

Rosini, Lisette

Dwarika-Bhagat, Niala

Salmon, Frances

Garnett, Juneann

125

Santos-Corrada, Carmen

Greenidge, Ernesta

Sedoc-Dahlberg, Betty

Groenewoud, Margo

Smith, Jane W.F.

Heath, Rosemarie A.

132

Howell Nash, Jacqueline

Kerr-Campbel, Maureen Kokke, Eric Koren, Marian

45 1 184,187 167

Tjien Fooh-Hardjomohamad, Rita S.

122

Torres-Ramos, Mario

139

Torres-S谩nchez, Enid

116

Wooldridge, Brooke

167

Lara, Elmelinda

LaRose, Simmone

Lashley, Beverley P.

Taylor, Laurie

122

152

Lebr贸n-Ramos, Jeannette

Lowe, Debra

191