Information Literacy: An International State of the Art

Library tours (General and specific library areas/services)

1. 
   «Formación de usuarios en la biblioteca central» ('User training for the central library'). Biblioteca Central de la Universidad de Extremadura en Badajoz. In http://biblioteca.unex.es/CentralBadajoz/formacion.html#presen
   

2. 
   «Formación de usuarios» ('User training'). Biblioteca Universitaria de Santiago de Compostela (Galicia). In
   

http://busc.usc.es/Servizos/formacion.asp

3. 
   «Guía de la biblioteca Universitaria» ('Guide to the University Library'). Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. In http://www.uc3m.es/uc3m/serv/BIB/guiabib/indice.html
   

4. 
   Gómez Hernández, J. A. «La formación de los usuarios en la biblioteca escolar» ('User training in the school library). Universidad de Murcia. In http://gti1.edu.um.es:8080/jgomez/bibedu/pautasorg/intro/formacion.htm
   

3. 
   Tutorials and portals for citizens
   

1. 
   Initiatives from the libraries:
   

Training in the telematic environment is becoming ever more important, bringing to websites library user guides as well as manuals explaining documentary resources and search strategies, together with replies to students’ FAQs. This testifies to the libraries’ efforts to transfer to the digital library one of the basic services, i.e. teaching regarding accessing and using information.

We may here stress the user training courses, both introductory and à la carte, organized by universities in order to promote familiarity on the part of the academic community with their libraries, resources and services, and cooperate within the new teaching/learning model. Such courses are offered by numerous university libraries, an example being that of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona: Conèixer les Biblioteques ('Getting to know the libraries) (http://www.bib.uab.es/formacio/curs.htm). Also relevant here are the courses of the library of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, «Com trobar i gestionar informació científico-técnica» ('How to find and manage scientific and technical information'), which offer general, specific and specialized training and guidelines for carrying out end-of-course projects

(http://escher.upc.es/STS/formacio/inici.htm). We may also mention:

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  «Tutorial de recursos electrónicos» ('Electronic Resources Tutorial'). Spain: Red de Bibliotecas del CSIC (Library Network of the CSIC – Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - Higher Scientific Research Council) - http://www.csic.es/cbic/formacion/eerecursos.htm.
  

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  A significant initiative is that constituted by the tutorial Sirio Multimedia, of the library of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (available in CD-Rom format). This program is aimed essentially at all libraries and documentation centers where access to databases is a matter for the users themselves, a circumstance necessitating instruction in basic techniques of information retrieval. Sirio offers a tutorial conceived as a means of improving libraries’ didactic activity, releasing the library from routine tasks and broadening users’ instructional base. Its objectives aim that the user should:
  
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    Understand and employ the standard information retrieval terminology.
    
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    Be aware of the potentialities and limitations of bibliographical and factual databases.
    
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    Be familiar with the syntactic resources of information retrieval systems (IRSs).
    
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    Learn methods of consulting such databases.
    
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    Acquire the ability to use any IRS fully and precisely.
    

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