Empowering the Information User

Most librarians and information professionals find themselves involved in teaching information skills to users. Few have been prepared for it through their professional education which leaves many new librarians thrown in at the deep end with little or no training in this area. This text is designed to offer practical advice to help information workers proactively empower people to become effective finders and users of information. It aims to signal a change in attitude from the custodian of information to the librarian as facilitator, teacher and sharer of the information seeking process. The book provides clear advice for the newly-qualified, including: understanding user empowerment information; identifying user needs; analysing and devising learning outcomes for users; designing the content of learning outcomes for users; designing the content of learning opportunities to meet the outcomes; user empowerment methods; using resources and time effectively; choosing appropriate methods for target audiences; and monitoring and evaluation. Each chapter includes case studies, summaries, checklists and examples from a range of sectors.
It should be applicable to librarians and information professionals in a wide range of institutions.