9th European Conference of 
Medical and Health Libraries

Santander, September 20th-25th, 2004

THE LIBRARIAN AS AN INTERNET USER TRAINER:
 AN EXPERIENCE OF TWO YEARS.

Moreno Y. M. ,
Becerril M,.
Cebrian S.
(Lilly,S.A.)

1.- INTRODUCTION

Technological progress and its application in libraries and reference centres have meant that the librarian/documentalist's role is undergoing a change towards the development of more active tasks to support users. Similarly, technological progress now forms an active part of searching and retrieving information. 

Today, the information professional not only has to know his/her users' profiles with regard to their information needs, but also of their ability to use the Internet when searching for or retrieving an original document. 

The majority of librarians and documentalists are aware of the need to train their users in the use of electronic tools available at their centres so that users are able to obtain satisfactory results to their consultations. When evaluating search results, the system used by the user, strategy, time required, etc. should all be taken into consideration in order to be able to assess the efficacy of the system offered at the centre and users' training needs. The information professional must consider training their users, bearing in mind the tools that the latter will really use, and not those that they should theoretically be using.

There are many projects and types of training courses ranging from an introduction to computer use, to the use of different databases, search systems and evaluation systems on the quality of retrieved information. However, it is the individual librarian/documentalist who really knows the needs and shortcomings of his/her users, and therefore training courses should be organised ad hoc for each centre. 

2.- TRAINING OF OUR USERS

As new electronic tools have made their debut, users' access to information has rapidly become easier. However, this situation has many contradictory aspects, because on the one hand, users have access to a great wealth of information, but on the other, access to such information may be quite complex. 

With the implantation of an Intranet at our centre and the creation the Medical Information Department's own web page, we had the possibility of offering information and different documentary products to our internal users, as well as direct access to the same. 

After conducting a study on our users and their requirements, we detected the need to offer training courses for the different departments in the company that most needed such courses. 

These training sessions have been held several times a year in groups of a maximum of six persons, who were introduced to the use of tools related to searching of on-line journals and retrieving primary documents, free-access databases, Pubmed, MEDES, and we encouraged users to always ask documentalists if they had any problems or needed information that required a more complicated search and retrieval process.

It was also observed that our external clients required training in information retrieval, and we decided to organise training sessions outside our centre. A working group was created to assess the possibility of running this project and to select the course programme. 

3.- DESCRIPTION OF ATTENDANCE COURSE 

The course was designed bearing in mind the advantages that the network holds for this type of training sessions, because it is a flexible environment and offers access to global sources, provides multimedia resources and it is highly interactive and accessible. The course required attendance in person, each student had a computer and was provided support material for use at home. 

The course consisted of two sessions that aimed to give an overall view of different types of electronic tools such as Google, Fisterra, Pubmed and MEDES. Thus, we intended to illustrate the utility of a potent search engine such as Google, offer an example of a health science portal, Fisterra, which is the most popular amongst health professionals, particularly in the area of Primary Health Care, and use Pubmed and Medes as examples of specialist databases. 

Bearing in mind that these sessions were run for adults, different aspects were taken into consideration, such as the inclusion of relevant contents, considering the speciality of students in each group for practical examples, and proposals put forward by the students themselves on specific subjects of interest. Active participation was encouraged amongst students. 

From the very start, the course was designed with a fixed structure, although considering the target group and their working environment, it was always possible to adapt it to special circumstances. The reason why the course was structured was a result of a decision to try to give the course a more "formal" feel: when presenting the course to a sales network such as our company's (with over 400 sales representatives), we could not offer just rough ideas, but a clear-cut project with a timetable and fixed contents. Although, as mentioned earlier, it was adapted to concrete needs in specific cases. 

It was decided to divide the course into two sessions lasting approximately 4 hours, given on two consecutive days (indistinctly in the morning or afternoon). It was organised on two days because we realise that health professionals cannot easily ask for a day off to attend a training course that is not organised at his/her workplace. Therefore, the course was given at the end (or before the start) of a shift. This obviously meant that students would be tired for the course after finishing their day's work (as the majority of courses were given in afternoon sessions). It was decided to spread the course over two days because if we had tried to fit everything that was to be taught into just one day, there would not have been time for the most important part of the course: its eminently practical nature. 

The teachers did not take an active part in class development so that students would feel involved and to ensure that everyone advanced at a similar pace. In short, the class was organised so that each student had his/her own computer, and one of the computer monitors was shown on an overhead projector. Therefore, the teacher gave the instructions, but it was a student who set the pace of the whole class. 

The first day focused on the easiest part, with an introduction to the Internet. After a short presentation on what it is and how it works, the rest of the session mainly dealt with the search engine Google, which is currently considered as one of the most powerful search engines. Although almost all students knew Google and had used it before, we explained how they could "get more" out of it than simply entering a single word: Google's advanced search enables more complex searches to be performed using implied Boolean operators. This study of Boolean logic also served as a basis for later adaptation to searches in PubMed. Using advanced search, and always based on practical examples, students were also taught on how to retrieve power point presentations and pdf documents, which were perhaps the most important discoveries made by students. The use of Adobe documents was also discussed: how to copy/paste images, columns and text and use them later in original word or power point documents. The course also dealt with the retrieval and subsequent use of images for professional and personal use (the former for presentations at work and the latter, for example, for learning how to set up desktop images). 

There was a short break half way through the afternoon, when teachers were able to form their initial impressions on how students were getting on, how the pace felt, whether they were enjoying it or not, etc. Usually the break was also useful to “break the ice” between teachers and students, since throughout all courses we aimed to create a friendly atmosphere, with an adult-adult relationship, bearing in mind that teaching adults is quite different from teaching children. 

If there was time at the end of the day, we had a look at the Fisterra medical portal which is of great interest to all professionals: it is specifically focused on general/family doctors, and there is always something useful to find that can be applied in specialists' daily practice, because it is such a wide-ranged portal, with a large number of sections. 

The second session was entirely focused on the Medline database, accessed via the free portal, PubMed. The session again began with a short introduction, stressing the differences between a search engine (Google) and a database (Medline), and when it was more appropriate to use one or the other, depending on needs. The rest of the session was focused on practical examples of retrieving information on PubMed. As the aim was to increase students' basic knowledge (entering one or more words in the search box on the PubMed home page), searches were always performed using MeSH terms. Simple searches were used to begin with, explaining the different PubMed sections through these searches: one MeSH term; one MeSH term + subheading; how to save results; 2 MeSH terms; how to print / send results by E-mail; MeSH terms + title word, etc. 

3.1.- Some figures

Last year and so far in 2004, we have trained over 600 students and run about 40 courses. 

At the end of each course a questionnaire was given out to students to assess their level of satisfaction with the course. 3 basic points were evaluated in the questionnaire: global level of satisfaction with the course; satisfaction with regard to materials handed out during the course (to find out whether or not such material was appropriate); and students' opinions on the teachers who gave the course. Students were also asked to evaluate, albeit at a different level, the teaching centres where courses had been held (in order to repeat courses there in the future, or not). The field for adding extra comments was extremely important. Here, students were able to write any type of complaint or comment, and over 90% who made comments did so to congratulate us on the course. 

The total evaluation (average of all the different parts) was 4.62 (top – 5). The medium of the global evaluation, material and communications skills are shown in the following graphic:

4.- The reason for two forms of presentation

Online learning, better known as e-learning, is a trend that is growing day by day in organisations and companies that work in education. According to a UK questionnaire, in 1998 10% of university students already used e-learning methods. And it is a growing trend considering the growth of Internet users in Spain, which currently stand at almost 20 million users. There is also a growing number of persons who use computers at work.

The advantages that are behind the development of these virtual teaching methods include the following: 

•	The effects of the development of web tools have enabled publishers, libraries, etc. to offer their knowledge through the Internet, and this means that end users must be able to use such tools 

•	Its low cost in comparison with traditional training implied in this type of studying 

•	The individualised pace in self-training that can be adapted to the student's needs or plans at different times. 

•	Access to professional development of persons who work part-time or shift work that make it difficult to attend traditional courses. As a result there is a growing need to provide distance training to many students who cannot travel to certain locations. 

•	To train professionals where so required in order to locate information at the time and place they decide and not necessarily be limited to a certain time and place. 

To summarise, teachers and students are attracted by advantages such as flexibility of hours, place for learning, low cost and above all the effectiveness of the method in comparison with the traditional method, and the larger number of potential users for whom there is access to training. 

However, e-learning also poses some significant drawbacks in comparison with traditional methods, such as:

•	The lack of a method for an effective final assessment or feedback at the end of each module or lesson. In this respect, the attendance course permits students' responses to be observed and incorporated during the development of the course. 

•	Learning is also reaped from spontaneously shared doubts and knowledge on attendance courses. 

•	Motivating participation at attendance courses, particularly in the case of adults, is a key factor in motivating interest and learning in this age range. On attendance courses, the level or pace is set by the group, thus meeting the expectations of the majority. 

•	On some occasions a group may attain a higher level of development, and at other times, the method may be changed to a simpler one. In this respect, attendance courses are more versatile because there is room for improvisation, immediate problem-solving and questions raised by students can be answered directly. 

Finally, the use of new technologies in adult education is favoured by applying these formulas, involving active participation and knowledge of scientific documentation through the Internet. These very principles are used to guide our attendance courses and were observed back in the nineties by librarians and adult education teachers of attendance and virtual courses, who seek to bring themselves up-to-date in surfing and searching for online solutions. 

5.- DESCRIPTION OF THE ONLINE COURSE

The introduction and development of new technologies has also had a great impact on education, fundamentally applied to the use of information sources and in particular in the field of investigation and biomedicine. 

The development of an online format of attendance courses was the result of inter-departmental work and of the desire to offer new forms of training and investigation sources to Health Professionals, through the Internet and web applications. The e-business, e-learning and Medical Information departments all played a part in creating the online course. The foundation stones in the design of this educational project were laid by e-business' initiative to offer innovative and quality services, e-learning's knowledge in training and multimedia development, together with Lilly's Information and Documentary Services' experience in serving biomedicine professionals. 

The decision to develop attendance courses in a capsulated or online format was also brought about by the acceptance and enthusiasm shown by students on the attendance courses, together with our desire to reach a greater number of students in a more agile way, i.e., through the Internet and new technologies. 

Training in learning about these tools is a skill that we had to develop in a simple and structured way. Through the use of the mouse and interactive questions, the aim is for students to gradually discover the best way of performing an effective search in biomedical information, with reference to generic search engines and specialised databases alike. 

By the end of a course, the cyber student should be able to design search strategies without wasting unnecessary time in front of the computer. The aim is to train students to translate, for example, a specific clinical question into a sequence of words that can be understood by the search engine, which in turn will give precise answers to concrete doubts, with greater or lesser degree of specificity. 

When we developed the online course, we tried to accurately reproduce the content and pace of the attendance course, at the same time as maintaining the interactivity and essence of the same. 

Each module highlights certain utilities of the search engines, by resolving the student's examples, explaining tricks, operators for trunking terms, etc., focusing learning through practice. 

The documentalists from the Medical Information Department accurately transcribed the steps followed in training received on a particular attendance course, describing the theory of how a generic search engine works and noting examples and questions raised by students. These questions were answered in an interactive way through the search engines and medical literature databases, such as Medline, which are included in the course. Subsequently, all our systematised experience was transferred to the e-learning team, which designed the structure and movement of the contents, dividing the same into separate packages with specific lessons, using a suitable pace to ensure appropriate comprehension and follow-up. 

To give a few more details on course methodology, there are several modules with theoretical parts and practical exercises for the student, who is really in charge of setting the pace and establishing the priorities in course development. All modules are independent of each other, and so students may decide to start with a practical exercise before reading the introduction or the theoretical part, if they so wish. 

As mentioned earlier, the theoretical part is clear and concise enough to be able to be read quickly, so that the student can then commence the practical search examples. These examples are designed with independent parts that can be repeated so that if one example has not been clearly understood, it can be repeated until it has been fully understood.

The online system provides an interactive working method, correcting errors in terminology or typing. The student is alerted of the mistake that has been made and is advised of correct alternatives. 

All course content is presented in a pleasant, guided, visual way with the aim of teaching the student what is Boolean logic in search engines, tricks to locate certain document formats, use of tools that are available free of charge, and how to find quality scientific documents, all through specific surfing.