Monthly Archives: October 2014

MOOCs as access to information in developing countries: new ways to utilize ICTs to help meet challenges in the education sector

Dear colleagues:

The presentation, “MOOCs as access to information in developing countries: new ways to utilize ICTs to help meet challenges in the education sector,” part of the CPDWL Programme “MOOCs: opportunities and challenges for libraries” at the WLIC 2014 in Lyon, is now on the IFLA Library.  You can access the paper in English and Spanish.  The Power Point Presentation is available here.

This paper includes a general overview of MOOCs in countries in the process of development or transition. Examples of webinars, which have become the online alternative to MOOCs developed by and for library professionals, are shared. Benefits such as participating of MOOCs anywhere at any time, and challenges such as connectivity are discussed. As well as research which is an important part of the process to identify topics for the classes. How to develop MOOCs and best practices are considered with the purpose of providing resources to establish successful projects involving multi-ethnic populations.

Call for proposals: CPDWL Satellite Conference 2015 in South Africa

The CPDWL satellite conference 2015 will be held at Milnerton Public Library north of The Cape Town City 12-14 August. The satellite theme is Taking charge of your LIS career: Personal strategies, institutional programs, strong libraries.

We now invite proposals for papers, research reports, workshops, personal stories, and poster sessions. Some proposals will be considered for publication in the online proceedings in the IFLA institutional repository. First-time presenters and new professionals are encouraged to apply. Students in the final year of studies are also invited to participate.

You find the call on http://conference.ifla.org/ifla81/node/969 where the proposal submission form also is linked.

Looking forward to receiving your proposals on 1 December 2014 at the latest!

Ewa Stenberg, Satellite coordinator

 

Next webinar of CPDWL and NPSIG on October 14,2014

We are proud to present the fourth session of the 2014 webinar series
“New Librarians Global Connection: best practices, models and recommendations.”
http://www.ifla.org/node/6141. The theme for this installment of our series is “Information as a Human Right”. 
For the third consecutive year, IFLA Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning and IFLA New Professionals Special Interest Group are partnering with the American Library Association to present a series of free quarterly webinars on issues of interest to new librarians, library associations and library schools, library-decision makers, and all library workers. This is a great opportunity for membership participation via new worldwide online programming.
Following our tradition of excellence, this year our keynote speakers for each of our quarterly sessions come from different regions of the world. This year they have included IFLA President Elect, Donna Scheeder and other library leaders.
Below, the date and time of the next webinar. Save the date!
October 14, 2014
12:00 p.m. CDT
1:00 p.m. EDT
7:00 p.m. CET
Link to access the virtual meeting room: TBD
Webinar length is one hour.
Speakers:
Bridgette Hendrix, NPSIG Convenor
Washington, DC
Topic: An Introduction to the Lyon Declaration.
Matthew Vanderwerff, Senior Program Officer, IREX
Matthew supports IREX’s Beyond Access program, an initiation advocating to make libraries universally recognized as community development hubs. He’s previously supported the Global Libraries programs in Romania and Ukraine, and will introduce the concept of information as a human right.
Ellie Valentine, MLIS
Chief of Party, USAID Responsive Governance Project
Yemen
Looking for ways to promote citizen access to information, Ellie has spent her career in untraditional library roles. She currently serves as a the Chief of Part to USAID’s Responsive Governance Project in Yemen, and has previously worked on parliamentary strengthening projects in Ukraine, Armenia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Ellie will discuss how access to information policy impacts access to information.
The topics for the webinars were compiled from global surveys, topics presented by speakers during the CPDWL and NPSIG programs at the WLIC 2013 in Singapore, NPSIG working group, and new librarians’ forums, listservs and online spaces.
The quarterly webinars are presented in January, April, July and October. Stay tuned for more news!
The webinars are archived, therefore you can join them, ask questions and participate in conversations with international colleagues live, or you can listen to them later, anywhere at any time. For more information about the 2012 and 2013 series and to listen to a number of webinars, visit the following link http://npsig.wordpress.com/webinars-2/past-webinars/. 
Questions and requests for information:
Bridgette Hendrix
NPSIG Convenor

Knowledge Café 2014: New wrap-up

Learning together: when experts from developed libraries work with developing countries, everyone learns and everyone teaches

MARY AUGUSTA THOMAS (Smithsonian Libraries, Washington, DC. United States)
Right from the start, the topic was reworked to lessen the “developed/developing polarity.

However it provided a great springboard for discussions in all three rotations. Library visits or using external consults worked best when the type of library or the type of work was a good match.

For example, parliamentary libraries learned the most from each other. The identification of common issues and concerns also promoted learning in these visits. Common concerns seem to include sustaining networks of colleagues, use of technology for active information exchange, and changing practices in all libraries right now.

Many participants come from areas where travel is limited and therefore make heavy use of E Learning, in interacting with their colleagues in similar libraries. At the end of each session elements of “Best practices” were suggested. These were formed around mutual respect and mutual needs.

For individuals who were able to travel, visits to perhaps larger or better developed libraries offered exposure, which on their return can be leveraged by sharing the knowledge gained, encouraging teams to all move forward.

Types of exchanges included person to person attachments or assignments and participation in IFLA or State Department tours but these were perhaps not as effective as the regional or affinity based visits.

For visiting librarians — partnering around projects to have mutual benefit– must include give and take and ways to identify the benefits regionally and internationally. Sharing the information on your return was most important.

Everyone remarked that one often uses outside consultants to say things to management that will not he heard from the internal audience.
Digital life has changed things and in each group, there were more similarities of issue than differences.

What needs to be brought into these sessions by both sides is a respect for community knowledge.

These projects also require meeting challenges of different cultures with appropriate vocabulary and the need to being with common concerns.