Expanded, updated WWW/Internet Online Tutorial

[Sheryl Dwinell]

Joe:

You forgot to send along the URL for the Internet Tutorial. :)

This posting made me think yet again about teaching the use of the
WWW/Internet at our University. Here at Memorial Library one of the
reference librarians and I teach a class on using Search engines. This is
the only class we offer, and the only reason it exists is because she and I
came up with the idea and the structure, and managed to get the class
offered amongst the other database workshops (ABI/Inform, Medline, etc.) we
traditionally offer. Our library isn't involved in any other Internet
instruction.  Our computer center offers classes on using Netscape and a
general Internet class.  I've heard of a number of libraries that offer a
comprehensive set of classes on using the Web from a semester-long 1 credit
course, to 2-3 hour sessions. When I've brought up those sorts of ideas
here, there has been relatively little interest on the part of library
staff.  I think it is a combination of no one feeling they have the time to
invest and those thinking that our users wouldn't be interested.
Unfortunately, our 'Search the Internet' classes don't seem to generate a
whole lot of interest amongst our users. We have a student body of about
10,000. Each semester we probably get about 25-30 attendees, total. We get
a lot more faculty than students, even though we send out flyers, advertise
in the student paper, and post announcements in the library and on our web
site. Maybe students feel like they know all there is to know about the
Internet. Who knows.  I just feel like there is a need for this sort of
thing, but don't quite know how to get others in the library interested.
Neither do I know how to attract students to the classes!  I'm curious how
others have organized Internet teaching sessions and how they got others in
their library to go along with the idea.  I'd be interested in hearing
about how your classes are structured, how often they're offered, the size
of your institution and the attendance at classes.

thanks everyone,



Sheryl Dwinell * Cataloger/DBM Librarian/Webmaster
Memorial Library * Marquette University
P.O. Box 3141 * Milwaukee, WI 53201-3141
414-288-3406 * dwinells at vms.csd.mu.edu