DSM1020 - CLIENT LED INFORMATION SERVICES

Module Identifier	DSM1020
Module Title	CLIENT LED INFORMATION SERVICES
Academic Year	2002/2003
Co-ordinator	Mrs Christine J Urquhart
Semester	Available all semesters
Assessment	Semester Assessment	Report 2,000-2,500 words each	50%
	Semester Assessment	Report 2,000-2,500 words each	50%

Learning outcomes

After studying this module you should be able to:

discuss methods of assessing educational and training needs for information service users and information service staff;
discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various teaching methods, and devise suitable approaches;
formulate evaluation criteria for a teaching session or programme and devise an appropriate strategy for supporting trainees;
develop and justify designs for the organisation and management of a ''help-desk'' and similar user support services;
explain the process of software support, with reference to personal bibliographic software;
discuss how organisational stuctures can alter the effectiveness of client support for education and training.

Brief description

The idea for the develpment of this module had arisen from observations of the need for health librarians and information managers to provide training in information skills for their 'users' - health professionals, managers and ancillary staff. User education is in one sense a marketing exercise as educators need to know how training meets needs and the success of the training product needs to be evaluated. In healthcare the ultimate user is likely to be the patient or client, and information skills training and support structures should be designed to support the professionals and carers in their provision of clinically effective, and cost-effective services. That does not mean that individual needs of the health professionals, and their personal professional development needs should be ignored, but 'client centred information services' encompass more than information skills education and training for the immediate service users.
This module considers some of the ways the 'help-desk' can be made to work for the benefit of the organisation as well as the user. The implications of 'end-user' computing include the possible need to support the users in the software they may need, and which they may have selected as necessary for them. In this module particular emphasis is placed on the software that extends what health professionals can do with the results of their information searches, such as personal bibliographic software.

Reading Lists

Books
** Essential Reading
Bartram, Sharon, and Brenda Gibson. (1994) Training needs analysis: a resource for identifying training needs, selecting training strategies and developing training plans - p.3-14. Aldershot: Gower

Articles
Dillon, A. and Morris, M. G. (1996) User acceptance of information technology: theories and models.. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 31, pp3-32

Books
** Essential Reading
Czegel B. (1998) Running an effective help desk - chapter 8. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Articles
Davis, David A. et al. (1995) Changing physician performance: a systematic review of the effect of continuing medical education strategies. JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), 274, no. 9, pp700-705

Books
** Essential Reading
Fisher, Biddy. (1994) Mentoring - chapter 3, p.11-19. London: Library Association Publishing

Articles
McGowan, Julie J. (1995) The role of health sciences librarians in the teaching and retention of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of lifelong learning. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 83, no. 2, pp184-89

Books
** Essential Reading
Jackson, Paul Z. (1998) Impro learning: how to make your training creative, flexible and spontaneous - p.157-172. Aldershot: Gower

Articles
Urquhart, Christine, Susan Hornby, Tanya Rogers, and David Bawden. (1998) The health information practitioner as learner and educator. Education for Information, 16, no. 1, pp69-81

Books
** Essential Reading
LaGuardia, Cheryl et al. (1996) Teaching in the new library: a how-to-do-it manual for planning and designing instructional programs - p.45-57. New York: Neal-Schuman
Urquhart, C. J., and J. B. Hepworth. (1995) The value to clinical decision making of information supplied by NHS library and information services - p.176-179. British Library Document Supply Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby