Teaching IT skills to library and information studies students: some reflections

Abstract

The teaching of IT skills to students in higher education has progressed significantly during the last five years. This article reviews these changes and considers their impact on the teaching of these skills to library and information studies students. There is a general agreement that students on most, if not all, courses should develop an appropriate level of IT skills. There are a number of ever present problems in the development of those IT skills. These include: hardware and software resources, documentation, staffing resources, managing the teaching and learning process, integration of the use of IT into the academic programme and ever changing technology. The new generation of software based on graphical user interfaces offers a more user friendly interface and allows students to develop more sophisticated skills more quickly. In the future, students will use computers to help them to access large electronic documents and databases, to analyse information, and to synthesise that information. These issues are considered in relation to IT skills programmes offered by departments of library and information studies. The nature of IT skills modules and the impact of any attempt to introduce institutional IT skills programmes are discussed. The unique requirements of enhanced database skills required by this group are identified, and the effect of the opportunities that networks offer for the development of information competence is considered.