WORKSHOP

The virtual groups

A very important part of our European project is a sequence of pre-conference workshops operating in a “virtual” mode. Thus, leading up to the mid-August 2005 experts’ working seminar in Copenhagen twelve “virtual” groups are exploring and exchanging views and ideas about a specific LIS curricular theme. Each virtual group is expected to provide input for twelve similar workshops that will be running during the two-day seminar in August. In communicating with each other, the members of the virtual groups are relying the facilities of the groupware package SiteScape.

The virtual groups number specialists from the European LIS education community and represent a wide variety of European countries. Each group is composed of four specially designated “core members” including a workshop leader/moderator. These four “core group” members, including the workshop group leader, have been invited to attend the experts’ seminar in Copenhagen on 11 – 12 August. But several virtual groups have expanded to include additional corresponding members from all over Europe. From the outset of the European LIS education project, a basic idea has been to encourage both highly merited senior experts and young dynamic teaching and research academics in the LIS field to join the virtual discussion groups.

Themes and group leaders

The twelve workshops span a variety of LIS themes of relevance to LIS school curricula. The theme-based groups are operating under the following headings:

Theme 1:  (Meta-level) LIS curriculum in general. Workshop group leader: Anna Maria Tammaro (University of Parma, Italy). E-mail contact: annamaria.tammaro@unipr.it

Theme 2: Cultural heritage and digitisation of the cultural heritage. Workshop group leader: Zinaida Manžuch (Vilnius University, Lithuania). E-mail contact: zinaida.manzuch@mb.vu.lt

Theme 3: Information literacy and learning. Workshop group leader: Sirje Virkus (Tallin, Estonia). E-mail contact: S.Virkus@mmu.ac.uk

Theme 4: Information seeking and information retrieval. Workshop group leader: David Bawden (City University London, UK). E-mail contact: db@soi.city.ac.uk

Theme 5: The information society: Barriers to the free access to information. Workshop group leader: Aleksandra Vranes (Belgrade University, Belgrade, Serbia). E-mail contact: alvranes@EUnet.yu

Theme 6: Knowledge management. Workshop group leader: Gunilla Widén-Wulff (Åbo Akademi, University, Finland). E-mail contact: gwiden@abo.fi

Theme 7: Knowledge organisation. Workshop group leader: Birger Hjørland (Royal School of Library and Information Science, Denmark). E-mail contact: bh@db.dk

Theme 8: The library in the multi-cultural information society: International and intercultural communication. Workshop group leader: Ragnar Audunson (Oslo, Norway). E-mail contact: Ragnar.Audunson@jbi.hio.no

Theme 9: Library and society in a historical perspective. Workshop group leader: Ilkka Mäkinen (Tampere, Finland). E-mail contact: Ilkka.Makinen@uta.fi

Theme 10: Mediation of culture in a European context. Workshop group leader: Anders Frenander (Borås, Sweden). E-mail contact: Anders.Frenander@hb.se

Theme 11: Practice and theory: Placements and practical training in libraries and other information agencies. Workshop group leader: Gerda van der Molen (Groningen, the Netherlands). E-mail contact: g.a.van.der.molen@pl.hanze.nl

Theme 12: Library management and promotion. Workshop group leader: Ramune Petuchovaite (Vilnius University, Lithuania). E-mail contact: ramune.petuchovaite@kf.vu.lt

Initial questions for discussion in groups

At the initial stage of the work of the virtual groups we have suggested a few basic approaches to starting up and structuring the discussions. Workshop/discussion leaders might initiate work in the virtual workshops by briefly presenting the theme of the workshop to group members together with his or her reflections on questions such as:

• Different aspects of and perspecticves on the theme of the workshop (i.e. the chapter in the final book)
• The European dimension
• Core concepts and conceptual frameworks
• The place in the LIS school curriculum: Compulsory or optional?
• The theme in the context of the international universe of the LIS discipline
• European theme or not? Is the theme essential for all LIS educational programmes in Europe?
• Should the theme be a part of a European LIS core curriculum?
• Different theoretical and curricular approaches to the theme in various parts of the European LIS education world?
• Different views on the theme and its components in different parts of Europe?

The role of discussion leaders

The leader of the virtual groups and the workshops at the seminar in Copenhagen serves as moderator of discussions within the group. The workshop leader is the key person of the process in that he or she conducts the discussion and sees to it that essential points and key finding emanating from the group process are recorded, summarised, presented in an agreed format and communicated to the project Steering Group and the organisers of the seminar.

Acces to the discussion forum

Participants in the SiteScape discussions can gain acces at: http://it.dbit.dk/forums/lis/dispatch.cgi by using their passwords provided by the project assistant Jeannie Borup Larsen