Online searching education and training : present situation, problems and recommendations

온라인탐색 교육의 실태와 문제점 및 개선방안

To investigate how the online searching was taught in the departments of Library and Information Science, a survey was done to the professors teaching information retrieval course. Questionnaires were mailed to 32 professors and 26 returned. Information retrieval course, one of the central course attended by almost all of the students, covers online searching in depth. Lecture, hard-on practice, and homework were three favored methods of teaching. Among the 22 topics to be covered in online teaching, respondents showed substantially higher consensus except for sections of information technology and service management. However, respondents showed big differences in hours of hand-on practice and the systems used. Free databases through Internet used dominantly. The chronic problem of terminal and communication is solved by using campus-wide facilities. But the problem of teaching assistance is serious. Based on the results, recommendations to improve online searching education are provided.