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Making the Importance of Libraries and Librarians Visible: An International Online Library Skills Initiative in Response to COVID

Making the Importance of Libraries and Librarians Visible: An International Online Library Skills... The onset of COVID required many libraries to re-imagine how they conducted their services. It also identified needs and gaps in the delivery of these services to the community. In response to changes such as extended lockdowns and the resultant economic difficulties and the wider need for digital literacy skills, Hong Kong SKH Ming Hua Theological College Library (MH College) established an international collaboration to develop and deliver online tours/ talks as a library skills program with librarians, faculty, students, and professionals in Hong Kong, Japan and Australia. The overall aims of this initiative were to provide an online library skills program for education, leisure and to make the value of librarians and libraries visible to stakeholders during the pandemic to ensure the upkeep of library resources, budgeting and staffing. Through partnerships with key stakeholders and the use of a variety of innovative IT tools, real-time online activities were conducted in three languages (English, Chinese and Japanese) to an internationally distributed audience. This paper will outline the background and organisation of the program, its design and discuss the lessons learned and implications for practice of the strategies used in the program. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association Taylor & Francis

Making the Importance of Libraries and Librarians Visible: An International Online Library Skills Initiative in Response to COVID

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References (29)

Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2023 Sau Ching Helen Cheung, Mary Carroll and Yoko Hirose Nagao
ISSN
2475-0158
eISSN
2475-0166
DOI
10.1080/24750158.2023.2203288
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The onset of COVID required many libraries to re-imagine how they conducted their services. It also identified needs and gaps in the delivery of these services to the community. In response to changes such as extended lockdowns and the resultant economic difficulties and the wider need for digital literacy skills, Hong Kong SKH Ming Hua Theological College Library (MH College) established an international collaboration to develop and deliver online tours/ talks as a library skills program with librarians, faculty, students, and professionals in Hong Kong, Japan and Australia. The overall aims of this initiative were to provide an online library skills program for education, leisure and to make the value of librarians and libraries visible to stakeholders during the pandemic to ensure the upkeep of library resources, budgeting and staffing. Through partnerships with key stakeholders and the use of a variety of innovative IT tools, real-time online activities were conducted in three languages (English, Chinese and Japanese) to an internationally distributed audience. This paper will outline the background and organisation of the program, its design and discuss the lessons learned and implications for practice of the strategies used in the program.

Journal

Journal of the Australian Library and Information AssociationTaylor & Francis

Published: Apr 3, 2023

Keywords: International collaboration; digital literacy; library activities; user education

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