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Completed Projects

TAPin: TRAINING AND AWARENESS PROGRAMME IN NETWORKS

TAPin was a successful Phase One training and awareness project in the Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib), funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher Education Funding Councils (HEFCs). The project, which ran between September 1995 and February 1998, was originated by the Centre for Information, Research and Training (CIRT) at the University of Central England in Birmingham and involved Library and Information Science staff and academic staff in six West Midlands universities. The significance of the training and awareness programme area was its potential to determine how skills acquisition and increased awareness in networked information on the part of end-users, could lead to improved and refined articulation of future need.

The project brought together the six universities of the West Midlands and CIRT. The six universities involved represented a microcosm of the diversity that is present in the higher education sector in the United Kingdom. The six are diverse in their historical origins, size, complexity, missions, student and research profiles, subject range and network development. They comprise a major traditional research university (Birmingham), a 'Robbins' university with a high research rating (Warwick), a single sited technological university (Aston), and three 'new' universities (the multi-sited universities of Central England (UCE), and Wolverhampton, and the single-sited University of Coventry). In addition, the six universities offered an interesting microcosm of higher education in terms of their variability in network developments.

The aim of the project was to provide planned and targeted support in using networked information resources to academic staff in the three specific subject areas of Education, Law and Life Sciences. The support was delivered by subject librarians (who had received initial training), using a model agreed by all participating institutions.

In addition, TAPin incorporated a number of subsidiary aims. These included:

  • enhancing the network competency of targeted library and academic staff
  • researching existing and emerging IT resources in each institution, in order to advise subject librarians on how best to collaborate across partner institutions in the development, adaptation and delivery of materials
  • researching IT cultures within specific academic disciplines and libraries, in order to identify potential barriers to effective network skills development.

According to LIS and academic staff at the six partner universities, the TAPin project played a significant role in developing their use of networked information resources. There were a number of benefits highlighted by staff.

  • It provided time for LIS staff to enhance their skills and competencies through training.
  • It boosted the confidence of LIS staff by providing training, the opportunity to establish professional contacts at partner institutions, and by encouraging an environment in which experiences of LIS could be shared.
  • It increased, in particular, LIS staff confidence in their technical and network skills, their teaching ability and their interaction with academic staff.
  • It raised the profile of LIS staff in the academic departments of their institutions.
  • It increased end-user awareness of the networked information available and their proficiency in making the best use of the appropriate resources. This is borne out by the change in the ranking of electronic resources by academic staff between 1995 and 1997.
  • Along with other eLib projects, TAPin found that cultural factors were the most important single element in the successful exploitation of networked information. Evidence in the audit detail suggests that differences in individual organisational culture, sometimes historically rooted, affect the relative success or failure of projects, such as TAPin.

Publications

  1. Flatten, K., MacKenzie, N. TAPin: Training & Awareness Programme in Networks. Interim Report. Birmingham: University of Central England, 1996.
  2. Flatten, K., MacKenzie, N. TAPin: Training and Awareness in Networks. Annual Report. Birmingham: University of Central England, 1996.
  3. Flatten, K., Newall, L., Bains, M., Elkin, J. TAPin: Training and Awareness Programme in Networks: The Impact Study. Birmingham: University of Central England, 1998.
  4. Mynott, G., Newall, L., Elkin, J., Reid, B., Foster, W. TAPin: Training and Awareness Programme in Networks. Exploring networked resources and realising their potential in teaching and research. Birmingham: University of Central England, 1999. (See Publications page for ordering information)
  5. Newall, L., Holland, M., Flatten, K., Elkin, J. TAPin: Training and Awareness Programme in Networks. Second Annual Report. Birmingham: University of Central England, 1997.
  6. Reid, B., Foster, W., Newall, L., Williams, H., Flatten, K. Mapping the academic cultural response to networks. The TAPin experience. The New Review of Academic Librarianship 4, 1998, 87-107.
  7. Reid, B., Foster, W. eds., Achieving Cultural Change in Networked Libraries. Aldershot: Gower, 2000.

Project Team
Dr Kay Flatten
Linda Newall
Professor Judith Elkin
Niall MacKenzie
Bruce Reid
William Foster