Gear Up Your Research Guides with the Emerging OPML Codes

In search of a Web-based research guide that can provide users with up-to-date information on their topic of interest? Looking for a dynamic resource that can offer users the opportunity to engage in online discussions of their research topic? The Outline Processor Markup Language (OPML) is a new technology that offers these capabilities. It is an XML format that specifies a standardized set of metadata elements for information items which can be shared, interpreted, and displayed among users. Specifically, it allows the sharing of outlines, which can consist of RSS feeds, links, audio and video files, and text.

The information displayed using OPML can include the latest headlines from selected blogs, feeds of new book and article titles from the library’s catalog and databases, and audio and video files—along with traditional Web links and bibliographies. As an added convenience, OPML also allows for these resource guides to be syndicated so that people can subscribe to them and automatically receive updated versions in their RSS aggregators.

Those unfamiliar with markup languages needn’t be intimidated by terms like "XML" and "metadata sets." OPML is simple to use and requires very little knowledge of markup languages. It even offers a free, easy-to-use OPML Editor which allows users to create, publish, and share OPML outlines by clicking and pasting. All that is needed is basic experience with subscribing to RSS feeds.

The OPML format is relatively new and is still undergoing revisions. Consequently, the most popular RSS aggregators do not yet fully support OPML subscriptions. This is likely to change, however, as the format becomes more wide¬spread. In the meantime, librarians can still take advantage of the OPML format by creating subject-specific RSS reading lists that their patrons can download and import into their aggregators.

For more information on this exciting new technology, read the full the article at www.infotoday.com/cilmag/nov06/Wilcox.shtml.

College Students Fall Short in Demonstrating the ICT Literacy Skills Necessary for Success in College and the Workplace

ETS recently released the results of their ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Literacy Assessment survey, confirming what information professionals have known all along: students lack the critical research skills necessary for academic success. The ICT Literacy Assessment was administered to 6,300 students and was designed to measure their ability to use critical thinking to access, evaluate and communicate information in a technological environment. Students were asked to perform fifteen information management tasks, including extracting information from a database, developing a spreadsheet, and composing an e-mail summary of research findings.

Some of the findings showed that

• 52% of test takers could correctly judge the objectivity of a Web site
• 65% could correctly judge the site’s authoritativeness
• 40% entered multiple search terms to narrow results when doing a Web search task
• 44% identified a statement that captured the demands of a class assignment when selecting a research topic for a paper

The ICT Literacy Assessment grew out of a concern expressed by colleges and universities who intuitively knew the value of ICT literacy skills but needed a standard way to measure them concretely. These preliminary findings show that institutions need to consider how to better integrate ICT literacy skills into and across the curricula, which may require new ICT literacy initiatives or different strategies in resource allocation.

Additional findings are available at www.ets.org/ictliteracy/prelimfindings.html (PDF). For more information about the ICT Literacy Assessment, visit www.ets.org/ictliteracy. To view an online demo, visit www.ets.org/ictliteracy/demo.html.

RUSA Hosts a Business Reference Workshop in Seattle

The Business Reference and Services Section of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) will be presenting a one-day pre-conference workshop during ALA Midwinter entitled, “Business Librarianship 101: Core Competencies for Business Librarianship.”

Topics will include trends in business librarianship, issues specific to special libraries, and methods for staying up-to-date. The full-day interactive workshop is designed for beginning business librarians, generalists who have assumed responsibility in business librarianship, or any academic, public, or special librarian who deals with issues related to business librarianship.

According to Institute Committee Chair, Celia Ross, "Attendees will come away from the Business Librarianship 101 institute with a thorough overview of print and electronic resources for business reference as well as insight into collection development techniques in business and its related topics."

The speakers at the workshop will be Mark Andersen (Division Chief of Business Science Technology at the Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago Public Library) and Bobray Bordelon (Pliny Fisk Librarian of Economics and Finance, Princeton University and recipient of the 2007 Thomson Gale Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship).

The workshop will be held on Friday, January 19, 2007, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Seattle, Washington. This is a pre-conference event so pre-registration is required and there is an additional fee for attendance. For more information, visit: www.ala.org/ala/eventsandconferencesb/midwinter/2007/otherevents.htm.

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