Online resources for Internet trainers

By Nancy J. Weissinger and John P. Edwards

ter-long Internet training program designed to Here’s help for preparing your teach librarians skills for using the Internet. Internet training sessions Access: ftp://ftp.cc.columbia.edu/pub/cul/itp. (Note: All files are Macintosh Word format. Use binhex 4 to de-binhex, then each file is a Mac s the Internet and its wealth of resources self-expanding archive.) A proliferate, academic librarians continue • Conducting User-friendly Internet to be confronted with the challenge of training Workshops. Based on Urban A. Lejeune’s pro­ staff and users. The new or inexperienced grams for Stockton State College, this guide trainer may find the charge to conduct Internet includes suggested formats for Internet train­ training somewhat daunting. However, many ing sessions and workshops. Access: ftp:// resources are available both in print and elec­ pilot.njin.net/pub/Internet-course/user- tronically. This bibliography is a selective list workshops.txt. Also available at this site are of some of the training materials available over documents on the emacs editor: emacs- the Internet itself. Since the Internet is ever- leaming.txt and using-emacs.txt. changing, additional sources frequently become • George Washington University Inter­ available and existing sources are often modi­ net Workshops. Designed by Scott Stebelman, fied, moved, or deleted. these are detailed guides to the Internet for It should be noted that the Coalition for Net­ social sciences and humanities faculty. Access: worked Information (CNI) and ACRL’s Instruc­ ftp://gwuvm.gwu.edu. (Note: These files can tion Section (ACRL-IS) are currently attempting be transferred without changing the directory. to locate a site to house a virtual collection of They are BINARY WordPerfect files, not plain Internet user education and training materials. ASCII text.); bitwork.fac (“Electronic Commu­ This should provide a much needed and use­ nication on the UNIX”); gwis.hum (“Humani­ ful mechanism for identifying and providing ties Databases and Resources on the GWIS”); access to Internet training materials. intemet.ss (“Advanced INTERNET Functions: A Guide for Social Scientists”); gwis.ss (“Social Course materials Science Databases and Resources on GWIS”). This section includes a variety of course mate­ • Internet: Resource Discovery, Orga­ rials that may be helpful in planning and con­ nization, and Design. Syllabus (fall 1994) for ducting local Internet training sessions or pro­ the University of Michigan SILS course. Student grams. It includes syllabi and course outlines, assignments for this course are the foundation as well as general and subject-oriented hand­ of the Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented In­ outs that have been used in academic settings. ternet Resource Guides. Access: h ttp :// • Columbia University Libraries Inter­ http2.sils.umich.edu/~lou/60694. html. net Training Program Notebook. Course ma­ • Internet Web Text. Created by John terials from Columbia’s comprehensive, semes­ December as the required Internet “text” for a

Nancy J. Weissinger is electronic information resources librarian, and John P. Edwards is manager, Library Network Services, at the Milbank Memorial Library, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York; e- mail: Weissinger: [email protected] and Edwards: [email protected]

September 1995/535 course in computer-mediated communication net. Access: ftp://hydra.uwo.ca/libsoft/ at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Includes explorer.zip. Note: Several other goodies for li­ links to information about Internet orientation, brarians are in the libsoft directory including: guides, reference materials, and tools. Access: network_knowledge_for_the_neophyte.txt. http://www.rpi.edu/Internet/Guides/decemj/ • The Internet Hunt. Developed by Rick text.html. Also: The syllabus for the course is Gates, this monthly series of questions is use­ available: http://www.rpi.edu/Internet/Guides/ ful for developing and practicing Internet search decemj/course/cmc.html. skills. Previous hunts and answers are archived. • Introduction to the Internet. Devel­ Access: http://www.hunt.org/. oped by University of Michigan SILS students, • Internet Public Library. Developed by this Web page provides an overview of the the students of the SILS at the University of major tools of the Internet, including tutorials Michigan, the Internet Public Library contains and links to general and Internet reference introductory tutorials covering computer and sources. Access: http://www.sils.umich.edu/ Internet topics, as well as tools and resources. ~fρrefect/inet/. Access: http://ipl.sils.umich.edu/classroom/ • Network Training Materials Gopher. userdocs/userdocs .html. This initiative of the Network Training Materi­ • Internet Searching: A Carleton Tuto­ als Project ( a joint project of Mailbase and the rial. A hypertext introduction to Web search Information Technology Initiative), based at the ing tools maintained by Reuven Steinberg of University of Newcastle upon Tyne, provides Carleton College. Includes Webcrawler, Info access to a range of network training materials. Seek, and Lycos. Access: http://www.carleton. Includes a useful bibliography, tms-list.txt. Ac­ edu/campus/library/studentworkers/tutorial/ cess: gopher://mailbase.ac.uk:7070/ll/. Note: As intro.html. we go to press, there are plans to move this to: • Introduction to the Internet II. The http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/. Global Network Academy, a nonprofit corpo­ • University of Texas at Austin General ration having the long-term goal of creating a Libraries Internet Handouts. Topics include fully accredited online university, offers this ftp, gopher, file compression programs, Inter­ online course about how to use the Internet. net for Mac and PC users, and others. Access: Some of the course material is a hypertext ver­ http://row an.lib.utexas.edu/Pubs/ sion of what was formerly the “Big Dummy’s InternetHandouts/InternetGuides.html. Guide to the Internet.” The course features con­ sultants with office hours. Access: http://uu- Online courses and tutorials gna. mi t.e du: 8001/uu-gna/t ext/internet/ Several online courses and tutorials have been index.html. developed and made available on the Internet. • Let’s Go Gophering. This classic on In addition to their usefulness as models, these line course first offered on a listserv is, natu­ courses provide structured support for the in­ rally, available on a gopher. It is indexed by dependent explorer and an opportunity for the listserv at SUNY-Buffalo. Access: gopher:// follow-up practice after formal instruction. cwis.usc.edu:70/1 l/Other_Goρhers_and_ • Electronic Mail Using Pine. An inter­ Information_Resources/Gopherin. To obtain active course in using the Pine e-mail program specific sessions, send mail to listserv@ designed by Ken Hensarling at Honolulu Com­ ubvm.buffalo.edu with the command: “index munity College. Access: http://kawika.hcc. gophern” in the body of the message. Find the hawaii.edu/issl01/pine/pmast.html. session you want, and send the command: “get • “Explore the Internet Now!” Users are gophern 93-XXXXX”. invited to “start your Internet journey here by • Navigating the Internet: An Interac­ exploring concepts and techniques” in a course tive Workshop. This classic introductory developed by Mansfield University reference course was designed by Richard J. Smith in librarian Larry Schankman. Topics include November 1992. The files in the training direc­ e-mail, listservs, Usenet news, ftp, telnet, go­ tory represent a sequential course. Topics in­ pher/veronica, www searching, and moral and clude finger, hytelnet, ‚mailrc file, ftp. Access: ethical issues. Access: http://www.clark.net/ ftp ://ftp.sura.net/pub/nic/training/. pub/lschank/explore/explore.html. • Patrick Crispen’s Internet Roadmap. • Internet Explorer’s Toolkit. A self-con Neil Enns’s HTML version of the self-paced tained hypertext system about using the Inter­ workshop developed by Patrick Crispen of the

536/C&RL News September 1995/537 University of Alabama. Lessons are designed • Introduction to BITNET. A first look at for new users. Includes guest lectures, home­ this venerable network. Access: e-mail to: work, and quizzes. Access: http://www. [email protected] with SEND BITNET BrandonU.ca/–ennsnr/Resources/Roadmap/ INTRO in the body of the message. Welcome.html. • Introduction to Internet for Trainers. Based on EFF’s (Extended) Guide to the Inter­ Guides net. Includes e-mail, telnet, gophers, veronica, Numerous guides to the Internet and its re­ archie, ftp, www, and search engines. Access: sources are available in print and on the Inter­ http://www. magi .com/~aim/ train. html. net itself. Trainers may find the following se­ • Learning/Charm Net Inc. This hyper­ lections useful as reference sources when text guide includes books, tutorials, and hint developing their programs. sheets related to the Internet. Access: http:// • Answers to Frequently Asked Ques­ www.charm.net/learning.html. tions (FAQs). FAQ compilations for many of • Newbie’s New (and Old) User’s Guide the Usenet newsgroups, including news, to the Net. Created by Steve Franklin, this guide newusers. Access: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/ includes links to Internet documents and ser­ usenet/news.answers/. Individual files include: vices, as well as to UNIX and programming emily-postnews (a sarcastic stab at explaining guides. Access: http://ug.cs.dal.ca:3400/ “netiquette”), intemet-services, gopher-faq, in newbie.html. ternet-access. Subdirectories include: wais-faq, • The Online World Resources Hand­ what-is-usenet, www. book. This guide by Odd de Presno “. . . deals • Bulletin Board for Libraries. Designed with the practical sides of using the GLOBAL for library and information science profession­ online information resources as seen from an als, this page provides information on network international perspective.” Available in differ­ resources and services and training materials. ent formats, the Handbook is not just about the Access: http://www.bubl.bath.ac.uk/BUBL/ Internet, but also covers BBSs, conferencing home.html. systems, and online databases. Access: http:// • EFF’s Guide to the Internet. Formerly login, eunet. no/~presno/index, html. Big Dummy’s Guide to the Internet, prepared • SURAnet Guide to Selected Internet by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Access: Resources. A guide to a variety of Internet re­ ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/Net_info/EFF_Net_Guide; sources. A complete description of the avail­ netguide.eff; netguide.faq. able files and directories is included in the 00- • ILT Guide to Information about the README.FIRST file. Access: ftp://ftp.sura.net/ Internet. The Institute for Learning Technolo­ pub/nic/infoguide. ‹month›-‹year›. gies at Teachers College, Columbia University, has compiled a useful entry point with links to The “WEB about the WEB” resources on the Internet, indexes on the Inter­ Over the past year, the explosive expansion of net, and the Woild Wide Web. Access: http:// the World Wide Web has considerably altered www.ilt.columbia.edu/gen/ref/ILTguide. the terrain of the Internet. Web browsing soft­ html#toρ. ware has alleviated some pressure on librar­ • Internet Resources on the Web. De­ ians to learn and teach a full complement of veloped by Neil Enns at Brandon University, Internet tools, but we are now being asked to this page includes links to numerous resources, become Web publishers. Fortunately, there are including Internet guides and resource lists; ftp many learning tools available to help us get up archives; gopher sites; Usenet newsgroups; to speed with the Web and Hyper Text Mark- mailing lists; drafts, RFCs, and FAQs; Internet Up Language. course descriptions and examples; collected • About the World Wide Web FAQ. The search engines; and other resources. Access: World Wide Web Frequently Asked Questions http://www.brandonu.ca/~ennsur/Resources/ (FAQ) is intended to answer the most common Welcome.html. questions about the WEB.” Maintained by Tho­ • Internet Timeline. A timeline of the de­ mas Boutell and mirrored on several sites velopment of the Internet through 1994 com­ around the world. Access: http://sunsite.unc. piled by Robert H. Zakon. Includes some edu/boutell/faq/about.html. growth statistics. Access: http://www.umd. • Bare Bones Guide to HTML. A four- umich.edu:80/~nhughes/htmldocs/. page guide to HTML tags that includes compat-

538/C&RL News ibility (HTML 2.0, 3.0, or Netscape) information • Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented for all the listed tags. Access: http://www. Internet Resource Guides. A joint effort of access, digex. net/-werbach/barebone .html. the University of Michigan’s University. Library • A Beginner’s Guide to HTML. A good and SILS. Includes numerous subject guides to hypertext introduction to the foundations of the Internet. Access: http://www.lib.umich.edu/ HTML. Access: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/demo chhome.html. web/html-primer.html an d to URLs: http:// • EINET Galaxy. This extensive subject www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/demoweb/url-primer.html. guide provides access to worldwide informa­ • Entering the World Wide Web: A tion and services. Categories include: arts and Guide to Cyberspace. Kevin Hughes’s guide humanities; business and commerce; commu­ to the Web includes links describing the Web nity; engineering and technology; government and how it works. Includes statistics on Web and law; leisure and recreation; medicine; ref­ usage. Access: http://www.eit.com/web/ erence and interdisciplinary information; sci­ www.guide/. ence and the social sciences. Access: http:// • Running a WWW Service. A handbook galaxy.einet.net/. by Brian Kelly of the University of Leeds. Ac­ • Global Network Navigator’s Whole In­ cess: http://scholar2.lib.vt.edu/handbook/ ternet Catalog. Based on the Whole Internet handbook.html. User’s Guide and Catalog, this collection pro­ • University of Toronto Instructional vides links to some of the best resources on and Research Computing Group World the Internet through “easy-to-surf” subject ar­ Wide Web home page. This contains eas. Access: http://www.gnn.com/wic/ hyperlinks to locally stored and maintained in­ newrescat.toc.html. formation about HyperText Mark-Up Language • The Internet Sleuth. Allows keyword (HTML) style and editors, HyperText Transport searching as well as browsing through alpha­ Protocol (HTTP), HTTP servers, and a hyper­ betical and subject categories. Access: http:// text version of the compilation of answers to www.intbc.com/sleuth/. WWW Frequently Asked Questions (WWW • MIDnet Gopher Jewels. MIDnet pro­ FAQs). Access: http://www.utirc.utoronto.ca/. vides a Web view of USC’s Gopher-Jewels • Web Projects—Clarkson Technical gopher. Includes subject and alpha listings as Communications. Includes a selection of well as options to search by title, path name, learning materials about WWW, Mosaic, and directory structure, hostname, or by multi-fields. HTML. Access: http://fire.clarkson.edu/edu/tc/ Access: http://www.mid.net/GJEWEL. tcpage.html. • Scholarly Societies Project. This Uni­ • World Wide Web Home. This “web versity of Waterloo project is designed to facili­ about the web,” maintained by the W3 Consor­ tate access to information about the scholarly tium, provides pointers to many useful web societies across the world. Includes web pages, sources, including “The definitive WWW project gophers, subject guides, and other selected re­ page.” The W3 Consortium exists to develop sources from scholarly societies. Access: http:/ common standards for the evolution of the /www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/society/overview.html. World Wide Web. Access: http://www.w3.org/. • Scott Yanoffs Special Internet Con­ • WWW & HTML D eveloper’s JumpSta nections. Provides subject access to Internet tion. Maintained by the SingNet WWW Team, resources via broad categories. Access: http:// this page includes pointers to useful informa­ www.uwm.edu/Mirror/inet.services.html. tion about being a WWW information provider. • Yahoo. A comprehensive Internet direc­ Access: http://oneworld.wa.com/htmldev/ tory by subject. Net cognoscenti surf here first. devpage/dev-page. html. Access: http://www.yahoo.com/.

Subject guides Newsgroups and listservs The following selections provide a degree of Newsgroups and listservs are useful vehicles subject access to the Internet’s resources and for discovering and sharing information about may be helpful in identifying resources of in­ the Internet itself, as well as issues related to terest to specific disciplines and/or audiences. Internet user education. The following list in­ • The Awesome Lists. Developed by John cludes several groups that may be of particular Makulowich. Access: http://www.clark.net/pub/ interest to trainers and an entry for the ARL journalism/awesome.html. (Online cont. on page 572)

September 1995/539 Why worry ?

You don’t have to. No longer will your staff have to process, catalog, or prepare books for the shelf under tight budget constraints and shrinking resources. Just one call to Baker & Taylor and we’ll do it all. Our librarians are experienced with providing cataloging and processing to meet your exact requirements and we can do it for less than it costs to do it yourself. Today there’s a buzzword for it-“outsourcing.” But at Baker & Taylor it’s not new and it’s not a buzzword-we’ve been providing shelf-ready books for almost 30 years. In fact, our customers think of us as col leagues-not just a book supplier So, why worry? Call Baker & Taylor.

For more details about our selection, acquisition and technical services, please call Information Services at 1-800-775-1800.

© 1994 Baker & Taylor

540/C&RL News 2. Collaborate with other professional or­ cial plan, and product-line marketing or busi­ ganizations and associations of higher edu­ ness plans. cation in order to promote mutual inter 4.3 Members of the ACRL Board of Di­ ests. rectors will act with the mission, vision, and Strategic Directions: goals of the association in mind, and ensure 2.1 ACRL will participate in activities of, that issues and ideas are examined and dis­ and seek cooperative relationships with, higher cussed openly and thoroughly with the mem­ education associations. bership. 2.2 ACRL will seek cooperative relation­ 4.4 ACRL will examine and modify as ships with other information-related associa­ appropriate its current structural arrangements tions to develop cooperative initiatives to en­ to enhance its influence on information policy hance and expand the library’s role as central setting and legislation through better coordi­ to academic endeavors. nation of national and state efforts. 2.3 ACRL will strengthen its relationship 4.5 ACRL will review and revise its by­ with the Association of Research Libraries. laws to reflect the roles of the Board of Direc­ 2.4 ACRL will work with higher educa­ tors and all ACRL units. tion and scholarly associations to protect ac­ 4.6 ACRL will keep informed of current cess to intellectual property in an electronic association management practices and appro­ environment. priate technologies to ensure that it operates at an optimum level of efficiency. ■ 3. Maintain at the national level a promi nent role in planning and decision mak ing for influencing information policy. (Online resources cont. from page 539) Strategic Directions: Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters, and 3.1 ACRL will provide financial support Academic Discussion Lists. Many of the listserv for the ALA Goal 2000 technology initiative and lists are mirrored as Usenet newsgroups. legislative agenda to insure that the items of • BI-L. The bibliographic instruction list­ concern to academic librarians receive prompt serv list. Access: e-mail to: listserv@bingvmb. attention. cc.binghamton.edu with subscribe bi-1 in the 3.2 ACRL will support the ALA Washing body of the message. ton Office in responding to issues affecting aca­ • Directory of Electronic Journals, demic libraries and higher education. Newsletters, and Academic Discussion 3.3 ACRL will use an effective communi Lists, 5th Edition, May 1995 (gopher edi­ cation mix to promote an understanding of the tion). Although this is an abridged version of value and contributions of academic/research the ARL publication, it includes information on librarians and libraries to higher education and approximately 2,500 discussion lists. Access: go­ society in general. pher://arl.cni.org:70/ll/scomm/edir. 3.4 ACRL will participate in activities of • NET-HAPPENINGS. This list distributes higher education and other organizations to announcements of interest to Internet users, in­ inform these groups of the value of library re­ cluding information about upcoming Internet sources and services and the library’s role in events. Access: e-mail to MAJORDOMO@IS. the teaching/learning and scholarly process. INTERNIC.NET with subscribe net-happenings in the body of the message. 4. Ensure that ACRL’s operating environ • NETTRAIN. A listserv mailing list for m ent provides efficiency in its use of re­ people interested in network training issues. sources and effectiveness in the delivery Access: e-mail to: [email protected]. of services to its members and constituent edu with subscribe nettrain in the body of the units. message. Strategic Directions: • Archives NETTRAIN. The archives of 4.1 The ACRL Board of Directors will take NETTRAIN are available and searchable by responsibility for planning in order to provide author, title, and subject using BRS/OnSite. organizational direction. Boolean searching is supported and a tutorial 4.2 ACRL will develop and maintain an covers search techniques and document down­ integrated dynamic management system and loading. Access: telnet://a.cni.org/; login: process that include: a strategic plan, a finan­ brsuser. ■

572/C&RL News