Explain the concept of user education. Explain the methods of conducting user education programmes in libraries.

 The library supports the reading and research needs of its user for that particular institution. It is the library's responsibility to provide better services to its clients to make sure that information sources, services and resources are well utilized for users' benefits. Hence user education program is very crucial for library user's achievements.

Gorman, states that, Libraries are concerned primarily with the messages that constitute the human record and only secondarily with the medium by means of which messages are transmitted. Library is a part of the general context of the societal institutions that promote education, research, learning, social cohesion, and the higher aspirations of humankind.

Fleming, defined user education "as various programs of instruction, education and exploration provided by libraries to users to enable them to make more effective, efficient and independent use of information sources and services to which these libraries provide access.

Mellon, mentioned that, Students enter college with little or no any knowledge of basic library tools, procedures or terminology". Basic to this statement Clarke, 1999 emphasize the justification for mounting programs for user education in university libraries. (Clarke 1999) writes, "Third World countries, in the majority of cases, lack adequate public libraries that could meaningfully serve as a necessary addition to the teaching and learning process in secondary schools. Even where they live such public libraries do not appear to have user instruction for new users, at least, not a large scale." 

In a library or an information center the users are the last links or the recipient of the information in the communication cycle. There are number of terms used as synonyms or near synonyms to users as patron client, member customer. Of these, user is the preferred term libraries support the teaching and research needs of institutions they serve. It is the libraries’ responsibility to ensure that the use of its information sources, resources and services are maximized to benefit its users, hence the necessity for user education programmes. libraries, in which a library was judged less by the quality of its resources and services than by the number of documents it had available The development of new technology makes direct access to information easier for users, and, while information skills are required to collect and present that information, in the future there is likely to be less of a role for information workers as intermediaries between users and information sources. 

The users are one type but libraries are different from those of another type. In a public library the users are mainly children, student’s, housewives, farmers, retired persons, literates and even also researches. In an academic library the users are students, teachers and researchers, whereas as special groups of users of whom the library is intended. From what is stated above it can be assumed that in the public libraries the users are almost heterogeneous and in academic and special libraries the users are almost homogeneous in nature. For an effective information service as an information manager, he should ascertain about the information requirements of his library users. 

Tremendous increase in the volume of publication as well as the resulting complexity of libraries and the methods by which literature is organized and disseminated necessitate the user education. Rapid changes in teaching methods and the resulting trend towards a wider use of multi-media learning resources ranging from the press cutting to slide tapes package and multiple kit. Such format has added new dimensions to the learning process in all types of institutions. User education and training are often fee-based, because developing the infrastructure for the network environment is very costly. The world still appears to be suffering from an exponential increase in all kinds of information – bearing material. Even if much of this is of little value, it still has to be shifted to find the required information. Several new methods of information transfer, such as mechanized information retrieval systems, are being developed, giving rise to new aspects of user education. Both educational and research topics are becoming increasingly multidisciplinary in nature, thereby drawing information from a wider range of sources. Not being able to find necessary information delays research or decisions. Lack of awareness of information leads to duplication of effort. Various estimate of the extent and cost of this have been made. 

The users’ behaviors or information seeking behaviors are complex in nature. The information seeking behaviors are centered around how the users locating information in the library. This behavior is influenced by number of factor such as information organizational pattern, information products, educational level and social economic profiles of users. 

Programming and planning of user education programme is very important particularly in academic and research libraries. It needs a careful planning. According to “Thomas G. Kirk” planning of user education programme requires four things namely. 

•   Orientation 
•   Bibliographic Instruction    

User education programmes should aim to make all users aware of the information resources available, both directly in the library and from external sources and enable users to enjoy the search for information . It is interesting to note that many of the objectives listed by libraries in this study stressed the self-sufficiency of users through a successful user education programme. Written policies and objectives on user education provide a basis for self-evaluation. This could be used to answer questions like, is the user education programme achieving what it was set out to achieve? If not more detailed studies on user information needs should be conducted. User education programmes need continuous revision to keep up to date with the changing information environment. Written objectives for instruction should be derived from the written profiles of the information needs of the users. Universities have unique identities “each university library must design its own course to meet the immediate needs of its clientele as well as fit into the university teaching programme.  

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