ICT Developments: Resource Discovery

Abstract

Information seeking and resource discovery, for which library/information science researchers and developers have devised the techniques and approaches introduced in the previous chapter, may be engaged in by teachers seeking information and learning resources that they can reuse or reconfigure in their own teaching. Resource discovery may also be engaged in by learners themselves—either within the context of a formal course of study in which they are given the opportunity to seek out information and resources for themselves, or as autonomous self-regulated learners operating outside the context of any formal course. Library/information science is concerned with the seeking and discovery of information and resources in both of these contexts. As educationists have developed information and computer technology (ICT)-based approaches to learning design and teaching (which will be introduced in Chapter VI), so library and information scientists have developed ICT-based approaches to enabling and facilitating effective information seeking and resource discovery. These approaches—including ICT-based standards—form the focus of the present chapter.