Download - Online video tutorials in Italian academic libraries

Vol. 5(9), pp. 275 - 288, October, 2013

DOI: 10.5897/IJLIS2013.0386

ISSN 2141–2537 ©2013 Academic Journals

http://www.academicjournals.org/IJLIS

International Journal of Library and Information Science

Full Length Research Paper

Online video tutorials in Italian academic libraries

MAZZOCCHI Juliana

Biblioteca di Scienze sociali Università degli studi di Firenze Via delle Pandette, 2, 50127 Firenze, Italy

Accepted 16 August, 2013

This article analyses the results of a survey carried out on 69 online video tutorials for users’ education in Italian university library systems' websites between February and March 2012. Various aspects were examined: the technical characteristics (type of video, duration, audio, subtitles, "pause" function, language), content, objectives and interactive elements (division into modules, "step-by-step" structure, exercises, final quiz, etc.). The results show that in Italy academic libraries do not make much use of video tutorials for users’ instruction. The most common type of video tutorial is the screencast (with audio), dedicated to online tools, with very few interactive elements and with a duration between 2 and 4 min. Staff contacts and users' satisfaction questionnaires are usually missing. Key words: Italian libraries, academic libraries, university library instruction, online library services, tutorials.

INTRODUCTION The use of online tutorials by academic libraries has been studied and discussed in international library literature for more than ten years. In recent times the demand and the supply of university library instruction via the Internet have increased (due to both the increase of remote students and users and to the rising of new needs of the so called "net generation") while the resources of libraries have diminished. The analysis of the use of library online tutorials has therefore become even more important, not only as a tool to evaluate practical experiences, but also to verify if online tutorials can really be considered a good opportunity for libraries themselves to instruct their users on the same level of the more traditional face-to-face instruction.

In Italy various studies about online library instruction have been published: some treat this topic on a theoretical level (Pesenti and Longo, 2000; Ballestra, 2003; Mazzocchi, 2011), while others analyse the use or the creation of online tutorials in a single library or library system (Bertini, 2004; Cavaleri, 2004; Lùperi, 2007; Lùperi, 2011). An analysis about if and how this tool is used by Italian academic libraries to instruct their users,

at a more pragmatic but - at the same time – general level, is yet still missing. In a recent article about user education services and information literacy courses offered by Italian academic libraries (Renditiso, 2011), the author reports a census of the Italian university library systems' websites containing online guides and tutorials about information resources and bibliographic research. This analysis, however, surveys only the presence of such tools (58 websites, equal to 60.4% of the total) without indicating nor evaluating its characteristics. Our survey aims to detect the presence, in the Italian university library systems' websites, of a particular type of online tutorial, the video tutorial, and to analyse its technical characteristics, content and interactive elements. LITERATURE REVIEW Various studies have been published about online tuto-rials as useful tools for user education in academic libraries, especially in English: Some of them carry out a

E-mail: [email protected].

276 Int. J. Lib. Inf. Sci. research at a general theoretical level (Bianco, 2005; Tempelman-Kluit, 2006; Bailin and Peña, 2007; Brumfield, 2008), others analyse the creation or the use of a single tutorial (Dennis and Broughton, 2000; Churkovich and Oughtred, 2002; Scaramozzino, 2008; Mansfield, 2010; Gravett and Gill, 2010; Germek, 2012). Several other articles have been published about online tutorials which, in addition to general considerations about this topic, in-clude an analysis of a set of tutorials according to certain indicators. In one of the first and most cited studies of this last type, Dewald (1999) establishes seven indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of online tutorials (close relation to the subject of the course it supports, active learning, collabo-rative learning, use of multimedia, clear objectives, con-cept teaching and the possibility of asking a librarian for help). Dewald analyses 19 online tutorials selected by the ALA Library Instruction Round Table and the results show that such tutorials are still far from satisfying the indicators proposed and, in any case, according to her the tutorial cannot be considered a valid alternative to face-to-face instruction but only a complementary tool.

Other authors agree with this idea (Churkovich and Oughtred, 2002 and Hickok, 2002) but at the same time they recognize the undeniable advantages of online tutorials, especially for the asynchronous and remote dimension, the unlimited number of users, the indepen-dent and self-paced learning and the use of technology as an attraction for the "net generation".

More recently, however, online tutorials for library in-struction are starting to be regarded, at least theoretically, at the same level of face-to-face instruction.

One of the first authors of this trend is Tancheva (2003) who considers them almost as a "panacea" for the growing need of user education in the face of reduced human resources. Starting from the analysis of 45 American and Canadian academic library tutorials from many points of view (content, interactivity, feedback, technological aspects, etc.), she proposes the features of the ideal library instruction tutorial: preliminary assess-ment, branching capabilities, problem-based and concept-based structure, interactivity, assessment and feedback.

In his study about the use of active learning in the online tutorials of ARL members, Hrycaj (2005), who considers tutorials as "pedagogically self-sufficient", compares his results with Dewald's regarding in particular the active learning techniques used in the tutorials (exercises, quizzes, etc.). His conclusion is that the percentage of ARL tutorials that use active learning is higher compared to the percentage in Dewald's study.

A set of 274 medical library tutorials in the United States is the object of a study by Anderson et al. (2008a) in which the authors consider several aspects: the creation (by the library or third parties, the software used), the active learning elements, the users' feedback and the availability of printable parts. The main conclusion of this study concerns the active learning elements: few tutorials

incorporate them, while, in the authors' opinion, they should be more present in order to encourage learners’ engagement. After one year, almost the same research group carried out an analogous study (Anderson et al., 2008b) which shows small changes in several aspects, but regarding the interactivity elements of the tutorials, very little has changed. The authors conclude that, though tutorials can be "effective replacements for in-person instruction", medical library tutorials created until that moment have still much to improve.

Somoza-Fernández and Abadal published the results of a study (Somoza-Fernández, 2009) about 180 tutorials created by academic libraries worldwide (especially from USA, Australia and United Kingdom) using 30 indicators divided into five main areas: general characteristics, con-tent, education features, browsing and design, and tech-nological features. The results are quite disappointing since only 7% of the tutorials satisfied most of the indicators. The two authors suggest some improvements such as the explicit indication of the educational object-tives and the time required to follow the tutorial, the evaluation of users' previous knowledge, the users' evaluation of the tutorial and more interactivity.

Yang (2009) analyses 372 online tutorials (belonging to 100 different academic libraries in USA and Canada) concentrating in particular on their content and on the tools used for their creation: the results show that most of the tutorials are about search skills for a specific database and that in one-third of the cases the tutorial was created by a tutorial software. The author suggests that tutorials should be more interactive and animated and not long and static (such as web pages).

In the study by Su and Kuo (2010), 37 information literacy tutorials created by librarians and included in the database Primo are examined considering elements relating to objectives and teaching strategies, content, estimated time for browsing, media applications and visibility on university websites. The results are quite satisfying, probably due to the fact that the tutorials are high-quality, selected by PRIMO after a peer review process.

Tewell (2010) examines 290 sites of American aca-demic art libraries in order to identify and evaluate any form of video tutorial. The results show that almost half of the sites contain at least one tutorial (of which over 80% were created by the library itself), that the average length is around 4 min, that they are of good quality and that most of the content concerns the use of library resources.

From Li's analysis (2011) about science information literacy tutorials in USA and Canada, some positive aspects emerge, such as the clearness in the presentation of information and the possibility for users to select their own learning paths, whereas the use of active learning elements is still limited.

Somoza-Fernández and Rodríguez-Parada propose, in their article of 2011 (Somoza, 2011), 34 indicators to evaluate academic library tutorials (covering various

aspects including content, interactivity, browsing and structure, autonomy in the learning process, users' eva-luation of tutorials) and they also present some examples of best practices worldwide (including Europe) for each of the indicators. Purpose and object of the survey This study aims to analyse the presence, the technical characteristics, the content and objectives, and the inte-ractive elements of video tutorials in the websites of Italian university library systems. The term "video tutorial" means here (Tewell, 2010) a tutorial in the form of live video, screencast or animation. The object of the survey was video tutorials created by academic libraries for user education or for promotional purposes, available in the official website (or reachable from there) and freely accessible. Video tutorials created by other subjects than the libraries (database vendors or publishers) were not considered. METHODOLOGY AND PHASES OF THE SURVEY

Since up to now there is no review or directory of the online tutorials of Italian university libraries, this analysis started from the list of the Italian university library systems in the website of the Italian Library Association (Sistemi bibliotecari universitari italiani, <http:// www.aib.it/aib/commiss/cnur/sba.htm>). After updating the URLs of some websites which were no longer accessible, the list was integrated with the websites of other university libraries or university library systems included in the section "Cerca Università" of the website of the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research<http://cercauniversita.cineca.it/index.php?module=strutture&page=StructureSearchParams&advanced_serch=1&action=refresh>), which included 12 online universities; but in two cases in the website of the online university there was no information about the library.

In order to verify the presence of tutorials within each website, the home page was browsed first, then the sections about services, user education, the catalogue, the databases and the electronic resources were examined looking for words like "tutorial", "video", "videoguida" (video guide) and "videoguide" (video guides). In case of no results, the same words were searched through the internal search engine, if present, or through the Google function search. It is not excluded, however, that some tutorials were not detected, though it should be considered that if a tutorial addressed to novice users is not easily accessible either by browsing the site or by using an internal search engine, it may be deemed practically non-existent both for instruction and promotional aims.

In February 2012 the websites of the libraries or library systems were collected and the tutorials were searched for; in March 2012 the characteristics of the tutorials were analysed (see Appendix A for the data collection check list) and in the first half of April 2012 all data were elaborated and evaluated.

RESULTS

Presence of tutorials

All the university library systems' and academic libraries'

Mazzocchi 277 websites collected are listed in Table 1, in alphabetical order by town and with the indication of the presence of at least one tutorial. In four cases (Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane - SUM, Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori di Pavia - IUSS, Università Telematica Italian University Line IUL and Università Telematica San Raffaele di Roma) no information was found about the presence of a library inside the university's website, so only the URL of the university's home page is indicated. Out of the total of the websites found (97, of which 12 are related to online universities) the presence of at least one tutorial was detected in 18, equal to 18.6% (Figure 1). Considering that in the 12 online universities no tutorial related to the library was found, if one recalculates the percentage of the websites with at least one tutorial, without considering the online universities, the value increases appreciably, rising from 18.6 to 21.2%.

In Table 2, the 69 video tutorials found within the 18 websites are listed in alphabetical order by university, with the indication of the name and the URL of the tutorial. Table 3 indicates the number of video tutorials found ranging from 1 tutorial to 6 tutorials per university, except for the Sistema Bibliotecario del Politecnico di Milano which had 8.

It was only possibile to determine the date of the creation of the tutorial in 9 cases (13%) of the tutorials, which were dated between 2007 to 2011.

Technical characteristics After identifying the 69 video tutorials, some technical characteristics were examined: the type, the duration, the presence of audio and subtitles, the presence of "pause" function and the language.

The tutorials collected were of three types: the live video, the screencast (also in combination with the live video and with the browsing of web pages) and, just in one case, the animation. As shown in Figure 2, the most common type of video is the screencast, used by 31 tutorials out of 69, equal to 45%, followed by the combination of the screencast with the live video (22, 32%), the live video alone (9, 13%), the screencast in combination with the web pages (6, 8,5%) and the animation (1, 1,5%). Most videos are located in the official website of the university, while 10, even if almost all viewable without leaving the site, are on YouTube. All 69 videos are viewable in streaming.

Most video tutorials (51, equal to 74%) give a clear indication of the duration (actual or supposed, the latter is when the user is required to browse web pages and compile final tests), which goes from one minute to about27 min. For the remaining 18 tutorials that do not indicate it (26%), the duration was calculated by viewing completely the tutorial (including final tests if present). As shown in Table 4, which includes the duration of all tutorials, the most common duration is between 3 and 4

278 Int. J. Lib. Inf. Sci. Table 1. Presence of at least one video tutorial within university library systems' and academic libraries' websites.

Town University URL of library/library system Presence of tutorial

Ancona Università Politecnica delle Marche http://www.univpm.it/Entra/Engine/RAServePG.php/P/262110010233 NO

Aosta Università della Valle d'Aosta http://www.univda.it/biblioteca NO

Arcavacata Università della Calabria http://www.biblioteche.unical.it/ NO

Bari Politecnico di Bari http://www.biblio.poliba.it/ NO

Bari Università di Bari http://www.uniba.it/studenti/servizi-e-opportunita/sistema-bibliotecario/ NO

Benevento Università del Sannio http://www.unisannio.it/ateneo/biblioteche.html NO

Benevento Università Telematica Giustino Fortunato di Benevento

http://www.unifortunato.eu/ateneo/biblioteca-di-ateneo/ NO

Bergamo Università di Bergamo http://servizibibliotecari.unibg.it/ NO

Bologna Università di Bologna http://www.biblioteche.unibo.it/sba YES

Bolzano Libera Università di Bolzano http://www.unibz.it/it/library/welcome/Default.html NO

Bra Università di Scienze Gastronomiche http://www.unisg.it/pagine/ita/servizi/biblioteca.lasso NO

Brescia Università di Brescia http://www.unibs.it/biblioteche NO

Cagliari Università di Cagliari http://sba.unica.it/ NO

Camerino Università di Camerino http://biblioteche.unicam.it/ NO

Campobasso Università del Molise http://serviziweb.unimol.it/pls/unimol/consultazione.mostra_pagina?id_pagina=86 YES

Casamassima Università LUM Jean Monnet di Casamassima http://www.lum.it/ateneo/risorse-e-servizi/biblioteca NO

Cassino Università di Cassino e Lazio Meridionale http://biblio.unicas.it/ NO

Castellanza Università Carlo Cattaneo Castellanza http://www.biblio.liuc.it/ YES

Catania Università di Catania http://www.sida.unict.it/ NO

Catanzaro Università di Catanzaro http://www.unicz.it/portale/biblioteche.asp NO

Chieti Università di Chieti http://biblioproxy.unich.it/bib/page.php?152 NO

Chieti Università Telematica Leonardo Da Vinci di Chieti http://biblioproxy.unich.it/bib/page.php?152 NO

Enna Università di Enna Kore

http://www.unikore.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=66&Itemid=556&where=a5&foto=a5 NO

Ferrara Università di Ferrara http://www.unife.it/sba YES

Fiesole Istituto Universitario Europeo http://www.eui.eu/Research/Library/Index.aspx NO

Firenze Università di Firenze http://www.sba.unifi.it/ YES

Firenze Università Telematica Italian University Line (IUL) http://www.iuline.it/ambiente/ NO

Firenze/Napoli Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane (SUM) http://www.sumitalia.it/ITA/index.php NO

Foggia Università di Foggia http://www.unifg.it/Biblioteche/423/ NO

Genova Università di Genova http://www.sba.unige.it/ NO

L'Aquila Università dell'Aquila http://www.univaq.it/section.php?id=302 NO

Lecce Università del Salento http://siba2.unile.it/ YES

Lucca Istituto di Alti Studi di Lucca (IMT) http://www.imtlucca.it/library/index.php NO

Macerata Università di Macerata http://sba.unimc.it/ NO

Messina Università di Messina http://antonello.unime.it/ NO

Milano Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione (IULM) di Milano

http://www.iulm.it/wps/wcm/connect/iulmit/iulm-it/Risorse-e-servizi/Biblioteca YES

Mazzocchi 279 Table 1. Contd.

Milano Politecnico di Milano http://www.biblio.polimi.it/ YES

Milano Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore http://www.unicattolica.it/2049.html NO

Milano Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi http://lib.unibocconi.it/*ita NO

Milano Università di Milano http://www.sba.unimi.it/ YES

Milano Università di Milano-Bicocca http://www.biblio.unimib.it/ YES

Milano Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele Milano http://www.unisr.it/view.asp?id=2215 NO

Modena/Reggio Emilia Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia http://www.sba.unimore.it/site/home.html YES

Napoli Seconda Università di Napoli http://web.unina2.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=465&Itemid=318 NO

Napoli Università di Napoli Federico II http://www.sba.unina.it/ NO

Napoli Università di Napoli L'Orientale http://www.iuo.it/index2.php?content_id=9&content_id_start=1 NO

Napoli Università di Napoli Parthenope http://www.uniparthenope.it/index.php/it/servizi/biblioteche NO

Napoli Università Suor Orsola Benincasa di Napoli http://www.unisob.na.it/universita/biblioteca/ NO

Napoli Università Telematica Pegaso di Napoli http://www.unipegaso.it/websiter4p3/biblioteca.php?bn=1&vt=1 NO

Novedrate Università Telematica e-Campus di Novedrate http://www.uniecampus.it/studenti/polo-bibliotecario-multimediale-di-ateneo/index.html NO

Padova Università di Padova http://www.cab.unipd.it/ YES

Palermo Università di Palermo http://portale.unipa.it/amministrazione/areaserviziarete/sistemabibliotecario/ NO

Parma Università di Parma http://www.unipr.it/arpa/setbibl/settore.htm YES

Pavia Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori di Pavia (IUSS) http://www.iusspavia.it/ NO

Pavia Università di Pavia http://www.unipv.eu/site/home/ateneo/biblioteche.html NO

Perugia Università di Perugia http://centri.unipg.it/csb/ NO

Perugia Università per stranieri di Perugia http://www.unistrapg.it/biblioteche NO

Pisa Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa http://biblio.sns.it/ NO

Pisa Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna Pisa http://www.sssup.it/biblioteca NO

Pisa Università di Pisa http://biblio.unipi.it/ NO

Potenza Università della Basilicata http://www.unibas.it/biblio/ NO

Reggio Calabria Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria http://www.unirc.it/ateneo/sba.php NO

Reggio Calabria

Università per Stranieri Dante Alighieri di Reggio Calabria http://www.unistrada.it/ NO

Roma Libera Università degli Studi per l'Innovazione e le Organizzazioni (LUSPIO) di Roma

http://www.luspio.it/awg_view.aspx?id=14&sezione=menu NO

Roma Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali (LUISS) Roma biblioteca.luiss.it/ YES

Roma LUMSA Università Roma http://www.lumsa.it/LUMSA/site/1664/default.aspx YES

280 Int. J. Lib. Inf. Sci. Table 1. Contd.

Roma Sapienza Università di Roma w3.uniroma1.it/biblioteche/ NO

Roma

Università Campus Bio-medico di Roma

http://www.unicampus.it/studenti-biblioteca/biblioteca NO

Roma Università di Roma Tor Vergata web.uniroma2.it/index.php?navpath=BIB NO

Roma

Università Europea di Roma

http://www.universitaeuropeadiroma.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=221 NO

Roma Università Foro Italico di Roma

http://www.uniroma4.it/portal/appmanager/uniroma4/ateneo?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=P5000156521297337921227 NO

Roma Università Roma Tre http://host.uniroma3.it/biblioteche/ NO

Roma Università Telematica delle Camere di Commercio italiane Universitas Mercatorum http://www.unimercatorum.it/biblioteche.asp NO

Roma Università Telematica Guglielmo Marconi di Roma http://www.unimarconi.it/unimarconi/biblioteca NO

Roma Università Telematica Internazionale UNINETTUNO di Roma

http://www.uninettunouniversity.net/e/main.asp?id=070006PRCT00000002000000010300000000 NO

Roma Università Telematica Link Campus University di Roma

http://www.unilink.it/category/lcu-gates/biblioteca/ NO

Roma Università Telematica Niccolò Cusano di Roma Unicusano

http://www.unisu.it/unisu/home.php?m=biblioteca_virtuale NO

Roma Università Telematica San Raffaele di Roma http://www.unisanraffaele.gov.it/ NO

Roma Università Telematica Unitelma Sapienza di Roma http://www.unitelma.it/content/biblioteche NO

Salerno Università di Salerno http://www.biblioteche.unisa.it/ NO

Sassari Università di Sassari sba.uniss.it/ NO

Siena Università di Siena www.sba.unisi.it/ YES

Siena Università per Stranieri di Siena http://www.unistrasi.it/109/299/Biblioteca_di_Ateneo.htm NO

Teramo Università di Teramo http://www.unite.it/UniTE/Engine/RAServePG.php/P/25861UTE0310 NO

Torino Istituto Universitario di Studi Europei (IUSE) di Torino http://iuse.it/biblioteca.php NO

Torino Politecnico di Torino http://www.biblio.polito.it/ NO

Torino Università di Torino www.unito.it/sba NO

Trento Università di Trento http://www.unitn.it/biblioteca YES

Trieste Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati di Trieste http://www.sissa.it/library/ NO

Trieste Università di Trieste http://www.biblio.units.it/ NO

Udine Università di Udine http://www.uniud.it/extra/sba/ NO

Urbino Università di Urbino http://pcb19.bib.uniurb.it:8080/SBA NO

Varese Università dell'Insubria http://www.uninsubria.it/pls/uninsubria/consultazione.mostra_pagina?id_pagina=595 YES

Venezia Università di Venezia Ca' Foscari http://www.unive.it/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=31446 NO


Venezia Università IUAV di Venezia http://iuavbc.iuav.it/sbda/ NO

Vercelli Università del Piemonte Orientale Amedeo Avogadro

http://www.unipmn.it/Sistema%20Bibliotecario%20di%20Ateneo/default.aspx?linkid=4331&linkalias=&linkcid= 12&linkurl=4327&linkmid=12&linktype=2 NO

Verona Università di Verona www.univr.it/biblioteche/ NO

Viterbo Università della Tuscia http://www.unitus.it/biblioteche/webif/index.html NO

Figure 1. Percentage of websites with at least one video tutorial.

min (15, 22%), then between 2 and 3 (12, 18%) and between 1 and 2 min (7, 10%); these three groups together constitute the precise half of the total of the tutorials. The shortest tutorials, under one minute, are 3%, while the longest, over 30 min are more numerous (9%) even if, in general, the tutorials with duration under 10 min are the vast majority (82%).

Almost all the video tutorials (64 out of 69) have audio elements: in 3 cases a computer voice was used, 3 other tutorials had only music while in all the others the audio was a human voice. Among the 61 video tutorials that had spoken audio, in 13 cases the subtitles were present (equal to 21%), with no option to turn them on.

The "pause" function is present in 57 cases (83%). The language of the videos is almost always Italian (63 out of 69). In 5 cases the tutorial is in English (translations of videos already available in Italian) and one - of the Università del Salento - is in Greek (in this case the same video is available in Italian and English too). Content and objectives

The subjects of the video tutorials for the user education are almost always related to the services (mainly online) and the collection (mainly digital) of the academic library

to which they refer to, as displayed in Table 5. The most popular content is the online catalogue (26 tutorials, 38%), followed by the general description of the library and its services (11, 16%) and then by the description of particular library's collections or services (6, 8%). The portals to electronic resources and the description of databases are present in equal measure (5.7%), as well as the e-books, the electronic journals and the information literacy, which are the content of 4 tutorials (6%) each. In 3 cases (4%) the tutorial was dedicated to the description of software for the creation of biblio-graphies and just in one case to a non-academic union catalogue (ACNP, Italian Union Catalogue of Serials).

The objectives, as displayed in Figure 3, are present in 32 tutorials (46%), all corresponding to screencasts (single or combined with a live video).

Interactivity In order to evaluate the interactivity of the video tutorials, several elements were considered (see Table 6). The first was the division into modules which allows users to use the tutorial according to their needs and, if necessary, to skip parts that they think they already know. About half of the tutorials (35 out of 69, mostly screencasts, alone or combined with web pages) are divided into modules. The "step-by-step" structure, which requires an active participation (such as answering to questions and not only simply clicking on the "forward" button) is on the contrary less prominent: 10 tutorials (15%).

The exercises are even less widespread: only 2 tutorials out of 69 use them. None of the tutorial examined gives the possibility to practice freely the tools illustrated, for example through the opening of a new browser tab.

As for the quizzes (usually multiple choice questions), 4 out of the 35 tutorials that are divided into modules present a quiz at the end of each module, and on the total of 69 tutorials, 3 include a final quiz.

Another element that was rarely used was the ability to contact staff through an email address, a telephone num-ber or other. Only 7 tutorials (about one-tenth) provide a contact address. Others suggest that for explanations or information users can contact the library staff but without

282 Int. J. Lib. Inf. Sci. Table 2. Video tutorials.

University Name of video tutorial URL of video tutorial

Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione (IULM) di Milano Biblioteca di ateneo

http://www.iulm.it/wps/wcm/connect/iulmit/iulm-it/Risorse-e-servizi/Biblioteca

Libera Università Internazionale degli studi sociali (LUISS) di Roma Biblioteca LUISS Guidi Carlo http://biblioteca.luiss.it/

LUMSA Università di Roma Alla scoperta delle biblioteche http://www.lumsa.it/LUMSA/site/1664/default.aspx

LUMSA Università di Roma Ricerca testi biblioteche LUMSA http://www.lumsa.it/Lumsa/site/1668/Default.aspx

Politecnico di Milano Electronic resources of the University Library System

http://conference.metid.polimi.it/p74806360/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

Politecnico di Milano I servizi bibliotecari di Ateneo http://www.biblio.polimi.it/formazione/videotutorial/lezioni/lezioni1/11.html

Politecnico di Milano La gestione della bibliografia - RefWorks http://www.biblio.polimi.it/formazione/videotutorial/lezioni/lezioni6/61.html

Politecnico di Milano La ricerca in OPAC: cos'è un catalogo http://www.biblio.polimi.it/formazione/videotutorial/lezioni/lezioni2/21.html

Politecnico di Milano La ricerca in OPAC: l'area personale http://www.biblio.polimi.it/formazione/videotutorial/lezioni/lezioni2/24.html

Politecnico di Milano La ricerca in OPAC: ricerca per argomento

http://www.biblio.polimi.it/formazione/videotutorial/lezioni/lezioni2/23.html

Politecnico di Milano La ricerca in OPAC: ricerca per autore e titolo


Politecnico di Milano La ricerca in Polisearch: il portale Polisearch


Politecnico di Milano La ricerca in Polisearch: introduzione a Polisearch


Politecnico di Milano La ricerca in Polisearch: Polisearch: interrogazione di una risorsa


Politecnico di Milano La ricerca negli E-book: introduzione agli e-book


Politecnico di Milano La ricerca negli E-book: ricerca da fornitore


Politecnico di Milano La ricerca negli E-book: ricerca da OPAC http://www.biblio.polimi.it/formazione/videotutorial/lezioni/lezioni5/53.html

Politecnico di Milano La ricerca nei periodici elettronici: introduzione ai Periodici Elettronici


Politecnico di Milano La ricerca nei periodici elettronici: ricerca dal fornitore


Politecnico di Milano La ricerca nei periodici elettronici: ricerca nel singolo periodico elettronico


Politecnico di Milano La ricerca nelle banche dati: EI Compedex


Politecnico di Milano La ricerca nelle banche dati: introduzione Banche Dati



Politecnico di Milano La ricerca nelle banche dati: Scopus http://www.biblio.polimi.it/formazione/videotutorial/lezioni/lezioni3/34.html

Politecnico di Milano La ricerca nelle banche dati: Web of knowledge


Politecnico di Milano Le risorse cartografiche: Banche Dati Statistiche


Politecnico di Milano Le risorse cartografiche: introduzione ai materiali cartografici e al Servizio TeDOC


Politecnico di Milano Le risorse cartografiche: la Cartografia Comunale e i Fotopiani


Politecnico di Milano Le risorse cartografiche: la Cartografia Regionale


Politecnico di Milano Le risorse cartografiche: la Cartografia Storica


Politecnico di Milano Le risorse cartografiche: Piani, Programmi e Progetti


Politecnico di Milano Le risorse cartografiche: supporti e formati cartografici. La Cartografia Nazionale


Politecnico di Milano Presentation of library services. Orientation course

http://conference.metid.polimi.it/p96455729/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

Università Carlo Cattaneo Castellanza Ricerca per parole del titolo

http://www.biblio.liuc.it/biblio/opachelp/IstruzioniOpac.asp?cod=3

Università Carlo Cattaneo Castellanza

Se conosci il titolo dell'opera: esempio titolo 1


Università Carlo Cattaneo Castellanza

Se conosci il titolo dell'opera: esempio titolo 2


Università del Molise

Biblioteca di ateneo http://webtv.unimol.it/webtv/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=2&video_id=56

Università del Salento 3D Database http://siba2.unile.it/video/video_risel.html?name=3DDatabase

Università del Salento Coordinamento SIBA http://siba2.unile.it/video/video.html?name=SIBA-IT

Università del Salento Coordinamento SIBA http://siba2.unile.it/video/video.html?name=SIBA-EN

Università del Salento Coordinamento SIBA http://siba2.unile.it/video/video.html?name=SIBA-EL

Università dell'Insubria Come faccio a… Prenotare un libro on line

mms://streaming.uninsubria.it/guide/PrenotazioneLibro.wmv

Università dell'Insubria Come faccio a… Rinnovare un libro on line

mms://streaming.uninsubria.it/guide/RinnovoPrestito.wmv

Università di Bologna ACNP-T - Tutorial ACNP http://www.biblioteche.unibo.it/portale/formazione/tutorial-acnp/tutorial/acnp-t/

Università di Bologna CIL - Corso di Information Literacy (ACCESSIBILE)

http://www.biblioteche.unibo.it/portale/formazione/corso-di-information-literacy/cil-corso-di-information-literacy/cil/cil-accessibile/ita/default.htm

Università di Bologna CIL - Corso di Information Literacy (MULTIMEDIALE)

http://www.biblioteche.unibo.it/portale/formazione/corso-di-information-literacy/cil-corso-di-information-literacy/cil/cil-multimediale/ita/default.htm

284 Int. J. Lib. Inf. Sci. Table 2. Contd.

Università di Bologna CIL accessible for foreign students

http://www.biblioteche.unibo.it/portale/formazione/corso-di-information-literacy/cil-corso-di-information-literacy/cil/cil-accessibile/eng/default.htm

Università di Bologna CIL multimedial for foreign students

http://www.biblioteche.unibo.it/portale/formazione/corso-di-information-literacy/cil-corso-di-information-literacy/cil/cil-multimediale/eng/default.htm

Università di Bologna SBN UBO-T - Tutorial OPAC libri http://www.biblioteche.unibo.it/portale/formazione/tutorial-opac-polo-bolognese/opac-sbn-ubo-t/sbn-ubo-t/

Università di Ferrara Ricerca avanzata attraverso il catalogo del Polo

http://www.unife.it/sba/cata/tutorial/opac-ricerca-avanzata

Università di Ferrara Ricerca opac base http://www.unife.it/sba/cata/tutorial/ricerca-opac-base

Università di Ferrara Ricerca semantica attraverso il catalogo del Polo

http://www.unife.it/sba/cata/tutorial/opac-ricerca-semantica

Università di Ferrara Servizi al Lettore nel Catalogo del Polo http://www.unife.it/sba/cata/tutorial-servizi-opac

Università di Firenze Gli e-book del Sistema Bibliotecario di Ateneo http://opac.unifi.it/F/?func=file&file_name=infoebook

Università di Firenze Introduzione al Catalogo di Ateneo http://www.sba.unifi.it/upload/tutorial/Opac_tutorial_base.swf

Università di Firenze Ricerca guidata di Metalib http://www.sba.unifi.it/upload/tutorial/ricerca-guidata.swf

Università di Milano Come controllare la propria situazione lettore

http://biblioteche.ariel.ctu.unimi.it/projects/biblioteche/contents/situazione_lettore/situazione_lettore.html

Università di Milano Come effettuare la prenotazione di un libro

http://biblioteche.ariel.ctu.unimi.it/projects/biblioteche/contents/prenotazione/prenotazione.html

Università di Milano Come inoltrare una richiesta di prestito http://biblioteche.ariel.ctu.unimi.it/projects/biblioteche/contents/richiesta_prestito/richiesta_prestito.html

Università di Milano Dalla citazione al testo: come trovare un articolo in formato elettronico http://users.unimi.it/biblioscpol/corso/TutorialEJ.html

Università di Milano Sai usare l'OPAC? http://users.unimi.it/bibliomediazione/Tutorial_Opac.html

Università di Milano-Bicocca

Catalogo online (OPAC) - Prenotazione di un libro

http://www.biblio.unimib.it/downloads/prenotazione%20di%20un%20

libro_dimostrazione/prenotazione_di_un_libro_dimostrazione.htm

Università di Milano-Bicocca

Catalogo online (OPAC) - Rinnovo del prestito di un libro online

http://www.biblio.unimib.it/downloads/RINNOVO_ONLINE_dimostrazione/

RINNOVO_ONLINE_dimostrazione.htm

Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia

LibX: barra degli strumenti Biblioteca Ingegneria (Firefox) http://www.sba.unimore.it/site/home/risorse/tutorial.html

Università di Padova Bibliografia no problem http://www.cab.unipd.it/node/1170

Università di Parma Impara ad usare Cerca la citazione http://www.sfxml.unipr.it/Guida_citaz_800x600.html

Università di Siena Guida al catalogo: La ricerca in catalogo www.sba.unisi.it/images/stories/tutorial/catluglio.swf

Università di Siena Guida al catalogo: ricerca veloce di periodici http://www.sba.unisi.it/images/stories/tutorial/perivel.swf

Università di Siena Sai che in biblioteca puoi… http://www.sba.unisi.it/index.php/component/content/article/40-news-home/164-sai-che-in-biblioteca-puoi

Università di Trento Il Catalogo Bibliografico Trentino didatticaonline.unitn.it/formazione/course/view.php?id=23

Mazzocchi 285

Table 3. Number of video tutorials for library/library system website.

Number of video tutorials Number of libraries Percentage

1 7 38.50

2 3 16.50

3 3 16.50

4 2 11

5 1 5.50

6 1 5.50

28 1 5.50

Table 4. Duration of video tutorials.

Duration of video tutorial Number of video tutorials Percentage

under 1' 2 3%

1' 00'' - 1' 59'' 7 10%

2' 00'' - 2' 59'' 12 18%

3' 00'' - 3' 59'' 15 22%

4' 00'' - 4' 59'' 4 6%

5' 00'' - 5' 59'' 4 6%

6' 00'' - 6' 59'' 5 7%

7' 00'' - 7' 59'' 4 6%

8' 00'' - 8' 59'' 2 3%

9' 00'' - 9' 59'' 1 1%

10' 00'' - 14' 59'' 3 4%

15' 00'' - 19' 59'' 1 1%

20' 00'' - 24' 59'' 2 3%

25' 00'' - 30' 00'' 1 1%

over 30' 6 9%

Table 5. Content of video tutorials.

Content of video tutorial Number of video tutorials Percentage

Online catalogue: functionalities 26 38

General description of the library/library system and its services 11 16

Particular library/library system's collections or services 6 8

Databases 5 7

Portals to electronic resources 5 7

E-books 4 6

Information literacy 4 6

E-journals 4 6

Software for creating bibliographies 3 4

ACNP, Italian Union Catalogue of Serials 1 1

specifying how.

The interest for the users' opinion, shown through the availability of a satisfaction questionnaire, is present in 10 video tutorials (equal to 28% of the total), which, however, belong to the same library system (Politecnico di Milano).

DISCUSSION The results of the website survey revealed that 18 (less than one fifth) of the surveyed libraries had at least one tutorial. However, 40% of those were from one library

286 Int. J. Lib. Inf. Sci.

Figure 2. Types of videos.

Figure 3. Objectives of the video tutorial.

Table 6. Interactivity of video tutorials.

YES NO

Division into modules 51% 49%

"Step-by-step" structure 15% 85%

Exercises 3% 97%

Final quiz 4% 96%

Possibility to contact the staff 10% 90%

Satisfaction questionnaire 28% 72%

(Sistema Bibliotecario del Politecnico di Milano). Therefore it can be said that in general this tool is not much used by Italian academic libraries. Out of the 69 tutorials that were evaluated, it is noteable that the most prevalent type is a screencast tutorial, with audio (but not subtitles) and pause features, that ranges between 2 to 4 min.

The most common resource described by the tutorials is the library catalogue (38%), followed by the general

description of the library and its services (16%). Among the technical characteristics, it is worth noting

that the "pause function" , very useful because it allows to stop the video tutorial according to the user's needs, is absent in 5 screencasts whose narration is especially fast paced.

All the video tutorials surveyed are viewable only in streaming, with no possibility to download them locally. Libraries should instead provide users with multiple options for viewing a tutorial and especially should allow users to download it in order to view them without the constraint of the Internet connection.

In almost 90% of cases the date of creation is missing. This may reduce the utility of the tutorial for users who could risk (or, at least, suspect) to lose time learning procedures which are not updated. Besides, with such a low number of tutorials including a date, it is also difficult to suppose if the use of this tool in academic libraries is a recent and/or growing phenomenon.

Staff contacts (email or other kinds of address), within or at the end of the video tutorial, are available in very few cases (7 out of 69), so, in case of difficulty, users are usually unable to contact directly the staff. The satis-faction questionnaire is offered by only one single library system, so most libraries have no feedback about their users' opinion about the tutorial.

Interactive elements are not much used, especially exercises and quizzes which provide users with the possibility to practice and check what they have learned. This last aspect seems to be in line with the results of other analyses, at an international level, about the online tutorials of academic libraries. Web 2.0 interactive func-tions, such as add contents, links and comments or save preferences or paths are absent; apart from the video tutorials on YouTube and the one on the WebTV of the

YES

46%NO

54%

Università del Molise (whose platforms provide this option anyway).

In addition to a general suggestion to academic libraries to increase the use of video tutorials in their user education, most of the video tutorials already existing could be improved by implementing interactivity and Web 2.0 functions and by always including: the date of creation and update, the "pause" function, the possibility of downloading, subtitles when the audio is spoken, more interactive elements such as exercises and quizzes, staff contacts and a satisfaction questionnaire. Conclusion Although in the literature the usefulness of online video tutorials in the user education of academic libraries is by now taken for granted (even without entering the discussion whether they are stand-alone tools or only complementary to in-presence instruction), the analysis carried out shows that in Italy, university library systems do not make much use of them. The percentage of university library sites offering at least one video tutorial is very low (less than one fifth of the total) and, apart from one isolated case, the number of tutorials proposed is very low. The general conclusion that can be drawn is that for Italian academic libraries the online video tutorial seems to be still a "new" tool, both for its limited distribution and for its partially unexplored potentialities. In a time of drastic reductions in resources and staff budgets for academic libraries, the video tutorial, with an initial effort for its creation and a reasonable effort for its constant updating, could prove to be a valuable instructional tool, capable of reaching an unlimited number of users without excessive costs and without the constraints of space and time. REFERENCES

Anderson RP, Wilson SP, Livingston MB, LoCicero AD (2008a).

Characteristics and content of medical library tutorials: a review. J. Med. Libr. Assoc. 96(1): 61-63.

Anderson RP, Wilson SP, Yeh F, Phillips B, Livingston MB (2008b). Topics and features of academic medical library tutorials, Med. Ref. Serv. Q. 27(4), 406-418.

Bailin A, Peña A (2007). Online library tutorials, narratives, and scripts, J. Acad. Libr. 33(1): 106-117.

Ballestra L (2003). E-learning e information literacy: unconnubio vincente, Bibl. oggi. 21(10):11-23. Also at <http://www. bibliotecheoggi.it/2003/20031001101.pdf>.

Bertini L (2004). Un Tutorial per la ricerca di risorse in Internet, E-LIS, e-prints in library & information science. <http://eprints.rclis.org/handle/ 10760/5799#.T1yu2HmQkQM>.

Bianco C (2005). Online tutorials: tips from the literature, Libr. Philos. Pract. 8(1).

Brumfield EL (2008). Using online tutorials to reduce uncertainty in information seeking behavior. J. Lib. Adm. 48(3/4):365-377.

Mazzocchi 287 Cavaleri P (2004). Utilizzo di tecnologie e-learning per l'information

literacy nelle biblioteche universitarie. AIDAInformazioni. 22(1/2):42-54. Also at <http://eprints.rclis.org/bitstream/10760/10275/1/ cavaleri.pdf>.

Churkovich M, Oughtred C (2002). Can an online tutorial pass the test for library instruction?. Aust. acad. res. libr. 33(1): 25-35.

Dennis S, Broughton K (2000). FALCON: an interactive library instruction tutorial. Ref. Serv. Rev. 28(1): 31-38.

Dewald NH (1999). Transporting good library instruction practices into the Web environment: an analysis of online tutorials. J. Acad. Libr. 25(1):26-32.

Germek G (2012). Empowered library eLearning: capturing assessment and reporting with ease, efficiency, and effectiveness. Ref. Serv. Rev. 40(1):90-102.

Gravett K, Gill C (2010). Using online video to promote database searching skills: the creation of a virtual tutorial for Health and Social Care students. J. Inf. Lit. 4(1):66-71.

Hickok J (2002). Web library tours: using streaming video and interactive quizzes. Ref. Serv. Rev. 30(2):99-111.

Hrycaj PL (2005). Elements of active learning in the online tutorials of ARL members. Ref. Serv. Rev. 33 (2): 210-218.

Li P (2011). Science information literacy tutorials and pedagogy. Evid. Based Libr. Inf. Pract. 6(2):5-18.

Lùperi P (2007). L'e-learning come "spazio sociale" per le biblioteche. Il Giornale dell'eLearning. 1(3). <http://www.wbt.it/index.php? pagina=226>.

Lùperi P (ed.) (2011). Biblioteche universitarie ed e-learning: dai servizi a distanza ai percorsi di formazione per gli studenti, Ghezzano, Felici Editori.

Mansfield D (2010). No audition required! Using video tutorials in the 24x7 age. SCONUL Focus. 49. <http://www.sconul.ac.uk/ publications/newsletter/49/6.pdf>.

Mazzocchi J (2011). Istruzione all'uso della biblioteca universitaria: gli strumenti online. Bibl. oggi. 29(5): 56-70. Also at <http://www.bibliotecheoggi.it/content/n20110505601.pdf>.

Pesenti M, Longo B (2000). Attraverso la rete prende quota la formazione a distanza: nuove opportunità per le biblioteche e i bibliotecari. Bibl. oggi. 18(2):68-74. Also at <http://www. bibliotecheoggi.it/2000/20000206801.pdf>.

Pressley L (2008). Using video to reach site visitors: a toolkit for today's student. Comput. Libr. 28(6):18-22.

Renditiso A (2011). L'information literacy nelle biblioteche universitarie italiane: i risultati di un'indagine comparati con le modalità di comunicazione del servizio sul Web. Boll. AIB. 51(3): 213-226. Also at <bollettino.aib.it/article/download/5426/5192>.

Scaramozzino JM (2008). An undergraduate science information literacy tutorial in a Web 2.0 world. Issues Sci Tech Librarian. Fall 2008. <http://www.istl.org/08-fall/article3.html>.

Somoza-Fernández M, Abadal E (2009). Analysis of web-based tutorials created by academic libraries. J. Acad. Libr. 35(2): 126-131.

Somoza-Fernández M, Rodríguez-Parada C (2011). Tutorials web: indicadores y ejemplos de buenas prácticas. El profesional de la información 20(1):38-46.

Su S-F, Kuo J (2010). Design and development of web-based information literacy tutorials. J. Acad. Lib. 36(4):320-328.

Tancheva K (2003). Online tutorials for library instruction: an ongoing project under constant revision. In: ACRL eleventh national conference: learning to make a difference, 2003, <http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/pdf/tancheva.PDF>.

Tempelman-Kluit N (2006). Multimedia learning theories and online instruction. Col. Res. Lib. 67(4):364-369.

Tewell E (2010). Video tutorials in academic art libraries: a content analysis and review. Art. Doc. 29(2):53-61.

Yang S (2009). Information literacy online tutorials: an introduction to rationale and technological tools in tutorial creation. Electron. Libr. 27(4):684-693.

288 Int. J. Lib. Inf. Sci. APPENDIX Checklist for the collection of the data of the video tutorials Basic data of universities ----------------------------------------------- Town Name of university URL of library/library system Presence of tutorial YES/NO ----------------------------------------------- Basic data of tutorials ----------------------------------------------- Name of university Name of tutorial URL of tutorial ----------------------------------------------- Technical characteristics of tutorials ----------------------------------------------- Type Duration Audio YES/NO Subtitles YES/NO Pause function YES/NO Language ----------------------------------------------- Interactive elements ----------------------------------------------- Division into modules YES/NO "Step-by-step" structure YES/NO Exercises YES/NO Final quiz YES/NO Possibility to contact the staff YES/NO Satisfaction questionnaire YES/NO ----------------------------------------------- Other characteristics ----------------------------------------------- Content Objectives YES/NO -----------------------------------------------