75 teachers attend MIA’s library literacy course

Some75 teachers representing a selection of high schools in and around Dohatook part in a recently held library literacy course, organised by theMuseum of Islamic Art (MIA).The half-day session forms part of MIA’s commitment to support teachers, inspire and educate young people in Qatar.Ina statement, MIA noted that the specially developed session wasdesigned to enable participants to access the world-class resources atthe museum as effectively and efficiently as possible. It aims toeducate, inform and inspire students, helping them to become expertresearchers.The in-depth course combines both theoretical andpractical elements to enable teachers to become highly organisedresource managers and information specialists and to equip them inteaching their students how to access and utilise information. MIAsaid another aim is to provide students with the highest quality readingexperiences, allowing teachers to recommend literature that theirstudents will enjoy reading.“The feedback from all participants hasbeen overwhelmingly positive. Schools, students and the wider communityhave so much to gain from this globally acclaimed museum, itsworld-class collection of Islamic Art and one of the largest librariesof its kind in the region,” MIA’s learning and outreach deputy directorSalem Abdullah al-Marri said.The course provided high schoolteachers with the foundation for helping their students to becomeexperts in using library resources. It also helped them present theirfindings and teach critical information literacy skills in ways thatcapture and hold student interest.According to MIA, the course alsoprovided a solid grounding in the foundational skills required to beinformation literate in a library setting – covering an understanding ofthe resources available to teachers at MIA, practical steps on how toaccess information, evaluate results, how to communicate and sharefindings, as well as considerations such as ethics and responsibility ofuse.Some of the topics discussed include an overview of theimportance of libraries, particularly given the widespread proliferationof online resources; and tips on how to identify the most importantresources in a school library. Teachers also had the opportunity totour the library at MIA – one of the largest in the region. The tourprovided an overview of key parts of the collection, including thechildren’s section, scholars collection, handling collection, rare bookroom, online resources and other sources of information available.Teacherswere also given an overview of how MIA library staff deal with aninformation request, including what information is needed to process arequest, where to find the information, reviewing the validity ofsources, presenting information, and a review of tools available tocheck for plagiarism.