Impact of IT trainees in rural communities
VALA 2006 CONCURRENT SESSION 13: Information Literacy and the Digital Divide
Friday 10 February 2006, 11:55 – 12:30
Persistent URL: http://www.vala.org.au/vala2006-proceedings/vala2006-session-13-manuel
Jo Manuel
Manager, Library Support, Public Library Services, South Australia
http://www.saugov.sa.gov.au
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Abstract
Using established State and Federal government traineeship schemes and special grant funding, a program of IT traineeships was developed to assist rural communities improve their skills to access online services. In the Get Connected @ Your Library project, young people from the community were offered traineeships in Certificate II or III in Information Technology and were placed in the local public library. Outcomes to be considered include the impact of predominantly male IT trainees in the library environment, the response from the younger demographic of library users and the development of informal mentoring relationships sponsored within the library context.