Information about this training
program can be found on the WWW starting from:
http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO/itp/
The program is planned to take place mainly in Brussels, Belgium, for 3 months, May June July in 2009.
Language used is English.
Our motto is
“Helping educators and innovators to advance knowledge and to enrich
lives”
The initiative has been
approved by the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR) and is sponsored by the
Belgian Government (the directorate named DGOS since December 2002). This fits
in a series of similar international training activities that have been
organized since 1991, named MIST 1, 2, 3, KNOW-HOW, and STIMULATE 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7 and 8.
This initiative is aimed primarily
at persons with a university degree (Bachelor or Master), who work in
universities, information and documentation centres, and libraries, including
of course university libraries, and who have a few years of practical
experience.
The term Active Training
Environment in the title of the training program reflects our wish to create an
environment in which each participant is stimulated to get involved actively,
supported by the lecturers and the infrastructure provided by the training
program. This fits well into the general, worldwide trend away from
"teaching" to "learning management".
This International Training
Program offers a stimulating learning environment to information experts in the
area of science and technology, who are in the early phase of their career. The
aims are to sharpen their skills in collecting, storing, retrieving, presenting
and managing information. This can be of great benefit to the teaching and
research activities going on in their institute and to the further development
of their organisation and region.
This initiative corresponds
well with the basic, general aim of all the International Training Programs
that are supported by VLIR: to train young scientists and professionals from
developing countries in a domain that is relevant for the further development
of the country, and to stimulate the participants to transfer their increased
knowledge and skills to their colleagues and other stakeholders in their home
country.
-- to provide participants
with a clearer view on the importance of information in general and for their
environment in particular, and on how to manage information:
summarised: ”Management in libraries and information centres”
-- to learn the participants
to cope with modern technology, in view of the increasing importance of ICT;
summarised: “Information and
communication technology for libraries and information centres”
-- to guide them in retrieving information that is publicly accessible on an
international scale:
summarised: “Information retrieval/searching”
and
-- to learn them to store, organise, present, manage, publish information
resources at personal, institutional, regional or national level:
summarised: “Information architecture”
After being actively involved
in this International Training Program, every participant will have improved
the ability
-- to
appreciate and explain the importance of access to information for their
organisation
-- to
present information to users and potential users, using appropriate information
technology
-- to train interested persons in the use and management of information, using appropriate presentation techniques
-- to contribute to the planning of the (further) development of an information service
-- to communicate through the Internet with users of information, information providers, colleagues,…
-- to apply quantitative methods in decision making related to information systems and services
-- to
retrieve information from the Internet
-- to
store information for later retrieval and access by potential users, using
information technology
3 months means about 10 weeks or about 50 days.
During about 3 days per week for 10 weeks = 30 days, the participants will be guided by professors and other experts.
During the other 2 days per week for 10 weeks = 20 days, they will work on tasks=assignments as individuals or in groups, and their reports will be presented and discussed afterwards, again guided by professors and other experts.
The sessions are organised in
such a way that
--the first month = introduction level,
--the second month = intermediate level, and
--the third month = more advanced level.
Thanks to this approach and organisation, it may make sense to participate
exceptionally during only one or two of the three months, depending on
expertise. However, the available scholarships are granted only to persons who
will participate for the full three months.
To start with, the
participants are offered an orientation tour of the University and the
University Library. Then some of the following subjects are covered. Of course,
due to the limited available time, not all the mentioned subjects can be
discussed in each training program, but a SELECTION will be made by the
organisers. The concrete content of each training program depends on the
availability of suitable expert lecturers from
Statistics to
support decision making for information science and for library management.
Business plans for libraries and information centers.
Using spreadsheets in the management of libraries and
information centers.
Collection development.
Consortia of libraries for the acquisition of electronic
journals and databases.
Scientific writing methods.
ISBD = International Standard Bibliographic Description.
Formats for computer-based cataloguing; MARC formats.
National libraries and national bibliographies.
Knowledge organisation: subject classification schemes; thesaurus systems,
ontologies.
Citation analysis.
Assessing the influence of scientific journals; citations and
impact factors.
The bibliometric laws.
Scientometrics.
Architecture of libraries and information centers.
Orientation of information users; relations with information
users.
Interlibrary lending and co-operation; document delivery.
Development of a national or regional information network.
The information society.
Cultural aspects of the information society and information technology
transfer.
Copyright; information security; trans-border data flow.
Writing a project proposal (for instance related to the establishment of an
information network).
Conservation/preservation of printed documents.
Conservation/preservation of digital documents.
Informetric aspects of the Internet.
Artificial intelligence and knowledge representation in
information science.
Electronic journals: implementation in a library.
Integration of e-learning environments and library services.
Libraries involvement in scientific publishing.
International co-operation projects.
Microcomputer systems: evolution of hardware.
Disks
for computers.
CD-ROM.
CD-ROM in a local area network.
CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R,
DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW.
Microcomputer operating systems.
Microcomputer systems: applications
software.
Text editing; word processing; desktop publishing.
Presentation of data, using a microcomputer.
Creating charts to present information.
Image processing; graphics file formats; photo/image editing.
Multimedia / Hypermedia.
Data communication; computer networks; Internet.
Internet services.
Client-server systems.
Electronic mail.
World-Wide Web; hypertext and hypermedia.
Data-communications networks and librarians.
Selecting and procuring a computer system; writing a proposal for a computer implementation.
Providing access to information through public Internet
workstations.
Methods for access to databases through Internet: telnet, http/WWW, Z39.50 and
ISO239.50, Open Archives Initiative - Metadata Harvesting Protocol.
Introductory
concepts about information.
Internet-based information resources: introduction.
Bibliographic databases.
The information industry and the information market.
Online information retrieval and database searching; search
tactics and strategies.
Internet search engines.
Information available free of charge; open access.
Online access databases about books and about journal articles.
Electronic newsletters and journals.
Computer-network based interest groups.
Patent information.
Online systems versus CD-ROM.
Citation searching.
Theoretical and quantitative aspects of information
retrieval.
Evaluation
of information retrieval strategies and systems.
Evaluating the quality of
information sources.
Basic, fundamental,
theoretical concepts.
Software packages for local storage and retrieval of bibliographic information.
Introduction to the ISIS software package family for
information storage and retrieval.
The application of ISIS: searching, editing data in a database, output of
selected data to file or printer; developing a database structure; indexing
data for fast retrieval; ISIS for Windows; WINISIS; history and future of ISIS;
programming in ISIS.
Formats: MARC; application of MARC in
Databases (and ISIS in particular) through the WWW.
Downloading of information and record format conversion.
Relational databases.
Library automation.
Online Public Access Catalogues (OPACs).
Archives and records management.
Archives in the domain of science and technology.
Digital archiving.
Institutional document repositories.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS): an introduction.
Developing a web site; HTML, CSS, XML, XSL; intranets; developing an intranet.
Evaluating web sites.
Dynamic web pages.
Developing co-operative
community WWW sites; Web contents management systems.
Setting up an electronic newsletter.
Extensions of the classical WWW. (Client-based
and server-based).
In addition to the courses
taking place at the university campus, study visits are organised.
A selection from the following possible visits is made:
--to the Royal (National) Library, in Brussels, Belgium
--to the European Patent Office in Brussels, Belgium
--to the Information Service of the Geology Department of the Royal Museum on
Africa, in Tervuren near Brussels, Belgium
--to the inter-university postgraduate school on information and library
science at the University of Antwerp, Belgium
--to the various branches of the university library of the University of
Antwerp, Belgium
--to the library of the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerpen /
Antwerp, Belgium
--to the historical city library of Antwerpen / Antwerp
--to the public library of
Antwerpen / Antwerp
--to the old central library and to the modern science and technology library
of the KUL (university) in Leuven, Belgium
--to the VLIZ marine science information and documentation centre and to the
UNESCO-IOC-IODE offices, near the sea coast in Oostende / Ostend, Belgium
--to the central library of the University of Gent / Ghent, Belgium
--to the Documentation Department of the KIT (the Royal Tropical Institute),
and to the high school on libraries, documentation and information, both in
Amsterdam, Nederland / The Netherlands
--to the headquarters of IFLA and to the National, Royal Library in Den Haag /
The Hague, in Nederland / The Netherlands
--to the Institute for Social Studies (ISS) in Den Haag / The Hague, in
Nederland / The Netherlands
More culturally oriented
guided visits are organised by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. These may
include trips to the old cities of Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges, Amsterdam, Paris,
and to the North Sea coast.
About half of the time, the
participants are guided by experts who are invited to the university. They use
the other half time to solve problems, to make exercises, to use microcomputers
and the Internet, to prepare discussions, for self study...
Besides the formal, guided
course activities, the participants have access like any regular student at our
university
--to several rooms equipped with microcomputers connected to the Internet,
--to the university library which offers printed material, CD-ROMs and PCs with
Internet access,
--to the university restaurant and to sport facilities at low student prices.
Each participant creates a poster to present information to the other participants of the training program as well as to other interested persons who may be present, about
The posters are shown once in a poster session that lasts for about 1 hour.
This is organised as soon as possible,
probably on day 2 of the program.
The hope is that during this session, the participants can get to know each
other better and they can make interesting professional contacts.
The poster can consist of several sheets A4 or better A3 size, with printed text and figures and can contain a leaflet or brochure about their home organisation.
The secretariat of the program will provide adhesive tape to mount the poster on a wall.
In this way, participants and
some professors get to know each other efficiently and the participants learn
to present information in the format of a scientific poster.
The poster should not cover
more than 1 square meter.
Each participant should
collect some supporting materials like folders, leaflets, photos, maps, etc…
well in advance for inclusion in their poster and bring these to the program!
Each participant is expected
to present a tutorial presentation during the program of maximum 15 minutes,
with 10 minutes of questions and answers plus discussion foreseen. The audience
is composed of the other participants. The topic of each presentation is one
aspect of their expertise. The aims are the following:
- participants
improve their scientific presentation, teaching and communication skills,
- they
share their knowledge with the other participants,
- participants
get to know each other better,
- the
session may form a basis for possible later co-operation, etc…
Near the end of the program,
each participant completes a presentation supported by slides managed on
computer, with concrete, constructive comments and recommendations
--to the organisers of this
training program and
--to the
director(s) / manager(s) of their own organisation.
The following will be invited.
They may contribute as they did in previous programs, if their agenda and the
limited duration of the training program allow this:
At the end of the program all
participants obtain a certificate stating that they have indeed participated,
with a reference to the full detailed overview of the program contents on the
WWW site of the program.
Several substantial parts of the program are followed by an evaluation by the
responsible expert of the knowledge and skills acquired by each participant;
this can lead to a certificate of active and successful participation.
- Poster presentation by each participant to the other participants and to invited guests, about information management in their home institute, on the same evening as the welcome reception with drinks and appetizers, early in the program.
- Evening with the opportunity to learn more about beer tasting and to taste some of the world-famous Belgian beers and some Belgian food; with beer tasting contest.
- Chocolate tasting contest: identification of ingredients in various types of chocolate produced in Belgium.
- Two photography contests.
- Farewell gathering with drinks and snacks on the final evening of the program
Furthermore the participants can join some of the many activities at
the university and in
Participation is free of
charge (!) for 12 participants from selected developing countries. Those
participants who receive a scholarship are selected by the Steering Committee
of the program, by VLIR (the Flemish Inter-university Council) section for
University Co-operation VLIR-UOS, and by DGOS. They also receive a return
flight ticket plus a scholarship to cover the costs of transport from the
airport upon arrival to their room, accommodation, health insurance during the
stay in
The ideal participant applying for a grant is younger than 40 years,
and will be able to apply what has been learned directly in a professional
scientific or technical environment afterwards.
The simple pre-screening form by VLIR should be available through the Internet
starting from the WWW site of VLIR-UOS concerning scholarships http://www.scholarships.vliruos.be/
In November 2008 the complete
link is http://www.scholarships.vliruos.be/index.php?navid=479&scholarship_id=10&actionchoice=applyform
This link may be changed by VLIR.
If VLIR approves the
data/information provided by the candidate, then the next step by the candidate
is filling in a detailed official printed form to enter the competition for a
scholarship and sending this to Brussels, together with formal recommendation
letters.
Applications for a scholarship must be received before the end of January!
If you have requested a grant=scholarship for an earlier version of this program and you did not
receive one of the scholarships, then you can send a complete, new request
following the most recent procedure and using the most recent official forms.
The procedure to request a scholarship is very formal and detailed and
takes some time, but when a candidate persists and becomes one of the not so
many persons to complete the procedure well, then the
chance to obtain a scholarship is high.
Priority
countries are selected by the government of Belgium, NOT by VLIR, NOT by the
academic organisers of this program and the list changes over the years. The
following is copied from the VLIR-UOS WWW site in 2008:
Only
residents of developing countries on the VLIR-UOS' List of Developing Countries
are eligible for a scholarship. The Belgian Directorate-General for Development
Cooperation (DGCD) decided to modify, as of 2008, the country list applicable
to university corporation for development activities.
Only 41 countries still remain on the list. Please check carefully whether your
country of origin is on the list.
The geographical spread of students is a factor: 50% of the participants in an
ICP or ITP must come from Sub-Saharan Africa. Efforts will be made to ensure
equal representation.
Candidates must reside in their country of origin when they apply and when the
programme starts, in case they are selected.
Latin America:
Bolivia
Brazil
Colombia
Cuba
Ecuador
El Salvador
Guatemala
Haiti
Nicaragua
Peru
Surinam
Africa:
Algeria
Benin
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
DR Congo
Ethiopia
Guinea
Ivory Coast
Kenya
Madagascar
Mali
Morocco
Mozambique
Niger
Rwanda
Senegal
South Africa
Tanzania
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Asia:
Bangladesh
Cambodia
China
India
Indonesia
Palestinian Administrative Areas
Philippines
Vietnam
Besides the persons who
receive a grant from the Belgian Government through VLIR, 8 persons can
participate after paying a registration=tuition fee that is small in comparison
with similar programs.
The costs mentioned do NOT
include air travel, transport in Belgium, meals and accommodation, but do
include transport from the airport upon arrival, welcome reception, health
insurance, printed study materials, study visits, social activities.
-To participate during the
full period: 2400 Euro
-Exceptionally, persons who cannot participate for the whole period can
nevertheless participate during 2 months only (1800 Euro) or during 1 month
only (1000 Euro). It makes sense to attend for instance the first month or the
first two months only. It makes less sense to participate only during the
second or the third month, as introductions to some activities or topics may be
missed.
-To participate to particular items selected from the program: 30 Euro per half
day.
To register and pay the
registration=tuition fee, send the form (see below) by classical mail or by
private courier, together with an international bank transfer / bank cheque /
bank draft, payable to
University Library, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050
BRUSSEL, Belgium,
with no need for any bank account numbers.
If however this simple procedure is NOT suitable for you, then you can transfer
the required sum of money to the following bank account of the Vrije
Universiteit Brussel:
Fortis Bank located at Warandeberg 3 in B-1000 Brussel, Belgium,
account number 001-0686459-66 or IBAN = BE07 0010 6864 5966
and do not forget (!) to mention as a remark:
for internal
account VOPA21 BIBLINK3 University Library STIMULATE International Training
Program
The money
received by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel financial department must be transferred internally;
this transfer takes about 1 week, which means a delay in the registration
procedure, which is better avoided.
(Without your remark, the money may be not retraceable and lost.)
Realize that some bank
transfer costs are involved and that these should be paid besides the requested
participation fee that is transferred.
There is no formal deadline.
However, we recommend you to register as early as possible, because “first
come, first served”: the arrival of your participation fee determines who can
participate. Furthermore the later a participant is registered, the more difficult
it becomes to find cheap and suitable accommodation.
There is NO need to “apply”
prior to the registration, to request permission to participate or to be
accepted, from the organizers of the program or from their universities. Also
there is no age limit. The decision to participate to the program is to be made
by the person who is interested and NOT by the organizers. This is like
participating to a conference.
Invitation letters can be sent
on request if needed, but in principle only when the participation =
registration fee has been received. This announcement is in fact an invitation.
It is a waste of time to ask
the organisers of the program about sponsors besides VLIR mentioned above.
Every participant who receives
a grant/scholarship from VLIR-UOS receives next to his/her monthly
grant/scholarship a lump sum of about 280 euro from VLIR-UOS for the purchase
of didactic materials (e.g. books needed for a course, printed course notes,
cost of study visits, use of a notebook pc).
Each participant who receives
a scholarship from VLIR-UOS pays a lump sum of 150 euro to the program
organisers for the didactic costs, during the first week of the program. For
participants who are participating without a VLIR-UOS grant/scholarship, this
cost is included in the registration (=tuition fee).
Because computer applications
are important in the program and because the schedule is online and because
communication is organised through the internet, it is obligatory that every participant
uses a notebook=laptop pc with a wireless network card=component=interface (Wi-Fi)
during the program. Each participant should bring a suitable bag to carry and
transport the pc safely during the program; ideally this should not look like a
special pc bag to avoid theft. Access to a notebook pc can be arranged as
follows:
OPTION 1:
The participant brings a
notebook pc. In this case it is important that the participant should try to
bring the official purchasing papers for the notebook pc, so that in the case
that a technical problem arises, the participant in question can go to an
official dealer for technical support and so that the pc can be exported and
imported through the customs at the airports without problem.
OPTION 2:
The participant can not bring
a pc.
In that case the participant
can choose to buy a notebook pc during the first days after arrival in some
shop. However, it is difficult to find a pc with a QWERTY keyboard in Belgium;
most pc’s in shops have an AZERTY keyboard. In the
Netherlands, pc’s are normally sold with a QWERTY
keyboard. Once that the first session takes place, each
participant needs to have a laptop.
The program organisers are willing
to help the participants in buying a laptop with a QWERTY keyboard in the
following way:
In this case he/she informs
the program organisers at least one month before the start of the program that
he/she wants the program organisers to buy a laptop for him/her. The program
organisers buy a good quality laptop which has all the needed qualifications to
follow the program (the price for this kind of pc is about 700 euro). The
program organisers do their best to make sure that this laptop is available on
the moment of arrival (if not, it will be available within a few days or one
week after arrival). At arrival in Belgium the participant buys the laptop from
the program organisers for the original price. Important note: if the
participant asks the program organisers to buy a laptop for him/her, he/she
must buy the laptop from the program organisers (even if the participant would
be able to bring a laptop from his/her home country after all).
Participants are covered
during their stay by a full medical insurance.
This costs about 40 Euro per month.
This is formalised as soon as possible after arrival in Belgium, with the
secretariat of the program and with the department International Relations and
Mobility (IRMO).
The organisers of this program
normally book in advance a single, cheap, basic room with access to a shared
kitchen, as accommodation for each participant, unless a participant writes us
that he/she wants to take care of accommodation personally, for instance by
staying with a friend or by renting a room that offers more luxury.
Participants pay for their
accommodation directly to the person or organisation providing accommodation in
According to previous participants and in agreement with the grants
provided by VLIR-UOS, 1100 Euro per month should be enough to cover all
expenses, including accommodation, local transport, food…
In Belgium, tap water available free of charge is safe and healthy, suitable
for drinking.
Hint for participants: bring some food and money (Euros) for the first days, in
particular when arriving just before or in a week-end, as shops and restaurants
and banks may be closed or far away from your room and as scholarship money
will not be available immediately upon arrival.
E-mail (Internet): stimulate at vub.ac.be (or in case that this does
not seem to work, to Paul.Nieuwenhuysen at vub.ac.be)
(change at in @ when you want to use an address)
Fax 32 2 629 2693 (or 2282)
Tel. 32 2 629 2629 or 32 2 629 2429 or 32 2 629 2609
Telex 61051 vubco-b
Classical mail:
STIMULATE-ITP (or Paul
NIEUWENHUYSEN), University Library, Vrije Universiteit Brussel,
Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, BELGIUM
However, correspondence about scholarships should not be addressed to the academic organizers, but to VLIR-UOS as explained elsewhere in this text.
The training is mainly
organized at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
The main campus is located south of the older centre of the city of
Information about
http://wikitravel.org/en/Brussels
http://www.agenda.be/
about events going on in
http://www.disgruntled.ca/writings/brussels/
offers information on
http://www.eric-maerschalck.be/Brussels/bruxelles.php?log=NO
offers photos made in
http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/brussels.shtml
http://www.ilotsacre.be/site/en/default_en.htm
offers an interactive map and photos of
http://www.interknowledge.com/belgium/
http://www.sievers.nl/visitbrussels/
shows some photos made in
http://www.timeout.com/brussels/
http://www.trabel.com/brussel/brussels-touristattractions.htm
http://www.virtourist.com/europe/brussels/index.html
Interesting trips are possible
to places in neighbouring countries like The Netherlands and France. Therefore,
participants should try to obtain also a visa for those countries (a so called Schengen-visa).
At the end of STIMULATE,
participants can win a small prize by submitting:
- maximum
3 good photos that they have made PERSONALLY of some aspect of Belgium (without
STIMULATE participants in the picture)
- maximum
3 good group photos that they have made PERSONALLY of almost all the STIMULATE
participants together.
Each photo can be sent by
electronic mail as attached files to Paul.Nieuwenhuysen@vub.ac.be
as soon as possible and certainly before the final week of the program.
Send the original master photo
at the original size or a cropped version;
in other words, do not resize the photo.
Name each photo file as
stimulateX-subject-by-photographer
where “subject” stands for 1 or 2 words that describe the subject of the photo
and “photographer stands for the full name of the photographer.
The best picture of each
category will be selected and the two prizes (if awarded) will be given to the
winners during the STIMULATE farewell gathering.
Good photos will perhaps be
included in the WWW site about the international training programs.
The course director is Dr.
Paul Nieuwenhuysen, professor full-time at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and
guest professor at Universiteit Antwerpen, Science and technology librarian of
the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO/nieuwenhuysen/professional/
An official, formal Steering
Committee is composed of members from the co-operating universities in
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel
- Universiteit Antwerpen
- Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
This Steering Committee
supervises the organisation, the program and the budget.
This committee reports formally to VLIR.
This version is dated 2009-03-07
____________________REGISTRATION
FORM_______________________
to
STIMULATE, University Library, Vrije Universiteit Brussel,
Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 BRUSSEL,
I want to participate. Therefore I send this as a letter AND I pay the registration=tuition fee as described in the announcement of the International Training Program on INFORMATION.
(So the following is NOT
the form to request a scholarship/grant.
Use this form only when you
pay the registration=tuition fee.)
a. Family name (surname): ...............................
(married female participants please fill in maiden-name as well as name of husband)
b. First or given names (according to your official passport): ..............
Personal address: ...................................
.....................................................
Country:.............................................
Electronic mail address
Telephone, fax, telex:
Date of birth: Place of birth:
Nationality: Sex: male / female
Present employment:
a. Name and address of employer: .................
...............................................
...............................................
b. Since: ../../..
c. Position – function - specialization
d. Telephone, fax, telex and/or e-mail of the employer:
Education - studies:
Name of institute Degree Date
Knowledge of English: writing: ........ speaking: ........ reading: .......
Have you been abroad earlier? Please specify:
Duties that you will carry out after returning to your country:
.................................................................
.................................................................
Please book a room for me OR
Do NOT book a room for me; I will take care myself of accommodation
Date and signature:………………………………………….
Please include a recent photograph, as this will simplify identifying you upon arrival.