A EXPERIÊNCIA PIONEIRA DO ENSINO À DISTÂNCIA EM TREINAMENTO DE USUÁRIOS DE BIBLIOTECAS UNIVERSITÁRIAS

The aim of this article is to relate our experiences of creating and implementing the first distance education course in “Database norms for scientific publications and research: a complement to educational activities for university library users”. The research was carried out by the Technical Division of Librarianship and Documentation at Universidade Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita Filho” (Botucatu- Rubia Junior campus) and the Center for Distance Health Education and Information Technology at the Botucatu Faculty of Medicine. The study was carried out from August to November 2009 using 10 different university classes. Out of the 128 enrolled students, 63% completed their studies. 37%, however, finished their studies at various stages of the course. Despite these problems, there was positive feedback about adopting the new methodology, which subsequently led to its widespread application in the academic community. The pioneering experience of multidisciplinary teamwork places librarians as ‘knowledge mediators’, thus enabling them to become part of the development of the educational process.