In the 2020 winter semester, the Central Library of the Faculty of Science hosted a series of 12 workshops and seminars focusing on information handling, led by our librarians and external experts. The project, titled “Podpora doktorandských studentů v rozvoji informační gramotnosti a akademických dovedností” (MUNI/FR/1135/2019) – “Information Literacy and Academic Skills Development Support for Postgraduate Students” (unofficial title), was realized thanks to the “Fond rozvoje MU” fund.
The objective of the seminars and workshops was to provide students with a set of information, tutorials, advice and knowledge on information resources as a background for their scientific and research activities. Information literacy and academic skills section focused on the ability to retrieve relevant, high-quality and complete information, and to process them into a publishable and presentable scientific paper. Stress was also put on mastering citation analysis, as a part of scientific work and communication in both electronic and printed form.
“Due to the current COVID-19-related epidemiological situation and measures taken in the CR and within the Masaryk University, we shifted from intended in-person training to the on-line form of education and hosting the seminars on the MS Teams platform. It was no obstacle to any of the lecturers and all the lessons took place as scheduled, in the winter semester, in a 90-minute lesson scheme,” said Taťána Škarková, the head of the Central Library of the Faculty of Science, MU.
Shifting to the on-line form eventually appeared to be an added value. Thanks to this opportunity, there were many Faculty of Science Ph.D. students based in the University Campus at Bohunice able to attend the seminars, while the necessity of presence at Kotlářská Street could have been a hindrance. “Distance education thus led rather to bigger students’ interest and enhanced the possibility to attend the lectures. Some enrolled multiple times in various seminars and chose topics according to their own preferences,” said Škarková.
Abstracts of the seminars, including the dates and audio or text recordings, are available on the Central Library of the Faculty of Science website.
There is also an electronic handbook for the project called Informační minimum aneb Akademické dovednosti do kapsy (Information basics or Pocket Academic skills, unofficial title), which simply and concisely explains the very core of all the topics contained in the information education seminars within the project. The handbook is above all a guidepost with many references that a postgraduate student might find useful.
On September 27, 2024, over two hundred enthusiastic scientists, teachers and students prepared 62 stands on the theme ‘Transformations in the natural sciences and mathematics’, attracting more than 4,500 visitors to both SCI MUNI campuses.
On September 24, a group of graduates from the teacher training program in mathematics and physics visited us. They completed their studies in 1970, so we gave them a tour to show how the faculty has changed since then.
