Electronic Information Training Center (EITC) Policies and Procedures 

General Room-use Policies

The mission of the Electronic Information Training Center (EITC), located in Helmke Library (LB440A) is to support information literacy at IPFW by providing a comfortable, well-equipped environment for library instruction.  The facility is used by librarians and other instructors as a schedulable classroom-computer lab to present sessions on search strategy and the effective use of databases and indexes and other resources in library research.  The EITC facility exists to support the goals of IPFW’s Librarian-Faculty Information Literacy Partnership.

No permanent use of the EITC as a schedulable classroom-computer lab or student-access computing lab is allowed.  The EITC may be reserved a maximum of four times per class, training series, or group, per semester.  Additional reservations and use of the EITC for any regularly scheduled IPFW class or training series, or by groups not listed below must be approved by the Outreach Coordinator or Head of Reference & Information Services .

Software applications that need to be specially installed on EITC workstations must be authorized by the library’s automation coordinator.  All installations require one week's notice, at minimum.

Food or drink is not allowed in the EITC

EITC Instructors, Users, and Goals

First-time EITC instructors must meet with a librarian and complete a brief certification process (PDF). The following instructor and user groups, listed in priority order, are eligible to schedule the EITC facility to support the following instructional goals.

1. Helmke Library librarians and staff: To support information literacy by providing library instruction, staff training, database demonstrations, or other library-related presentations or training sessions to IPFW students, faculty, or staff, or members of the community.
2. IPFW full-time faculty and associate faculty: To support information literacy by providing instruction or training to IPFW students, faculty, or staff, or members of the community.
3. IPFW Information Technology Services (ITS) staff and other administrative staff: To provide instruction or training involving the use of computers to IPFW students, faculty, staff, or members of the community.
4. Area librarians or educators, representatives of library cooperatives or library organizations, or producers of electronic resources: To provide instruction or training involving the use of computers to IPFW students, faculty, or staff, or members of the community.

Successful Instruction in the EITC

Instructors should arrive ten (10) minutes prior to the start of the session and be prepared to secure the room and all equipment at the conclusion of a presentation.

Technical assistance and advice can be obtained in advance from the outreach coordinator (Tiff Adkins at 481-6708 or adkinst@ipfw.edu).

The library's homepage contains a wealth of useful guide and tools for successful information foraging and instruction. See especially the following:

• IIFE Integrated Information Foraging Environment
• Librarian-Faculty Information Literacy Partnership
• Library Guides
• EITC Electronic Information Training Center

Scheduling the EITC

The EITC can be reserved by contacting the library's administrative assistant Amy Wilson (by phone at 481-6514 or by e-mail at wilsona@ipfw.edu) at least three working days in advance of the needed date. Please identify alternate dates.

An instructor who is not on the list of certified users may schedule the room prior to being certified, but must arrange to meet with a librarian before the date of the session to complete the EITC certification process.

The EITC calendar may be viewed by librarians and at the library’s Service Desk, but reservations can be scheduled only by contacting the library’s administrative assistant.  Potential schedule conflicts will be resolved by the administrative assistant and the instructors involved.