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Title:
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THE UK VOLUNTARY SECTOR WORKFORCE: KEY SKILLS FOR THE INFORMATION AGE |
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Author(s):
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Daisy Hodgson , Maggie Mcpherson |
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ISBN:
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972-98947-5-2 |
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Editors:
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Pedro Isaías, Piet Kommers and Maggie McPherson |
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Year:
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2004 |
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Edition:
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1 |
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Keywords:
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Voluntary sector, skills gaps, information skills, information literacy, evaluation skills, cognitive mapping. |
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Type:
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Full Paper |
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First Page:
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103 |
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Last Page:
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110 |
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Language:
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English |
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Cover:
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Full Contents:
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click to dowload 
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Paper Abstract:
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Information skills are clearly becoming more important to individuals at all levels of society. According to Europe Go
Digital (2002: 1) What matters most in a knowledge-based society are people and ideas, and the ability to make use of
them. This paper focuses on needs of workers within the UK voluntary sector and attempts to identify information skills
in particular. These needs were initially investigated through a thorough literature review. Further empirical research
compared five small-scale case-studies within voluntary sector organisations in South Yorkshire. The findings revealed
that skills in harnessing and sharing information are invaluable within the sector. The importance of individual
judgement and knowledge was also stressed by respondents. Whilst it is clear that these skills are not uniquely required
by voluntary sector workers, it does seem that a certain combination of these skills may be of particular value. Given
that this was a small-scale research project, much more investigation is required in this area, including such needs as
basic literacy; information awareness and evaluation; writing, editing and presentation skills; verbal communication and
networking skills; information seeking and the use of ICTs. |
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