U.S. Embassy sponsored workshop for librarians and teachers

Participants in round group discussions

On September 13, 2008, the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy sponsored a workshop titled “Information Retrieval.” In attendance were 60 librarians and teachers who work in and around the outlying areas of Asmara.

Two panelists, Mr. Arefaine Tecle from the Pavoni Technical School and Mr. Michael Tekie from the British Council discussed “Information Retrieval” in both the digital and non-digital world. They emphasized the various techniques that help any user to retrieve information from any virtual and non-virtual resource centers using various search tools or operators.

The panelists also gave insight on how to structure key terms in various disciplines. This helps expedite in organizing knowledge for relevance and ranking while users retrieve information from any source on Internet, the World Wide Web, Meta search engines, and other databases.

The participants worked in round group discussions and shared their experience and knowledge. Each group engaged in an open debate. At the end, the lively participants of the workshop brought up questions and suggestions on how to better perform searches and how to better educate their customers.