Skills Required

University of Alabama
School of Library and Information Studies

Computer skills requirements

Below is a list of computing skills that UA SLIS faculty requires you have prior to enrolling in classes. These are basics without which you will not succeed as a student or as a library/information professional. You can acquire these skills through courses at a community college or a computer training center, or through books, or online tutorials (e.g., http://helpdesk.ua.edu/training/index.html). To assess your readiness to start the program at UA SLIS, use the following checklist to assess your skills and knowledge (grade each one on a scale of none-minimal-fair-good-excellent):


Basic hardware/software

Start up, log on, and shut down a computer system properly
Use a mouse pointing device
Use a virus checking program; know how to avoid viruses
Use Help
Identify and use icons (folders, files, applications, shortcuts)
Minimize, maximize, move windows
Identify types of files (e.g., .doc, .pdf, .xls, .html, .gif)
Check how much space is left on a floppy disk or other storage device
Back up files
Download and install software on hard disk


Document processing

Create and save documents of various types
Copy and paste text
Print a document
Name, rename, copy, and delete files
Create, name, rename an appropriate hierarchy of folders/files
Use Word or other word processing software to write a paper including formatting, saving as a .pdf document type, and working w/ graphics and tables.

Internet

Set up an Internet connection
Connect to the Internet
View a Web site or homepage on the Internet
Use search engines and directories to find things on the Web
*Log into My Bama account (see https://mybama.ua.edu/cp/home/displaylogin )
*Set-up a UA Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection see
( http://helpdesk.ua.edu/internet/vpn.html  )
Use e-mail to read, send, save, forward, export messages
Attach/receive a document file to/with an e-mail message
Subscribe to listservs
Download documents from web - doc, jpeg, pdf, etc. - to specific 
locations / folders / drives
Play video and audio files from web
Use web forms
Use of Instant Messaging (IM) software
Use of discussion boards
Navigate complex website
Blogging
 
Moving files around

Copy files from hard disk to storage devices and vice versa
Use file transfer protocol (ftp) to upload/download files, preferably with secure software
such as WS-FTP and SSH

Additional skills

Unpack and create a .zip file
Use Excel or other spreadsheet software
Use a database application
Use Power Point
Use media players such as Realplayer, Windows Media Player, Apple QuickTime

In order to succeed in SLIS courses your skills should rank at a good to excellent level. If an instructor finds that you do not have the required skills and knowledge, you will be asked to withdraw from the course.

*One essential procedure that you will not be able to perform until you have registered for courses and are entered in the UA SLIS computer system is the setting up of your my BAMA computer account and VPN access.