Previous topic: "Information Culture: Concepts and Application"
Karen M. Drabenstott
Associate Professor
School of Information
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1092 USA
Voice: (734) 763-3581
Fax: (734) 764-2475
karen.drabenstott@umich.edu
Many thanks to Robert Bauchspies for hosting our discussion on "Information Culture: Concepts and Application." We had a solid beginning on this topic. I am glad our membership responded with additional discussion about this topic following the mix-up. Thanks again to Robert for making an excellent introduction, summarizing in mid-stream, and finishing things off.
Due to the mix-up you already know our next guest editor is Michelle Swain. Michelle is
the Director of LRC Library Services at Rend Lake College, a small community college in
southern Illinois. She is also enrolled as a doctoral student at Southern Illinois
University Carbondale in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, specializing in
Instructional Development & Technology. She serves on the ACRL Instruction Section
Membership Committee and the Community and Junior College Libraries Section Bibliographic
Instruction Committee. She has also recently taken on the duties of newsletter editor for
the National Council
for Learning Resources, an affiliate of the American Association of Community Colleges.
Please welcome Michelle Swain, our guest editor for "Instructional Development in Academic Libraries." You know the routine. Let's get started.
M i c h e l l e R. S w a i n
Director, LRC Library Services
R e n d L a k e C o l l e g e
http://www.rlc.cc.il.us
mailto: swain@rlc.cc.il.us
There are two kinds of instructional development that occur in academic libraries; one is where librarians help faculty to create instruction, the other is where librarians are creating their own instruction. Since the former is dependent on individual characteristics of institutional cultures, the latter is more obviously a universal activity in academic libraries.
I do not want to resurrect the argument that library schools do not prepare students for an instructional role in libraries. The relative completeness of library science education is a topic that is perennial. This argument is also constrained by a very narrow definition of instruction which focuses on stand-up teaching.
All academic librarians participate in instruction in some way, shape, or form. Public services librarians are delivering instruction with every tour, orientation, class session, handout, brochure, and reference interaction. Technical services librarians instruct support staff, student workers, and each other in the tasks which make libraries work. Administrative librarians apply instructional principles when designing training and other continuing education activities.
I would like to put forth the following ideas to start a dialogue on the topic of instructional development in academic libraries:
I look forward to this discussion about instructional development in academic libraries. Please don't hesitate to share your views.
Cynthia Barrancotto
Reference Librarian
Proctor Library, Flagler College
St. Augustine, Fl
cynthiab@FLAGLER.EDU
These are my thoughts and views about instructional development in academic libraries:
1) Increase in the use of the job title "instruction librarian":
There is an increase in "instruction" which I consider separate from general
reference in our library. This, however, has not resulted in a separate title apart from
"Reference Librarian". I believe academic libraries are increasing their use of
instruction and that this is due in large part to the information needs and information
requirements of incoming and existing students. Entering freshmen come to college with
differing levels of expertise in the use of the Internet and other online databases.
During the "Freshmen Experience" (which is mandatory for all freshmen, and
includes a visit, tour, and "test", of the library) I always ask each class of
students that I am "instructing" ...."What is your experience of ??? and
did you use your high school library for ?????". Some (usually a very few)
cautiously raise their hand or inform me of their prior use of their high school library,
but most have had little experience. The larger majority of students, however, are
familiar with
searching the Internet, but not online databases. So, one can see that the needs of
incoming, novice users increase the role of instruction on the part of the Reference
Librarian.
In addition, faculty present their own set of needs. Some are very aware of and possess the ability to do their own searching. Others, depending upon their age and their unique background may need more instructional help than other, more technologically adept faculty.
When I spend what I shall call "quality time" with students I consider myself an information counselor because I am counseling the user as I teach and explain the information to him. This is a unique free-flowing encounter in which creativity and serendipity can often result. This may actually go beyond sheer instruction because you are creating a learning environment for the student. If done properly, the user becomes more aware of not only his own searching abilities but also the wealth of information that is available to him. Both librarian and student benefit in equally satisfying ways.
2) Academic librarians: consulting the literature, models of I.D., winging it?
I can only speak for myself here. I consult the literature because I enjoy seeing and learning what others in the field are doing. I do this by reading the library literature that our library subscribes to , by reading online information pertinent to LIS, and by reading materials sent to me from the professional associations I belong to. It has been my experience that many in our profession (especially ones nearing retirement, or perhaps ones displaying signs of burnout) could care less about anything new, at all, in the world of librarianship. They are merely passing time. This is why it is exciting to either mentor new members of our profession or to limit professional time so that one is in the company of others who are constant learners, or who want to learn how to be better at what they do.
"Winging it" is something most of us do from time to time depending on the need that arises. Some are better at this than others. Some freeze at the sheer thought of doing something new or different. Many librarians are uncomfortable "instructing" or teaching, especially if the group is large. I think this is a skill that can be learned, if necessary, but it is obvious that some are more comfortable and successful than others. An uncomfortable professional can negatively impact the user. A secure professional can instill not only a sense of relief to the person(s) he is instructing but also a sense of mastery.
3) School library model and I.D. in academic libraries?
I am not familiar with the school library media model. It is possible that including this (unless it already exists) in the LIS curriculum for those students who have chosen an acedemic library tract in graduate school, would be beneficial. However, many academic libraries may offer their own version of instructional development. The size of the academic community would determine this, as would the mission, and the requirements of the individual school, college, or university.
Anthony Debons
debons@lis.pitt.edu
Cynthia: Bravo.
M i c h e l l e R. S w a i n
Director, LRC Library Services
R e n d L a k e C o l l e g e
http://www.rlc.cc.il.us
mailto: swain@rlc.cc.il.us
If you are finding it difficult to get excited about this topic, it's o.k. Let me see if I can get things rolling...
I was doing a literature search about library instruction in community colleges this past week and discovered something interesting. There was a huge upsurge of publishing activity regarding academic library instruction in the late 1970's and early to mid 1980's but relatively little since then.
What might be some reasons for this? Did all of those people get tenure and then celebrate the fact they were no longer required to publish? Maybe dance around and It looks to me like one of the reasons for the drop off might be that few are consulting the literature, and therefore see no need to contribute to it. Does anyone see a threat to the broader field of library science here, in that we won't have a common body of knowledge if it's allowed to fade away?...Don't go too far off on this tangent.
Do you as librarians, of all types of libraries as well as academic, feel like educators? Do you see teachers at all levels as comrades in arms, or as bothersome addenda to our mission of library service?
Ned Fielden, San Francisco State University
Reference/Instruction 1600 Holloway Ave.
J. Paul Leonard Library SF, CA 94132-4030
fielden@sfsu.edu 415.338.1454
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~fielden
Thanks for introducing an interesting topic.
Sounds like one of the concerns raised is how aware of pedagogical literature is the
teaching librarian these days? I suspect that the
answer will parallel that of the rest of the folks teaching in the academic environment --
some are very aware, and make adjustments in their classes/workshops accordingly, while
others are not. Many of us have found ourselves in teaching roles all of a sudden, and
have not had much of a chance to reflect very heavily on the teaching business. (In this
we differ from most of the other faculty on a campus, who while they often did not receive
any "teaching education" in their graduate programs [outside of doing a TA job
for a professor] at least had the expectation of a hefty teaching role when they attained
their first academic position.)
I do not know if I am typical or not, but on my campus I am in charge of our library's Education program, which includes the perhaps standard mechanisms to address student information education (workshops, course related "guest lectures") as well as credit courses and our university's exit requirement for information competence (previously called the "Library requirement" or terms less complimentary.) In addition I am on various university committees for General Education and the like, and so have a view of education issues campus-wide.
Some of what we are involved in doing is not different from "regular" faculty, and we have to reflect on curriculum and other program issues, but in the instructional arena we have some unique wrinkles.
Many of our sessions (here, everything except our full semester credit courses) have very limited time frames -- an hour lecture, a three hour lab session -- a very short time with which to work. Getting concepts across to students quickly and clearly is the main challenge, and I have come to appreciate the problems of saturation bombing on the undergraduate mind.
Sometimes, especially in introductory sessions, I feel almost like someone teaching a new language to people who have never heard it before. There is vocabulary and syntax, and the best thing that can happen is that students pick up enough working knowledge to begin their first "conversation" with a database. The more they can get out there and keep talking (and getting results) the better. Speaking with colleagues around the country, I note that anyone who gets to work in a computer lab situation reports vastly improved results when the "hands on" component is built in to an instructional session, and this observation is supported by the literature. (Most recently Bren, Hillemann & Topp. RS 1998)
But the time constraints are always there -- you balance theory with practice, trying to introduce enough of a background understanding to make the process intelligible, but also to provide concrete experience with useful tools that can go to work immediately for the students. It often is a very "bottom line" situation, and people want results as immediately as possible. But then, of course, we are then able to discourse on the nature of research and its tradition of careful, even tedious, sifting of data in order to attain insight.
Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe
Library Instruction Coordinator
Milner Library
Illinois State University
Campus Box 8900
Normal, Illinois 61790-8900
309-438-7045 (voice)
309-438-3676 (fax)
Lisa@exchange1.mlb.ilstu.edu
Hello all! I just learned of this discussion group yesterday and am really interested
in this thread since library instruction is "my thing"
that I care passionately about and particularly about doing it well! Unfortunately,
I missed the first posting with the original set of
questions so I need to go got those from the website.
On this question, perhaps the drop off in literature was due to your focus on instruction in community college libraries? I just did a quick run-through in Library Literature with the subject heading phrase "bibliographic instruction" and got:
711 hits in 1985-1989
973 hits in 1990-1994
724 hits in 1995-1998
Seems like a bit more than "relatively little"?
Leaving aside the question of numbers, I do wonder whether we 'use' our own professional literature enough. It is time-consuming to do literature reviews and one doesn't always find useful information. On the other hand, if we as a profession believe in the value and power of information, it seems odd that we wouldn't do literature reviews for our own work. I also wonder though if librarians have adequate access to the professional resources that they might use. I am fortunate to work at a library with a large number of library science journal subscriptions and the journals are routed to the librarians. I know this makes me much more likely to keep up on what is in the literature since it arrives in my box weekly. Most libraries, however, it seems do not have a collection of professional journals for their librarians beyond American Libraries and one or two others.
I definitely see myself as an educator and think that librarians here are perceived on campus as educators. However, I know this is not a universal sentiment among librarians as a profession much less among all other educators and leaders.
M i c h e l l e R. S w a i n
Director, LRC Library Services
R e n d L a k e C o l l e g e
http://www.rlc.cc.il.us
mailto: swain@rlc.cc.il.us
I might have picked the wrong topic for the wrong time of year, but I'm going to try to liven things up. :)
Is no one going to admit to being a little wary of the instructional responsibilities
of academic reference librarians? All of you, or those
who you know working in this area, are 100% satisfied with your preparation and
performance in instructional situations?
Instructional development is not just a recipe for teaching. It is a collection of systematic methods to create, deliver, EVALUATE, and IMPROVE instruction. Aren't we all concerned with our users, how they view the library, how satisfied they are with their library experiences, and whether or not they learned something new? Instructional development can give you the tools you need to answer these questions.
Is anyone willing to describe the process they use to create instructional units in academic libraries? How do you decide what to include on a tour of the library? Do you try to measure whether or not that handout you created about e-mail is really effective?
Please, don't be too shy to share your views or experiences with us.
Alice Randlett
arandlet@uwsp.edu
I have a joint appointment in the library and in the School of Education where I teach a course for students who work in a writing center tutoring their peers. There is no comparison in terms of satisfaction between teaching one-shot, elementary, skills-based library stuff and having my own class for a semester-long intellectual journey. It's not that I don't think library instruction is important, it is, but I have come to believe that the best instruction occurs in the Reference Room at point of need. It may be more efficient to teach hour-long intro classes but I think we're kidding ourselves about making much of a difference. Education is as much about the community created in the classroom over time as it is about subject matter being stuffed into craniums. After 29 years in my position, I admire and am grateful to those librarians who can continue year in and out to do this work but I no longer have the heart for it.
Ilene Frank, Reference Dept.
Tampa Campus Library, LIB 122
University of South Florida, Tampa FL 33620
ifrank@lib.usf.edu Work 813.974.2483
http://www.lib.usf.edu/~ifrank/
Michelle Swain asked:
"Is no one going to admit to being a little wary of the instructional responsibilities of academic reference librarians? All of you, or those who you know working in this area, are 100% satisfied with your preparation and performance in instructional situations?"
Were we all adequately trained in educational theory, classroom management techniques, writing lesson plans, developing evaluation and assessment tools? Any of it? I venture to guess nope. I would like to suggest that reading about it may not be the only way to learn about it. Here at the University of South Florida a number of us have taken workshops through our Center for Teaching Enhancement ( http://www.cte.usf.edu/ ) Anyone else availing themselves of this kind of opportunity?
Ru Story-Huffman
Associate Librarian
Cumberland College
Williamsburg, KY
rshuff@cc.cumber.edu
I too, am passionate about this topic and wish I'd "jumped" in earlier. I have been an instructional librarian for 4 years. My first year, I began my job 2 weeks before orientations began and just assumed all information from the previous occupant. As time has progressed, I've changed the program and believe it will never be "done." With the implementation of a web-based card catalog, library home page and more web-based delivery systems, I've had to revise, re-tune and re-educate. A quick survey of my Internet bookmark file shows more sites for library instruction than most other categories. I've spent a lot of time in the "research" end of the process, as my previous experience was in public libraries and our instruction was one-on-one/as needed (i.e.: nothing really formal). I have found discussion with others, conference attendance (LOEX is in a few days and I'm headed to my first LOEX conference w/ great expectations and hopes!) and journal readings have helped. I've learned to keep the lines of communication open with professors and to tailor my classes to topics of relevance. More and more I am requested to present Internet training sessions where we talk about re/search on the web, web page evaluation and subject specific web sites of note. I guess what I am really saying is that in order to fully meet the goals I've set for myself as an instructional librarian, I have to try to stay one step ahead of my students, be willing to devote the extra time and, most of all, enjoy what I am doing.
Robert Bauchspies
Middleburg, VA 20118
bauchspr@mediasoft.net
Michelle & co.,
I do find this to be an important topic for several reasons, least of which is the very substance of instruction performed by librarians. As I am the Research Services Librarian for a small independent Federal agency that functions in analogy with a corporate library in a financial house (with a policy mission), I can but share my current experience in instruction from this perspective. I would argue however, that instruction performed by librarians has similar traits across diverse institutional types.
Consider the following observations:
The upshot is that bibliographic instruction (BI), a trademark of one of the many attributes of a Reference Librarian, has moved well beyond citation indexes and readers guides to how to actually use (with efficiency) the interactive tools libraries are purchasing in masse. Traditional BI hasn't gone away but increasingly, searching for full text documents on demand in their immediacy of delivery is increasingly a default expectation of the Internet generation. Thus, time constraints in accommodating this trend is resulting in the splintering of responsibilities, new divisions of labor and yes, new job titles and roles.
From an education point of view regarding the profession however, I fall back on my belief that advanced generalists have more to offer in the long term as well as have greater career opportunities through such multi-competency cultivation.
Chiefly, and this is in keeping with the practice of many academic institutions, the rotating of professional librarians to the reference desk supports this posture and that instruction, research, technical competency, subject expertise and a continuing current professional awareness will make for that much more value-added talent to any given library and information service as long as the communication skills remain well developed and regularly used.
So, accept the trends in the specialty ranks as well as the tracts in any given LIS program but try to keep the big picture within arms reach for your own identity's sake.
What is an Internet Librarian anyway? just another librarian perhaps? It depends on who you are speaking with. Instructors beware.
Nancy Niles
SUNY Cobleskill
Cobleskill NY 12043
nilesne@cobleskill.edu
518 255 5849
I am responding from one library that has suspended its very successful instruction program to reconsider what the library really should be doing to promote information literacy/research skills on campus. During the 13 years of my position as the Instruction Librarian at this 2-year agricultural & technical college with student enrollment of about 2000, I seem to have run the whole gamut of instructional design possibilities. In 1986 I took over an already well-developed BI program which had the following elements:
Within a year we were no longer providing general "tours" for professors, insisting that BI be related to an assignment. We quickly abandoned the self-guided tour. After a few years we threw out the slide/tape, since it really was trying to teach research concepts out of any real context, and just gave tours to all new students. Then we stopped giving tours 3 years ago, due to declining student participation. I had always been somewhat doubtful of these tours making any lasting impression anyway.
Most of the instruction I did (160 classes a year) was course-related sessions, designed to help students do a specific research assignment. At first I followed the pattern of the librarian before me (also taught in my reference course at library school as a standard procedure) and developed "Pathfinders" or checklists of reference tools, indexes, subject headings. Students rarely used them. Then I started creating sequenced step-by-step worksheets which students had to hand in to their professors. That worked a bit better and faculty were receptive to assigning them.
I have also tried elective credit courses. At first my course was so popular I opened up another section. After 5 years, it became obvious that the number of students reached (10 per semester) did not warrant my expenditure of time and effort. I also developed, at the request of one of our departments, a one-credit semester course for their majors only, and taught 4 sections of that course each semester. I can't claim that was very successful, either. Even though the content was directly related to the students' major, they were not invested in it.
Out of everything I tried the only approach that really worked -- we could see evidence of learning from observations at the reference desk -- was course-integrated instruction, where the teaching about research occurred throughout the course AND where it was sequenced throughout the 2 years students were in a program. As the assignments became more demanding and requiring of greater depth of research, then students learned about more sophisticated tools and techniques. I no longer teach these classes; the faculty member does and quite successfully.
I have an MA in Education, which I got before my MLS. I never had a course in instructional design in either program, but I think that if I had, I would have immediately understood why 50 minute BI just does not accomplish what both professors and librarians want. The rapid changes in technology are even now forcing librarians to rethink their instructional programs. Our design of library web sites will become critical since they will be the only encounter many students may have with the library. (We have seen a dramatic drop-off in reference and circulation transactions since our campus has become wired. Students do research from their dorm rooms or the computer lab, not the library.)
My fear is that the web-based research instruction that we create will be just the same old approaches that didn't work in the first place transposed to the web. It is imperative that we take the time to educate ourselves, since library schools do not, about how to design/redesign our information systems and provide point-of-use on-demand instruction to accommodate changing user needs and behaviors.
Dr. Diane Nahl, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Information and Computer Sciences, Library and Information Science Program
2550 The Mall, Honolulu, HI 96822
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~nahl
voice: 808-956-5809 FAX: 808-956-5835
Forthcoming book: Strategic Research Workbook: Tools for Reference and Instruction
Librarians
nahl@hawaii.edu
Nancy Niles makes a very important point about the changing nature of instruction in academic libraries, and how traditional models have to evolve as students accept remote access more and more. "It is imperative that we take the time to educate ourselves, since library schools do not, about how to design/redesign our information systems and provide point-of-use on-demand instruction to accommodate changing user needs and behaviors."
However, there are a number of programs that have responded to the repeated calls from ACRL Instruction Section to teach courses to addressthese evolving instructional needs. I agree that LIS education needs to place greater importance on user instruction, especially designing for particular user groups, testing designs routinely, and testing long-held assumptions about how students learn research skills in a networked environment.
You may join the discussion and look over the list of past and future topics.
