In 1996, Michigan State University produced a library instruction video titled The Big-Time Library Show to teach basic concepts about the campus library system. The video was produced by the campus PBS station and as such was of high quality. While a study of students who watched the video showed it was largely successful, it also pointed out several concepts that needed to be presented differently. The video also failed to address using the World Wide Web for research. In 2000, Michigan State University replaced the video with a multimedia CD-ROM titled Tales from the MSU Stacks. In addition to all new video footage, the CD had interactive exercises, additional text information, and linkages to the World Wide Web. Considerations for libraries contemplating a similar project include time, cost, and an ability to work with a variety of units on campus.
Introduction
The large university library is usually a new and often overwhelming experience for new college freshmen. Yet, despite the unfamiliarity and initial unease the new students feel, the proper use of the academic library is crucial for academic success. Many librarians attempt to reach new students en masse early in the fall semester but this usually occurs at the same time that the students are busy socializing and when everyone else on campus is also trying to reach the students (i.e. the alcohol lecture, the relationships lecture, the residence life lecture, etc.). The library information is easily missed or forgotten.
One solution to this problem is reaching the new students before they come to campus. If the students receive library instruction at home before they are overwhelmed with information on campus, the students may retain the knowledge longer and they should do better in finding and managing the information in the library. Michigan State University first tried this approach in 1996 when a video was produced titled The Big-Time Library Show. This 30 minute video was mailed to over 8,000 new students a year for four years. In 2000, Michigan State University created a library instruction CD-ROM titled Tales from the MSU Stacks that included video, interactive exercise, web connects, and text information to distribute to new students. In the process of making these two multimedia products, several lessons were learned that should be taken into account by other libraries before they pursue similar products.
The Big-Time Library Show
The Big-Time Library Show video was produced in 1996 in cooperation with the campus Public Broadcasting Service station. The quality of the video was high and it looked very much like a popular television program. Librarians, working with the television station staff, scripted a story that examined key concepts about the library. The story followed the experiences of three students who had been assigned a library research assignment. Concepts covered included the differences between high school and university libraries (size, classification system, amount of material), the number of libraries on campus, how to get help in the library, how to use the online catalog, and the differences between magazines and journals. With the exception of the online catalog, no particular electronic resource was shown as it was assumed the video would be used for several years and most electronic resources would change in this time.
The video was mailed in late spring to all new incoming freshmen in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. For the last two years, an introduction to enrolling in courses was included on the same tape after The Big-Time Library Show. Over 30,000 videos were ultimately mailed to students. As the video was received by students who were still in high school, and presumably still excited about going to college, it was assumed that students would watch it. Conversations with students confirmed that this usually occurred. Many of the freshmen writing faculty also screened the video in class despite protests from students that they had already watched it. Some faculty believed it was valuable to have the students watch the video a second time to facilitate discussion. Copies of the video were also sent to any high school teacher who intended to bring a group of students to the library. This allowed the high school students to get a video orientation to the library before they made their visit.
In 1999, the decision was made to update the video. This lead to a study being conducted with 149 students at a local high school. The students were given a pre-test of ten true/false questions that dealt with concepts taught in the video. After this, they watched a screening of the video. This was followed with a post-test identical to the pre-test. It was discovered that the students showed improvement on eight of the ten questions. This indicated a need to improve coverage of these two concepts that the video did not help the students learn which were the proper use of encyclopedias and the coverage of the online catalog.
One area that the video did not cover that proved to be a huge omission was the proper use of the World Wide Web to conduct research. Many Michigan State University students held the mistaken view that the World Wide Web was the primary resource for finding scholarly information. This omission was noted and it was marked for correction in the update.
Tales from the MSU Stacks
The process was begun in 1999 the update The Big-Time Library Show. Initially, the idea was to produce a new video. However, it was decided that instead of a video that the new training tool would be a CD-ROM product instead. The use of a CD would allow for the inclusion of video as well as interactive activities, web connects, and text. Students could also choose to concentrate on certain themes rather than be forced to watch an entire video. The CD was named Tales from the MSU Stacks.
The CD is organized into nine modules. The plot was changed from the video which had featured three students to a collection of individuals stories (hence "tales") of students trying to complete the same assignment. In addition to the prologue and epilogue, modules deal with using the reference section, using the online catalog, looking for scholarly journals, finding books in the stacks, the differences between primary and secondary sources, using the World Wide Web properly for research, and other services of the library.
Tales from the MSU Stacks is organized into four tiers. Tier One is the opening screen which allows users to select which module they want to enter. Tier Two is the screen that allows the user to play the video associated with the module. Users can also navigate to another module or down a level to the next tier. Tier Three shows a picture of a librarian and a student who each talk when clicked on about the key points of the module. This tier also shows the possible activities and web connects the user can choose. Tier Four consists of the activities, text information, and web connects associated with the module. All of the modules except the epilogue have four options while the epilogue has two.
The CD will be used the same way the video was. In both the summer of 2000 and 2001, copies of the CD were given to new freshmen during the academic orientation program. Copies will also be distributed to local high schools on request as well. The product will also be updated as appropriate and the conversion of the CD into a DVD is already being considered.
Considerations
While producing these two multimedia products, several ideas were learned. The time involved is considerable and a library must be prepared to designate several staff members to work on nothing else but the project for at least several months. A library must have good relations with other units on campus involved in creating these types of products. The cost is high not only in staff salaries but in the production and distribution of the final product. Finally, the library itself will be disrupted when activities like filming occurs.
The time to produce either a video or CD should not be underestimated. This will be a time consuming project. It will be at least six to ten months from the initial meetings to the final product is completed. Many library staff members may also have to be used during filming in the library. Several librarians will have to be assigned to design the product and work with camera crews and programmers. At Michigan State University for example, two librarians were pulled from the reference desk for three months to focus primarily on the CD project. Librarians so assigned will be unable to work on these sorts of projects on top of their regular day-to-day jobs. Failure to recognize this will result either in a shoddy product or the inability to produce a finished product at all.
The library will also have to have good work relationships with others on campus for this work. While it certainly possible for a library to do all of the work itself, this is likely to result in a poor product. Most of the library produced videos that this author watched looked amateurish and some were pretty bad. Unless a library wants a Blair Witch Project look, let media professionals make the multimedia products. Personnel from the television industry are needed for quality video products and computer programmers are needed for a good CD product. And good relations with university administrators are important as well for funding. This will be expensive.
The cost is difficult to calculate for a video or CD project. The problem is figuring out the expense of staff salaries. How much of each participating librarian's salary is going towards the project? How about the student workers serving as extras? Also, the cost of the television or computer personnel must be considered. The cost of a camera crew (director, audio person, cameraman, and lighting person) for a day is being absorbed by someone on campus even if the library is not directly paying the salaries for the film crew. For the two Michigan State University projects, actors were hired to portray the students in the story line. This was an added expense that added a great deal of professionalism to the final product but it also cost thousands of dollars each time. The cost of having 8,000 videos or CDs produced or burned was considerable as was the cost of distributing them via mail to the students. While these products were not money pits, they were expensive.
A final consideration is the disruption that these projects can pose to a library. Obviously, if librarians are pulled from their duties to produce or star in a multimedia project, this will impact staff schedules. Further, having filming in the library will make portions of the library and some library services unavailable to patrons for a small period of time. At Michigan State University, the video footage was shot over spring break but it still impacted many of our patrons.
Conclusion
Reaching new students before they arrive on campus can help students learn about the library. Michigan State University did this in the past by distributing a video and currently by distributing a CD. The author believes the video and the CD described in this article are successful in teaching a variety of library skills to new students. The process of producing these products also indicates that it is a time consuming, expensive, potentially disruptive to patrons, and requires good library relationships on campus with other units. Despite this, using a library instruction video and CD has proved to be a successful experience for Michigan State University.
A copy of the Tales from the MSU Stacks can be borrowed from the LOEX Clearinghouse.
Please note that the author is no longer with MSU and is not able to give updates on this project.
Copyright (c) 2002, Michael Lorenzen. All rights reserved.
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