Jumat, 12 Juni 2009

Library and Information Technology

If you enjoy working in a library setting and have an interest in technology, you should consider enrolling in the Library and Information Technology (LIT) program. Students in this program tend to be detail oriented. They enjoy assisting others and utilizing computer technology.

The LIT program is suitable for persons seeking entry-level employment in either public or private libraries. The curriculum is also ideal for current paraprofessional and professional library employees who seek specialized training in new technologies.

Graduates of the LIT program are generally employed in either library technical services or public services.

In both, they utilize technical expertise to assist in either library operations or client services.

As a specialist in technical library services, graduates of the LIT program work in cataloging, requisitioning of library materials, or collection management. In the public service sector, graduates assist clients with locating needed materials and they respond to reference requests.

Graduates are employed in libraries, media areas, learning resources, information and instructional materials centers and with other organizations engaged in library-related activities. They are prepared for jobs with any organization that use technology to process, manage, and communicate information.

The CCCC Library and Information Technology program is the only one of its kind in North Carolina and one of only four in the United States.

The first unique feature is that it has been developed in cooperation with library professionals across the state and nation making sure that the focus of providing staff development needs is preserved.

The second unique feature is that this program is offered totally via distance education meaning that a student may earn an Associate Degree in Library and Information Technology, a diploma, or a certificate by using the Internet in your own home or at your own workplace. As a distance education program, students from across the state are utilizing this unique learning opportunity.

The highly specialized instruction is led by an outstanding faculty of professional librarians and teachers. All members of the faculty have a minimum of an advanced degree, all with an earned Master's Degree in Library Science and some with an earned Doctorate Degree in the field.

The curriculum was developed and continues to be refined with the assistance of an active and diverse Advisory Committee. The committee includes professional librarians from public and private institutions including community colleges, public school systems and major state universities.

As a distance education program, the LIT instruction is literally available at all times of the day and night. Students are able to fit their academic endeavors around their busy professional and personal lives. All library courses are offered by CCCC. Students have the option of taking related area classes via distance education at CCCC or by enrolling at local community colleges.

A variety of credentials is available. An Associate in Applied Science Degree, diploma, and certificate are offered.

Subject matter covered in the LIT program includes information resources and services, aquistions and collection management, cataloging and classifying, library program development, electronic databases, public services operations, and audiovisual equipment operations and maintenance. Additionally, there is a strong emphasis on technology courses including computer applications, the Internet, operating systems, PC diagnostics and configurations, web development tools, and networking.

When do I have to come to the CCCC campus?
Library and Information Technology students are not required to come to a CCCC campus at any time. Procedures have been established for submitting assignments and taking exams, student advising, course registration and payment, bookstore purchases, and course orientation.

Do I have to take all of the courses for this program through CCCC?
All of the library-related courses must be taken online through CCCC. Other courses in the program may be taken from CCCC through Distance Education or may be taken from a community college of the student's choice.

What are the students like who take this program?
Most of the students in the Library and Information Technology program currently work in libraries. They are a wonderful source of information for students interested in obtaining their first library jobs.

How do Library and Info Technology students and instructors communicate?
A strong emphasis is placed on what is called Discussion Board participation in the library-related courses. Students are assigned specific topics to discuss and classmates and instructors respond. There is some flexibility in when students participate in the Discussion Board, but definite requirements need to be met. The requirements are clearly outlined by instructors. In addition, students and instructors communicate through email and by telephone.

How much work is involved in the library related courses?
Although there is flexibility in the library-related online courses, students should not expect them to be easier than courses in a traditional classroom setting. For example, there are definite due dates and expectations for assignments.
As with all college courses, students should expect to spend, on the average, two hours per week for each course's semester hour credit. Therefore, if a course is a 3 semester hour credit course, students can expect to spent 6 hours per week in course preparation.

Course Integrated Library Instruction


by Joan Ormondroyd

After years of concentrating on graduate programs and research projects, colleges and universities across the country are beginning to respond to public concerns about the quality of undergraduate education by reinstating foreign language requirements and core programs in the liberal arts (see issues of the CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION and FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS).

It is not surprising that librarians are also becoming more concerned with the quality and depth of the instructional programs they are offering students. Traditional programs have included workbooks and credit courses (most often general in scope and not subject related) or course-related, single-session lectures where the content of the library session is related to the subject matter of the course, but where there is generally no further contact with the course until the next semester when the same 50-minute session is presented once more. We are now beginning to see a trend, if not away from these forms of bibliographic instruction, then at least in a direction complementary to them. More and more librarians are finding ways to integrate library instruction into existing courses in a manner that makes library resources and the methodology for finding them an essential and basic component of the course.

As early as 1979 Guskin, Stoffle, and Boise (1979) were advocating a larger teaching role for librarians and suggesting that the direction bibliographic instruction would take into the 1980s would be toward the integration of library instruction into the academic curriculum. In 1983, Constance Mellon wrote that such total integration was indeed desirable, but would be difficult to achieve since, "faculty do not view librarianship as an intellectual discipline equivalent to their own. [They] feel that the existing course-related library instruction is sufficient to meet student needs" (Mellon, 1983).

INTEGRATED INSTRUCTION

I would like to suggest that the work done by bibliographic instruction librarians over the past 15 years has changed, at least to some extent, the negative image of librarians held by some faculty, and has paved the way for the kind of integrated instruction that is occurring in some academic institutions today. In addition, the advent of database searching, CD ROM players, and online catalogs has caused faculty to turn to librarians for help in greater numbers than ever before. As a result of these factors (and perhaps others as well), faculty are beginning to recognize the expertise of reference librarians and to acknowledge the desirability of working with them as equals. For an instructional program to be truly integrated, such recognition and acknowledgement are essential; we know from long experience that, unless the instructor of a given course cooperates fully with the librarian, any instruction on library use given in that course remains peripheral to it.

Course-integrated library instruction requires that the librarian and the instructor work together closely in planning research assignments and in introducing students to the library. It requires that the research expertise of the librarian be recognized as an important component in completing course assignments. It also requires that the librarian thoroughly understand the goals of the course and that he/she have a basic knowledge of the subject matter. The librarian and the instructor become working partners in preparing the assignment and in working it through with the students. It may also require that the librarian be involved in the evaluation and grading of the papers for the course.

STEPS TO TAKE

Course-integrated instruction generally grows out of course-related instruction and develops in those classes where an ongoing relationship has already been established. When the librarian feels comfortable with a course and its instructor, but also feels frustration about the lack of follow-through and depth in the library component of the course, it is his/her responsibility to promote the enhancements that integration can provide. Librarians must not be shy about inviting instructors to talk about these enhancements and the value they can have for the course.

Thought must be given to the kinds of assignments that will be appropriate for the class being taught, but which will also bring students into the library and cause them to use the library's resources in their discipline. Critical, annotated bibliographies are probably the most popular choice, but instructors may be reluctant to follow through with the term paper that should be the outgrowth of such an assignment. Depending on the subject matter of the course, other in-depth assignments might take the form of biographical studies, scientific research, or a comparison or analysis of sources. These assignments might ultimately result in an oral presentation in class or a written essay on a final exam.

Whatever the assignment, its goal should be to introduce students to a wide span of library resources and to make them comfortable in using these sources.

It is easier to evaluate an integrated library program than most other types of library instruction programs since one of the aspects of such a program is the librarian's involvement in the assignment and the grading of that assignment. Faculty are also more willing to participate in the evaluation of the program when they know that the librarian has as much of a stake in the class as they do.

ADVANTAGES

Because it is more intense than course-related instruction and involves the student in library research at a much deeper level, course-integrated library instruction allows for a more cognitive approach to research methodology. David Kohl and Lizabeth Wilson, in a study conducted at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, found that students whose introduction to the libraries was through such an approach did a "statistically significant better job of accessing and using library resources" (Kohl & Wilson, 1986). They also suggest that the more traditional forms of course-related instruction (which they refer to as "the one size fits all" program) pay inadequate attention to the differences in discipline organization and rely too heavily on a basic research strategy that fails to change from one course to the next. By changing that approach and relating the research needs of the class with the way library materials in that discipline are structured, coursework in those classes with which they worked actually improved.

A study at Cornell had similar findings. In one of the courses with which the Undergraduate Library is currently involved in an "integrated" way, the instructor has established that the "average grade for papers was up 1.75 points from previous semesters. There were almost no complaints about grading--something that has been an issue in the past. There were no cases of plagiarism" (Ormondroyd & Parrot, 1988).

In addition to its cognitive advantages, course-integrated instruction mandates that there will always be a library research assignment as part of the course curriculum. Currie, Goettler, & McCaskill have demonstrated that the use of a "compulsory library assignment was vital to maximizing absorption and retention of basic library knowledge" (1982). Yet many instruction librarians have had the experience of having to argue with faculty who assume that general introduction to "how the library works" is going to stick with the unmotivated undergraduate. Once an instructor has been won over to integrating the library instruction into the course, the assignment becomes a given rather than an issue to argue over.

Finally, the librarian who is an integral part of a given course is viewed as a colleague by the instructor of that course and gains stature in the eyes of the students as well.

DISADVANTAGES

As with all programs there are some drawbacks to course- related library instruction. It is, first of all, very time and energy consuming. Any librarian involved in such a course must plan on meeting with the instructor a number of times. He or she will undoubtedly make several appearances before the class during the course of the semester. If the subject area is a fairly new one for the librarian, he/she may find it necessary to sit in on a number of the lectures and to do at least some of the reading for the course.

Colleagues at the reference desk may become resentful when the students in the course ask specifically for the librarian associated with that course. Although this happens in course-related instruction as well, the problem is exacerbated when the librarian-instructor is not only the one who has worked closely with the instructor, but has also created the assignments and is doing the grading. In such a case it may not be appropriate for other librarians to answer students' procedural questions (e.g., when the paper is due, may I have an extension, how long should the annotations be). However, students who actually have subject related questions and could be helped by any of the reference librarians will still ask for the librarian who is named in their syllabus. You may be pulled out of your office time and time again, only to find that what the student needed was to be taught how to use the SOCIAL SCIENCE CITATION INDEX and assumed that only you could teach him.

And finally, the assignment, which is generally seen as an advantage in this form of instructional program, also has the disadvantage of having to be graded by someone. In many cases the instructor is happy to let the librarian do that grading. In very large classes the instructor can sometimes be persuaded to let the librarian teach the teaching assistants how to grade the assignments. In either case, there is a time commitment of some proportion and anyone undertaking an integrated library program must be prepared to make it.

CONCLUSION

The leaders of the bibliographic instruction movement have long advocated the integration of library instruction into academic courses and many consider it the ideal form of library instruction. Librarians benefit from it in heightened prestige and improved relations with faculty, to say nothing of the value of working with students who understand the research process. Students benefit from the assignments and follow-through connected with such instruction. Although there are drawbacks in the amount of time and energy demanded by such a program, any library that can possibly afford to should develop course-integrated programs. As libraries continue to grow and become more complex, the demands for such instruction will increase and we must be prepared to meet them.

REFERENCES

Currie, Margaret, Goettler, Elaine, & McCaskill, Sandra. (1982, February). Evaluating the relationship between library skills and library instruction. CANADIAN LIBRARY JOURNAL 39(1): 35-37.

Guskin, Alan E., Stoffle, Carla, & Boisse, James. (1979, Fall). The academic library as a teaching library: A role for the 1980s. LIBRARY TRENDS 28: 281-296.

Kohl, David F. & Wilson, Lizabeth A. (1986, Winter). Effectiveness of course-integrated bibliographic instruction in improving coursework. RQ 26(2): 206-211.

Mellon, Constance A. (1983, Winter). Instruction librarian as change agent. RESEARCH STRATEGIES 1(1): 4-13.

Ormondroyd, Joan & Parrot, Andrea. (1988, Fall). Making real changes: A president's initiative grant at work. CUE (Cornell Undergraduate Education) 2(4): 3-4.

Copyright Note

This webpage is a copy of the ERIC Digest, Course Integrated Library Instruction published by the US Federal government. ERIC Digests are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced and disseminated. The text from that digest on this page is in the public domain. All other information on this page (including the arrangment of the subject matter) is copyright (c) 2003 Michael Lorenzen.

The Role of Libraries in Literacy Education

by Schamber, Linda

Illiteracy among Americans, with its social and economic implications, has become a growing concern in recent years. National awareness of problems associated with limited literacy skills has led to legislation, beginning at the federal level, to fund new literacy programs and expand existing programs. Libraries and information centers are viewed as an important component of this massive educational effort.

NATIONAL AWARENESS AND SUPPORT

Generally, literacy is considered to be the ability to read, write, speak, and compute at a certain level. Functional literacy involves skills needed to cope at an adult level in everyday situations, such as reading a newspaper or completing a job application form. People who lack these abilities often are members of populations suffering from poverty, crime, and unemployment. According to 1983 statistics from the U.S. Department of Education, there were 27 million functionally illiterate adults in the country, and 47 million more were having difficulty in some of the domains tested (Davidson, 1988). The current extent of the problem is thought to be much greater than these figures indicate. The need for programs to increase literacy has been acknowledged through support from the federal government, from many organizations in the education and library and information fields, and from business and industry.

In 1990 Congress produced two comprehensive pieces of legislation affecting literacy programs: the National Literacy Act passed by the Senate, and Literacy for All Americans, part of an omnibus education bill passed by the House of Representatives. A compromise bill was developed by a joint committee, but was not voted into law in 1990. Separate bills are expected to be introduced again in the House and in the Senate in 1991. Also in 1990, the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA), which has supported a variety of programs, including literacy programs, for more than 20 years, was reauthorized with new language and suggestions for increased appropriations for 1991. In fiscal year 1989, 214 library literacy programs in 47 states were funded through LSCA Title VI, and in 1990, 237 received support (Humes & Cameron, 1990).

Library literacy programs have also been funded by state and local resources or by individual donations, or coordinated through literacy organizations. In addition, new literacy organizations hold promise for assisting libraries in implementing literacy programs. Two that focus on the needs of special groups are the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and the National Center for Family Literacy. Both provide funding and training for program development, and information to program providers and government policymakers (Talan, 1990).

NEED FOR COMMITMENT

Quezada (1990) reports on a national forum on literacy for state libraries, held in May 1990, intended to generate recommendations for shaping a national library literacy policy. While some participants initially viewed libraries as playing only a supporting role to education, a stronger position eventually emerged: that of libraries as lifelong learning centers, with education an essential part of their mission. In this role they must actively commit time and resources to coordinating literacy activities at all levels. "Public, special, academic, and institutional libraries have a responsibility," Quezada says, "to promote literacy among all members of their community, users and nonusers alike" (p. 23). She also notes that "The American Library Association's official position on the role of libraries in the area of literacy encourages library involvement and places no limitation on how libraries should be involved in literacy education" (p. 24). The results of the forum were these priorities for recommendation at the 1991 White House Conference on Library and Information Services:

* incorporate into existing legislation the concept of the library as an educational agency

* develop a strategy for more stable funding for literacy

* continue to improve evaluation, research, and dissemination of library-based literacy efforts by libraries and other literacy providers

* redirect administrative responsibility for LSCA titles related to literacy directly to the state library agency (p. 24).

In addition to the legislative priorities, at least three challenges are implicit in the call for research and evaluation. One problem is the lack of current data on the extent of illiteracy. Another is the lack of comparable data on the effectiveness of different literacy programs. Finally, there is no agreement on the fundamental meaning of LITERACY. Beyond the definition of literacy as the basic 3 R's skills for adults, some writers include concepts of information or computer skills; others include concepts of family, community, or cultural literacy.

LIBRARY SERVICES FOR LITERACY

Over the years, many libraries have supported literacy education efforts by providing teaching resources, space for tutoring, and information and referral services. Some program sponsors have compiled bibliographies of adult new reader materials--materials that are not too "childish" to appeal to mature learners and that respond to their personal interests, such as getting a driver's license. Others have adopted or developed software programs that provide interactive drills and testing for computer-assisted learning.

A more active approach has been taken by libraries offering literacy classes or one-to-one tutoring programs. Many libraries have outreach programs designed to meet the needs of specific groups of people with limited literacy skills. For example, people for whom English is a second language, who present a diversity of first languages and literacy levels, have been reached through tutoring programs with materials that match their cultures and interests. Appropriate materials have also been distributed to the institutionalized, including those in prisons, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and group homes for the elderly and disabled. Intensive prison programs, coordinated under a literacy librarian, have offered specialized software and English-as-a-second-language training (Mathews, Chute, & Cameron, 1986).

In addition, some libraries offer programs for groups at risk for literacy-related problems. Adolescents have been targeted because illiteracy has been associated with other problems including crime, pregnancy, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, and school failure. After-school and summer literacy programs have sought to encourage young people to become employable, contributing members of the community and generally to raise their self-esteem. Strategies have included homework help sessions, peer tutoring, and peer-group reading sessions (Davidson, 1988).

Families have been targeted because illiteracy seems to be passed from one generation to the next: children whose parents are functionally illiterate are twice as likely as their peers to be functionally illiterate. In family literacy programs, emphasis is on the parent's role as the child's first teacher. Parents, who may have been inspired to seek literacy training by concern for their children, are taught interactive language activities for use with infants and young children. Some libraries invite entire families to share in reading activities and booktalks, with each member borrowing a book to take home (Talan, 1990).

Many resources exist for libraries interested in literacy education. Project reports, guidance manuals, and bibliographies have emerged from successful library-based literacy programs. Much information is also available through statewide literacy coalitions and various literacy organizations.

REFERENCES

Davidson, Judith. (1988, Winter). Adolescent illiteracy: What libraries can do to solve the problem--A report on the research of the Project on Adolescent Literacy. Journal of Youth Services in Libraries, 1(2): 215-218. EJ 373 763.
Humes, Barbara; & Cameron, Carol. (1990, August). Library Programs. Library Literacy Programs: Analysis of Funded Projects 1989. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement. ED number pending; also available from Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.

Mathews, Anne J.; Chute, Adrienne; & Cameron, Carol A. (1986, Fall). Meeting the literacy challenge: A federal perspective. Library Trends, 35(2): 219-241. EJ 347 674.

Quezada, Shelley. (1990, November). Shaping national library literacy policy: A report from the Alexandria forum. Wilson Library Bulletin, 65(3): 22-24, 158. EJ number pending.

Talan, Carole. (1990, November). Family literacy: Libraries doing what libraries do best. Wilson Library Bulletin, 65(3): 30-32, 158. EJ number pending.

ADDITIONAL READING

Library Programs. LSCA Programs: An Action Report. (1988, January). Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement. 183 pp. ED 292 478.

Literacy: The Key to Success. A Literacy Handbook (2nd Ed.), (1988, March). Utica, NY: Mid-York Library System. 25 pp. ED 303 180.

Ryan, Jenny L. (1989, October). Literacy Collection Development in Libraries: A Bibliography (2nd Rev. Ed.). Syracuse, NY: Laubach Literacy International. 16 pp. ED 311 296.

Zweizig, Douglas; Robbins, Jane; & Johnson, Debra Wilcox. (1988, May). Libraries and Literacy Education: Comprehensive Survey Report (Report No. LP-89-714). Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement, Library Programs. 236 pp. ED 307 897; also available from Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.

Copyright Note

This webpage is a copy of the ERIC Digest, The Role of Libraries in Literacy Education published by the US Federal government. ERIC Digests are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced and disseminated. The text from that digest on this page is in the public domain. All other information on this page (including the arrangment of the subject matter) is copyright (c) 2003 Michael Lorenzen.

Library Instruction as Conducted by Student Workers:

By Carolyn Wilinski

I am a student who has worked at Central Michigan University's Park Library for several years. One of the most valuable experiences that I have had during this time is being able to conduct library instruction sessions. Guiding these sessions has been worthwhile not just for me, but also for the people that I have taught.

Library instruction had always been taught by the librarians and when a group of us were told that because of staf reductions teaching those sessions were going to be a part of our duties it was surprising and a little nerve-wracking. The groups that the students teach are at the English (writing)101 level of course, high school students, or visiting groups not affiliated with the university. For those reasons the instructional sessions that we teach are basic introductions to the Central Michigan University's library home page and the library itself.

All of us had already seen many instructional sessions before so the concept was not all that new. We were given a sheet that read like a script which we used for teaching. I read through the sheet and it did not look difficult and it put me at ease. Everything that we were to instruct seemed so second-nature and there was nothing new to be learned. One of the nicer aspects of the library instructional sessions conducted by students is that the groups that we teach are never at a level higher than we are studying.

Before each session we are given a sheet which tells us where the group is from, how many people there will be, and their goals or assignment. I like to give myself fifteen extra minutes before the group is coming to set up. I make sure the computer is on, the projector and screen are down, and I have my sheets for the group leader ready. When all of that preparation is done I like to go out to the front and wait for the group to come in.

When the group arrives, I introduce myself and guide them into the classroom. Once in the room, I instruct the group to sit around the computers and I ask them to follow along on the computers as I explain what I am doing. First I go to the library home page and give a quick introduction as to what is on it. I tell the group that there is a lot to explore on this page and they should play around with it on their free time. After I have told them that, I go into the instruction.

As a first step, I enter the CMU library catalogue and show how to look up a book. I like to find one that pertains to the subject that the group is studying. I find that keeps the patrons interested more in what I am instructing. Once I find the book I explain what that page means. I next explain that they will be able to find what floor that the book is on by looking at the call number and that every floor has a different set of call numbers. I also explain the status field and I tell them that the status will tell them if the book is checked-in. If the status reads check shelf that means that the book is in. When it is stated that a book is due back on a certain date then that means that the book is out and if they urgently need that book they can go to the book checkout desk and request that book be returned.

After searching for a book the next step that I like to take is showing how to find an article. There are many ways for them to search for an article, by author, subject, title, and key word. The database I recommend to start with is WilsonSelect because it is a good general database that has a little bit of everything. Once in Wilson Select I like to ask the group what type of articles that they would like to search for just the way that I did for the book. Usually someone will give an answer and if they do not I generally go with what type of a group it is. I do just a keyword search and then I see what we come up with. When the listings come up I look for certain characteristics of each. What I first describe is an article that Central has in the library. I tell them that the best way to know this is by looking for the little symbol that is a library with a book coming out of it. I do warn them that the symbol is not always accurate and that it could mean that the library did have a subscription to that periodical at one time, but no loner does. It is not a guarantee that the exact issue is going to be in the library.

After clicking on an article that states should be in the library I explain that everything in WilsonSelect is full text in either a HTML file or a PDF file. I explain the difference between the two and move on. I also explain the "source" line and I tell the group that this is the most important line on the page, because it will give the periodical’s volume number, date, page number, author, and title. I explain to the group that all of that information is needed to find the article in the library and it is always a good idea to write all of that information down. Because the periodical is supposed to be in the library, I click on the link that takes you back to the online catalogue and, hypothetically, the correct periodical should be brought up on the screen. I explain how the information on this screen is just like it was for searching for a book except that the status is always going to be "non-circulating" and that all of the periodicals are located on the third floor.

After I have shown them a periodical that the library is supposed to have, I like to show an example of an article that cannot be found in the library. I first tell the group that everything in WilsonSelect is full text, meaning that the entire article is online so they do not, necessarily, need the hard copy of the article. I do like to give the disclaimer that if the article they want is not in the library and not offered in full text that all hope is not lost. I show them that the library offers interlibrary loan for all people affiliated with the university. The ILL office will either send the article via email or regular mail to the patron. While on the subject of ILL I like to demonstrate how to ILL an article and a book. Not only do I show them how to ILL I show them InMICH. I explain the difference between ILL and InMich and explain that InMich is supposed to take a shorter time to be received but like everything it can always take a little longer.

After completing the ILL demonstration I like to move on to the other features of our home page. The virtual reference desk is a nice next step because it does have a lot to offer. I always show the group the dictionaries and thesis link and tell them what a useful tool that it is. Next I show them the phone directories and it is nice to show them how to use it. I tend to put in the library and everyone is usually impressed with how easy it is to find numbers of not only people but businesses. I tell the group that virtual reference desk has numerous sources of information and that it is worthwhile to look at a lot of the information on it. After showing the virtual reference desk I finished showing the homepage. Finally, I ask the group if they have any questions about the homepage and if they think of any questions they can either call the reference desk or go ahead and come in and ask them in person.

At the end of the library instruction session we are usually asked to give a tour of the library. The tour of the library is basic and I take the groups to each of the floors and give the highlights. The main things that I like to explain are where the call numbers are listed and how the call numbers indicate which floor the patron needs to go to. I also like to visit each of the service desks and explain what each of them is responsible for. The tours tend to take about a half of an hour and the in class sessions take about the same amount of time. We as students give the basics. The librarians are responsible for giving the in depth instructional sessions.

Giving the instructional sessions is something that I enjoy doing. It has given me skills that I will retain for life., such as the ability to feel comfortable and competent speaking in front of a group of people. There are always presentations that need to be given and since I have been giving the instructional sessions I am no longer worried about the presentations. Every student that I have spoken to agrees that they are now more comfortable when giving their own presentations. Reference students are usually nervous before giving their first presentation; practicing in front of their fellow students would be one way to allievate some of the initial nervousness. Each student could have a turn and then the others could have given feedback on ways to improve.

Instructional sessions are an important part of my job. Over the years I have given amany of them and I feel very competent in doing so. Each group is a little different and calls for a slightly different presentation, but that is what keeps them interesting. Students workers are capable of taking on more challenging job responsibilities and teaching has made me appreciate the job that I have even more.

Working with Adult Learners in the Library Classroom: A Personal Reflection

Michael Lorenzen

I have had the opportunity over the last six years to teach non-traditional students about doing research in libraries. This experience has allowed my to think a great deal about adult learners in contrast to the traditionally aged college students I normally teach. In this paper, I will address my personal observations of adult learning as I understand it from my experience and from the education and library literature. I will also examine my personal pedagogy which I believe is appropriate to these learners. Further, I will look at how pedagogy can depend on the nature of the learner, the nature of the content, and the technology that delivers it.

My Course

I began teaching the Evening College course “Magic in the Library” in the Spring Semester of 1997. I have taught it annually every year since then. The course has evolved over this time. Currently, the course meets weekly for four weeks. Each class session last two hours long. The curriculum has varied but currently consists of searching the online catalog, searching full-text databases, research on the World Wide Web, and finding business resources. These are things I believe it is crucial for adult students to know about library research.

The number of students has varied from a low of 7 to a high of 18. None of the students are traditional college age students. The vast majority of the students have been retired members of the community. The oldest admitted age of a student was 85. There are also have been a few younger individuals in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Most have used libraries in the past and are baffled by all the changes that have occurred in libraries in the last decade. They are seeking to upgrade their search skills.

Most of the classes are taught in the Main Library. I teach in a room that has 25 computers which allows for the students to follow along with me as I show them new material. The business class is taught at the Gast Business Library where the students have access to computers as well. There are no tests, quizzes, or grades in the course. Students are free to do as little or as much as they like.

Observations on Adult Learning

My beliefs about adult (and traditional age) students has been heavily influenced by my understanding of Perry’s Scheme of Student Development. Both my master’s program at Ohio University and my course work at Michigan State University have incorporated multiple references to this theory. I have found myself applying this theory to the students I teach on a regular basis. Most importantly, I have applied this theory to explain how many students are searching and evaluating World Wide Web sites.

Perry’s Scheme can help to understand how pedagogy can depend on the nature of the learner. Perry postulated that students go through four stages of development in their critical thinking skills. These are dualism, multiplicity, contextual relativism, and dialectic. As students move through these stages, they become more sophisticated critical thinkers. The students change their views about the nature of knowledge as they progress. Their view of authority changes as well and it impacts how they think about teachers and other sources of information.

The beginning level of Perry's Scheme is dualism. Students in this stage believe that all questions have definite right and wrong answers. They expect that the teacher will tell them what the right answer is and that their job as a student is to memorize this answer. These students also tend to accept what they read in books at face value if it is presented to them from an approved source like a textbook. The students do not see themselves as creators of knowledge and do not believe they are capable of determining what the right answer is on their own.

The second level of Perry's Scheme is multiplicity. At this stage, students believe that questions may in fact have multiple answers. However, they give all opinions the same weight because the students are unable to choose between competing opinions. To these students, everything is relative and knowledge is never certain. These students see the teacher as a guide through the variety of equally valid opinions.

The final two stages of Perry's Scheme are beyond most high school students and many undergraduate college students as well. These stages are contextual relativism and dialectic. In contextual relativism, students realize that opinions need support to gain validity. For example, the Nobel Prize Committee does not give out the award for their opinion of a book's quality, but for its literary merit. In the dialectic stage, students can view problems from a variety of different viewpoints and recognize that best answers for questions depend on the approach from which the question is being asked. The students take on roles of meaning makers and are capable of presenting unique looks on a question on their own.

There are applications of Perry’s theory to how students search the World Wide Web. However, the Web also shows how pedagogy can depend on the nature of the content and technology. The nature of the World Wide Web makes it difficult for students who are in the first two stages of Perry's Scheme to use the Web effectively. The traditional print media made many of the decisions about the validity of information. The Web has lost this gate keeping function for information students are cast in the role of having to determine if something is true or not on their own. For students from dualistic or multiplictic views, this is hard to do successfully. An overview of the development of the Web can help to frame this idea.

The advent of the World Wide Web has been the most significant occurrence in the production and delivery of information since the invention of the Guttenberg printing press. The appearance of the printing press broke the hold of the church and learned societies to monopolize the process of deciding which books to copy manually and preserve in monasteries and estates. From then on, a printing industry emerged that allowed for a greater number of books. Further, these books were spread widely and were available to those who could afford them. A visit to a distant monastery was no longer required. In the same way, the existence of the World Wide Web is a revolution for information. Now, instead of the publishing industry deciding which writing gets published, the individual decides. Anyone with access to the Web with a little knowledge is now a publisher of any information they want to present. And anyone with access to the Web, with a little work, can find this information.

When the printing press was invented, it took several centuries for its full impact to be felt. For a long time, there were few printing presses and many still could not get their works to publishers. Further, books were expensive and only the well off could afford them. It was a long time before the average citizen could gain access to the new information world. This is not true with the World Wide Web. Within a decade of the emergence of the Web, its reach is nearly universal in western culture. The vast majority of households in the United States have a computer and the option of accessing the Web. Even the poor have access to computers and the Web in the United States if they visit a public library.

The difficulty in validating information on the Web has created a huge problem for seekers of information and scholars. There has not been enough time for the World Wide Web to develop a system of authenticating the information that is on the Web. True, invalid information did and does appear in printed material. However, there was always at least one level of gate keeping (and usually many more) that allowed interested and generally qualified individuals to pass judgment on whether the item should be published. While information still needed to be evaluated in the print media, an examination of the publisher or journal could often lend credible evidence to the information within a piece of print. The wonder of the Web is that this has been stripped away. And it may prove impossible to ever recreate this system Web wide. This is wonderful for democracy, but it is also a headache for those trying to verify the information at a web site.

The college students of today have come of age in this new information revolution. From the time they started elementary school, the World Wide Web existed. Many of them were using the Web early in their school careers. They have difficulty imagining a time when they could not turn on their computer, surf the Web, and find information. It is as simple and as natural as it was for older generations of students to open up an encyclopedia or check the old card catalog for books on the topic. This is a profound difference in the way these students seek and view knowledge from every prior generation of humanity. And this new view, assuming something completely unexpected happens, will be the one that librarians and teachers will be dealing with from now on. All of this has meant that the current group of college students is the first generation to have to deal with such uncertainty in the validity of the information they find. Since the World Wide Web is still relatively new, teaching how to evaluate information on the Web is in its infancy. Educators, who often are less sophisticated than the students in their understanding of the Web, have had difficulty in teaching students how to evaluate what they find on the Web.

Perry's Scheme for Student Development, while developed prior to the invention of the World Wide Web, can be used to understand the behavior of college students and the Web. Dualistic students will use the Web to look for the one right answer to the question. They will seek authority so they can learn what this answer is. The variety of web pages will confuse them and they will looks for clues that a web site is indeed authoritative. They will have difficulty in determining which web sites have valid information and which ones do not. Students at the multiplicity stage will see the variety of opinions expressed on the many web sites as being equally valid. They may not see the need to filter information for quality as all web sites to them may be equally valid.

However, the adult students I have taught in my Evening College course appear to be in the later two stages of Perry’s theory. They exhibit characteristics of the contextual relativism and dialectic stages. The students realize that opinions need support to gain validity. The students can view problems from a variety of different viewpoints and recognize that best answers for questions depend on which approach the question is being asked from. They do not trust the World Wide Web for information resources. They are hoping to find ways to evaluate the information they find. They want to learn gate-keeping skills.

Another difference between traditional undergraduates and adult students is the motivation they bring to learning. Many students want a degree so they can get a job. Their primary motivation is not learning. They are attempting to give the professor what he/she wants so they can get a good grade. If the library helps get them what they professor wants, then they will use it. Not all of the traditional students value the library or library instruction. However, I can be certain that my adult students do in fact value the library and the instruction I am giving them. They have signed up for my Evening College course even though it will not help them earn a degree. They also are not using the library to please a professor. They are coming to class on their own accord and this heavily influences how they behave in class.

Pedagogy

My pedagogical approach to teaching adult learners is difficult to summarize. I believe I can best write about it by examining teaching concepts. I am going to write about the history of public libraries and how they have taught adult learners and how this tradition is reflected in my teaching. I am also going to look at teaching methods such as active learning and lecturing and how I make use of them to teach adults.

I think it is important in understanding my pedagogical approach to adult students to examine the history of public libraries in the United States and how they have shaped opportunities for adults in the past and how librarians have viewed these opportunities. I will make some reference to adult learning and academic libraries particularly as it relates to my classes. However, most adult learning literature in the library literature pertains to public libraries. Adult learners have assumptions and views about what libraries mean to them and this shapes their view of what to expect from my teaching. I have responded to these expectations and this has worked to influence how I teach. Not surprisingly, I am also teaching in ways that parallel the pedagogy of past librarians.

The first American “public” libraries were what we now call social libraries. Apart from closed college collections, must of the United States lacked accessible libraries in the 18th and early to mid-19th Centuries. Shera (1949) described the process were individuals formed voluntary associations to pool money to buy books for shared use. These books were also made available to others who were willing to pay fees for access.

The role of the librarian in such a library would have been to teach motivated patrons how to use a collection that their money had directly purchased. Only those who had already decided to make use of the library collection would have purchased memberships. This conflicts with public and academic librarians today who must continually work to convince patrons that library collections are useful. The patrons of the social libraries would in some respects resemble the adult learners I have in my Evening College classes. The motivation to learn how to use the collection is self-evident by the fact that they have arrived at the library.

Public libraries as we know them today began to develop after the American Civil War. Growth was slow at first as many communities resisted having to pay for libraries. Andrew Carnegie and several other philanthropists helped to make public libraries standard for most communities by donating huge sums of money. Wrote Kett (1996), “Carnegie, wealthier and more generous than Astor, made libraries his favorite charity. An ardent autodidact who remembered fondly the days when a gentleman in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, allowed him and other working lads to use his library, Carnegie gave $50,000,000 for the construction of library buildings and dreamed of covering the nation with them.” (pp 205)

Carnegie had two main reasons for donating money to the founding of libraries. First, he believed that libraries added to the meritocratic nature of America. Anyone with the right inclination and desire could educate himself. Second, Carnegie believed that immigrants like himself needed to acquire cultural knowledge of America which the library allowed immigrants to do.

Carnegie indicated it was the first reason that was the most important to him. As a boy working a hard job with long hours, he had no access to education. However, a Colonel Anderson started a small library of 400 books which he lent on Saturday afternoons to local boys. This is how Carnegie educated himself. Wrote Carnegie (1920) of Colonel Anderson's library, "This is but a slight tribute and gives only a faint idea of the depth of gratitude which I feel for what he did for me and my companions. It was from my own early experience that I decided there was no use to which money could be applied so productive of good to boys and girls who have good within them and ability and ambition to develop it, as the founding of a public library in a community..." (pp. 47) Further, Carnegie is quoted as saying, "In a public library men could at least share cultural opportunities on a basis of equality." (New York Times, Jan. 8, 1903, pp. 1)

In the case of my Evening College course, the students are seeking to use the library to better themselves. Carnegie’s view of the library is correct in this aspect. However, I am not sure that the meritocratic portion of his rationale applies to adult learners in my case. I am seeing primarily retired individuals who come from educated backgrounds in my Evening College courses. They already come from positions of respect and have comfortable incomes, which may or may not have been earned by merit in the past. However, Carnegie did not mean for his meritocratic libraries to serve only adults. As the quote above demonstrates, he was imagining children and young adults as the primary beneficiaries of his public libraries. Despite this, the Carnegie libraries opened up new avenues for many adult learners to educate themselves. Hence, the participation of adults in my Evening College courses is a furtherance of the tradition of the use of libraries by adults in the United States for educational pursuits.

Adams (1887) envisioned the public library as an open university. He tried to encourage groups to meet in libraries and hold seminars. The library could in this way be the center of adult learning in a community. He wrote that libraries should, “Set apart special rooms where classes and clubs can meet under competent direction for special use of books. Every great public library should become, in its own field, a people’s university, the highest of high schools in the community.” (pp. 25)

The entire Evening College program at Michigan State University is an embodiment of this idea. Individuals teach non-credit courses (seminars) for adults in the community. The students come on their own volition and receive no grades or diplomas. My teaching of a library course to adults through the Evening College is an expression of the pedagogical role of the library that Adams envisioned in the 19th Century.

One interesting teaching approach used by librarians with adult learners was steering them towards “good” books. Librarians believed in the 19th Century (and many still do today) that the librarian could recommend reading material that would better the reader. The job of the librarian in teaching was to help the reader find the books which would help advance intellectual skills. Ditzion (1944) amusingly wrote, “Make the library free to all and then, perhaps, there will be one young man less in the place where intoxicating drinks are found…Make the library free to all and then, perhaps, there will be one young woman less to fall from the path of purity and goodness down the depth of degradation and misery to which only a woman can fall.” (pp. 104)

This concept of teaching patrons to seek out good books eventually became known as reader advisory. This educational approach is still used by many librarians. In fact, I believe reader advisory has in fact turned into information advisory. Teaching students how to evaluate information and find the “good” stuff is central to teaching information literacy. Librarians are continually providing advisory services to students on how to recognize valid information on web sites.

Consider this 19th Century quote from Winsor (1876), “Librarians do not do their whole duty unless they strive to elevate the taste of their readers, and this they can do, not by refusing to point within their reach the books which the masses want, but by inducing the habit of frequenting the library, by giving readers such books as they ask for and helping them in the choice of books, conducting them, say from the ordinary society novel to the historical novel, and then to proofs and illustrations of the events or periods commemorated in the more readable of the historians. Multitude of readers need only be put in this path to follow it.” (pp. 432)

I firmly believe that my teaching is a continuance of this tradition. All of my teaching is about teaching students to evaluate information. I am providing a reader advisory service to my students, for example, by pointing them towards journals instead of magazines. And, most importantly, I am showing students how to find the right path on the World Wide Web. I show them Yahoo in hopes that they will listen to me when I show them Google. I show them how to find a site about cancer in hopes that the student will eventually follow my example and visit the US National Institutes for Health site. The complexity of information today makes reader advisory an important teaching tool.

Adult learners are, in fact, keen to listen to the advice I am giving them about finding “good” web sites. The students are aware of the fact that they are not up-to-date on finding information on the World Wide Web. They are seeking skills from me that will help them provide the gate keeping they need to determine between sites. Most have signed up for the course in hopes I would help guide them through web sites. Over a fourth of my Evening College course deals with the World Wide Web for this reason.

I believe I have shown a large number of parallels in my pedagogy to the adult education role of libraries in the past. The purpose and strategies of my Evening College course have been shaped heavily by the influence of past practice in the library field. At this point, I am going to focus on how I actually teach.
At the beginning of my career, I used to shake and tremble when I stood before a class. I found lecturing to be hard and I sought other ways to teach. One of the earliest ideas I hit upon was using active learning techniques. Using active learning did help me a great deal. However, lecturing has remained important in my teaching by necessity and as time has gone by I have actually gotten good at lecturing. Now, I try to teach using a blend of both lecture and active learning whenever possible.

This is important when teaching adults. Most adult students are in the latter two stages of Perry’s Scheme of Student Development. They are sophisticated learners and they bring considerable abilities to synthesis and evaluate information on their own. The students expect to use these skills in class. Allowing the students to participate in class by hands on experience and discussion will allow students to use these skills. However, adult students have also grown up expecting teachers to lecture. They expect that I will spend some time in front of the class lecturing to them. Blending active learning and lecturing together meets the expectations of the students and makes for an effective learning experience.

I think it is important that I address what I mean by active learning. This is also known as cooperative learning. Active learning is a method of educating students that allows them to participate in class. It takes them beyond the role of passive listener and note taker and allows the student to take some direction and initiative during the class. The role of the teacher is to lecturer less and instead direct the students in directions that will allow the students to "discover" the material as they work with other students to understand the curriculum. Active learning can encompass a variety of techniques that include small group discussion, role playing, hands-on projects, and teacher driven questioning. The goal is to bring students into the process of their own education.

Some of the pioneers in the push for active learning in the last several decades are David Johnson, Roger Johnson, and Karl Smith. Although none of the three are librarians, all work in academia and have taught widely to faculty in higher education. Many academic librarians (including the author) have heard them speak and they are widely cited in library literature dealing with active learning. The three have argued for active learning because they feel lecturing is over relied on by faculty even though lecturing has several limitations. They wrote (1991) that students have trouble focusing on lecturing and that their attentions diminishes over the course of a class. They also postulated that lecturing promotes the acquisition of facts rather than the development of higher cognitive processes such as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluation. Finally, they believed that students find lectures boring.

Bonwell and Eison (1991) wrote that strategies that promote active learning have five common characteristics. Students are involved in class beyond listening. Less emphasis is placed on transmitting information and more emphasis is placed developing the skills of the students. The students are involved in higher order thinking such as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluation. The students are involved in activities like reading, discussion, and writing. Finally, greater emphasis is placed on the exploration of student values and attitudes.

I have incorporated active learning in my Evening College course by having students do a variety of activities. I have students write minute papers at the beginning of class relating to their expectations and questions they may have. I have the students work in groups to explore databases and web sites. I also have the students follow along with me when I demonstrate databases by entering searches in computers. These activities, coupled with lecturing, seem to be effective in reaching the adult learners in my Evening College course.

Differing Views

I would argue that few would actually disagree with the purpose or scope of my Evening College course. However, some writers have disagreed with some of the underlying assumptions in my pedagogy. For example, some argue that library instruction should not be conducted. Others have been skeptical of the reader’s advisory movement that has influenced my teaching of World Wide Web resources. Finally, there are others theories that explain how students learn which can offer different insights than Perry.

I will start by looking at differing views on the value of library instruction. One of the earliest opponents to library instruction wrote in the early 20th Century. Lucy Salmon was a history professor at Vassar College from 1887 until 1927. She did not take kindly to librarians invading her classroom. She wrote (1913) that library instruction should not be taught as a separate credit-bearing course. Instead, it should be taught as part of other classes as an integrated part of the curriculum. She also wrote that the professors, not the librarians, should give the instruction in library use. She believed the responsibilities of librarians were to keep accessible libraries and help faculty in book selection. Further, she felt librarians should stick to non-curricular areas (such as advising the debate team) if they wanted to interact with students.

I do not believe that Salmon would object to my Evening College course. I get the impression from reading her writing that her objections centered around librarians working with traditional aged college students. She wrote that faculty were responsible for the curriculum and it was up to them to teach students. I think she may have felt differently about non-credit courses for adult students. As the Evening College is outside the curriculum and degree granting powers of the university, Salmon probably would not have seen my Evening College course as an encroachment on the responsibilities of the faculty.

Probably the foremost critic of academic library instruction is Tom Eadie. Originally in favor of library instruction, he concluded that it was largely a waste of time. Eadie (1990) wrote that gathering students into a classroom and teaching them about the library would fail in educating students. Since students had yet to ask the question that the librarian was teaching about answering, the student would probably not remember the answer. The student would still need assistance later when they think to ask the question (usually when the paper is being written) and come to the reference desk. Since Eadie questioned the effectiveness of library instruction, he recommended that the money and effort used for it be used on reference services instead.

I believe that Eadie would not object to library instruction for adults in my Evening College course. His objections stem from the way that the typical undergraduate student responds to library instruction. He believed students were not motivated to remember what they were taught in the library because they had yet to seriously contemplate the questions the library would help them answer. This response is not evident in adult students taking my course. The adult students know in advance many of the questions they are going to seek answers for and this is why the enrolled in the course. As such, the instruction is liable to be effective as the adult students will remember the answers.

I have compared how I teach about the World Wide Web to the Reader Advisory Movement. Not surprising, reader advisory itself was criticized a great deal by some. As such, it is worth briefly looking at the objections to see how this may apply to my teaching adults how to use the World Wide Web.
John Cotton Dana summarized the opposition that many had to reader advisory in 1898. He argued that libraries which circulated trashy fiction (which he defined as any work not true to life or recognized as good by competent authorities) were misusing public funds and were not fulfilling their mission to uplift the public. He asserted that the millions of novels issued forth from hundreds of public libraries were an evil to the public and a perversion. He wrote that restricting fiction in the public libraries would strengthen their work as an educational force.

Dana and others who felt similarly did not believe the use of popular fiction could be used to lead patrons to better and better literature. They apparently felt it simply feed to the lowest common reading denominator and that patrons were apt to stay there. This has a strong parallel with teaching about the World Wide Web. Many university faculty members for example are skeptical of student use of the World Wide Web. Many forbid students to cite web sources in their papers. They have asked me not to cover the web at all and instead concentrate on scholarly journals. I have complied even though I feel that prevents me from showing the students how the World Wide Web works and how they can identify the “best” sites on the Web.

This certainly applies when I am teaching adult student in my Evening College course. Many of the students signed up for my class because they wanted to learn how to search the World Wide Web. My web teaching is using the underlying assumption of reader advisory. By teaching how to use the World Wide Web properly, I lead the students towards better and more useful web sites. I can also point out the limitations of the Web and show them when a library visit will be needed. I can certainly sympathize with the views of Dana and others but I think public libraries should have popular fiction. And by extension, I think librarians should teach how to search and use the “popular” World Wide Web.

Another differing view would be the one that discusses the differences in how students learn. I have focused on Perry’s Scheme. However, there are other ways at looking how students acquire knowledge which can complement Perry. Kolb (1984) is one good example of this. Dunn and Griggs (1995) is another.

Kolb (1984) classified learning into four inventory areas. These included concrete experience, active experimentation, reflective observation, and abstract conceptual. Kolb said that all four elements were required for effective experiential learning. According to Kolb, individuals have different preferences and natural styles. I believe that this is important to consider when teaching as using different teaching styles can help the students learn better. However, I don’t think it has much impact on comparing traditional aged college students and adults. Perry’s Scheme works much better in understanding the learning behaviors of the different age groups.

The same goes for Dunn and Griggs (1995). Their research shows how the culture that the student comes from has a large impact on how they learn. For example, African-Americans may exhibit as a whole different learning styles than do Jewish students in Israel. This is obviously important as well. I believe though that Perry’s Scheme still works better at explaining the stages of student development. Cultural differences are still easily incorporated into the theory. I believe both Kolb (1984), Dunn and Griggs (1995), and other student learning theories can be applied and used with Perry without necessarily negating the Perry Scheme.
What Works (and What Doesn’t)

After five years of teaching adult learners, I have discovered some instructional activities work better than others. I believe this is directly related to ages and life experiences of the adult students. What works with my freshmen students is a great deal different that what works with my adult students sometimes.

One thing that does not work with adult learners is active learning assignments designed to entertain and catch the attention of 18-year olds. I developed a lesson plan at Ohio University-Zanesville that used alcohol and drink mixing to teach Boolean search techniques. I published a write up of this (Lorenzen, 1995) and spoke at a few conferences about it. However, I began to have misgivings about glorifying alcohol use and I altered it to use tattoos instead when I came to Michigan State University in 1996. My new lesson plans were published last year (Lorenzen, 2001).

I have used the tattooing activity successfully for hundreds of classes at this point. However, it did not work at all with my adult learners. They were very unresponsive to the activity and several seemed to be put off by the assignment. One student made pains to point out in the course evaluation that she thought the tattooing was silly. That was the first and last time I used this in my Evening College course.

I speculate that because the adult learners are more advanced that the traditional college aged student, they felt the activity was not at their level. Most of the adult learners were in the later stages of Perry’s Scheme. They were self-motivated and did not see the point in being “tricked” into learning Boolean operators. They cared enough to learn already and would have preferred a more straightforward presentation. I learned from this and approached the topic in subsequent Evening College courses differently.

Another activity the adult learners do not like very well in my Evening College course is library tours. I always give a tour of the Main Library early in the course. I feel this is important so the students can connect what I am teaching with actual physical collections. Further, many of our well-known collections (like the comic books and American Radicalism) are not available entirely online. However, many of the adult students signed up for the course because they wanted to learn to do research online. They feel they already know how to walk around a library.

For the traditional aged students, I have the instructor assign a self-guided tour in advance. This allows me to concentrate my limited class time on the library databases. However, with my Evening College course, I am not allowed to assign homework. So, I have to give the tour during class time. As I have learned the students are not always happy about this, I have been explaining the reasons why I conduct a library tour. I feel it is important to any course on library research and I will continue to do it.

One activity that both traditional aged students and adult student like is hands-on experience when searching the databases. I am fortunate to have access to classrooms that have enough computers for all the students in a class. I can search, project it on the screen, and have the students follow along. It works great. I move about the room from time to time to see if any of the students are having difficulty. This allows me to make quick interventions.

I have no complaints from the adult students in my Evening College course about the follow along searching. They appreciate and enjoy the opportunity to actively participate with a computer. They tend to be a little slower than the younger students but they also always let me know when they are confused or are uncertain.

Conclusion

I have learned a lot about adult learners over the years from course work, my colleagues, and my work experiences. My beliefs about adult learning have been influenced a great deal by the Perry Scheme of Student Development which indicates a great deal of pedagogy must depend on the nature of the learner. However, my understanding of the nature of the World Wide Web also indicates that pedagogy can depend on the content and technology.

My pedagogy has been heavily influenced by the way public libraries educated adults in the past. Many saw public libraries as open universities which is a role my Evening College course fills. Carnegie and others envisioned the library as a way that the self-motivated could better his or her self. I aid in this as well. I also teach the use of the World Wide Web and library databases in a way that incorporates the library tradition of reader advisory. I also use active learning techniques to all the students to actively participate in class.

There are other ways at looking at adult education in libraries. Some writers have argued that librarians should not teach in classrooms. I reject this in favor of using the library classroom to teach adults. Some library educators in the past also argued against reader advisory services to adults on the grounds that patrons should only be allowed access to high quality literature. Paralleling this with the World Wide Web, I am able to argue against this on the grounds that I believe I can led students to the best by showing them the common and the mundane on the Web. I also believe that there are theories other than Perry that can explain the nature of learners.

I have found some things work better in teaching adults than others. One must be careful in making sure the tone of an activity is appropriate for older learners. Tours can be important but their purpose should be explained to the students. Allowing adult students to have hands-on computer time works well.

I am sure I will learn a lot more in the years to come about adult learners. New experiences will undoubtedly broaden my views. As I age, I will find myself more and more inline with the adult learners and less in touch with the 18-year olds. Regardless, I hope to continue to be able to students of different ages and experiences as this makes me a better teacher. I still have a lot to learn.

Bibliography

Adams, H. B. (1887). Seminary libraries and university extension. Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science 5(11), 22-31.

Anonymous. (1903, Jan. 3). Carnegie does another New York Library. New York Times, pp. 1,2.

Bonwell, C. C. and Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. Washington, DC: George Washington University.

Carnegie, Andrew. (1920). The autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Dana, J. C. (1898). Fiction in public libraries. Library journal, 23 (April), pp. 155.

Ditzion, S. (1947). Arsenals of a democratic culture: a social history of the American public library movement in New England and the middle states from 1850 to 1940. Chicago: American Library Association.

Dunn, Rita and Griggs, S. (1995). Multiculturalism and learning styles: Teaching and counseling adolescents. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Eadie, T. (1990). Immodest proposals. Library journal, 115 (October 15th), pp. 42-45.

Johnson, D., Johnson, R. and Smith, K. (1991). Active learning: Cooperation in the college classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Books.

Kett, J. F. (1994). The pursuit of knowledge under difficulty: From self-improvement to adult education in America, 1750-1990. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

Kolb, David A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Lorenzen, M. (1995). Remember the gin and tonic! Using alcohol to teach Boolean searching. Library instruction roundtable news, 17(4), pp. 10.

Lorenzen, M. (2001). Using tattooing to teach Boolean searching. In Teaching information literacy concepts: Activities and frameworks from the field. Edited by Trudi E. Jacobson and Timothy H. Gatti. Pittsburgh: Library Instruction Publications, pp. 195-199.

Perry, W. (1970). Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years: A Scheme. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Salmon, L. M. (1913). Instruction in the use of a college library. ALA bulletin, 7 (July), 301-09.

Winsor, J. (1876). Reading in popular libraries. In Public libraries in the United States of America, part 1. Washington, D.C.: U.S Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education.

Using Video and CD-ROM to Reach New Students Before They Arrive on Campus

Michael Lorenzen

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.

Active Learning and Library Instruction

by Michael Lorenzen

(This article was original published in Illinois Libraries, 83, no. 2 (Spring 2001): 19-24.)

From the beginning of academic library instruction in the United States, it was noted that perhaps lecturing was not the most effective way of educating students about the library. In 1886, Davis wrote about his frustrations in teaching students about the library who were not learning anything from his lectures. This phenomenon has been noticed by many other librarians as well. The assumption that library instruction should be lectured based probably has driven the opposition of many academic librarians to library instruction. After all, if lecturing to students about library use does not work, why do it? Active learning, also known as cooperative learning, is a model of instruction that many academic librarians have turned towards to better help students learn about the library in the classroom.

What is active learning?

Active learning is a method of educating students that allows them to participate in class. It takes them beyond the role of passive listener and note taker and allows the student to take some direction and initiative during the class. The role of the teacher is to lecturer less and instead direct the students in directions that will allow the students to "discover" the material as they work with other students to understand the curriculum. Active learning can encompass a variety of techniques that include small group discussion, role playing, hands-on projects, and teacher driven questioning. The goal is to bring students into the process of their own education.

Some of the pioneers in the push for active learning in the last several decades are David Johnson, Roger Johnson, and Karl Smith. Although none of the three are librarians, all work in academia and have taught widely to faculty in higher education. Many academic librarians (including the author) have heard them speak and they are widely cited in library literature dealing with active learning. The three have argued for active learning because they feel lecturing is over relied on by faculty even though lecturing has several limitations. They wrote (1991) that students have trouble focusing on lecturing and that their attentions diminishes over the course of a class. They also postulated that lecturing promotes the acquisition of facts rather than the development of higher cognitive processes such as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluation. Finally, they believed that students find lectures boring.

Bonwell and Eison (1991) wrote that strategies that promote active learning have five common characteristics. Students are involved in class beyond listening. Less emphasis is placed on transmitting information and more emphasis is placed developing the skills of the students. The students are involved in higher order thinking such as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluation. The students are involved in activities like reading, discussion, and writing. Finally, greater emphasis is placed on the exploration of student values and attitudes.

Active learning can also overcome the individualistic and competitive nature of traditional education. Wrote Johnson, Johnson, and Smith (1991), "When engaged in cooperative activities, individuals seek outcomes that are beneficial to themselves and to all other members of the group. Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning." (pp. 3).

Another reason for using active learning by many is that non-traditional students in higher education (that is those that are older than 18-24) prefer it over lecturing. Slavin (1991) reported that traditional students have been lectured to their whole lives and expect it. However, older students have had the opportunity to work and have life experiences that have shown them that they can learn things on their own and can participate and interact with both other students and the teacher in the classroom. Cook, Kunkel, and Weaver (1995) found this to be true of non-traditional students in library instruction as well as they dealt with students at the different branch campuses of Kent State University.

While many active techniques are useable by academic librarians, most of these librarians are probably already using active learning in their lessons without realizing it. Hands-on learning is an important component of many library instruction lessons. Passing reference works around a room and allowing students to look at them is a low-level active learning exercise. With a little work, adding perhaps an opportunity to discuss why the reference works are useful, coupled with a group assignment to look up some information, the activity can become a truly beneficial and exciting active learning exercise. Even allowing students to use computers and conduct searches during class is an active learning approach. While active learning looks like it can be difficult for librarians to accommodate, with some modification librarians can build on what they are already doing and make their teaching more effective.

Historical overview of active learning

The use of active learning in education is not a new idea. In fact, it was most certainly the first method of education used by mankind. The quickest and most efficient method of training the young in a hunter/gatherer society, particularly in one where survival is a struggle, is to allow the young to watch and then mimic the behavior of their elders. Lecturing is not practical. As the first human societies were of the hunter/gather variety, this appears to be how education originated in humanity. Lecturing developed much later after cities and formal institutions of education were established.

The first real written account of active learning comes from ancient Greece and the teaching style of Socrates. The Socratic Method relies on students interacting with each other and the teacher. Socrates would introduce a problem and ask the students about it. The students would discuss in detail what they thought the answer was each other. Socrates would direct the conversation back to key points when it drifted to much from what he thought the answer was. In the end, using the points that the students had made, Socrates would reveal his answer to the students. Socrates did not lecture to the students. He worked with them to help the students discover the part of the curriculum on their own.

In more recent centuries, other philosophers have advocated for active learning as well. Rousseau published Emile in 1762 and argued for learning through sensory experience in it. John Dewey believed that practical experience gives learners the raw material needed to cultivate abstract thinking skills and to eventually develop complex intellectual constructs on a subject. Jean Piaget believed that the abstract reasoning developed as a result of childhood active learning by exploration of the environment. Kolb (1984) wrote that concrete experience is a prerequisite to the acquisition of physical skills, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation.

Academic librarians early one noted the need for an alternative to the lecture as well. Robinson (1880) wanted students to become real scholars who could educate themselves and do research without the aid of professors or librarians. Personal inquiry, a trait which active learning develops, was what Robinson felt was most important for students to acquire from higher education. Davis (1886) was frustrated with classroom lectures. He noticed that students were not gaining knowledge from even multiple lectures on library skills. He responded by creating an entire course so he could present the material differently.

Winsor (1880), and later Shores (1935) and Branscomb (1940), argued for the library-college concept. All three believed that lecturing to students in a large lecture hall was damaging to the education of students. Instead, they believed that the students should be taught in the library by both the professor and the librarian. Rather than lecturing to the students, the librarian-professor team would give the students problems and then require them to find the answers on their own in the stacks of the library. This clearly is a use of active learning by librarians that not only teaches library skills but also makes the library central to educating students on campus.

A more recent influence on the acceptance of active learning not only in academic libraries but on college campuses as a whole was the national report of the National Institute of Education in 1984 titled Involvement in Learning: Realizing the Potential of American Higher Education. The study group who authored the report wanted to improve student involvement in their own education by creating strategies that require student participation to a greater degree than has been traditionally seen. Wrote the study group, "Faculty should make greater uses of active modes of teaching and require that students take greater responsibility for their learning." (pp. 27).

Considerations for active learning in the library classroom

Translating active learning into a library instruction setting is not an easy task. Most academic librarians have little first hand knowledge of the concept. Librarians, who usually have weak backgrounds in teaching methods, tend to model how they were taught which means lecturing. Further, the nature of library instruction being a one shot class taught by a librarian who is not the usual teacher, makes it difficult to use many of the recommendations for active learning which work best with semester long courses.

Drueke (1992) noted four barriers that other teachers do not face in incorporating active learning. Librarians only see a group of students once typically. This means that the active learning methods used by the librarian have to be concluded during the single class. Students also are used to dealing with the faculty member who teaches the course they are in. This means dealing with students who may have learned that participation is not required or encouraged in the class. Librarians also have a great deal to teach to students in a very short time frame. Using active learning takes away time to cover material. Finally, librarians do not have total control over the class. In theory, academic librarians like other faculty have academic freedom in the classroom to teach as they please. However, working with another faculty member in a subordinate role means the librarian most structure their teaching to fit the needs and desires of the faculty member who requested library instruction for her course.

Students also believe, usually correctly, that they will not be tested on what the librarian is teaching. Further, many students believe there is no need to cooperate with the librarian in active learning exercises because the librarian can not grade the student. Wrote Cook, Kunkel, and Weaver (1995), "Students are not accountable to librarians for what they learn in BI, and are only indirectly accountable to instructors. Most faculty do not expect students to describe how to use specific reference tools, expecting instead to see work which reflects their use." (pp. 23).

Another obstacle to active learning in the library classroom is the reluctance of librarians to give up lecturing. Wrote Mabry (1995), "I found, however, that the instructor's first step in applying cooperative learning techniques involves rethinking his/her role in the classroom. It is not easy to give up lecture time in a 50 minute BI session. But one of the primary tenets of cooperative learning is that, if instructors are prepared to give up some control, students will learn more and retain that knowledge longer." (pp. 183).

Mabry also wrote that authoritarian librarians would find it difficult to integrate active learning in the classroom. Active learning requires a different sort of librarian to work. Mabry (1995) wrote, " The most problematic step for the instructor is the first one: accepting a new role in the classroom that involves some loss of control. Highly authoritarian librarians will probably resist the free-flowing nature of this new method. But more egalitarian librarians, eager to try out new teaching models, will find a fruitful pathway in the principles of cooperative learning." (pp. 185).

Using active learning in a one shot library lecture does require some modification of the active learning techniques. Drueke listed nine strategies to allow for active learning to work for librarians. These included:

1. Talking informally with students as they arrived for class.
2. Expecting that students would participate and acting accordingly.

3. Arranging the classroom to encourage participation including putting chairs in a cluster or circle.

4. Using small group discussion, questioning, and writing to allow for non-threatening methods of student participation.

5. Giving students time to give responses, do not rush them.

6. Rewarding students for participating by praising them or paraphrasing what they say.

7. Reducing anonymity by introducing yourself and asking the students for their names. Ask the class to relate previous library experiences as you do this.

8. Drawing the students into discussions by showing the relevance of the library to their studies.

9. Allowing students time to ask questions at the end of class.

Most of the approaches that Drueke listed are identical with minor modifications to points made by proponents of active learning. This shows with a little effort the one shot library lecture can be turned into an active learning experience.
One innovative active learning teaching technique is called a jigsaw. Using the jigsaw, students work in groups studying an issue. Each of these groups works on a small portion of the overall issue. The jigsaw is put together when the groups report their findings to each other. This allows the entire issue to be covered in a single class but also allows for each student to be involved in learning the material. Ragains (1995) wrote about his use of the jigsaw in library instruction at Montana State University at Bozeman. He successful used the jigsaw to teach students library skills in marketing research, mechanical engineering, historical methods, and earth science.

One criticism of active learning is that it does not work with large lecture hall style classes. Librarians sometimes teach in large lecture halls. Gedeon (1997) wrote of his experiences attempting to use active learning in a library instruction session in a large lecture hall. He did so by having the students brainstorm and then fill out search strategies in pairs. Do to the large number of students, groups and an inclusive class discussion. Gedeon concluded that the lesson worked well but the dynamics of the large number of students kept it from being as successful as it would have been with a smaller group of students. Although Gedeon's study does not indicate that using active learning with large groups is to be avoided in library instruction, it does indicate that it is a challenge and that lecturing may be more appropriate in this setting.

Active learning appears to be a great method of instruction for librarians. However, it probably should not be considered the only way to teach. As the case of large groups above indicates, sometime lecturing can be a valuable tool in teaching library skills. Wrote Drueke (1992), "Our interest centers not on adding to the evidence on the value of active learning, but rather on exploring various active learning techniques and incorporating them effectively into library instruction. The lecture format may indeed be appropriate for many university-level library instruction classes. Research and practice indicates, however, that students may benefit for a wider repertoire of teaching techniques that include active learning opportunities." (pp. 82, 83).

Active learning requires a lot of work and a clear objective for it to work. Using active learning for the sake of active learning may backfire. Wrote Allen (1995), "One caution can not be overstated: incorporating active learning techniques must be purposeful to carry out specific and important objectives, and must require students to use the higher order skills of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Anything less and your students will consider your classes to be busy work - gimmicky and worthless." (pp. 99).

Active learning and library instruction for special groups

Academic librarians are often called upon to teach library instruction for a variety of courses from different disciplines. For every department on campus, a librarian is assigned to select materials for the library collection. The librarian works with faculty to make these decisions and to let the faculty know that she is available to teach their students how to use the materials that are in the library. The smaller the academic library, the larger the range of each individual librarians potential courses to teach library instruction for. Different subjects lend themselves to be taught in different ways even with active learning. For example, already written about previously was Ragains (1995) who successful used the jigsaw method of active learning to teach students library skills in marketing research, mechanical engineering, historical methods, and earth science. While the library literature is sparse, some librarians have written about how to use active learning in particular disciplines in regards to library instruction.

The World Wide Web has proved to be challenging for academic librarians to teach about. The many misconceptions that the students have about what the Web really is can be difficult to lecture about. Active learning can work well in showing these students the limitations of the Web and font of erroneous information therein contained. Simply ask the students to get on the Web in groups, look for certain types of information, and report back to the class what they found. These types of discussions prove much more useful in teaching about the Web than lecturing about it. Kohut and Sternberg (1995) used a similar strategy to teach students about mass communications using the Web. They asked the students to use the Web to find information on an emerging technology.

The health sciences appear to be a field where a lot of active learning is being used. Not surprisingly, this has impacted library instruction to classes in the health sciences. Librarians teaching classes in this area are following along and incorporating active learning components to their lessons. Francis and Kelly (1997) detailed over a dozen health science libraries in the United States that were using active learning to teach library skills. Although none of the lessons taught by these libraries was detailed extensively, the descriptions of the instructional programs indicates that health science librarians may be the leaders on active learning in academic libraries.

Often times, academic librarians are given the opportunity to teach freshman seminars either as the regular teacher or as a guest lecturer. These types of courses can give the librarian, particularly if she is the teacher, an opportunity to try new teaching methods. Dabbour (1997) was given this opportunity at California State University at San Bernardino. For the library portion of the class, she used small group self-guided exercises focusing on the library online system. As a prelude, she had the students discuss in class the importance of information literacy. The evaluations that the students gave the class were much higher than evaluations from prior classes where active learning had not been used.

In the science fields, collaboration and reliance on research literature is important for the scientific enterprise. For this reason, active learning can work well in teaching library skills. Sara Penhale was a Science Librarian and Assistant Professor of Biology at Earlham College when she wrote an article on this topic. Using her unusual dual faculty position, she was able to introduce library instruction in introductory chemistry courses. Penhale had the students work in small groups to explore chemistry journal articles. She wrote (1997), "The merits of cooperative learning and of introducing students to the chemical literature argue for the development of assignments that include both. Chemistry students become more engaged, they learn more effectively, and they emulate the activities of the professionals in the discipline." (pp. 83).

Summary

Active learning is a method of educating students that allows them to participate in class. It takes them beyond the role of passive listener and note taker and allows the student to take some direction and initiative during the class. Active learning can encompass a variety of techniques that include small group discussion, role playing, hands-on projects, and teacher driven questioning. The goal is to bring students into the process of their own education. Active learning is not a new idea. It has been used by humanity for a long time and several philosophers and educators (like Socrates and Dewey) have used or advocated the use of active learning.

Some academic librarians were recognizing the limits of lecturing back in the 1880s when they taught library instruction sessions. One early attempt at active learning by these and librarians early in the 20th Century was the library-college concept. Using active learning can pose problems for academic librarians. Usually the librarian has only a single class with students who are not accountable to the librarian and have prior expectations of the class formed from working with the class instructor. Still, with a little work, many librarians are having success with active learning.

Selected References

Allen, E. E. (1995). Active learning and teaching: Improving post-secondary library instruction. Reference Librarian, no. 51/52.

Bonwell, C. C. and Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. Washington, DC: George Washington University.

Branscomb, H. (1940). Teaching with books: A study of college libraries. Chicago: American Library Association and Association of American Colleges.

Cook, K. N., Kunkel, L. R., and Weaver, S. M. (1995). Cooperative learning in bibliographic instruction. Research strategies, 13 (Winter), pp. 17-25.

Dabbour, K. S. (1997). Applying active learning methods to the design of library instruction for a freshman seminar. College & research libraries, 58 (July), pp. 299-308.

Davis, R. C. (1886). Teaching bibliography in colleges. Library journal, 11 (September), pp. 289-94.

Drueke, J. (1992). Active learning in the university library instruction classroom. Research Strategies, 10 (Spring), pp. 77-83.

Francis, B. W. and Kelly, J. A. (1997). Active learning: Its role in health sciences libraries. Medical reference services quarterly, 16 (Spring), pp. 25-37.

Gedeon, R. (1997). Enhancing a large lecture with active learning. Research strategies, 15(4), pp. 301- 309.

Johnson, D., Johnson, R. and Smith, K. (1991). Active learning: Cooperation in the college classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Books.

Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning: Experiences as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Lorenzen, M. (1995). Remember the gin and tonic! Using alcohol to teach Boolean searching. Library instruction roundtable news, 17(4), pp. 10.

Mabry, C. E. (1995). Using cooperative learning principles in BI. Research strategies, 13 (Summer), pp. 182-185.

National Institute of Education. (1984). Involvement in learning: Realizing the potential of American higher education. Washington, DC: US Department of Education.

Penhale, S. J. (1997). Cooperative learning using chemical literature. Science & technology libraries, 16 (3/4), pp. 69-87.

Ragains, P. (1995). Four variations on Drueke's active learning paradigm. Research strategies, 13 (Winter), pp. 40-50.

Robinson, O. H. (1880). College libraries as aids to instruction: Rochester University Library -- Administration and use. In Circulars of information of the Bureau of Education; No. 1. Washington, D. C.: United States Government Printing Office, pp. 15-27.

Shores, L. (1935). The liberal arts college, a possibility in 1964? School and society, 41 (26 January), pp. 110-14.

Shrigley, R. (1981). Reader education. New library world, 82 (March), pp. 42, 43.

Winsor, J. (1880). College libraries as aids to instruction: The college library. In Circulars of information of the Bureau of Education; No. 1. Washington, D. C.: United States Government Printing Office, pp. 7-14.

Woodruff, E. H. (1886). University libraries and seminary methods of instruction. Library journal, 11 (September), 219-24.

Copyright (c) 2003, Michael Lorenzen. All rights reserved