CHECK
THESE OUT!CHECK
THESE OUT!The beginning of a new season and, for some of us, the start of a new school year, brings a chance to think again about our roles and our tasks. Use one of these articles to focus your thoughts.
McClure, Charles R. "Public Access to the Information Superhighway through the Nation's Libraries." Public Libraries 34 (Mar. 1, 1995): 80-84.
More a call to action than a discussion about instruction, this article describes the new role the public library must play in introducing the general public to Internet resources. McClure proposes that public libraries make sure not only that all citizens have access to the Internet but that they acquire the information literacy skills necessary to use it to find information.
Pitts, Judy M. (edited by Joy H. McGregor and Barbara K. Stripling). "Mental Models of Information: The 1993-94 AASL/Highsmith Research Award Study." School Library Media Quarterly 23 (1995): 177-84.
Stripling, Barbara K. "Learning-Centered Libraries: Implications from Research." School Library Media Quarterly 23 (1995): 163-70.
These two papers describe the research of the late Judy M. Pitts which shows that library instructional programs need to be based on how students learn. Stripling looks at the implications of this research for the ways teachers and librarians assist students in their research: 1) instruction in information seeking must be integrated with subject matter content; 2) the mental models of both teacher and librarian must converge; 3) students need a framework to help them focus on the research question; and 4) new learning must build on prior learning
Weingand, Darlene E. "Preparing for the New Millennium: The Case for Using Marketing Strategies." Library Trends 43 (1995): 295-317.
An easily understandable overview of marketing strategies and of how such strategies can be used to plan client-focused library services. Everyone who plans instructional programs can benefit from reviewing these concepts and applying them on a smaller scale to instructional services.
Willis, Elizabeth I. and Diane J. Turner. "Streamlining Library Instruction: The Auraria Experience." Research Strategies 13 (1995): 107-115.
Librarians at the Auraria Libraries have dropped their traditional classroom-based instruction program for lower level undergraduates and have focused instead on a self-directed Library Basics program. Academic librarians who are feeling burned out may want to read about the reasons for the change, ponder the components of the self-directed program (audio tour, handbook, worksheets, quizzes, printed guides, and on-line catalog demonstrations), and review the authors' concerns. New ideas and new ways of thinking are essential to our effectiveness. What better time than NOW to consider the benefits of change.
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BACK ISSUES Last revised January 4, 2000.