ACRL Instruction Section Instruction for Diverse Populations Committee

February 16, 1997. 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

The Committee presented a Midwinter panel discussion, "Learning Styles and Diverse Populations" in collaboration with the Continuing Education Committee of ACRL. Committee members produced two bibliographies titled "Learning Styles and Multiculturalism" and "International Aspects of Adult Learning Styles." The former was handed out at the panel presentation.

This committee is also involved in several projects. Committee members completed a glossary of 50 common library terms. The glossary defines the terms in English and lists equivalent terms in four other commonly used languages. ( I will forward requests for further information to the committee.)

This committee has begun work on a video project regarding diversity in the library instruction classroom and at the reference desk. The video will focus on misconceptions among students and instructors/librarians regarding learning/teaching styles. The script should be completed by Annual with filming planned to be completed by November 1997. Committee members will also complete a study guide.

Adults learners as well as Asian, African-American, Native American and Middle Eastern students are to be featured in the video. The video will be available through interlibrary loan as an instructional tool.

Reported by Ellen Kessler, Queens Borough Public Library, ELLENK@queens.lib.ny.us

Discussion Forum: Continuing Education and Instruction for Diverse Populations

February 16, 1997. 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

This forum was hosted by the Diversity and the Continuing Education Committees. It concentrated on different learning styles to help learners and teachers as well. The major issue is how do people want to receive information and how should the information be communicated?

Four types of learning styles were presented: (1) imaginative (2) analytical (3) common sense and (4) dynamic. The imaginative learners need to know why they are learning. The analytical learners prefer step-by-step presentations. The common-sense learners need to know how it works and how useful the information is. The dynamic learners prefer self-discovery and depend on gut reactions.

This forum suggests teachers solicit from students their learning styles before the class starts. Interesting discussions were sparked after the presentation.

Reported by May Ying Chau, Oregon State University, chaum@ccmail.orst.edu

ACRL Instruction Section (IS) Emerging Technologies in Instruction Committee

February 15, 1997, 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. February 17, 1997, 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Chair: Keith Morgan

Since 1994, this committee has been working on the ACRL/CNI Internet Education Project, a Website intended as a repository for models of Internet instruction (http://www. cwru.edu/orgs/cni/base/acrlcni.html). At this conference, the committee's conversations focused on how to best streamline the project management process. The committee appointed subcommittees to do publicity and to act as reviewers.

Another subcommittee was charged with refining checklists for use in the peer review process and for posting on the site so that contributors would be informed of evaluation criteria. In addition, members offered feedback to the site's administrators on the site's current design and suggested new features for implementation. Approximately 25 attended each meeting.

Reported by David Sherwood, Creighton University, davids@creighton.edu

ACRL LPSS Library Instruction Committee

February 16, 1997. 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Chair: Catherine Doyle

This meeting was devoted to a discussion of the "Politics of Information Technology." Concern was expressed that old digital information in earlier formats is often not retrievable. There was a discussion of how difficult and expensive it is to maintain and authenticate material in a digital library. Concern was expressed about how libraries would be able to make information available to the "have-nots," especially if and when the government begins to charge for information.

The question was asked if the Internet should be considered a "public good"? It was noted that a library may "validate" information in the minds of some users by putting links to that information on the Web. And, while a librarian may make a link to a good site, all of the sites that the "good" site links to may be unchecked for quality. It was also noted that librarians may need to limit the number of sites to which they link because users may be buried in too much information and might not be successful in finding what they need. Concern also was expressed that telecommunications costs will escalate greatly. Eighteen people were in attendance.

Reported by Jennalyn Tellman, University of Arizona, Jennalyn@library.arizona.edu

ACRL IS Education for Library Instructors Committee

February 16, 1997. 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Chair: Joan Kaplowitz

The meeting began with a description of the Committee's three ongoing projects: A resources packet, a dissertation tracking project, and a project to determine proficiencies.

Their resources packet is planned to be helpful to instructors teaching library school students about library instruction. The packet will include an annotated bibliography of books, journals and Internet resources. It is almost complete. It will be mounted on the IS Web site. The Committee is presently working on a publicity brochure to send to relevant people.

The dissertations tracking project will identify dissertations relevant or helpful to people doing instruction-related research in libraries. The notion of making an award for the most helpful dissertation was discussed.

There was a preliminary discussion of the proficiencies project. This project would attempt to define what librarians need to know to be effective teachers. They might build on a 1993 paper by D. Shonrock. They want to include what is needed for distance education. There were 12 attendees.

Reported by Jennalyn Tellman, University of Arizona, Jennalyn@library.arizona.edu

ACRL Education & Behavioral Sciences Section Instruction for Educators Committee

February 15, 1997. 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Chair: Dane Ward, Wayne State University

In an effort to reach out to educators, the Instruction for Educators Committee is preparing a "vision for marketing information literacy to professional educators." They hope to include a workbook, lesson plans, and handout suggestions for use in presentations.

Individual committee members reported on individual achievements such as teaching classes for Library Media Specialists through the Teacher's College at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, participating in retreats which are part of the distance learning programs at Oregon State University, analyzing course syllabi and course reading lists to measure their use of library resources, leading workshops to introduce educators to producing home pages at Shippensburg University, and making contacts with professional educators' groups offering to introduce their groups to information literacy. Ten committee members attended the meeting.

Reported by Scherelene Schatz, Muhlenberg College, schatz@mulhberg.edu

ACRL Instruction Section Management for Instruction Services

February 17, 1997. 9:30 a.m. - ll:00 a.m.

During a Bright Ideas session, two themes emerged as general topics which the Committee would like to include in a regional institute which will be sponsored by LAMA. These include learning to teach and balancing hands-on learning with conceptual learning. This institute will be lead by Betsy Wilson, University of Washington, and will be offered to managers of bibliographic instruction along with their supervisors.

This summer in San Francisco, the Committee will sponsor a discussion group entitled "Fostering Creativity and Maintaining Control: The Manager ManagerUs Role." Topics which may be raised for discussion include: 1) showing students how to use the Internet; 2) training students to find jewels rather than junk on the Internet; 3) how to challenge librarians to take risks with instruction; 4) training classified staff in search techniques; and 5) evaluating resources.

A new book has been written by Myrtle Bolner and committee member Gayle Poirier entitled The Research Process: Books and Beyond. (Kendall/Hunt, 1997). Fourteen attended the meeting.

Reported by Scherelene Schatz, Muhlenberg College, schatz@muhlberg.edu

ACRL Instruction Section Teaching Methods Committee

February 17, 1997. 9:30a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Co-Chairs: Carl Phillips, Kevin Roddy

The Committee debriefed the well-attended 2/16/97 brainstorming session it sponsored which focused on team teaching and other types of partnerships with faculty outside of the library. Since the discussion generated so much interest, it was decided that the topic of developing collaborative relationships with teaching faculty for instruction would be an area of concentration for future events. The topics of teaching on the Web and graphic design were also raised for future planning.

Additional discussions involved recommendations for a new IS logo and a position description for a Web site administrator. It was announced that a research committee is being proposed for IS. Ten committee members plus four guests attended the meeting.

Reported by Elaine Gass, Texas A & M University, elaineg@tamu.edu

ACRL Community and Junior College Libraries Section Bibliographic Instruction Committee

February 15, 1997. 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Chair: Debra Gilchrist

The committee is preparing to begin a research study on "barrier courses" - those courses in which many students fail. The study will address how those courses affect retention at the institution as well as how bibliographic instruction contributes to the success of students who pass barrier courses. Between now and the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco, the committee will continue to pursue a $1000 grant from the ACRL Executive Board. The grant request had previously been turned down with a request for a more detailed methodology.

Reported by Michael Poma, Creighton University, mapoma@creighton.edu

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