CHECK THESE OUT!

REFLECTIONS ON LIBRARY INSTRUCTION

RSR: Reference Services Review  has published a special issue:  A LOEX 25-Year Retrospective (1999, v. 27, number 3).  It contains a substantial body of articles that together make for fascinating reading, and perhaps a little nostalgia.  Some particularly interesting articles for today’s instruction librarians include:

Breivik, Patricia Senn.  “Take II — Information Literacy:  Revolution in Education.”  (pp. 271-275)

Broidy, Ellen.  “Celebrating Diversity, Ten Years Later.”  (pp. 266-270) 

Hardesty, Larry.  “Reflections on 25 Years of  Library Instruction:  Have   We Made Progress? (pp. 242-246)

Kirk, Thomas G.  “Course-Related Bibliographic Instruction in the 1990s.”  (pp. 235-241)

Mercado, Heidi. “Library Instruction and Online Database Searching.” 
 (pp. 259-265)

Nahl, Diane.  “Creating User-Centered Instructions for Novice End-Users.”  (pp.280-286)

Farber, Evan.  “College Libraries and the Teaching/Learning Process:  A 25-Year Reflection.”  Journal of Academic Librarianship 25.3 (1999): 171-177.

 Farber, one of the most well-known names in college library instruction, shares his insights into the history of library instruction in college libraries and discusses the new recognition of the educational role of librarians that results from the convergence of two developments: the success of bibliographic instruction and the ubiquity of electronic information resources. 
 

CRITICAL THINKING AND EVALUATION

Fitzgerald, Mary Ann.  “Evaluating Information:  An Information Literacy Challenge.”  School Library Media Research  2(1999)   Available at: http://www.ala.org/aasl/SLMR/evaluating.html  (Accessed:  10-14-99)

 Although focused on the school library, this article also contains useful information for those who work with college students and adults.  The author reviews research from cognitive psychology and critical thinking to define the basic processes of evaluation and the factors that lead to errors in the process, then makes recommendations for teaching strategies.
 

Rankin, Virginia.  “The Thought That Counts:  Six Skills That Help Kids Turn Notes into Knowledge.” School Library Journal 45(August 1999): 26-29.  (May also be available at the journal’s  web site: http://www.bookwire.com/slj/articles.html)

 To help students construct meaning from their research, Rankin argues, librarians must consciously teach them to apply thinking skills to their research.  By teaching such skills as comparing and contrasting, classifying by category, putting events into a sequence, identifying causes and effects, problem-solving, and decision-making, librarians give students tools to make sense of the information they have found.  Rankin provides examples from her own middle school library instruction. 

ENHANCING OUR OWN KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

Junion-Metz, Gail.  “Surf for:  Easy Access for All.”   School Library Journal 45(July 1999): 39.  (Also available at the SLJ web site: http://www.bookwire.com/SLJ/surf-for.articles)

 Highlights web sites about special education and the needs of persons with disabilities. 
 

Nicotera, Cynthia L.  “Information Access by Design:  Electronic Guidelines for Librarians.” Information Technology and Libraries 18.2(1999): 104-108.

 Describes basic design elements and principles for electronic educational materials and Web pages.  Topics covered are: lines, text and typography, shape, texture, balance, contrast, unity, value and color, and navigation.  Includes useful illustrations.  Will serve as a good introduction or a nice review, depending on your level of experience.

Zemke, Ron.  “Toward a Science of Training.”  Training  36(July 1999): 32-36.

 A review and summary of the learning theories of Robert M. Gagne from his classic text,  The Conditions of Learning.   Gagne is known for his work on the sequencing of learning, breaking learning into smaller component tasks, and the nine events of instruction, all of which are nicely summarized here in a non-scholarly article for trainers.
 

IDEAS YOU CAN USE TODAY

Cohen, Laura B.  “The Web as a Research Tool:  Teaching Strategies for Instructors.”  Choice  36.Supplement (1999): 19-44.

 The author provides a wealth of information for instructing users about the Web.  Included is information about trends in the web environment, definitions of protocols, the URL, file formats, and programming languages, suggestions for teaching subject directories and search services, descriptions of many directories and search engines, ideas about what to emphasize about each search engine, and suggestions of ways to teach web searching.

Eisenberg, Mike.  “Big6 Assessment Activity:  Ask and Answer.”  BIG6 Newsletter  3(Sept./Oct. 1999): 16.

 Describes a technique to help students reflect on their own work on a research assignment.  Includes questions and a sample worksheet.  The material is focused on the middle elementary grade student, but can be adapted to various ages. 

Furlong, Katherine and Andrew B. Crawford.  “Marketing Your Services Through Your Students. Computers in Libraries 19(September 1999): 22-26.

 Describes a program at the University of Maine, Farmington that used students to develop a program to teach others about the library.  Undergraduate education majors were hired to assist in the Information Literacy program, helping with curriculum design and teaching sessions.  These students then created a library research workshop (“How to Bail Someone Out in an Hour”) for the student peer tutors in the Writing Center. 
 

Lubans, John Jr.  “When Students Hit the Surf: What Kids Really Do on the Internet and What They Want from Librarians.”  School Library Journal 45.9(1999): 144-147.  (May also be available from the journal’s website: http://www.bookwire.com/slj/articles.html) 

 Both school and academic librarians should read this article.  Lubans describes key findings from his studies at Duke University, one which covered 7th-10th graders, and two which surveyed college freshmen.  Data includes information on what students do on the Web, how they learned to find information, how they judge sites, and what students want from librarians, including live links in the catalog and finding aids, but not instruction.  The author provides more information about the studies on his web page: http://www.lib.duke.edu/staff/orgnztn/lubans/john.html
 

York, Sherry.  “Boolean Burritos:  How the Faculty Ate Up Keyword Searching.”   Book Report  18(Sept./Oct. 1999): 54-55.

 Describes a fun, active program to instruct teachers about Boolean logic using cards for ingredients and cards for operators.
 

IN BRIEF

Brahmi, Frances, et. al.  “Teaching Lifelong Learning Skills in a Fourth-Year Medical Curriculum.”  Medical Reference Services Quarterly  18(Summer 1999): 1-11.

Brown, Cecelia M. Brown.  “Information Literacy of Physical Science Graduate Students in the Information Age.”   College and Research Libraries 60.5 (1999): 426-438.

Drabenstott, Karen M., Schelle Simcox, and Eileen G. Fenton.  “End User Understanding of Subject Headings in Library Catalogs.”  Library Resources & Technical Services 43.3(1999): 140-160.  [Results of a large-scale research study of Library of Congress subjects.]

Hall, Leilani.  “A Home-Grown Program for Raising Faculty Information Competence.”  Computers in Libraries  19(September 1999): 28-34. [Grant-funded, day-long workshop]

Orians, Colin and Laurie Sabol.  “Using the Web to Teach Library Research Skills in Introductory Biology:  A Collaboration Between Faculty and Librarians.”  Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship 23 (Summer 1999).    Available at:  http://www.library.ucsb.edu/istl/99-summer/article2.html (Accessed: 10-14-99)

Pappas, Marjorie L.  “Changing Learning and Libraries in Schools.”  School Library Media Activities Monthly  16(September 1999): 26-29, 32. [Authentic learning.]

Mary Pagliero Popp is Information Technologies Public Services Librarian at the Indiana University Bloomington Libraries.