WELCOME
BACK
ISSUESThoughts From Recent
Graduate, Mimi Patterson
Veteran LIRT
Member, Jana Edwards, Responds
As I was thinking about this article I asked some of my colleagues what they wish they had known when they started teaching in libraries. One of them replied, “Something about the different learning styles.” Her wish made me realize that everything I learned about instruction came from my background in education. There was very little offered in my library program to help me develop teaching skills.
Through further investigation I discovered that there is a course offered at the school I attended, but it is offered under the umbrella of the School Media program. My interest was piqued. I looked at the course offerings for several other library school programs to see if courses in instruction or bibliographic instruction were offered. I found that some library schools offered courses in bibliographic instruction, but many of those were offered for school media specialists, or as a special topics seminar that was not offered every semester. None of the schools I looked into required a course in instruction.
As I mulled over the results of my mini-investigation I grew concerned about two issues in particular: 1) the course titles and their content; 2) the fact instruction courses are not core requirements.
My concern with the name of the courses is that the name alone may affect who decides to take the course. Since most everyone who works in any kind of library will be teaching (even if only on a one to one basis), why only market these classes to those who specifically want to be instruction librarians? Why not focus the curriculum on very basic teaching skills— creating a syllabus, creating goals and learning objectives for the class, dividing the lessons into modules, assessing learning, and relating these to the library setting. Think of how helpful it would have been to know about the different learning styles before first giving a presentation to your colleagues.
My other concern is that instruction courses are not part of the core, required curriculum. Even if they are not required, all students should be encouraged to take the courses, not just students with a particular interest in instruction. The ideal course could be called “Instruction skills for library specialists” and all those who plan to work in a library setting could attend. I have the feeling that my friends who are now working in libraries are scrambling to learn teaching skills because no one in school mentioned that instruction would be such a large part of library work. I am sure they will learn the skills needed; there are lots of wonderful articles out there.
Isn’t it better, though, to learn about teaching in the classroom, from an experienced educator who will help you practice and refine your skills? Since most institutions that offer a Library Science degree have a College of Education, Library Science faculty could cooperate with Education faculty or departments and take advantage of their great resources.
Teaching is always involved in library work, not just in the classroom, but in almost every situation. It would be beneficial to librarians and users for classes in instruction skills to be developed, encouraged and required.
Mimi Patterson is Reference
Librarian in Humanities and Social Sciences Services at the University
of Florida, Gainesville. E-mail: mimipat@mail.uflib.ufl.edu
Are instruction librarians receiving adequate preparation in library schools? Where do they develop,
"Within librarianship, the demand for information literacy programs and instruction librarians has grown exponentially over the last 25 years. However, despite the incorporation of instruction programs as a main stream activity in academic libraries, there are still few signs that information literacy is recognized as a core component of librarianship. Rather, the concepts of information literacy and its pedagogy have largely been self-taught, nurtured by colleagues, or learned through attendance at a wide variety of professional conferences and programs."Readers who attended LIRT's program, "Teaching the Teaching Librarian" at ALA Annual, Washington, D.C., 1998, will remember Professor Lynn Westbrook's presentation. Westbrook reported that according to her research, only 26 library schools in the United States offer courses in instruction (Jones). A quick look at the ALA web site <http://www.ala.org> reveals that there are currently 48 ALA Accredited schools of library and information science in this country (not counting Puerto Rico). My search of each of these schools' course descriptions on the WWW reveal that as of April 1999, there are 27 ALA accredited library schools that offer a specific course devoted to the principles of teaching and how to do it in a library setting. An additional three schools offer other courses that include a bibliographic instruction component. So an argument could be made that approximately 62% of students attending library school have the opportunity to take a class in bibliographic instruction. But, as Ms. Patterson points out, do they avail themselves of this opportunity? And how do the remaining 38% acquire the skills, if needed?
This is a problem that LIRT and other library organizations are working to address. The teaching preparation of new librarians was discussed at the February 1997 LIRT Retreat (Dintrone), where representatives were planning directions for LIRT in the years to come. The ACRL/IS Education for Library Instructors Committee has been laboring on a white paper for hopeful presentation at the ALA Congress on Professional Education, "Strategic Options for A Professional Education," in an effort to lobby library schools to introduce more instructional methods courses in the curriculum. The committee is also mounting a website with links to established courses of library instruction in library schools. Then there is the Institute for Information Literacy (initially called NILI), that seeks to impart pedagogical skills to new librarians and experienced bibliographic instructors (Stepanovich). The Institute's first intensive four and one half-day training session, Immersion `99, will take place on July 23-28, 1999 at Plattsburgh State University of New York. Complete information is available at the IIL website, < http://www.ala.org/acrl/nili/nilihp.html>. I can't wait to see how the first IIL session goes, and register to attend the next training session.
For those of us who are able to attend ALA conferences, there are usually good programs and poster sessions offered. This June in New Orleans the LIRT program, "Technology in Action: Getting the Most From Your Electronic Classroom," should help us acquire some practical techniques for teaching with computers. And the Education, Training and Support Committee of RUSA/MARS is offering a program called, "Riding the Merry-Go-Round: Models for Training Public Services Librarians in a Continually Changing Electronic Environment." But let's not forget that the "creme de la creme" of library instruction articles published in 1998 are cited in this very issue (see "Top Twenty,"). More great articles are cited in Mary Popp's column.
Yes, LIRT is doing an admirable job of promoting and enhancing teaching skills among librarians. But it’s very time consuming to pick up these skills on your own, especially when starting a new job. Ask any new hire who is scrambling to learn teaching skills on top of learning the local reference collection, acquisitions system, committee work, etc. I hope that LIRT members and others involved in teaching at any level (public, school, special or academic libraries) will continue to voice their concerns, in the hopes that, one day, every library school will offer a course devoted to library instruction.
References:
Dintrone, Chuck. "Getting
to the Heart of LIRT." Library Instruction Round Table News 19 (March
1997): 1+.
Jones, Phil. "Teaching
the Teaching Librarian." Library Instruction Round Table News 21 (September
1998): 5-6.
Oberman, Cerise. "Formal
Training is a Critical Need." College & Research Libraries News.
(October 1998) Available online: <http://www.ala.org/acrl/iiltrain.html>
Stepanovich, Mitch.
"LIRT Midwinter Discussion Forum: NILI." Library Instruction Round Table
News 20 (March 1998): 1+.
Wittkopf, Barbara.
"Proficiencies for BI Librarians: Who Defines Them?" Research Strategies
8 (Summer 1990): 102-103.
Jana Edwards, Production Editor for the LIRT News, is Reference Librarian & Outreach Specialist for the Department of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Florida, Gainesville. E-mail: edwards@ufl.edu.