January 16, 2009
Should Librarians Encourage or Discourage Students' Use of the Internet for Research?
In the Library with the Lead Pipe recently had a great posting and discussion challenging how the average instruction librarian treats using the Internet for research. I should say in this instance that by the Internet I mean anything that can found online and used without having to purchase the information. In her posting In Praise of the Internet: Shifting Focus and Engaging Critical Thinking Skills, Blogger Ellie Collier of Austin Community College, Austin, TX suggests that instead of teaching students that the Internet is a poor resource we instead teach them to think for themselves.
I have always thought it was too easy and in fact quite pompous of instruction librarians to bring out the old fake web site examples, like Dihydrogen Monoxide (a.k.a. water)to fake students out and make them think they must be pretty gullible. That may have worked in the early days of the Internet but browsers and searching have been around long enough for us to realize there is not only a bunch of bad stuff out there. There is most likely an even greater amount of good stuff available over the Internet, where research is concerned.
Academic librarians, always concerned about being taken seriously and having credibility with their students and professors jeopardize that credibility, according to Collier by, "Condemning the Internet as a wasteland or a dangerous minefield when this is not the students’ personal experience".
The ALA/ACRL listserv had a brief discussion about this very topic this last week. One member recommended encouraging faculty to take off points when grading student projects if they use Internet resources. I suggested instead that faculty require students to justify why they chose a particular Internet resource and why it was important to the topic they covered in their paper. We all know students use Wikipedia and Google for finding information. Shoot, I use them! Let's make them savvy consumers of Internet information and help them to make sure they're getting the best information possible.
Posted by swortman at 03:16 PM | Comments (0)
October 03, 2008
College Libraries as Aids to Instruction - 1880
The Hathi Trust offers an interesting little volume on the history of academic library instruction in the form of College Libraries as Aids to Instruction and the issues presented are surprisingly similar to those facing today's libraries. This short volume, published by the then Federal Bureau of Education is written by Harvard University Librarian, Professor Justin Winsor and University of Rochester Librarian, Professor Otis H. Robinson.
Here's a list of the most important books the academic library of 1880 should own, according to Winsor:
1. Brunet’s Manuel du Libraire
2. Various bibliographies by Querard, including La France littéraire and La littérature française contemporaine
3. Watt’s Bibliotheca Britannica
4. Lowndes’s Bibliographer’s Manual
5. Allibone’s Critical Dictionary of English Literature
6. Whitaker’s Reference Catalogue of Current Literature
7. Leypoldt’s Uniform Trade List Annual
8. American Catalogue
9. Bibliotheca Londinensis
10. History of Printing in America
11. Türbner’s Bibliographical Guide
12. Roorback’s Bibliotheca Americana
13. Larousse’s Grand dictionnaire universel du xix siecle – Note: expensive, according to Professor Winsor but “worth some sacrifice to get.� – much better than Encyclopaedia Britannica (p. 11)
14. Johnson’s Universal Cyclopaedia Note: you get more for you money with this rather than Appleton’s New American Cyclopaedia or Chamber’s Encyclopedia
15. Wheatley’s What is an Index?
16. Handbook for Readers from the Boston Public Library, 1875
17. Poole’s Index to Periodical Literature or see also Nineteenth Century Masterfile
Here are a few quotes from Justin Winsor's brief essay The College Library.
"To fulfil (sic) its rightful destiny, the library should become the central agency of our college methods, and not remain a subordinate one, which it too often is." (p.7)
The science of bibliography is "the key to all knowledge and the sparer of unfruitful pains." (p.14)
Winsor suggests librarians make their own index of useful articles which have been frequently requested, as this librarian "is much better prepared for all such questions than he who lets the memoranda pass into dim corners of his unassisted memory." (p.14)
And here's a good one:
There is often a feeling that books are, or ought to be, sensible enough to maintain their own ranks, without the need of a drill sergeant. A good deal of the librarian’s work is doubtless that of the drill sergeant; but the genuine custodian of a library knows that his best work is a general’s who has campaigns to plan and territory to overrun; in other words, he has got to force his ranks into action, and make each book do the work for which was made. Books skulk. Few are aggressive and compel attention, unless the librarian puts each on its own vantage ground. (p.7)
Here is what Professor Otis H. Robinson has to say when talking about his experiences with the smaller college library.
The idea that a college librarian may serve the classes as an instructor quite as successfully as the professor of Latin or of mathematics is beginning to take root...How to get [the books] used most extensively, most intelligently, and at the same time carefully, is becoming [the librarian's] chief concern. (p.15)
And evidently librarians had some of the same issues back in 1880 as they do now.
We are reminded every year by students about to leave that at first the library was to them little more than a blank…We are thus made to feel the importance of creating such an atmosphere in our library as shall attract those who, never having enjoyed the use of one are not prepared to appreciate it. Whatever we fail to do, it is our purpose to make every student a reading man for life. (p. 17)
No matter if it's 1880 or 2008 students remain the same.
It remains to awaken and direct an interest in the books, for very few students will become regular and systematic readers merely from a sense of duty, whatever may be their facilities for finding the best reading when they want it. The trouble is, in many cases, that they do not want it. The want must first be created and then supplied. (p.19)
Lastely, Robinson recommend that librarians be aware of the dangers libraries must avoid. These include becoming just a place to get questions answered and not a place for deep concentrated reading and study which takes time and effort. He recommends librarians relax a little about the "pecuniary" issues involved with the collection. The books are to be used and not locked up for fear of damage. After all, he ends his essay,
With the eyes of nearly all the faculty continually on the work done in the library it is not easy for an evil tendency there to escape observation. (p. 27)
Posted by swortman at 09:33 AM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2008
The Evolution of a Teacher
When I first started working at a reference desk my worst fear was that I might not be able to answer someone's question. I was worried I would come across as not knowing what I was doing or fumbling for information. I had this image that the people behind the desk should be the experts, that they should have everything at their finger tips and immediately be able to retrieve the perfect manageable set of citations which answered even the most difficult question. In short, it was all about me. I was on the hot seat and I was responsible for knowing it all.
As I evolved as a reference librarian I struggled to keep up this image by telling patrons they could alleviate all this messy process at the desk by giving me their email or phone number. That way they wouldn't have to waste time waiting for me to find what they needed (or watch me fumble if I had no idea what I was doing!)and I could contact them later with some suggestions. This was just a sneakier way of being all about me. They didn't have to know if it took me four hours or four minutes to find the information. I was off the hook and not "performing" in front of them.
These issues of performance also spill into classroom instruction. That's why librarians come up with canned searches, so they don't have to struggle in front of students and appear as if they don't know what they're doing if a search brings up inappropriate results. Parker Palmer writes about the fear in teaching this way:
After thirty years of teaching, my own fear remains close at hand. It is there when I enter a classroom and feel the undertow into which I have jumped. It is there when I ask a question - and my students keep a silence as stony as if I had asked them to betray their friends. It is there whenever it feels I have lost control: a mind-boggling question is asked, an irrational conflict emerges, or students get lost in my lecture because I myself am lost. When a class that has gone badly comes to an end, I am fearful long after it is over - fearful that I am not just a bad teacher but a bad person, so closely is my sense of self tied to the work I do. (1)
Some fear can be good, it means you care but too much fear is debilitating and does not lead to learning or critical thinking. Palmer goes on to say students would just as soon not engage in learning with a teacher. "Don't ask me how to think about this stuff - just give me the facts."(2) Often that's just what librarians do. We concentrate on feeding students too much information and don't allow them to think for themselves.
In her article "Finding Ourselves as Teachers", Susan Byrnes Whyte suggests librarians step back from feeding students just the facts but instead concentrate on making the students think for themselves by getting into the "whys" of research.(3)
* Why did that search fail?
* Why is this an inappropriate web site?
* Why do I need to be able to evaluate a resource, anyway?
Getting into the whys of research is a messier way of teaching and may not always work but it's more practical and more useful. Students won't remember a librarian's perfect search at 2:00 am the night before their paper is due but if they remember the process involved in getting to that perfect search they can apply that wherever they are and whenever they need it.
Notes
1. Palmer,Parker J. The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1998. 36.
2. Ibid., 38.
3. Whyte,Susan Byrnes. "Finding Ourselves as Teachers." Information Literacy Instruction Handbook. Ed. Christopher Cox and Elizabeth Blakesley Lindsay. Chicago : Association of College and Research Libraries, 2008. 55.
Posted by swortman at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)
July 08, 2007
Eye to I: Visual Literacy Meets Information Literacy
The Instruction Section and Arts Section of ACRL joined forces to present an interesting panel in Washington on visual literacy and how important this is for today's students, Eye to I: Visual Literacy Meets Information Literacy.
The panel included three presenters,
Danuta Nitecki: Yale University Associate University Librarian
Cindy Cunningham, Corbis Inc., Director of Media Cataloging
Loanne Snavely, Penn State University, Head of Instructional Programs.
After a brief introduction the program started with a display of famous visual images which not only captured the audience's attention, but helped serve as examples of the topics being discussed. Each speaker brought a different background and expertise to the presentation which helped in providing a well rounded program.
Danuta Nitecki started out defining visual literacy and talking about different perspectives of visual literacy. She mentioned the article Visual Literacy in Higher Education, by Ron Bleed published in Educause.
Cindy Cunningham gave an engaging, hands-on presentation which demonstrated the difficulties involved in cataloging and tagging images. Audience members shouted out ideas for tagging images as she displayed them. She then gave us the actual terms that were used as descriptors. This let to an interesting discussion about descriptive vs. abstract tags.
(Image accessed from Flickr on June 29, 2007.
Attributed to LHOOD.)
This image could be tagged as "train station" or "travel" but it could also might be tagged as "alienation" or "fear."
You may have seen this presentation before but it always amazes me to watch it. For a good example of what can be done with images and where we may be heading in the future check on this example of PhotoSynth.
Danuta Nitecki talked about what the objectives should be for teaching visual literacy. She also discussed an article she wrote with William Rando, "A Library and Teaching Center Collaboration to Assess the Impact of using Digital Images on Teaching, Learning, and Library Support." Vine 34.3 (2004): 119-25. This article is available online for those affiliated with the University of Michigan.
Posted by swortman at 08:50 AM | Comments (1)
Eye to I: Visual Literacy Meets Information Literacy
The Instruction Section and Arts Section of ACRL joined forces to present an interesting panel in Washington on visual literacy and how important this is for today's students, Eye to I: Visual Literacy Meets Information Literacy.
The panel included three presenters,
Danuta Nitecki: Yale University Associate University Librarian
Cindy Cunningham, Corbis Inc., Director of Media Cataloging
Loanne Snavely, Penn State University, Head of Instructional Programs.
After a brief introduction the program started with a display of famous visual images which not only captured the audience's attention, but helped serve as examples of the topics being discussed. Each speaker brought a different background and expertise to the presentation which helped in providing a well rounded program.
Danuta Nitecki started out defining visual literacy and talking about different perspectives of visual literacy. She mentioned the article Visual Literacy in Higher Education, by Ron Bleed published in Educause.
Cindy Cunningham gave an engaging, hands-on presentation which demonstrated the difficulties involved in cataloging and tagging images. Audience members shouted out ideas for tagging images as she displayed them. She then gave us the actual terms that were used as descriptors. This let to an interesting discussion about descriptive vs. abstract tags.
(Image accessed from Flickr on June 29, 2007.
Attributed to LHOOD.)
This image could be tagged as "train station" or "travel" but it could also might be tagged as "alienation" or "fear."
You may have seen this presentation before but it always amazes me to watch it. For a good example of what can be done with images and where we may be heading in the future check on this example of PhotoSynth.
Danuta Nitecki talked about what the objectives should be for teaching visual literacy. She also discussed an article she wrote with William Rando, "A Library and Teaching Center Collaboration to Assess the Impact of using Digital Images on Teaching, Learning, and Library Support." Vine 34.3 (2004): 119-25. This article is available online for those affiliated with the University of Michigan.
Posted by swortman at 08:50 AM | Comments (1)