ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries Septem ber 1987 / 481 L ibrary in stru ction : R e c r e a tin g th e im a g e B y B a r b a r a L o v e Reference Librarian St. Lawrence College A report on the 16th Annual Workshop on Instruction in Library Use. T he im aginatively titled them e of the 16th An- nual W orkshop on Instruction in L ib rary Use, “Recreating the Im age,” prepared the ground for an extremely stim ulating conference. The w ork­ shop was held May 13-15, 1987, in H am ilton, O n­ tario, on the leafy grounds of McMaster University (where 100th birthday celebrations were under­ way) and was jointly sponsored by McMaster and M ohawk College. The sessions succeeded in shak­ ing some of our beliefs in the value of w hat we teach and encouraged participants to reconsider both the methods and the content of traditional li­ b rary instruction. The workshop opened w ith an anim ated debate entitled, “Im m odest Proposals: A lternative F u ­ tures for Bibliographic Instruction,” in which the speakers, Tom Eadie of the University of W ater­ loo, Tanis Fink from Seneca College, and Jocelyn Foster, a Ph.D . student at the University of British C olum bia, considered the intrinsic w orth of tra d i­ tional methods of library instruction and possible alternatives to w hat we are currently teaching. Tom Eadie opened the debate w ith the provoca­ tive argum ent th a t library instruction, especially w hen not point–of–use, should probably be aban­ doned. R epetitive reference questions (on c a ta ­ logue use and periodical index interpretation) con­ tin u e u n a b a te d even w hen a w e ll-m ain tain ed instruction program is in place. His feeling was th a t the level of sophistication and inform ation on tours is too great for the student masses herded through the library each fall and th a t good signage, self-paced teaching workbooks and self-guided au­ dio tours would be of more benefit to students than workshops th a t take place before the students are m otivated by an im m ediate need. Eadie argued th a t the generic workshops aimed at teaching stu­ dents how to do term papers or research assign­ ments have the same design flaw as the one-size fits-all clothing—th a t of really fitting no one well. On the other hand, the specialized sessions tailored to the needs of a specific assignment, usually turn out to be nothing more th an hour-long oral bibliog­ raphies. Tanis Fink countered w ith a proposal for replac­ in g p e rs o n a liz e d in s tr u c tio n w ith c o m p u te r- assisted instructional packages. She argued th at CAI is economical and quick and th a t it will over­ come librarian burnout by answering repetitive questions and freeing the librarian to handle the m ore complex and interesting ones. To bolster her argum ents, she cited studies th a t proved CAI more effective than class instruction and at least as effec­ tive as personal tutorials. Jocelyn Foster aim ed to bring the discussion back to earth by advocating, less provocatively, th a t we continue to do w hat we are now doing but b e tte r and m ore frequently. She disagreed th a t 482 / C & R L N ew s CAI was a realistic alternative, arguing th at the skills we wish to propagate—reasoning, evaluat­ ing, and discrim inating—can only be taught by people. She added th at the more access people have to inform ation, the more they will require facilita­ tors to th at information. Finally, she encouraged us to advocate the need for better research tools but added th at, until they come along, library instruc­ tion compensates for poor tools. The debate left workshop participants w anting to explore different avenues for com m unicating library research skills. The rem aining sessions w ent at least p a rt way tow ard dealing w ith Tom E adie’s objections to tra ­ ditional instruction and to address Jocelyn Foster’s exhortations th at we improve upon w hat we are now doing. Michael Orme, of the O ntario Institute for Stud­ ies in Education, presented a highly entertaining, but ultim ately practical, session called “The Effec­ tive Use of Hum or in Instruction.” His thesis was th at good pacing and reinforcem ent techniques en­ hanced w ith a healthy dose of hum or will keep stu­ dents interested and motivated. He argued th at since people require variation, they will find it for them selves (doodling, d ay d ream in g , ch a ttin g , etc.) if it is not provided by the teacher. A stimulus variation strategy builds in novelty, complexity and surprise. By using these teaching techniques, the instructor will be able to get the active atten­ tion of the students and will then be able to steer them into learning. Orme stressed th at while hu­ m or has energizing properties th a t actually aid the learning process, it has to be subject-related or the teacher will lose credibility. Leavening a class pre­ sentation with hum or enlivens the class and en­ courages respect and response. This is exactly the w ay in which Michael Orme conducted his ses­ sions, a fast and funny hour and a half. It was only after consulting my jokeless notes, th at I became aw are of how much valuable inform ation was ac­ tually com municated. Just as he advised us, Orme exploited the expectations of his audience to upset our preconceived ideas of w hat he was going to say, allowing us to learn. M arion W ilburn, coordinator of the L ibrary Techniques Program at Sherdan College spoke on “ S tru c tu rin g a C lassroom P re s e n ta tio n .” H er three-part message emphasized “simplifying, do­ ing and pacing.” Before preparing a classroom ses­ sion, she advised us to pare down w hat has to be com m unicated to an essential m inim um , outlining w hat students m ust know, should know and could know. She then proposed dum ping everything that they could know, most of w hat they should know, and even (heretieally) some of w h at they m ust know. After simplifying w hat to teach, W ilburn advised us to make use of w hat she described as the “doing” principle: students learn skills by practic­ ing them , so lecturing should be interspersed w ith workbooks, exercises, manuals, labs, experiments or guides. Finally, for a well-timed presentation, activity levels should be varied at about 20-minute intervals to keep the students’ attention spans at their peak. Threasa Wesley, coordinator of instructional services at Northern Kentucky University, offered the perfect response to Tom Eadie’s opening objec­ tions to traditional library instruction. Her session d ealt w ith the instruction program in place at Northern Kentucky which emphasizes evaluative research skills and eschews the teaching of cata­ logue use and periodical index interpretation. She described the evolution of this process as having be­ gun w ith a collective daydream about the ideal li­ brary instruction session. The “daydream ers” con­ cluded th a t, ideally, library instruction would teach concepts rather than tools and would stress evaluative research skills. This sort of instruction would bring the library more in line w ith m ain­ stream goals of higher education—creating intel­ lectual explorers. The evaluative research skills they aimed to teach were: breaking up a complex idea into its component parts, determ ining appro­ p riate types of prim ary and secondary sources, raising questions, suspending judgem ent until re­ search is ended, and questioning the authority of sources. To encourage students to break up a com­ plex idea into components, Wesley described the process of brainstorm ing on a particular student’s topic. The class would be asked to think of th at topic from a num ber of differing viewpoints, i.e. for a science assignment they would be encouraged to suggest sociological, anthropological and psy­ chological aspects of th at topic which would ulti­ m ately yield more insightful research. To under­ stan d and ap p reciate th e differences betw een prim ary and secondary sources, the students would be asked to read a couple of articles before the class and then to discuss the differing points of view, who holds them , who the authors are, and w hat background facts the students need to know more about the issue. G etting students to use library guides effectively was accomplished by making them think about the inform ation from the organizer’s point of view. G raduate students m ight role play and take the parts of a w riter, and editor, publisher, acquisition librarian and indexer in order to understand why and how certain types of inform ation are p u b ­ lished, bought by libraries, classified and indexed. To dem onstrate timeliness, the librarians take a ubject heading like “communism” and show stu­ ents how differently titles from Reader’s Guide ave appeared over the last four decades. A class in arketing research m ight be given a brief oral bib­ iography and discussion about the organization of he sources. The librarian then uses a case study to et the class to develop a m arketing strategy th at akes use of the various sources. To get the class to discriminate among the sug­ ested inform ation sources, they may be asked to om pare audience level and point of view from ci­ ations on the same topic from Reader’s Guide and he Social Science Index. This m ay be followed up s d h m l t g m g c t t Sep tem b er 1987 / 483 with a comparison of actual articles. In addition, the same sort of comparison could be done w ith a photocopy of a subject microfiche card to estim ate the likely inform ation yield based on titles, dates, num bers of pages, etc. This session was a literal eye-opener to the m a­ jority of us who have previously questioned how bu t not w h a t to teach in a one-hour library instruc­ tion class. The idea th a t the session can be m ade far m ore interesting to both the librarian and to the students and ultim ately m ore valuable in term s of advancing educational goals, seemed truly revolu­ tionary. No doubt, m any of the workshop partici­ pants have returned to their jobs w ith a clear-eyed goal and a great deal of insight into recreating the image. ■ ■ 1987 LOEX Conference moves to Ohio T he an n u al LO EX bibliographic instruction conference has been held in Ypsilanti, Michigan, ever since 1971. In 1987 it left hom e and headed south to Columbus, w here the Ohio State Univer­ sity Libraries co-hosted the 15th in the series on May 6-8. The current plan is to keep the confer­ ence on the road for the next several years. L O E X , th e n a tio n a l L ib r a r y O r ie n ta tio n - Instruction Exchange Clearinghouse, was estab­ lished in 1972 at Eastern M ichigan University. Its mission is to prom ote com m unication am ong li­ b ra ries w ith in stru c tio n p ro g ra m s, to assist li­ braries interested in developing such program s, to aid in research endeavors, and to coordinate activi­ ties am ong state and regional library instruction clearinghouses. LOEX fulfills its mission in p a rt by providing a clearinghouse of instructional m ateri­ als and by sponsoring an annual conference. T he Ohio State Program C om m ittee recom ­ m ended th a t the general them e of the conference be “Defining and Applying Teaching Strategies.” The com m ittee sought a balance between high tech and “low tech” w ith presentations to be m ade by BI librarians new to the field and sage advice given by veteran BI presenters. Several m ajor speakers w ere featured: Keith C ottam , director of the University of W yom ing Li­ braries, gave the keynote address, “Teaching: No G re ater Professional Role” ; Joan O rm ondroyd, reference and instruction librarian at Cornell U ni­ versity, addressed the topic of in-service training for BI librarians; Thomas McNally, head of circu- L O E X Conference planners and speakers: (left to right) M ary-Beth Bunge, L O E X program chair, OSU; Jay L add, local arrangements, OSU; Teresa Bungard, L O E X director, Eastern Michigan; Virginia T ief el, user education, OSU; Carolyn Kirkendall, fo rm er L O E X director, Eastern Michigan; K eith C ottam , U. W yom ing; Mignon Adam s, Philadelphia College o f Pharmacy & Science; Sally Sims, local arrangements, U. Maryland; Joan O rm ondroyd, Cornell; and Carol Mularski, volunteer coordinator, OSU. 484 / C&RL News lation at O hio State, provided an afte r-d in n er p re ­ sentation on th e use of video in BI; M ignon A dam s, director of lib ra ry services at th e P h ilad elp h ia C ol­ lege of P h arm acy an d Science, spoke on ev alu a­ tion; an d M ary P. Key, h ead of th e A griculture L i­ brary, V ictoria W elb o rn , h ead of th e Biological Sciences L ib ra ry , an d D avid Johnson, D e p a rtm e n t of N a tu ra l R esources, all a t O hio S tate, gave a panel presen tatio n on librarian-classroom faculty- team teach in g practices. T he p ro g ra m also in c lu d e d 15 p resen ters se­ lected from a pool of 50 lib rarian s w ho responded to a call for abstracts. These 15 lib rarian s gave “h o w -to ” ta lk s on to p ics ra n g in g fro m a c tiv e ­ learning m ethods to in teractiv e video. In a d d itio n , p a r ti c i p a n t s w e re t r e a t e d to a lu n ch tim e address by O hio S tate pro v o st Myles B rand. B rand not only provided an overview of Ohio S tate’s com prehensive BI p ro g ra m , b u t em ­ phasized th e in co rp o ratio n of BI into th e u n iv er­ sity’s plans for a new u n d e rg ra d u a te cu rricu lu m . A highlight of th e conference w as an evening at the O C L C h e a d q u a rte rs in D u b lin , O hio. O C L C hosted a reception an d d in n er, preceded by tours of th e fa c ility . T h e M cN ally ta lk fo llo w ed in th e O C L C a u d ito riu m . O th e r supporters of th e con­ ference included Baker & T aylor, th e Faxon C o m ­ p an y , an d U niversity M icrofilm s In te rn a tio n a l. T h e 170 conference p a rtic ip a n ts cam e from 35 states an d C a n a d a . M ore th a n h alf of th e p a rtic i­ p an ts w ere new com ers to th e an n u a l L O E X con­ ference. Most e n d –of-conferenee evaluations in d i­ cated th a t th e th em e w as p a rtic u la rly attra c tiv e to those sta rtin g new BI program s. T h e intensive tw o -d ay conference w as filled to ca p acity m ore th a n a m o n th before th e registration d ead lin e, an d re g rettab ly , m an y prospective regis­ tra n ts h a d to be tu rn e d aw ay. T h e proceedings of th e co n feren ce, h o w ev e r, w ill be p u b lish e d by P ierian Press in 1988. T he 1988 L O E X conference th em e w ill focus on th e BI needs of special groups, such as re tu rn in g students, disabled students, an d in te rn a tio n a l stu ­ dents. T h a t conference w ill be held a t B ow ling G reen S tate U niversity, B ow ling G reen, O hio, in early M ay. F o r m ore in fo rm atio n on th e 1988 con­ ference or a b o u t th e L O E X C learinghouse, co n tact T eresa B u n g ard , D irecto r, L O E X C learinghouse, E astern M ichigan U niversity, Y psilanti, M I 48197; (313) 487-0168. ■ ■ University of W ashington launches traveling exhibit T he U niversity of W ashington L ibraries, Seat­ tle, hosted a special reception on M ay 20, 1987, to celebrate th e com pletion of th e C ongressional P a ­ pers P roject an d th e opening of a trav e lin g exhibit based on th e p apers of Senator W a rre n G. M ag n u ­ son and th e la te S enator H enry M. Jackson. N early tw o h u n d re d guests cam e to h o n o r these tw o re ­ m arkable Senators w hose papers reflect an im pres­ sive four-decade legacy to public service. A m ong those present w ere Senator an d Mrs. M agnuson, Helen Jackson, w idow of th e late Senator Scoop Jackson, an d m em bers of th e ir families. T he b rief p ro g ra m fe atu red U niversity P resident W illiam B. G erb erd in g , Professor K enneth Pyle of the university’s Plenry M. Jackson School of I n te r ­ national Studies, R obert B urke, professor of his­ tory, and B rew ster D enny, professor of p u b lic af­ fa irs . H e le n J a c k s o n a n d W a r r e n M a g n u s o n com pleted th e p ro g ram w ith rem arks an d rem inis­ cences. This reception, m ost of all, w as a trib u te to the distinguished careers of tw o statesm en w ho re p re ­ sented th e S tate of W ashington d u rin g th e te n u re of eight different Presidents from th e G re a t D epres­ sion to th e 1980s. T h e p apers of these tw o Senators together com prise over 3,000 lin e a r feet of shelving and include correspondence, speeches, w ritings, notes, reports, com m ittee files, trip files, p h o to ­ graphs, audio tapes, 16mm film s, an d videotapes. S e n a to r a n d M rs. M ag n u so n tr a n s f e r r e d th e M agnuson papers to th e U niversity of W ashington in 1981. H elen Jackson d o n a te d th e papers of her la te h u sb an d in 1983 shortly after his d ea th . Al­ th o u g h initial processing h a d begun w h en these p a ­ pers w h ere first d o n ated , a special ap p ro p ria tio n by th e W ashington S tate L egislature in 1984 al­ low ed a m ore th o ro u g h an d expeditious com ple­ tio n of this m ajo r project. T he co m p u terized inven­ to ry of th e se arch iv es has b ee n re p ro d u c e d in m icrofiche an d is available from th e U niversity L i­ braries for a fee. Most of th e p ap ers are open for use to interested researchers an d th e general public. Some will be opened a t a la te r d a te in accordance w ith th e wishes of th e donors. As installm ents of these archives have been processed, th ey have been m ad e available for p ublic use. N early one h u n d re d researchers have alread y consulted these files. T h e 24-panel exhibit e n title d , “A Legacy of P u b ­ lic Service,” highlights th e issues w ith w hich each se n a to r w as closely associated: co m m erce, co n ­ s u m e r a ffa irs , a g r ic u ltu r e , sc ie n tific re se a rc h , h e a lth ca re , e n v iro n m e n ta l policy, defense an d foreign policy, an d h u m a n rights. T h e early lives an d political cam paigns of each senator are also fe atu red . T h e exhibit w as designed by E ric T aylor of T ay lo r’d Exhibits in Seattle in close co llab o ra­ tio n w ith th e staff of th e C ongressional P apers P ro j­ ect an d facu lty advisers. T h ro u g h o u t this fall, the exhibit w ill be available to organizations an d insti­ tutions th ro u g h E xhibit T o u rin g Services in O ly m ­ p ia, W ashington. ■ ■ t h e BOOK S H in ce 1 O 962 USE INc. 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