ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 12 Bibliographic Instruction B I fo r the Invisible U niversity Two years ago in Dallas the ALA Library In­ struction Round Table heard Dr. K. Patricia Cross say, “… some of our richest learning ex­ periences occur not in organized classes, but in self-directed learning that is pursued solely be­ cause the learner wants to know.”1 Investigation revealed that, in fact, ninety percent of all adults engage in some type of learning activity in a year and seventy-three percent of those projects are self-guided.2 Although not formally affiliated with an institution of higher learning, these students, Ronald Gross suggests, are part of an “invisible university,” the network of learning opportunities and resources available to independent learners.3 Recognizing that libraries are a major compo­ nent in this network and that these “unaffiliated” students may never have been exposed to any li­ brary orientation or instruction, the Gardner- Harvey Library and the Office of Continuing Education at Miami U niversity-M iddletow n (MUM) initiated a non-credit course titled “Your Other Education: Library Lessons for Lifelong Learning.” This course is a new element in an ac­ tive bibliographic instruction program that in­ cludes teaching basic skills to pre-college students and to freshmen, conducting course-related in­ struction in several disciplines, and producing printed guides to the library and to various sub­ jects. While those activities reflect the campus curriculum, “Your Other Education” does not. This course is geared toward independent learn­ ers, who have a multiplicity of motivations for learning, who use many different resources and services to acquire knowledge, and who work at an individually determined pace. “Your Other Education” was first taught by the campus librarian in the fall of 1980, meeting once a week in two-hour sessions for six weeks. Stu­ dents earned 1.2 continuing education units (CEUs) for successful completion. Publicity for the course was carried out by the Office of Con­ tinuing Education. The course appeared in their fall catalog along with Aerobic Dancing, Math 1K. Patricia Cross, “Libraries in the Learning Society.” Paper presented at the Annual Confer­ ence of the American Library Association, Dallas, Texas, 26 June 1979, p. 4. 2Barry Heermann, Cheryl Coppeck Enders, and E lizabeth W ine (guest editors), S erv in g L ifelon g L ea rn ers (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1980), p. vii. 3Ronald Gross, T he L ife lo n g L e a r n e r (New York: Touchstone, Simon and Schuster, 1977), p. 87. Without Fear, Joy of the Arts, and Leadership Theory for Newly Registered Nurses. A detailed brochure on “Your Other Education” was also prepared and mailed to approximately two hundred holders of community borrowing cards from the G ardner-H arvey Library. M ultiple copies of the brochure were placed in local public libraries and were sent to businesses and to the Greater Cincinnati Library Consortium for dis­ tribution. All registration was handled by the Office of Continuing Education. Students were asked to purchase two textbooks, The Lifelong L earn er by Ronald Gross (New York: Touchstone, Simon and Schuster, 1977) and Finding F acts Fast by Alden Todd (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 1979). The books were selected for their readability and their em­ phasis on the use of libraries for self-directed learning as opposed to the “how-to-use-the- academic-library-to-write-a-term-paper” approach of many guides. Correspondence with both au­ thors proved very fruitful in the planning of the course. In the first session the course was introduced with a discussion of lifelong learning and the roles of libraries and information-seeking. Students were surveyed by means of a questionnaire that explored occupation, education, hobbies/special interests, library use, and age. It was a diverse population, ranging in age from mid-forties to over sixty. Some students had full time jobs out­ side the home, some were retired, and some were homemakers. All students had completed high school and experience in college ranged from a few courses to completed master s de­ grees. To the question, “At any time during your formal education did you receive instruction in the use of libraries?” the negative response was one hundred percent. Students had participated in the last two years in a variety of educational activities such as auditing university courses, completing non-credit courses, engaging in pri­ vate lessons, and attending workshops, seminars, and professional conferences. They also had studied independently using com m ercially planned and self-planned programs. One student had planned a learning program for others. All students held cards from their local public li­ brary; twenty percent held cards from Gardner- Harvey Library. Special interests of the students included read­ ing, art, travel, genealogy, church history, gam­ bling, interior design, computers, and Chinese 13 culture. These were fully matriculated students of the invisible university! They were also given a pre-test to determine their prior knowledge of library resources. The test included a matching section on information and library resources, a true/false section on li­ braries and lifelong learning, and short answer sections on the card catalog and the R e a d e r s G u ide. The highest score on the pre-test was eighty-three percent; the lowest, sixty-five. Session II covered the “lingo’’ of libraries, in­ cluding history and types, major schemes of or­ ganization, and types and characteristics of refer­ ence materials. The next three sessions were sub­ je c t orien ted , covering financial inform ation sources (Making Sense of $$$ and ¢¢ ¢ ), legal and medical information (Helping your Helpers), and em ploym ent and recreation (At Work and At Play). In the final session, “Wrap It Up and Take It Home,” students were presented tips on plan­ ning, organizing, and documenting a learning project and on creating a home reference library. On that last night they also took a post-test, each student revealing improvement of four to fifteen percentage points. There were many reasons for planning and ex­ ecuting “Your Other Education: Library Lessons for Lifelong Learning.” A potential student (who d id take the course) suggested that library utiliza­ tion might make a good topic for a continuing education course. The librarian, to whom that suggestion was made, had had sufficient experi­ ence with “fifty-minute stands” that she wanted and needed the experience of teaching library skills to a group that met over a period of time. But it was during her background research into lifelong learning that the true rationale for such a course became apparent. The editors of Serving L ifelo n g L e a r n e r s , number twenty nine in the Jossey-Bass New Directions for Community Col­ leges series, say, “Most learning is simply not under our (the community colleges’) auspices,” and that the institutions “need to be less preoc­ cupied with control and much more concerned with supporting and guiding students in learning pursuits.”4 On that assumption, teaching library and bibliographic skills to non-affiliated learners is an appropriate component of an academic li­ brary’s instruction program and the campus’ con­ tinuing education unit may be the most effective ch ann el for im p le m e n ta tio n .— V irg in ia E llis Palmer. 4H eerm an , E n d e rs, and W in e, S e r v in g L ifelon g L earn ers, p. viii. E d ito r s N ote: Virginia Palm er is h e a d reg ion al cam p u s lib r a r ia n at Miami U n iversity-M iddle­ town, O hio. ■ ■ Fallacies of Librarianship A B ritish librarian of many talents and much experience has devised the following list of erroneous but commonly-held beliefs maintained by some library professionals. The list has recently been published by New L i­ b ra ry W orld, a London publication. 1. Users can find their own way around a library. 2. U sers are co m p letely helpless at all stages of library use. 3. Gift books are free. 4. Cooperation between libraries, of what­ ever kind, saves money. 5. Holdings are more important than ser­ vice. 6. The case for well-funded libraries is self- apparent. 7. A library that receives no complaints is a good library. 8. Library education is a useful preparation for library practice. 9. A research library should give the un­ known needs of the future priority over the known needs of the present. 10. The catalog is the key to the library. 11. Interlibrary borrowing is expensive. 12. Interlibrary borrowing is a cheap substi­ tute for acquisition. 13. Interlibrary borrowing is no substitute for acquisition. 14. The distance between a lending and a borrowing library affects the speed of supply. 15. It is possible to devise a classification scheme that organizes knowledge in a cohe­ rent, useful, and intelligible way that is and will remain acceptable. 16. Existing classification schemes can be improved by local modifications. 17. No system devised for one library can be adopted by any other library. 18. A love of books is a useful prerequisite for a librarian. 19. All that is needed to improve a library service is more money and more staff. 20. A library building that wins a prize for architecture is functional. If C& RL News readers wish to add further fallacies to the list, or if something has been included which perhaps should not have been , write G eorge M. E b erh a rt, ACRL/ ALA, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611.