ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 570 / C&RL News end, the preservation of our culture, our intellec­ tual heritage. And if there is a single, overarching responsibility of librarians in the next decades, it is to protect, and extend that fundamental mission in a time of growing complexity and confrontation. The essential obligations of the Academy have not changed, but we must renew our society’s un­ derstanding of them . The job will tax our imagina­ tions as never before. But the answers will not be found within the rush of technological change nor the explosion of information that seems to domi­ nate our lives. They will come from the processes of reason and dialogue that must always characterize our institutions. The need for libraries to reaffirm their central cultural and academic role will never be greater. And we, who have the ultimate respon­ sibility for the health of our libraries, must help and support them . ■ ■ C o m p u te r lit e r a c y a n d t h e m e n t a lly ill By Josephine King Evans Director, Florida Mental Health Institute Library University of South Florida The computer as a therapeutic device. eaching microcomputer skills to college and university students has become a new role for aca­ demic librarians, but during 1987, research center library staff at the University of South Florida in Tampa provided computer literacy to a different audience: the mentally ill.1 Located on the univer­ sity campus, the Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI) is the first state-assisted agency to imple­ ment such a program. Although there have been other autom ation projects in the mental health field, none has involved computer literacy for pa­ tients in a library setting.2 1Linda J. Piele, Judith Pryor, and Harold W. Tuckett, “ Teaching M icrocomputer Literacy: New Roles for Academic Librarians,” College ö- Research Libraries 47 (July 1986): 374-78. 2James L. H edlund, Bruce W. Vieweg, and Dong W. Cho, “Mental Health Computing in the 1980s: I. General Information Systems and Clini­ cal Documentation,” Computers in Human Ser­ vices 1 (Spring 1985): 3-33; James L. Hedlund, Bruce W. Vieweg, and Dong W. Cho, “Mental Health Computing in the 1980s: II. Clinical Appli­ cations,” Computers in Human Services 1 (Sum- Directed by Jack Zusman, FMHI is a University of South Florida research center that develops new treatm ent strategies and provides modernized tra in in g to strengthen m ental h e a lth services throughout the state. Small, on-site model demon­ stration units employing behavior modification, family therapy, rehabilitation and other modes of treatment serve clients ranging in age from pre­ kindergarten to the elderly. The average patient stay is ninety days. It was this population of ap­ proximately 600 people that the computer literacy program served during 1987. Planned and implemented by the staff of the FMHI Research Library, the project was based in the smaller patient library located nearby; it was mer 1985): 1-31; James E. Clark, Ann K. Lan- phear, and Carol C. Riddick, “The Effects of Vi­ deogame Playing on the Response Selection Process of Elderly Adults,” Journal of Gerontology 42 (1987): 82-85; Ellen Bouchard Ryan, “Memory for Goblins: A Com puter Game for Assessing and Training Working Memory Skill,” Clinical Geron­ tologist 6 (1986): 64-67. July/August 1989 / 571 the first objective of a long-range goal to totally au­ tom ate this collection used by patient-patrons. Subsequent objectives scheduled for future dates include both autom ated circulation and an online catalog. Partially funded w ith a L ibrary Services and Construction Act Title I G rant of $4,000 from the State L ibrary of Florida, the project was supple­ m ented w ith the wages of tw o part-tim e library employees and a portion of th e librarian’s salary which m ade the total cost $12,100. Expenditures were: IBM XT personal com puter, color m onitor, and IBM P roP rinter, $3,032; supplies and soft­ w are, $968; wages and salary, $8,100; TO TAL, $12,100. Selection of softw are rem ained experim ental and continuous throughout the project as the li­ brary staff learned from observation w hat clients preferred. Micro Softw are Evaluations, a publica­ tion th a t includes prices, addresses of publishers, and hardw are requirem ents, was useful.3 Public dom ain software may be nom inally priced when a form atted diskette accompanies the request. Sev­ eral publications list these com puter program s.4 O ther sources of inform ation are local PC users groups.5 Necessary training for the project included self- study exercises completed by the librarian, who subsequently taught library staff basic com puter skills such as use of DOS, concept of memory func­ tion, operation of both keyboard and printer, and how to access various software. Once knowledge­ able about the hardw are, staff members examined program s to become fam iliar w ith their complexity and modes of access. To simplify use, library staff affixed basic directions for program s to the sleeves of diskettes. Because train in g was interspersed w ith regular library duties, staff tim e of 360 hours for the three-m onth learning period is an estimate only. Before im plem entation of the project, the librar­ ian established guidelines; the com puter was to be utilized by clients and only w ith the intended soft­ ware. L ibrary adm inistrative use was not perm it­ ted. Although occasionally clients come to the li­ brary individually, visiting in groups is the norm. After briefly orienting clients to basic com puter use, library staff dem onstrated software. Because m any people (m entally ill o r not) fear the u n ­ known, it was im portant to relate the initial com- 3The Florida Center fo r Instructional C om put­ ing: Micro Software Evaluations (Tampa: College of Education, University of South Florida, 1986). 4Bertram G ader, Free Software fo r the IBM PC (New York: W arner Software, 1984); PC-SIG L i­ brary: Public D om ain and User-Supported Soft­ ware fo r the IB M PC, 4th ed. (Sunnyvale, Calif.: PC-Sig, 1987); Robert Froelich, The IBM PC (and C om patible) Free Softw are Catalog and D irec­ tory, 1st ed. (New York: D ilithium Press, 1986). 5T h e Pinellas PC Users G roup, Inc., 3401 Gandy Boulevard, #628, Pinellas Park, FL 33565. puter exposure to something fam iliar to partici­ pants. A ppropriate introductory program s were Pinball and Pac M an, variations of arcade games. Another consideration was the success factor. If a p articipant had failed in the first attem pt, th a t in­ dividual m ight have been too discouraged to try again. After the initial fear of the com puter subsided, clients selected m ore complex software. Adoles­ cents and young adults favored decision-making situations such as those in Executive Suite; the p a r­ ticipant is first a job applicant, then an employee faced w ith career decisions. Elderly adults, partic­ ularly those in m em ory therapy, requested pro­ grams th a t stim ulate recall, such as States ’N Caps; the participant supplies the capitals of states for an on-screen m ap of th e U.S.A. Stim ulated by these experiences, patients inquired about w ord process­ ing and the availability of software th a t would pro­ duce newsletters and flyers; these requests indicate th a t there m ay be a sizable receptive audience for such programs. Evaluation of the FM HI Library Computer L it­ eracy Project was accomplished objectively w ith both library attendance statistics and with an infor­ m al, brief questionnaire developed by the librarian with the guidance of clinical staff. Statistics docu­ m ent an increase in attendance of 52% over a simi­ lar period before the program began. Patient re­ sponses to the questionnaire were positive, and even those who had not used the computer indicated a de­ sire to do so at a future time. Other subjective evalu­ ation was provided by the library staff who rated the usefulness of the software. As significant as w hat software clients favored was the unique m anner in which they used the com puter. Usually considered a piece of equip­ m ent for the individual, the FM H I Client Library com puter was seldom utilized in th a t m anner; p a ­ tients preferred, instead, group involvement. Par­ ticipants consulted each other about responses and took turns operating th e keyboard. As they cooper­ ated, the various distinct individuals developed into supportive team -m em bers w ho offered praise to each other for correct responses and sympathy for incorrect ones. L ib ra ry staff h a d anticip ated problem s w ith sharing by users, b u t such difficulties never arose. Instead, there was obvious enjoym ent of m entally ill persons in participating as a group w ith the com­ puter. This unique use by clients at the Florida M ental H ealth Institute Client L ibrary indicates th a t in the hands of qualified m ental health practi­ tioners, com puters m ay have positive social appli­ cations in therapy. Based upon th e favorable reception by m entally ill clients of this com puter literacy project at the University of South Florida-Florida M ental Health Institute, the librarian has requested additional LSCA G rant funding to proceed w ith autom ated circulation and an online catalog for the FM H I Pa­ tient L ibrary in 1989. ■ ■