College and Research Libraries Research Notes Relevance in Library Instruction: The Pursuit Sonia Bodi THE CHALLENGE ''Instead of just filling in the blanks to questions, it would help to know when we could use the information. Make it more important and meaningful or don't do it at all. It appeared to be 'busy _work.' "That is a summary statement of 27 percent of the freshman students who took biblio- graphic instruction during the 1982-83 ac- ademic year at North Park College and found it a waste of their time. The criti- cisms are valid. The 1982-83 academic year was the first time bibliographic instruction was pro- vided to freshmen at North Park. Because most freshmen are required to take En- ' glish, the instruction was provided through the English composition pro- gram, which consists of three levels of courses. The most-able students can choose one of four subject seminars, the least-able students are in a skills- development program, and the rest of the students are in English Composition 101. Research papers are not written in any freshman composition course; instead, the students read·primary" sources and be- gin to develop critical thinking by writing about what they have read without de- pending on secondary sources. Conse- quently, we, the librarians, were faced with the challenge of providing biblio- graphic instruction that was unrelated to the course in which it was taught. We chose a self-instruction workbook as the main teaching tool, as it had the poten- tial of:being easily administered through the Englis~mposition courses, it could teach the freshmen how to use the college library, and it could introduce them to un- familiar library resources. The questions in the workbook were generated by com- puter; for every question there were twenty variables so that each student had a different workbook. The workbook was organized by type of reference book, and the students had to answer questions about each type. Not until the students were in a class that required library re- search would they use their newly ac- quired skills, and it was questionable whether those skills would be retained, particularly by the students who did not perceive the instruction as relevant. Al- most ten years ago it was generally recog- nized that ''library instruction is effective only at the time of need," and that "in- struction in the use of specific references must be relevant to assignments of the moment." 1 James Rice in 1981 stated "the major theory that has emerged from li- brary inst~ction to date: library instruc- tion is most effective when it is accompa- nied by library use. " 2 . The pursuit of relevance is an ongoing one. Students perceive relevance differ- ently from faculty and librarians because Sonia Bodi is head reference librarian, North Park College, Chicago, Illinois. 59 60 College & Research Libraries the students do not always know enough about a subject to see how various bits of knowledge relate to each other. The pur- suit of relevance in bibliographic instruc- tion is probably no different from the pur- suit of relevance in any area of education; however, it is difficult to discern the kind of instruction that will ensure the transfer of skills from one learning experience to another. TRANSFER OF LEARNING Transfer of learning is a fundamental as- sumption of education. It refers in a gen- eral sense to the influence of prior learning on later learning. The major prerequisite for the transfer of learning is that some- thing must first be learned, and that what- ever is learned must be remembered. 3 Ac- cording to Herbert J. Klausmeier, "The influence of prior learning may be such that (1) the learning of one task facilitates the learning of some subsequent task (positive transfer), (2) subsequent learn- ing is impaired or inhibited as a result of prior learning (negative transfer), or (3) prior learning results in no measurable in- fluence upon subsequent learning (zero transfer). " 4 Library instruction does not necessarily result in the ability to find re- search materials for another assignment; in addition to learning the task, broad transfer effects, such as confidence or knowledge of a general approach, may be retained after the details of the initial as- signment are forgotten. 5 Numerous stud- ies have provided convincing evidence that there is a positive relationship be- tween bibliographic instruction and atti- tudes toward and use of the library. 6 Transfer of learning also depends on mastering skills in a hierarchical se- quence. The intellectual skills learned in such a pattern form a structure that serves as an instruction guide. In the hierarchy, the lowest level skills should be identified and taught first, then the skills above them, until the top level has been reached and mastered. The superiority of the transfer of learning in a hierarchical struc- ture has been demonstrated. 7 Various educational psychology studies have shown how the learning of concepts January 1984 facilitates this transfer of knowledge; ma- jor concepts and principles in a subject show greater positive transfer to other tasks in that subject matter than does spe- cific information. A variety of experiences must be provided so that students can learn the concepts that are being taught. 8 Many experienced instructional librarians can attest to the success of teaching search strategies and concepts rather than con- centrating on specific titles. Anne Beau- bien and Mary George, among others, have researched the theory and methods of teaching search strategies. 9 The question I grappled with for a year was how to present a bibliographic in- struction program at North Park College that freshmen could use without an ac- companying class assignment, that had a hierarchical structure, and that would be perceived as meaningful and relevant by the students so that as they mastered vari- ous library skills there would be a positive transfer of learning to other library assign- ments. · THE PURSUIT North Park College and Theological Seminary is a four-year liberal arts college and graduate seminary affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church of America. The college has an approximate enroll- ment of 1,150 full-time equivalent stu- dents. Located in Chicago, North Park of- fers its students access to major research libraries and to other college and medical libraries through the library's consortia membership. Direct access and interli- brary loan enhance our bibliographic in- struction program, although the short aca- demic term of ten weeks places some constraint on those students borrowing items from other libraries. Several events occurred during the 1982-83 academic year, which provided the opportunity to shape a new biblio- graphic instruction program-one that would have a sequential, hierarchical structure, and which the students would probably find more relevant than the ex- isting program. A pilot project to award five $1,000 faculty development grants . was initiated during the 1982-83 academic year. I was awarded one of the grants for a proposal to research bibliographic instruc- tion and to shape a program that would be appropriate for North Park. The grant pro- vided an opportunity to observe library in- struction at area colleges and to attend Earlham College's annual Bibliographic Instruction Workshop. The library direc- tor and five faculty members accompanied me to Earlham. It was at Earlham that we found the annotated bibliography. The grant also affirmed the librarians' status as full members of the faculty and gave rec- ognition to us as partners with the teach- ing faculty. Although the faculty was sup- portive of our initial freshman bibliographic instruction, they were will- ing to support a change in its format if the librarians felt it would improve instruc- tion. Another significant event at North Park was the implementation during 1982-83 and 1983-84 of new general education re- quirements for graduation. Science and the Natural Order is a new freshman course for nonscience and nonnursing majors and taught during winter and spring terms. Each term a team of four professors from the sciences and the social sciences will teach the course. A library component was integrated into the course as the course was being planned. Tradi- tions of the West is a new sophomore course team-taught by four professors in the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts. As this course too was being planned, library instruction was included. If it is true that one measure of success of a bibliographic instruction program is the involvement of librarians in course plan- ning, and if library instruction is consid- ered an integral part, then perhaps we are already experiencing some measure of success. We would also continue to in- clude library instruction in the freshman English courses during fall term. Before planning the new program of in- struction, the librarians distributed ques- tionnaires to faculty and students. Faculty questionnaires assessed perceptions about students' ability to use the library; student questionnaires assessed their own ability to use the library. The ques- Research Notes 61 tionnaires helped direct us as we estab- lished goals and objectives and helped us to understand what the perceived needs were. Fifty-two percent of the faculty questionnaires were completed and re- turned, and 7 percent of the student ques- tionnaires were returned. The tables are · broken down into three groups: biology, nursing, and combined subjects. The ra- tionale for this grouping is that the nurs- ing students, who begin their program spring term of their sophomore year, cur- rently receive bibliographic instruction in- troducing them to health sciences litera- ture. A course introducing biology majors to the biology literature will be planned during 1983-84, and offered during the 1984-85 academic year. Generally, the faculty did not expect students to do, or to be able to do, research in lower-division-level courses . However, the students were expected to know how to do research in upper-division-level courses, even though there is no system- atic method at the college for teaching re- search skills to students (table 1). We felt that by completing these ques- tionnaires, the faculty would have to con- sider what library resources their students actually know how to use (table 2), and that they would recognize the need for bibliographic instruction that was neither haphazard nor nonsequential. Questionnaire results did not signifi- cantly help us decide what to emphasize in the various levels of bibliographic in- struction, but they did confirm what we already suspected: what students d~ and do not know and the kinds of library tools they use and do not use. We did get a bet- ter idea of the kind of preparation needed in the lower-level courses so that students will be able to do responsible research in upper-level courses. The questionnaires were perhaps of more value in helping us formulate goals and objectives for each level of instruction in a hierarchical struc- ture. THE HIERARCHY Given our problem of providing biblio- graphic instruction to freshmen through an English composition program that does 62 College & Research Libraries January 1984 TABLE 1 "WHEN YOU ASSIGN A PAPER OR PROJECT DO YOU ASSUME THAT THE STUDENT KNOWS HOW TO USE LffiRARY RESOURCES?" Lower Division UpNe; Division Yes No Don ' t Know Yes Don ' t Know N (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) Biology 6 0 100 0 57 28 15 Nursmg 7 0 100 0 100 0 0 Total faculty 32 15 42 43 64 15 21 TABLE2 "A STUDENT SHOULD USE THE FOLLOWING REFERENCE SOURCES WHEN DOING A TERM PAPER:" Lower Division UpNe; Division Don' t Know Yes No N (%) (%) 6 Biology Bibliographies Periodical indexes Subject dictionaries 57 43 71 29 and encyclopedias Primary sources 85 15 100 0 7 Nursing Bibliographies Periodical indexes Subject dictionaries 28 72 28 72 and encyclopedias Primary sources 28 72 85 15 32 Total faculty Bibliographies Periodica1 indexes Subject dictionaries 47 13 13 6 64 8 and encyclopedias Primary sources 53 15 not have a related library assignment, we were interested in the annotated bibliog- raphies done by freshmen at Earlham Col- lege. This approach has the potential of achieving our goals of structuring a hierar- chical bibliographic instruction program, and of being perceived as relevant by the students. The freshmen will learn to use basic reference sources: encyclopedias, bibliographies, biographies, periodical in- dexes, book review indexes, Library of Con- gress Subject Headings, and the card cata- log. The instruction also leads students through a basic search strategy and can serve as a basis for transfer of learning to other library assignments. It should be perceived as relevant since the instruction itself is a library assignment related to the course work. Don' t Know Yes (%) (%) (%) (%) 0 85 15 0 0 85 15 0 0 57 43 0 0 100 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 57 14 14 0 85 15 0 40 80 6 14 81 86 2 12 28 62 6 32 32 75 6 19 During the summer, the incoming freshmen were sent a rather extensive li- brary handbook along with a welcoming letter encouraging them to read the hand- book in preparation for bibliographic in- struction. They were also told that they would be given a pretest on their knowl- edge of the card catalog and Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, which are necessary tools for compiling an annotated bibliog- raphy. Students not passing the pretest will be required to attend a brief class on the card catalog and Readers' Guide dur- ing the first two weeks of school. Each freshman English class will be given a list of suggested topics for the an- notated bibliography relating to the sub- ject of the class. For example, the seminar entitled, "Health Issues of the Eighties," has topics such as genetic counseling, folk medicine, euthanasia, and the right to die. The instructor will introduce the assign- ment and give the students a booklet lead- ing them step-by-step through the process of creating a bibliography. The students will work in groups of four and will divide the work among themselves. First they will look in general or special encyclope- dias for an overview and a bibliography. Next, they will choose appropriate subject headings from the Library of Congress Sub- ject Headings and then try to find bibliogra- phies on their topic through the card cata- log. Finally, they will consult the Essay & General Literature Index and a variety of pe- riodical indexes for articles on their topic. Each group is to choose twenty of the best and most useful books, essays, and periodical articles on the subject and write annotations for -eight of the items. The stu- dents will not be required to read the books or articles; the purpose is to show them how to evaluate resources and how to discern different points of view when preparing to write a paper. To evaluate the books, the students will consult book re- view indexes, biographical sources for in- formation about the author, and read the preface and table of contents, if they have access to the books. To evaluate periodical articles, they will read the abstract, which frequently accompanies the article, and use biographical sources to find out about the author. A work sheet is to be completed as the group proceeds through every step of the search, and it is to be handed in with the bibliography. Two weeks before the bibli- ography is due, each group will schedule a time to meet with the librarian, who will check the work sheet to determine if any important items are missing, or if any steps in the search strategy have been overlooked. The bibliography must be done in correct bibliographic form. The li- brarian will read each bibliography and comment on the annotations and work sheets, and the professors will give the groups their grades. Besides teaching stu- dents about library use, this assignment will also promote the role of the librarian. Although most freshmen will take the Research Notes 63 instruction during the fall term, one group will wait until spring. Beginning with the 1983-84 academic year, North Park will ·embark on an extension program in three Chicago neighborhoods. Two of the ex- tention programs will be bilingual, En- glish and Spanish. The students at all three locations will have the same pretest, basic instruction for those who do not pass the pretest, and instruction that campus freshmen receive. The extension students will be given the instruction during the spring term, because they will not be us- ing the library for research before then, and it will give the librarians time to work out the logistics of transporting these stu- dents to the library and determining their needs more precisely. The freshmen not planning on being sci- ence or nursing majors will take Science and the Natural Order winter and spring terms. During the winter term, the stu- dents will compile another annotated bib- liography that will build on previously ac- quired skills. They will work individually rather than in a group and will annotate a minimum of five references. They must read the periodical articles. A list of sug- gested topics will be given to the students; the topics will relate to a portion of the course investigating the social implica- tions of medical advances. The students will be introduced to the limitations of the subject card catalog. Although the stu- dents will not be required to meet with the librarian, they will be required to hand in a search strategy work sheet with the bibli- ography. The bibliographic instruction in Science and the Natural Order during the spring term will expand on what was learned during the fall and winter terms. Students will be introduced to primary sources and government documents. The assignment will be a five-page paper on a topic related to the effect of competition on science and technology, or urbanization and quality of the environment. The paper will include a brief history, current status, and the stu- dent's assessment of implications for the future. Primary sources, books, periodical articles, and government documents must _ be cited in their bibliography, which will 64 College & Research Libraries be a major factor in the paper's grade. The sophomore bibliographic instruc- tion will be given through a two-term course, Traditions of the West. The format of the instruction has been adapted from the University of Texas at Austin Under- graduate Library study guides. These study guides are among the best I have seen; they are comprehensive, well writ- ten, and interesting. The assignment for the sophomores will be a ten-page term paper. The students will be instructed in topic selection, finding background infor- . mation, restricting the topic, formulating a thesis statement, and proceeding with the search strategy. Finally, they will be introduced to online searching. The evalu- ation will be based on rhetorical and com- position skills, footnote and bibliographic format, and the bibliography, which must include six to ten citations, including an encyclopedia, books, and periodical arti- cles. Such instruction was given as an experi- ment last year to a freshman class who had finished bibliographic instruction the pre- vious term. Ninety-three percent of the students in the class considered the in- struction valuable, compared with 73 per- cent who thought that freshman biblio- graphic instruction was useful. A comment made on the evaluation sup- ported the premise that instruction is use- ful only in the context of library-based re- search: "This instruction was helpful in this class, but it was disruptive in English 101." January 1984 Elizabeth Frick has identified four dis- tinct levels of bibliographic awareness that need to be developed: "1) awareness of particular reference sources, 2) awareness of types of sources, 3) awareness of the ways in which reference sources reflect the nature of the disciplines they serve, and 4) awareness of the information struc- ture in the society. " 10 The students will advance through the first two levels in the proposed freshman and sophomore bib- liographic instruction programs (see table 3). The third and fourth levels are only be- ginning to be addressed at North Park. Our goal is that all students will be given instruction on the literature of their major. Carolyn Kirkendall recommends that to use library resources effectively, students must connect the resources with a basic understanding of how knowledge is cre- ated, communicated, and synthesized within subject disciplines, how knowl- edge differs structurally from one field to another, and how bibliographic resources reflect the various stages of the learning process. 11 Nursing majors are the only students who receive an introduction to the litera- ture of a specific discipline. Their major begins spring term of their sophomore year. During the first two weeks of that term, we show the students the basic medical encyclopedias, dictionaries and drug formularies, and how to use the Li- brary of Congress Subject Headings to find medical and nursing subject headings. They are also given instruction in the use TABLE 3 SEQUENTIAL LIBRARY INSTRUCTION AT NORTH PARK COLLEGE Freshman Year Course Assignment Sophomore Year Course Assignment Fall Winter Spring Freshman Library Science and the Natural Order Science and the Instruction (for nonscience and Natural Order nonnursing majors) Annotated Bibliography Annotated Bibliography 5-page paper Traditions of the West 10-page term paper Biology majors Traditions of the West Scientific 10-page term paper paper Nursing majors Research for process recordings Course related instruction continues throughout the four years . of Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature and Cumulated Abridged Index Medicus. Their course will be some- what restructured during 1983-84 to in- clude an exploration of the major channels of scholarly communication within the health sciences, and the formats in which this communication appears in the litera- ture. Online literature searching will be demonstrated and its appropriate uses will be explained. The biology department has asked that we design an instructional component of a required seminar for all beginning biology majors. This will be implemented in 1984-85. Plans are sketchy at this point, but we hope to introduce students to the channels of scholarly communication in biology. The students will also learn the process of writing a scientific paper. Other course-related instruction con- tinues to be offered. Sometimes a profes- sor confers with a librarian before the term begins, and together they plan their in- struction. The library component is in- cluded in the course syllabus. Sometimes, library instruction is requested because the students will be writing a paper, but the instruction is not considered part of the course by the professor. Research Notes 65 CONCLUSION We foresee that in two years most stu- dents at North Park will be instructed · through three freshmen terms, as sopho- mores, and as nursing and biology ma- jors. In time we hope that all students will be instructed in their major field. We be- lieve that this sequence of instruction will achieve our goals, be perceived as useful and relevant by the students, and result in transfer of learning to other library-based assignments. So, you may ask, why am I writing about something that has yet to happen and has yet to be proven successful? There are two reasons. First, if·it's a flop, I cer- tainly won't write about it. Second, the ~i­ tle of this article includes the word pursuzt, which implies something that is yet to be captured or achieved. Do we ever achieve the "right" library instruction program? It seems that librarians shall always be in pursuit, because library instruction must be dynamic to be relevant and must al- ways strive to meet the current needs of students. REFERENCES 1. Verna Melum Beardsley, "Library Instruction in Colleges and Universities in the Seventies: A Viewpoint," in John Lubans, Jr., Educati~g the L~brary User (N~w York: Bowker, 19:4), p.112. 2. James Rice, Jr., Teaching Library Use: A Guzde for Lzbrary Instructzon (Westport, Conn .. Greenwood, 1981), p.63. . 1 d 3. Richard E. Ripple and Desmond J. Drinkwater, "Transfer of Learning," in Encyclopedza o E uca- tional Research (5th ed.; New York: The Free Press, 1982), p.1947. . 4. Herbert J. Klausmeier and J. Kent Davis, "Transfer of Learning," in Encyclopedia of Educatzonal Research (4th ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1969), p.1484. 5. RobertS. Woodworth and Harold Schlosberg, Experimental Psychology (New York: Holt, 1954), p.750. • • . u • • II 6. Penelope Pearson, "Evaluating Undergraduate Library Instruction at the OhiO State mversity, The Journal of Academic Librarianship 7:351-57 (Jan . 1982). · 7. Ripple and Drinkwater, p.1950. 8. Ibid., p.1951. d fi ·u. · B ·b 9. Anne K. Beaubien and Mary W. George, Learning the Library: Concepts and Metho s or E"ectzve z - liographic Instruction (New York: Bowker, 198~) . . . . , . . 10. Elizabeth Frick, "Information Structure and Bibliographic Instruction, The Journal of Academzc Lz- brarianship 1:12-14 (Sept. 1975). . . . , . . 11. Carolyn Kirkendall, Directions for the Decade: Lzbrary Instructwn zn the 1980 s (Ann Arbor, Mich .. Pierian Press, 1981), p.18.