Breaking Out of the Basement:

The library literature records that bibliographic instruction (BI) has taken its rightful place in the academic library repertoire. The literature also records that technical services librarians (including cataloging librarians), continue to "break out of the basement," actively participating in BI since at least the late 1880s, although few articles codify specific contributions. In 1993, 124 librarians, currently working in State University of New York (SUNY) academic librarian positions, were surveyed regarding the extent of their participation in bibliographic instruction activates. Survey results are reported in detail, indicating that slightly less than half (47.6% or 39) of the 82 respondents do provide bibliographic instruction, not only catalog and library research instruction, but also instruction for a broad range of specialized subject areas. Conclusions challenge cataloging librarians to take a continuing more active role in BI, and challenge BI librarians to more actively embrace their cataloging colleagues. Conclusions also challenge both groups to collaborate in order to effectively teach their constituencies. Includes two tables, two charts, and numerous references.     

Building bridges between New York city public high schools and a college: The cooperative library project

This article describes a successful cooperative project involving the Brooklyn College Library and two New York City high schools. In spring and fall of 1995, college librarians provided selected honors students, their teachers, and their librarians with basic BI and access to the college library for a semester. The teachers assigned projects requiring college-level research. The preparation and instruction are outlined, and responses of the students and college     

Library Outreach Positions: From Planning to Practice

East Tennessee State University has a diverse student population of approximately 12,500 students. Recent statistics have indicated that the student body is bypassing the physical library building, including reference services, and connecting to online sources from off campus. With only six public service librarians whose duties include interlibrary loan, instruction, and other key library functions, librarians are limited in their ability to provide outreach to those students who might never enter the library. In this article, the authors describe the decision process in developing outreach librarian positions for the graduate programs librarian and the undergraduate student services librarian and discuss the specific services that these librarians provide to students.     

A Workbook Approach to Teaching Library Skills in a Technical College Setting

Although bibliographic instruction at technical and community colleges gets little attention in the literature, students at these institutions need such training as much as those attending traditional colleges and universities. This articles looks at how one library is providing library instruction in a technical college through the use of a self-paced, self-instructional workbook. The article describes the development, use, student and faculty reactions, and advantages and disadvantages of both a basic library skills workbook and a literature-based workbook used at North Central Technical College in Ohio.     

A Foot in the Door

Abstract

The Houston Community College System (HCCS) is one of the largest community colleges in the nation, serving over 52,000 students. Though there is no dedicated full-time distance education (DE) librarian at HCCS, “traditional” librarians are meeting the needs of a rapidly growing population of DE and hybrid students by adapting to new roles and applying technology in innovative ways. An adventuresome cadre of information professionals has been reaching out to students to engage them where learning takes place. These “virtual librarians” are embedded in Web-based courses in order to promote library services to students who may never set foot in a HCCS campus library. As DE enrollment continues to expand, however, it has become necessary to consolidate efforts, and this is being accomplished through the utilization of a Web log (blog) and syndication tools, as well as some additional free applications.     

How It's Done: Examining Distance Education Library Instruction and Assessment

ABSTRACT

While articles on individual studies, surveys, and programs abound, there is a lack of baseline data regarding what and how libraries provide instruction for their distant populations. Do libraries generally provide information literacy or library instruction to students at a distance? How is instruction usually provided? Is instruction generally assessed? If so, how is instruction assessed? These questions were asked of librarians in an online survey of 143 institutions offering distance programs, randomly sampled from the College Blue Book. With a 55% response rate, data about instruction offerings and assessment were correlated with information about library staff size, budget, and student enrollment. The expectation was that larger libraries with more money and students would provide more and better services, but interestingly these factors had far less influence than anticipated. It seems that the individual efforts of librarians were the major determinants for services offered by libraries at institutions with distant students.     

“First years' information literacy backpacks: What's already packed or not packed?”

This survey-based research explores whether first-year college students who have had previous interactions with library instruction, services, and resources at the high school level are better prepared to undertake information literacy challenges and are better equipped to adapt to the rigors of academic research. In this collaborative project, academic librarians across six colleges in New Jersey surveyed first-year students regarding their research preparation and their experiences in high school and in their first year of college. Additionally, the team surveyed a group of vetted, certified high school librarians in New Jersey regarding their resources and instructional practices and followed members of their senior class to college Based on student survey responses relating to their high school experiences, the team was able to identify, study, and compare three groups of first-year students: novice researchers, non-novice researchers, and a subset of non-novices from the high schools with vetted librarians. These were labeled alumni non-novices. The team found that students with prior high school research experiences (non-novices), especially those followed from schools identified as having certified librarians (alumni non-novices), felt more prepared for academic research and performed at a higher level relating to their understanding and use of research tools and strategies. The results point to equity concerns and suggest that students require differentiated attention at the college level.     

Bibliographie Instruction for Business Classes

Abstract

A contribution to an issue devoted to end-user research needs and information-seeking behavior, this paper describes a cooperative venture between faculty members, librarians and students to assess and improve methods of bibliographic instruction for business classes in order to assist students with their research needs. At St. Edward' s University' s Scarborough-Phillips Library, bibliographic instruction (BI) of business information is offered to students upon the request of faculty members of the Business School-it is not a required credit course. A new approach to eliminating information overload in BI sessions was attempted, proved successful and will likely be repeated.     

Serving Diverse Library Populations Through the Specialized Instructional Services Concept

In 1989, B. Anne Commerton, Director of Libraries at the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Oswego, initiated an intriguing, new concept in librarianship: "Specialized Instructional Services," in recognition of specific populations requiring services tailored to their information needs. Her decision was built upon the work of the Oswego campus community which was intent on examining, through the work of separate committees: college services to non-traditional/adult learner students, students of color, and students with disabilities. Diversity has subsequently been defied in Penfield Library more broadly than it was initially conceived by these committees. This article describes Specialized Instructional Services, a unique cultural diversity library initiative, including its background and history, evolution, current directions, examples of successful initiatives, and future possibilities.     

Utilizing syllabi to support access services and beyond: A case study

New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Library receives copies of all course syllabi to provide a number of services to faculty and students related to acquisitions, access, collection development, subject liaison, and library instruction. Access services and acquisitions staff, as well as subject liaison librarians, work together using specific workflows to ensure that subject-relevant materials are selected and purchased on an ongoing basis and access needs are met by course reserves or the learning management system. Additionally, the library works closely with the NYUAD Bookstore, which also receives textbook orders, to ensure that students have access to all required and supplementary materials on the first day of classes.     

Expanding Beyond our Library Walls: Building an Active Online Community through Facebook

This article demonstrates how Facebook, a popular social networking Web site, provides libraries with the opportunity to develop an outreach presence and information portal within an online community. While much of the recent literature examines Facebook and defines its potential use within libraries, this article focuses on the use of Facebook's newest feature: customizable Facebook Pages. In December 2007, librarians at the State University of New York at Buffalo began exploring the use of Facebook Pages to virtually reach out to patrons and market library services. Based on user response and Page statistics, librarians found the use of Facebook Pages provided a welcome extension of services and a unique form of outreach that reached beyond the campus community. Through a University at Buffalo Libraries Page on Facebook, librarians can update and inform students, faculty, and staff of new events, workshops, library services, and resources. Librarians at the University at Buffalo maintain an active online community that reaches more than 300 fans. Fans provide discussion and feedback regarding library services, offering a more interactive extension of the Libraries homepage. This article explains the design process, including the use of third-party and custom applications. Challenges, ideas, and user response in regards to the use of Facebook Pages in a library setting are also presented.     

Reaching Out to the International Students Through Bibliographic Instruction

This paper highlights how one small, private university reached out to its international students through bibliographic instruction (BI) workshops, as well as through library instruction in the English Language (ELI) classes. The history and content of the workshops are discussed, as well as guidelines for making them successful. International students, who are not able to attend the workshops, receive BI in their ELI classes. Student reactions to the workshops, along with the author's personal observations, are also included.     

Creation,Management, and Assessment of Library Screencasts: The Regis Libraries Animated Tutorials Project

ABSTRACT

The Distance Learning Department of the Regis University Library is charged with providing library instruction for undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in accelerated courses offered at six distance campus locations and online. The department has created a series of animated online tutorials (i.e., screencasts) accessible via the library Web site. These interactive tutorials cover basic library services and resources and represent an effort to provide asynchronous bibliographic instruction to remote library users. This paper describes the use of screencasting software to create library tutorials and related issues including software options, production tips and techniques, and project management. In addition, the author describes the use of Google Analytics to record usage statistics and perform assessments.     

The Impact Factor: Implications of Open Access on Quality

The Future Voices in Public Services column is a forum for students in graduate library and information science programs to discuss key issues they see in academic library public services, to envision what they feel librarians in public service have to offer to academia, to tell us of their visions for the profession, or to tell us of research that is going on in library schools. We hope to provide fresh perspectives from those entering our field, in both the United States and other countries. Interested faculty of graduate library and information science programs who would like their students’ ideas represented in these pages are invited to contact Nancy H. Dewald at nxd7@psu.edu.

Sara E. Grozanick is a student in the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the Pratt Institute, New York. Recognizing the significance of the Open Access movement to the advancement of scholarship, here she writes a bibliographic essay on research into the citation impact of open access journal articles.

The School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the Pratt Institute located in Manhattan and offering LIS education since 1890, features a curriculum based on Cultural Informatics and World Information, Society & Environments (WISE). The program reflects the arts orientation of Pratt and its alliance with cultural institutions in the city such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library, and the Brooklyn Museum. The nearly 400 students who attend Pratt-SILS onsite have the opportunity to select a master's program resulting in a MS in Library and Information Science or a MSLIS with Library Media Specialist Certification, archives certificate, or dual degree programs resulting in a MSLIS/MS History of Art, a MSLIS/MFA Digital Arts, or a MSLIS/JD with Brooklyn Law School.

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Meeting students on their own turf

Academic librarians strive to make their expertise and their library's resources available to remote users. At Bowling Green State University, librarians boldly left the library building and offered reference and research assistance to undergraduate students around campus. This column describes an effort to take library instruction to residence hall computer labs and discusses possible reasons why this attempt to extend library instructional services outside the library failed.     

Reference Services and Collection Development Faculty Outreach Through the Campus Network

Abstract

Effective reference services and collection development in a small academic library depend upon collaborative planning and performance by the entire library staff. Coordination of library activities and understanding of the library and college mission are the foundations of a program responsive to the needs of the college community. Partnerships between the library and classroom faculty ensure that curricular needs are satisfied through activities as diverse as bibliographic instruction and materials acquisition. Traditional interactions have been greatly enhanced through rapid advances in telecommunications, offering librarians additional tools for faculty outreach.     

Information Literacy in the Reference Environment

Summary

The academic information environment is changing greatly as we enter the millennium. These changes are affecting libraries and, specifically, reference services. In the past and even in recent times librarians have been concerned with library orientation, library instruction, and bibliographic instruction. Now they have to worry about teaching students and others viable information and computer skills to cope effectively in the information society. Reference work as practiced this century will undergo major changes in the electronic information environment, and the teaching of effective information skills will become a very important component of reference services. The challenges thus presented to academic librarians will be great but success in this area will mean effective professional survival.     

Impact and Implications of a Library-Use Integrated Education Program

The reactions to a Graduate Council recommendation for the removal of professional librarians from scheduled duty at the reference desks are reported and the effects of its implementation on reference-related activities, such as bibliographic instruction, are explored. The genesis and development of a pilot program of course-integrated bibliographic instruction for the College of Education at Brigham Young University are described as is the impact the program has already had on the library. Plans for future directions of the program are discussed and the implications for the library are considered.     

Bibliographic Instruction in the Health Sciences

In the 1980s, biomedical indexing and bibliography are at a level unmatched in history. In spite of a monumental effort by librarians, information specialists, and indexers, a large number of students and professionals in the health sciences are unable to capably use the biomedical indexing and abstracting tools that have been so laboriously produced. The authors attempt to trace the origins of bibliographic instruction to the health profession, examine the successes and failures of librarians who tried to teach the medical profession to do library research, and suggest why this type of instruction has not become more widely accepted as a compulsory part of medical education.