Succession Planning for Library Instruction

Detailed succession planning helps libraries pass information from one employee to the next. This is crucial in preparing for hiring, turnover, retirements, training of graduate teaching assistants in academic libraries, and other common situations. The authors of this article discuss succession planning for instruction programs in academic libraries. They provide strategies and tools for use and adaptation.     

Using a Web-Based MOO for Library Instruction in Distance Education

Abstract

This institution is in the process of establishing a graphical interface, Web-based MOO [Multi-User Dungeon, Object-Oriented], both to create a forum for synchronous library instruction and to serve as an online meeting place for off-campus students, who are otherwise without a learning community. This paper describes the development of that service and outlines its strengths and weaknesses.     

One-Shot Library Instruction and Cambourne's Theory of Learning

Librarians who teach one-shot library instruction classes (one-time, one- to three-hour classes to students who are assumed to be novice researchers) are often torn between two pedagogic approaches: a “critical mass” pedagogy emphasizing a minimum amount of databases that must be introduced with little time for student searching, and a “use-oriented” pedagogy emphasizing the introduction of one or two databases, with the instructor providing adequate time for the student to hone their search skills through in class work time that provides for interaction with the librarian. Drawing from the learning theory of Brian Cambourne, we compare the two pedagogic approaches and argue that a use-oriented approach is a better match to Cambourne's Conditions of Learning, but that without certain preparations of and expectations from the student, librarians will struggle with both approaches in these one-shot library instruction sessions.     

A Rationale for Public and School Library Cooperation in Sierra Leone

This article explores the need for public and school library cooperation in Sierra Leone. Establishing a library service to meet user needs and keeping it relevant is one of the important tasks of professional librarians. In Sierra Leone, however, an increase in enrollment in schools, decreasing library budgets, and the information explosion have had grave consequences in the management of libraries, be they special, school, or public. If public and school libraries are to provide satisfactory services to the nation's young, there is every need for the establishment of greater public and school library cooperation.     

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.     

Assessing Academic Library Services to Distance Learners: A Literature Review of Perspectives from Librarians,Students, and Faculty

Many academic libraries are expanding services to online and distance students to keep pace with enrollment trends in higher education, prompting additional research to evaluate the use and effectiveness of library reference and instruction services to distance users. This literature review explores this research from the perspectives of academic librarians, distance students, and faculty teaching online and distance courses, and finds both commonalities and contradictions among these viewpoints.     

Using the ADDIE Model in Designing Library Instruction

Librarians are increasingly placed in the role of instructor and are required to design and deliver effective instruction. This article highlights ADDIE, an instructional design model that librarians at Weill Cornell Medical College used to redesign an evidence-based medicine course taken by first-year medical students. The ADDIE model incorporates the five phases of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. It was found that the application of ADDIE can result in instruction that focuses on learning outcomes relevant to students, meets students' needs, and facilitates active learning.     

Difficult Library Patrons in Academe

Summary

Difficult patrons have been considered primarily from the perspective of the problem behaviours they present in libraries. Many have attempted to define the problem patron and to provide advice and develop guidelines for frontline public service staff. To understand the difficult patron in academic libraries we need to answer three questions-How well do we know our patrons? Do we unwittingly create difficult patrons through our failure to appreciate their needs? Do we regard patrons as difficult because the way they use libraries and conduct their information research does not match our idea of how it should be done? The answers to these questions suggest that we need to reconceptualize both our patrons and the services we provide. Library staff need to see difficult patrons not as problems but as challenges to the service ideas and standards we hold. A paradigm shift is necessary if we are to reconstruct our beliefs about our patrons, their information seeking behaviours, and the services we provide to meet their needs. Some strategies for developing the skills of library staff to work effectively with difficult patrons are presented.     

Tailoring Library Instruction for Non-Science Majors Taking Hybrid and Online Science Classes: Student Perceptions of Information Literacy in the Virtual Environment

An instruction librarian and a biology professor at a small, urban commuter college campus worked together to provide research instruction to non-science majors in selected hybrid and online biological sciences classes. They collaboratively designed in-class and online learning tools, as well as homework assignments aimed at developing non-science majors’ information literacy skills. Through an array of innovative technologies and pedagogical models (including online screencasts, Twitter conversations, and embedded librarianship), they sought to engage non-science majors in the scientific discourse and to encourage them to access and assess reputable online science materials. This study explores the efficacy of their pedagogical partnership.     

Public Library Services for Veterans: Selected Brief Case Studies

Public libraries across the country design and deliver programs for military veterans and their families, often collaborating with other organizations and agencies. The examples were assembled from both general and specialized interviews with librarians, and literature and Internet searches, with summaries of programs assembled and written by multiple researchers. The specific limitations on the listing in this article are clearly outlined in the first section. Overall, however, the article provides a good introductory overview of what’s going on in veteran’s programs and services in America’s public libraries in over seventy libraries in forty states. We hope this list of what public libraries have organized or are doing will supply other public librarians with ideas on how to provide new services or enhance their existing ones.     

Library Instruction for the Next Millennium

Abstract

The library staff, in conjunction with the Graduate School of Management and Technology (GSMT) and Undergraduate Programs (UGP), developed two online courses. The first, for GSMT, was an online, fee-based, self-paced, required course for all incoming graduate students at the University of Maryland, University College (UMUC). The second, LIBS 100, was an elective, for-credit course. The process of designing, testing, and delivering the graduate course is described. In addition, a comparison of the two course design processes is briefly reviewed. Finally, the initial survey data assessing the students' perception of the value of the graduate course is also included.     

公共图书馆移动服务发展的SoLoMo营销策略研究

SoLoMo营销是指由移动应用与社交传媒组合而成的一种新兴的立体化营销模式,它是Social、Local和Mobile组成的合成词。该模式对移动图书馆服务具有重大借鉴意义。文章以我国34家省属公共图书馆为调查样本,对公共图书馆移动服务的现状进行调查与分析,从中找出存在的问题,并在此基础上进一步探讨公共图书馆移动服务的SoLoMo解决方案。     

A Library Research Course for Graduate and Professional Students in Communication Sciences and Disorders

SUMMARY

This article describes the formation and content of a required library and information research course for graduate and professional students enrolled in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Master of Arts degree program at Western Washington University. The course was created as a result of library assessment, student feedback, and faculty observations. In place since 2003, the curriculum continues to evolve and is sustained through the collaborative efforts of the library and the department faculty.     

Today's School Library Media Specialist:

No abstract available for this article.     

Becoming an Andragogical Librarian: Using Library Instruction as a Tool to Combat Library Anxiety and Empower Adult Learners

Andragogy refers to theory specific to teaching adults, as opposed to pedagogy, which refers to the teaching methodologies used to instruct children. Popularized by adult educator Malcolm Knowles, andragogy relies on 5 basic tenants: adult learners are self-directed, they possess life experience that informs their learning, they possess a desire to actively participate in the learning process, their learning needs to be relevant to their lives, and they are highly motivated to learn. A review of the literature in library science (specifically library instruction) and adult education aims to arm librarians with a working knowledge of andragogy. This is an especially important undertaking as adult learners are becoming a much larger student demographic at colleges and universities around the world, and the specific needs, characteristics, and anxieties of adult learners are often overlooked. Instruction librarians’ most valuable tool for working with adult learners is bibliographic instruction. Effectively designed sessions can alleviate the library anxiety of adult learners and empower them to become better students.     

Public Library Evaluation: A Retrospective on the Evolution of Measurement Systems

This article aims to provide a historical and contemporary perspective on how public libraries establish indicators for measuring success, using the Free Library of Philadelphia as a focus of analysis. From the 1970s though the late 1980s, libraries focused on measuring internal statistics, such as bibliographic resources, to communicate the strength of their collection. Within the past twenty years, libraries have shifted their measurement structures toward outward performance in the communities they serve. The challenge today for libraries such as the Free Library is to establish structured formats for guiding community plans for their particular library and establishing agreed-on measures. Simultaneously, these structures need to incorporate ongoing evaluation methods.     

Library Student Employee Expertise: Strategies for Maximizing Your Student Employee Contributions to the Library

The University of Baltimore Library was recently renovated. Part of the design in the newly renovated space was having one single service point, that we call the Information Desk. This desk serves as the public facing portal for what was previously three public facing service points to services by three separate departments, Academic Success, Access Services and Reference & Instruction.

This article describes in depth how our Information Desk Leadership Team encouraged and used our library student employees’ expertise and knowledge in the formation of policy and procedure manual, training documents, reference tools and resume lines for use at a single service point.     

Presenting Your Best: Web-Based Applications for Library Instruction

Library instruction in academic, health sciences, and hospital libraries is an evolving concept. Content, the intended learner, and various teaching models influence the creation of library instructional tutorials and presentations. Standard programs such as PowerPoint and Keynote are often used to generate these instructional materials. However, new and dynamic web-based presentation applications have the potential to improve the learning experience for patients and health care professionals. This column will briefly touch on library instruction and standard presentation creators, but will mainly concentrate on six web-based applications that can be used for the creation of library instructional presentations.     

Improving Library Services for Distance Learners: A Literature Review

Academic libraries offer many services to distance learning students. The sources of literature reviewed here offer information that shows relevant similarities and differences between library services offered to traditional students and distance learning students. Likewise, the associated findings from the literature offer insight that is applicable for a project to modify and improve library services for distance learners in higher education.     

Integrating Assessment into Recurring Information Literacy Instruction

SUMMARY

Information literacy instruction is integrated into the distance education program in library and information science (LEEP) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This article describes the LEEP program and the library services provided to its students. Published research on LEEP and related topics in librarianship is reviewed. Student evaluations of library instructional sessions have been gathered since 2002, shared with teaching faculty and administrators, and used to improve and promote information literacy instruction within LEEP. In the fall of 2005, the instructional model for LEEP was adapted to the on-campus environment. Preliminary analysis of the on-campus student evaluations suggests that modifications are needed to deliver an equivalent learning experience to all LIS students at UIUC, whether on-campus or off.