Library Education
Developing an online book finding tool for a university library
David Bennett, Colin Work, in Technology, Change and the Academic Library, 2021
8.1 Introduction
An important part of library education is to help users find information independently and efficiently. Surveys suggest that many students still prefer to read printed books than e-books, particularly when reading large amounts or consulting images and complex diagrams (Bowman, 2013, p. 49; Wilders, 2017, p. 387). Academic libraries can, therefore, expect to retain significant printed book collections for the foreseeable future.
Consulting focus groups of library users at the University of Portsmouth Library suggested that many library users struggled to relate two-dimensional (2D) floor plans to the building layout and were even confused by three-dimensional (3D) floor plans that were complicated with extraneous information. Many users reported resorting to using shelf end signage to find books and other items and that this method was particularly slow and laborious. Huang, Shu, Yeh, and Zeng (2016) similarly found fixed signage and handouts to be useful only to library users already familiar with the layout of a library and who had above average navigational skills. They argued that library users needed to be shown the location of books on a realistic representation of the library, complete with directions, that they could carry with them and use to locate books or services.
Crowdsourcing COVID-19: A brief analysis of librarian posts on Reddit
Daniella Smith, in Libraries, Digital Information, and COVID, 2021
6.3 Library education
There were implications for library education. The questions asked by the librarians highlight the need for better disaster training for librarians. The devastation imposed by COVID-19 is atypical because it has caused healthcare and economic crises. On top of that, the effect of the pandemic underscored social disparities and increased social tensions. Librarians are adaptable and have some understanding of coping with crises (Erich, 2020). These crises frequently include natural disasters, community unrest, and bomb threats, from their education and professional resources. Much like the institutions they work for and the communities they serve, librarians were not prepared to face a virus that was asymptomatic in some and produced devastating symptoms in others. Hence, the Reddit posts show that librarians felt that the responses were often not adequate to protect essential workers’ lives, such as theirs.
In the future, there needs to be more of an emphasis on managerial training to assist directors in communicating with key stakeholders, building morale, and being transparent. There is a need for people to be culturally aware and understand how to express empathy for others experiencing life-changing circumstances. So many of the posters just wanted someone to care about their viewpoint. Moreover, there is a need to provide guidance on identifying the best resources for learning about a healthcare crisis. The posts on Reddit wavered between stating that everyone should be fine if they washed their hands and the COVID-19 virus being airborne and deadly. It seems that the individuals posting would have felt safer if there was more empathy for them and their needs, administrative transparency, and a unified resource to provide guidance for libraries.
The Scottish Government Library: a case study
Jenny Foreman, Morag Higgison, in Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning, 2013
SG Library: measuring and evaluating our training for LILAC 2010
In 2009 John Crawford and Christine Irving suggested that we conduct a short evaluation exercise on our training courses and then present our findings at LILAC in Limerick in March 2010. We were fortunate to be granted such an opportunity and delivered a short presentation of our research at one of the parallel sessions titled ‘Scottish Government information literacy in the workplace: measuring impact’ (Foreman and Higgison 2010).
The SG Library delivers a variety of training, from a 45-minute drop-in or tutorial whereby we promote and demonstrate our library resources or collaboration tools at SG staff desks, to subject-specific database training (popular with our social research staff), to current awareness like Information Monitoring courses as well as classroom-based training on information search skills and social media awareness.
We had already amalgamated the basic and advanced information search skills courses because no one was booking onto the basic courses anymore. All potential delegates considered themselves above the basic level even if we suspected they were not. (Incidentally, our results support the premise that users have ‘false confidence’ – as detailed by Corrall 2009 – when delegates overassess their own searching skills.)
The full list of SG Library training courses is:
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Internet Skills in the Workplace
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Social Media for Government (formerly Web 2.0 Workshop)
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Google Treasure Hunt (Advanced Google)
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Information Monitoring (current awareness and alerts)
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Discover Social Media (short presentation)
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Social Media Bites (short sessions focusing on particular social media tools)
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Information drop-ins or tailored tutorials at staff desks.
We decided to concentrate on two of our information literacy training courses for the purposes of our measuring and evaluation exercise. We chose those two courses – Internet Skills in the Workplace and the Web 2.0 Workshop – as they were the most popular and most regularly attended training sessions (two sessions delivered each month in total). Hence, we would have the relevant data to analyse and a good number of delegates to question in the three-week follow-up questionnaire and interviews. The Internet Skills in the Workplace course seeks to provide delegates with the advanced searching skills needed to effectively find information available from the Internet in the workplace, and the Web 2.0 Workshop aims to enable staff become knowledgeable and aware of using social media for collaboration and engagement in government. It is worth noting that over the years since first delivering these courses we have tailored them for our SG audience, namely civil servants, and that they are primarily work orientated.
As of 2009 when we first started evaluating our courses, a library assistant typed up the feedback from the paper questionnaires (often called ‘happy sheets’) onto an Excel spreadsheet, then forwarded this to the librarians to view, comment on and if necessary take action by answering any questions delegates may have and/or make any necessary changes to our training materials. The delegates would complete the paper questionnaires at the end of each course so we only gained immediate feedback revealing what their thoughts were on the day, not what they had learnt and then subsequently did or did not implement back at their desks, which as it transpired was what we were particularly interested in for our research purposes.
Although the statistics for those attending SG Library training were fairly good – in fact, the Web 2.0 Workshop – had a waiting list, this did not give any indication on the quality of the content of the courses, whether it was adequate, effective or even if it was required by or useful to staff to help carry out their work effectively. We realised that evaluating our course materials would be essential in identifying the success (or not) of a course and the effectiveness of the learning which was taking place (or not) and whether this had any significant impact on delegates being able to work more efficiently and effectively.
We had started gathering feedback and data from our courses in 2009; however, it was not until early 2010 that we started evaluating and measuring them with a view to presenting our findings at LILAC 2010. We planned to ascertain the following:
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Do our training courses meet the business needs? Do they enable staff to work more effectively, for example?
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What would staff like us to provide? What are their views on training content?
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What impact, if any, were we making regarding improving SG staff search skills and their understanding of the uses of social media within government?
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We needed to make sure that we were adding value to the organisation via improving staff skills, something especially pertinent in the economic climate.
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Do staff acquire knowledge and skills from the training and have they put what they have learnt into practice back at their desks?
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Do staff learn from concrete examples more than from theoretical ideas? We suspected that staff preferred examples and stories but we required evidence of this.
Millennials and technology: putting suppositions to the test in an academic library
Pascal Lupien, Randy Oldham, in Meeting the Needs of Student Users in Academic Libraries, 2012
Introduction
Much has been written in the library and higher education literature about the Millennial generation and their expectations, interests, and use of technology. Generally considered to include individuals born between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s, the Millennial generation (also known in the literature as the NetGen, Generation Next and Generation Y) is said to be the second largest in North American history (Abram & Luther, 2004). Many researchers and practitioners feel that the significant demographic shift caused by the entry of the Millennials into the workforce and the retirement of the Baby Boomers is the most important trend affecting libraries over the next ten years. Clearly, Millennials will have a significant impact on future user expectations. Researchers in the field of education are writing about how factors such as technology have a significant impact on how Millennials learn and this too will affect the information literacy role of librarians.
Much of what has been written focuses on characteristics of the Millennials that supposedly distinguish them from previous generations, and there are a number of common themes that emerge. A frequent assertion is that Millennials are digital natives rather than digital immigrants and are therefore more comfortable and experienced with technology than previous generations (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008; Prensky, 2001; Shah & Abraham, 2009; Zur & Zur, 2009, 2011). They are attracted to technologies that allow for social interaction yet do not think in terms of “technology” while using these services as they see them as an extension of everyday life (Oblinger, 2005). The strong connection between Millennials and technology is also prevalent in the literature on how they learn and conduct research. According to many writers, the way that Millennials approach learning and research tasks will be shaped by their increasingly technology-dependent world, more self-directed and independent, and more focused on visual cues (DiGilio & Lynn-Nelson, 2004; Lippincott, 2005; Weiler, 2004; Windham, 2005). With respect to the higher education experience, they want technology integrated into their courses (Centre for Digital Education, 2004). A recurring trend suggests that they prefer to use the Internet rather than library resources when conducting information research (Griffiths & Brophy, 2005; Holliday & Li, 2004; Luther, 2003). Another common assertion suggests that for most Millennials, authority and knowledge is secondary to simply getting enough “stuff” (Griffiths & Brophy, 2005; Oblinger, 2003).
A critical assessment of the literature, however, is likely to raise a number of reservations. Most of these authors make fairly broad generalizations about Millennials, but these are either not substantiated by any solid research or are beyond what the empirical evidence would allow us to conclude. Commonly cited works describe Millennials as “special, sheltered, confident, team-oriented, achieving, pressured, conventional, tech-embracing” and as “digital natives in a land of digital immigrants,” having “never known a day without a computer” (Howe & Strauss, 2000) or portray them as self-oriented to the point of being narcissistic, attitudes that are further encouraged by the use of social media (Twenge, 2006). For the most part, these generalizations do not take into account possible differences related to gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. The assumptions produced by this literature may lead to a bandwagon effect that encourages libraries to adopt the latest “in thing” and to invest human and financial resources in the creation of new services that do not truly respond to user needs. A deeper understanding of our younger users’ preferences and use of technology could help us to avoid this and to focus our efforts on using technology in ways that will actually meet their needs. In other words, we should not just adopt technology for the sake of using technology, but rather build tools and services that match our users’ interests, needs, and capabilities. The ability to do so requires librarians to develop a better understanding of their own users by engaging in local, targeted research.
Overview of the study
Barbara Blummer, Jeffrey M. Kenton, in Improving Student Information Search, 2014
Abstract:
Students often experience difficulties locating information despite library training in database search techniques. Research suggests metacognitive strategies including: planning, monitoring, and self-regulating actions could enhance individuals' search in research databases. An idea tactic tutorial that promoted metacognitive strategies was developed to improve education graduate students' searching in research databases for problem-solving activities. Bates identified 17 idea tactics, and nine of these concepts were incorporated in the idea tactics tutorial. We developed three additional tactics based on metacognitive strategies and they are included in the tool. A mixed method study evaluated students' use of the tutorial as well as its impact on their search techniques and outcomes. This work constituted the first author's dissertation study and our book represents an expansion and update of the research.
In the beginning: the origin of librarian stereotypes
Ashanti White, in Not Your Ordinary Librarian, 2012
Women, libraries, and the origins of the stereotypes
The library profession became increasingly open to women through library education. In 1893, when Dewey was asked to recommend somebody to found the University of Illinois’ library school, he said, “the best man in America is a woman, and she is in the next room”—referring to Katharine Sharp, who went on to become one of the most significant library educators.14 Likewise, Dewey championed for Mary Wright Plummer, who was one of his first library science students at Columbia. Hardworking and from a prosperous Quaker family, Plummer established herself in the profession. Originally a cataloger at the St. Louis Public Library, she later moved to the Pratt Institute where she created the second Library School. She eventually became the director of the Pratt Institute’s Free Library, a position she held for a nearly a decade; it was then that she also developed the first children’s room and implemented special training for librarians in youth services.15
vDespite the accomplishments of early women, the inclusiveness of librarianship was partially attributable to contemporaneous motivations. The first was systematic inequity. With the burgeoning of librarianship, women offered a cost-effective means of ensuring continued growth, as libraries often paid women less for the same services rendered by their male colleagues. This ensured, especially during the Great Depression when library use increased exponentially and budgets simultaneously dwindled, that libraries could remain afloat. The second motivation stemmed from female stereotypes. Although a superior professional choice to other fields accepting of women, librarianship capitalized on the perception that women were naturally more nurturing and would thus perform well in service-oriented positions. The idea opened doors for women yet hindered individual advancement as libraries often barred women from managerial and administrative positions.16
Librarianship was not without imperfection yet Dewey’s endorsement of women in librarianship, coupled with the subsequent successes of Sharp and Plummer, ushered in parity incomparable in other professional sectors at the time. At the dawn of the 20th century, a majority of the American public did not have a college education. Although the end of the Civil War saw an educational enrollment of nearly half of the American population, African American enrollment sustained its numbers (of 34% of the eligible population in schools) while enrollment among whites decreased.17 At that time, eighth grade was the expected educational attainment, and women were nonetheless expected to maintain the home although they also were eligible to receive a public education. In many instances, a woman who chose or was forced to work outside the home due to economic hardships was limited to jobs that required little skill and education, which were consequently the poorest-paying positions in service, agricultural, and industrial industries.18 Conversely, librarianship required an advanced degree, paid well, and was regarded as a respectable profession. By the early 1920s, nearly 90% of all library school students were female. The overwhelming integration of female librarians received substantial consideration. Charles C. Williamson, Director of the Columbia University Libraries and Dean of the Columbia School of Library Service, composed a report that criticized the “feminization” of the librarianship.19
Methodology: the think-aloud problem-solving activity and post-activity interview
Barbara Blummer, Jeffrey M. Kenton, in Improving Student Information Search, 2014
Introduction
Research by Blummer et al. (2012) illustrated education graduate students’ need for a variety of library training opportunities. Our mixed methods study aimed to evaluate the impact of a metacognitive scaffold for supporting students’ information problem solving. It represents the first author’s unpublished doctoral dissertation. The idea tactics tutorial offers metacognitive strategies as well as expert modeling of information problem solving in a research database. Mayer (1998) recognized the importance of metacognition in problem solving too. He argued that problem solvers required domain specific skills as well as metaskills, which he defined as metacognitive knowledge such as “knowledge of when to use, how to coordinate and how to monitor various skills in problem solving” (p. 53). Moreover, he advocated modeling the effective use of strategies in academic tasks. In this chapter, we detail our research methodology that included the use of the think-aloud protocol as students performed search tasks in a research database. Screen capture software illustrated participants’ thoughts and movements during the activity. A follow-up interview allowed individuals to verbalize any comments about the activity and the scaffold.
Teaching Library and Legal Research Skills to First-Year Law Students
Zita Szabo, Eleni Borompoka, in Planning Library Orientations, 2018
Why Does the School Organize Tours?
Compulsory tours of the library run during Freshers' Week, and they form the basis of the new students' library training. Their purpose is to introduce students to library staff, begin their orientation, and allow a first peek at the Library's modus operandi. This marks the start of the effort from both departments to help the students build the skills required to use the Library confidently and independently. These skills evolve over time and are part of a wider learning experience. As Noon (1994, p. 11) suggests: “information skills are a skill for life.”
The School of Law organizes the library tours and splits the first-year law students into groups of approximately 20. Information about groups and times is disseminated to students by email and displayed on notice boards at the School. The same information is forwarded to the library manager who places relevant notices at the library entrance. As this task calls for the participation of all library staff, the team splits the tours between them. The tours take place on the same day, and sessions last for about 30 minutes each.
Library managers today: the challenges
Damian Lodge, Bob Pymm, in Libraries in the Twenty-First Century, 2007
Professional development
Professional development and training are the responsibility of both the manager and of the employee. Training opportunities exist both formally and informally throughout libraries, library associations, consultants and education providers. Library staff training programs can be developed in-house, usually taking the form of on-the-job training opportunities or exploiting the knowledge of staff members to undertake a formal or informal training session on a particular aspect of their work. External training providers can be contracted to supply training on a specific subject such as using a new software package, or staff can be sent to regular courses offered by a number of companies specialising in training for library staff. In addition to training for specific tasks or jobs, the broader issue of professional development – building the knowledge and abilities to further one’s career within the profession – should also be a joint concern for staff members and their managers. Indeed, ALIA requires members to undertake a certain level of continuing professional development in order to remain current with the rapid changes taking place within the profession.
Education graduate students’ information-seeking skills
Barbara Blummer, Jeffrey M. Kenton, in Improving Student Information Search, 2014
Summary of education graduate students’ information behavior
Foremost, these studies of education graduate students’ information-seeking behavior shares similarities to studies with their counterparts in other disciplines in illustrating the need for library training (George et al., 2006). Students lacked knowledge of education resources as well as database methodologies, despite library training efforts. In addition, many of these individuals experience anxiety while researching. These factors, coupled with the lack of definitive assessments of library training measures for education graduate students, suggest they would benefit from instruction that contained a metacognitive perspective on information search. The idea tactics tutorial offers opportunities to improve students’ planning, monitoring, and regulating their search activity. The scaffold also provides database search techniques designed to improve search outcomes. Foremost, improving students’ metacognitive skills encourages individuals to take control over all of their cognitive endeavors such as synthesizing their research in the writing papers and especially completing the literature review for their thesis.
