Making the Library Work for You
Copyright Janell Rudolph. Version Date: August 25, 1998
Whether you require your students to use the library for specific bits of information or for comprehensive research, your students will find it easier and you will get better results if you help them make better "connections" in the library. Please allow the Library Instruction Advisor to make some suggestions.
1. Know your campus libraries
If you are new to The University of Memphis, invest some time in the libraries, not only to find out what the libraries have for your personal research, but also to look at them from the perspective of your students. What kinds of materials are available for your students? What limitations do you forsee for the kinds of research you want them to do? If you have been on the faculty here for a long time, perhaps you need to refresh yourself on library holdings, policies, and services. Things do change, especially with the advent of technology.
2. Make library assignments fit specified objectives.
Why are you sending your students to the library? What connection do assigned library tasks have to the course objectives? Once you have determined those connections in your course planning, clarify them for your students. Often, students don't see a direct relationship between what they are doing in the library and what you are doing in the classroom. Without a clear vision of the purpose, students often consider library assignments or tasks as "busy work."
3. Give the assignments a field test.
Try doing what you ask your students to do. Go to the library yourself , or if you absolutely can't spare the time, enlist a student assistant who is a good observer. Take note of what you have to do to complete the library assignment in the U of M Libraries. What procedure did you follow? What resources did you use? What problems did you encounter? How much time did it take you? How much help did you get from the library staff? Your answers to these questions may cause you to alter your assignment. Certainly you will be better prepared to advise your students regarding the assignment. If you (or your assistant) have trouble doing it, then your students will probably have even more difficulty.
4. Put library assignments in writing.
By the time your students get to us, the task you gave them will be filtered into many different configurations. Since we don't know what you told them, all we can do is give them what they ask for--if, in fact, they should seek help from us.* Often we ask a student to show us the written assignment so we can understand what is needed.
*We don't always give them what they ask for, as in the case of a student who asked for WD-4. Discarding the notion that he really wanted a can of oil , I asked him why he wanted it. Then I determined that he was looking for the DSM-IV.
5. Impose parameters.
Make sure your students understand exactly what you expect them to achieve in the libary. "Go to the library and get some information" is way too vague, even if you tell them what you want them to get information about. Information comes from many sources and in many forms: books, articles, reports, computer files, nonprint media, etc. Consequently, when a student comes to the library and says "I want some information about bears, we ask "What kind of information?" The kind of information needed determines where to look for it, so it helps to specify what kind of information to get, e.g., "Find an article about bears."
Be as specific as reason dictates. If you say "Find a journal article about bears," make sure they know the difference between a journal and a magazine. "Find a recent journal article about bears": how recent? "Find a journal article about black bears" is certainly more specific, and "a journal article about female black bears" even more so. However, you can be so specific that the article is almost impossible to find. Unless you want your students to engage in a scavenger hunt (which is usually more of an exercise for the library staff), avoid such assignments as "Find a 1997 article in a refereed journal about a three-legged female bear in Alaska." If there is such an article, and it is important enough to invest that much time, just make a copies for your students or put it on reserve in the library so that the students can use their time more productively reading the article. (If you put it on reserve, make sure they know what and where that is, too.)
6. Plan for success.
How many of your students know how to find a book or an article in a periodical in the U of M Libraries? Give the students some guidelines. Along with the instructions for the assignment, provide titles of library resources (and maybe where they are located). If the assignment is to find specific information about a company or industry, for example, a list of sources that provide that kind of information will ease the students into the assignment. If you want the students to find periodical articles, give them names of relevant indexes or databases. Whatever you can do to decrease frustration and increase confidence about using the library helps create a better learning environment.
7. Use the expertise of a librarian.
As members of the U of M faculty, librarians are prepared to work with teaching faculty in all academic disciplines.
The Libraries' Instruction Program makes it easy for you to contact a librarian to help you teach your students about library resources and research. Working with a librarian, you can give your students whatever kind and amount of information they need to complete the library requirements of your course. A side benefit of this collaboration is that the librarian learns more about your disciplinary needs and you keep your own library expertise up to date.
8. Arrange library instruction at the time it is needed.
Library instruction given in a vacuum often is wasted time and effort. When scheduling a day in your syllabus for library instruction, put it as close to the time of need as possible and make sure the instruction addresses the course requirements. Library instruction not associated with a specific need or task will often go unheeded since the students may not see a use for it. Many students will get a general library orientation and instruction through either ACAD 1100 or ENGL 1102, and often in both of these courses. They may also get library instruction in other classes, which can lead to overkill. However, unless a student is completely brain dead, he or she can usually pick up some bit of information not presented or missed before. A smart student will verify his or her knowledge base and be alert for additional information. Associating the library session with a stated objective for your class will let your students know the library session you have scheduled is not just a repeat, but an opportunity to build upon the knowledge and skills they may have already obtained. Giving library instruction at the optimum time of need will make it relevant amid many things vying for their time and attention. And nothing says relevance louder than your being there with them.
The Library Instruction Advisor. Version date: August 25, 1998
Janell Rudolph ,
The University of Memphis Libraries,
Memphis, TN 38152
Telephone:901-678-8212. E-mail:nrudolph@memphis.edu
|