Teaching the New Library (How‐to‐Do It Manuals for Librarians, 70)

Citation

Evans, J. (1998), "Teaching the New Library (How‐to‐Do It Manuals for Librarians, 70)", Asian Libraries, Vol. 7 No. 12, pp. 441-442. https://doi.org/10.1108/al.1998.7.12.441.7

This book is part of the literature of library instruction and deals with the implications of technology of the library, its staff and customers. This literature is profuse but often limited in its scope and originality. While this book claims not to reflect the “how we did it good” of any particular library, there are evident references to experiences of the authors’ institutions.

The book is designed to indicate how things might be done, and done well, if certain directions and programmes are selected. It does not deal with certainties but aims to provide a guide to the perplexed in perplexing times. After three brief introductory chapters about the new library ‐ a concept which cannot be claimed to be that revolutionary at this point ‐ its main feature is a 12 step teaching programme. Steps 1‐5 (determining the need, securing support, information gathering, instructional needs assessment, discussion) set the stage for creating the programme. Step 6 of programme design reviews most of the potential methods of instruction and their pros and cons for present and future use. Step 7 is a discussion of the key issue of finding or creating the teachers who will staff the programme. Steps 8‐12 outline management issues that will ensure the successful running of the programme (publicity, infrastructure, feedback, evaluation, revision). It is open to users of the book to determine the specifics of each of the 12 steps according to their library situation. Guidance ranging from the one paragraph to several pages is provided on each of the steps.

The teaching programme is followed by a final section on instructional settings, covering the new reference desk, the “newer” reference desk (electronic arcades), classrooms in the library, teaching in the electronic classroom, teaching in cyberspace, itinerant teachers. All of these are brief but pertinent and practical. There are selected references to print and Web sources. Though I did not check out the URLs of many of these, they certainly point to areas where the “machine” is very much a part of the solution.

This is a useful book, and many points will be appreciated by those working on the ever changing field of information/library instruction. It is long on possible methods and very limited on the theoretical background, although there would be much to be gained from some attention to this. The “newness” of issues is probably also overdone, possibly with a view to capturing a wider market for the book. This work is recommended for college libraries and those involved in relevant programmes, but not a one‐stop shop on the issue.