Collaborate or Perish!: InfoLit Unites Librarians, Teaching Faculty

Citation

Clarence, J., Ginno, E. and Ramsdell, K. (1999), "Collaborate or Perish!: InfoLit Unites Librarians, Teaching Faculty", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 16 No. 12. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.1999.23916lac.001

Collaborate or Perish!: InfoLit Unites Librarians, Teaching Faculty

Judy Clarence, Elizabeth Ginno and Kristin Ramsdell

Introduction

With the spread of digitized information came the notion, in some circles, that sophisticated electronic interfaces would interact so seamlessly with library users that no intervention on the part of librarians would be necessary. That notion, of course, has long since been dispelled; library instruction is a more necessary part of information seeking and gathering than ever before. As is stated by the Theme for the 28th Annual Workshop on Instruction in Library Use (WILU)/28e Atelier annuel sur la formation documentaire (AAFD), held May 19-21, 1999 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, "...conjunction of forces has conspired to give us an unparalleled opportunity to realize our dreams of bibliographic instruction at the heart of learning".

Electronic media are wildly expensive, high profile, and glitzy. At the college and university level, as elsewhere, everybody wants to use electronic tools and databases and the Internet, even when a print source might do the job better and faster. Teaching faculty are falling behind ­ they realize they don't know how to use the library anymore; some of their students are way ahead of them in technological know-how. But even the "techie" students tend to leap into the Web and the databases with high expectations and little understanding, get frustrated quickly, and give up.

Enter the librarian, who has been in the picture all along ­ "a fundamental part of the great do-it-yourself scheme of the North American education system", to quote again from the WILU/AAFD theme. We librarians can and do, on a daily basis, form partnerships in the learning process with students and teaching faculty, partnerships resulting in bibliographic instruction which is "solidly set in a context where it is seen to be immediately useful, and very quickly reinforced with meaningful application" if it is to be useful.

Thus library instruction components are being built into more and more curricula in US and Canadian colleges and universities. "At last, bibliographic instruction is finding its true home in the learning process". This year's conference, hereafter referred to simply as "WILU", focused on the process of integrating library instruction into the curriculum in partnership with faculty colleagues who teach discipline-based courses.

Keynote Address

"Collaboration in the Learning Process: Challenges for Librarians in the Information Age University"

Carol Kuhlthau, Professor of Library and Information Science, School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Kuhlthau spoke on the role of the Librarian in the learning process. Higher education serves to prepare students for daily living and good citizenship, as it always has ­ but the methods of doing this are changing in significant ways. For example, says Kuhlthau, the textbook has for decades been the logical solution to an environment of scarcity of information. Now, textbooks are inadequate and out of date because information is so readily available from a variety of immediately accessible sources. Similarly, libraries have traditionally filled the needs of information-hungry students by filling the shelves with pertinent volumes. Now, with increasing numbers of resources available electronically, the library world is changing. Dare we ask: will libraries exist in the future? However that question is answered, librarians most certainly will enjoy new roles of collaboration with teaching faculty and students as we enable and empower our patrons to "find sense in diverse information sources", to navigate through the waters of abundant information without becoming frustrated or overwhelmed. The library must be transformed into an "Inquiry Center" in which we librarians facilitate the learning and information search process of students.

In her "Model of the Information Search Process", Kuhlthau puts forth the tasks leading to a research project ("feelings, thoughts, actions") and follows them from the project's initiation (feelings of uncertainty) through selection, exploration, and formulation (feelings move from optimism through confusion to clarity and a sense of direction; thoughts move from vague to focused) to collection of information (feelings become more confident; the intellect is more engaged) and presentation (accompanied by feelings of satisfaction or disappointment). She stresses the importance of recognizing where students are in this process as we assist them, especially during the phase of uncertainty when it's important for them to be able to tolerate, even to nurture that uncertainty because it's part of the process and "initiates the new learning". There is a "zone of intervention" to which we must be sensitive; we do not need to intervene all the time, only when the student cannot continue unaided, or can do so only with great difficulty.

Kuhlthau's strategies for the Process Approach to a research project are:

1. 1.

   1) Collaborating,

   2) Conversing,

   3) Continuing,

   4) Choosing,

   5) Charting,

   6) Composing.

She cites as enablers to this process a team-teaching approach, mutually held process view of learning, shared commitment to teaching information skills, and competence in designing instructional activities. Inhibitors to the process are lack of time, confusion of roles, and poorly designed assignments.

"A Dynamic Duo: A Faculty/library Partnership Integrating Information Skills into the Curriculum"

Ruth Dickstein, Social Sciences Librarian/Women's Studies Specialist, University of Arizona, Tucson.

Kari Boyd McBride, Lecturer, Women's Studies Department, University of Arizona, Tucson.

Dickstein and McBride described their latest two joint ventures, a women's studies class for non-majors and a majors-only class. First contact was made by Dickstein, the librarian, who wanted to help McBride empower the over 90 percent female classes in increasing their information literacy and computer skills. Together, Dickstein and McBride developed a class which had a "shadow Web classroom" and a listserv specific to the class. The Web classroom emphasized skills building and each student had to post class notes on the "What is Gender?" Web page. Other skills such as e-mail and Web searching were not graded. After Dickstein described methods to raise the skills of the inexperienced computer users by placing them at the keyboard with more experienced users seated beside them, McBride reported that all of the students became more adept at evaluative and analytic writing. Although they did not like submitting their homework via e-mail (in fact some said they "hated it"), students in the class successfully completed their work on the Web and through e-mail.

Dickstein continued by reporting that, although the students were making good progress in their computer skills, the second homework results showed they were not using scholarly sources although they were readily available. The librarian presence within the class consisted of one meeting and providing point-of-need help via the listserv and Web. When issues regarding the homework and library skills were worked out between the "dynamic duo", Dickstein and McBride would post additional information students needed on the class listserv and Web pages.

The second project Dickstein and McBride collaborated on was a women's studies major course. For this class, Dickstein trained "reference" team members who served as experts to their teammates. Each team was assigned a topic to research and create an annotated bibliography for the class. For the annotated bibliography, each team had to use three Web sites and three articles, and write an essay. The librarian did not assign a grade but did provide a lot of one-on-one help via e-mail.

Lessons learned from the two classes included not to separate out the "reference" team member; and for each group to choose its own representative next time. Close collaboration between instructor and librarian is needed to ensure that topics assigned or chosen by the groups are adequately supported by library resources.

Both Dickstein and McBride enthusiastically plan to collaborate further in the future and each looks forward to the next evolution of the class.

"Searching for Chad in all the Wrong Places"

Juris Dilevko, Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto.

The African country of Chad is landlocked, isolated, and poor. To illustrate its obscurity, Dilevko asks the attendees to locate Chad on an unmarked map of Africa ­ in fact, to identify as many countries as possible. (Few were able to come close to completing the map accurately, though most were able to identify a large majority of states in the USA on a similar map.) Dilevko proceeds to explain the difficulties involved in locating information about Chad. A search in electronic sources for "Chad" produces results, but only in English and from an English or American point of view. Searching for "Tchad", which is the French spelling, results in a set of documents which reflect an entirely different interpretation of the events in Chad, which played a small role in the civil war in the Republic of Congo-Kinshasa.

Using Chad as an example, Dilevko goes on to reflect on the diverse character of information sources depending upon their origin. He distributes copies of a large variety of news stories concerning US, Canadian, or European train wrecks with a relatively small loss of human life, demonstrating that these disasters are covered dramatically in North American newspapers, while similar catastrophes in third world countries are described in tiny articles on the papers' back pages. Using more examples, Dilevko reflects on Web sites which seemingly rate products while giving preference to those of their advertisers, hoaxes perpetrated on Web sites, and other proof that critical thinking is an essential component of library instruction in Internet use.

"Keeping the Camels in Order: Composition Theory and the Library Research Process"

Ross T. LaBaugh, Coordinator of Library Instruction, California State University, Fresno.

Possessing one of the more intriguing titles* at the conference, Ross LaBaugh's creative PowerPoint-enhanced presentation discussing the relationship between composition theory and the library research process was lively and well received. Working from the premise that the increasing complexity of the ways in which information is now packaged and accessed has greatly affected what and how we teach, LaBaugh suggests that we need to consider the rhetorical needs of the students and just where they are in the research/writing process when we plan our instruction. To set the scene, LaBaugh traces the development of writing from the oral tradition of rhetoric (exemplified by Aristotle and company) through the gradual ascendance of the written word following the Renaissance (by the end of the seventeenth century writing had become so important that rules for it were necessary) and on into the twentieth century.

Teachers originally focused on grammar and other rules; however, studies have since proved that this does not really help students learn to write. What does help, according to LaBaugh, is understanding what writing really is and teaching with that in mind. Clearly and logically, LaBaugh contends that

1. 1.

   1) writing is a process (think "Research Paper");

   2) writing is recursive (illustrated by Belkin's construct theory ­ "think, write, rewrite, think...");

   3) writing is discovery and parallels the bibliographic instruction theory that "learning to use a library is liberating";

   4) writing is a cognitive activity, continually monitored in a planning, translating, and reviewing cycle; and

   5) writing is a social act because the world is a mass of discourse communities that need translation.

LaBaugh goes on to say that because few teachers have much background in rhetoric, library instruction, or library research, they may not always understand where the student is on the writing/research continuum. As a result, no matter how technically advanced and attractive the instruction or assignments, they may still be ineffective, miss the point, or simply be confusing. However, once the focus is clearly on the students and their rhetorical needs, instructors can use the multitude of information resources and technologies that exist to teach to better advantage.

LaBaugh outlined the information search process in six steps:

1. 1.

   1) Intention ­ students are presented with a rhetorical problem;

   2) Selection ­ students choose topics that have pragmatic potential for success;

   3) Exploration ­ students expect clarity at this point but must learn to tolerate uncertainty;

   4) Formulation ­ students choose or are directed to a path ("Few students have epiphanies; most do find clarity");

   5) Collection ­ students now try to find relevant, pertinent information; and

   6) Presentation ­ students complete the narrative and begin to compose. (This is the mysterious, miraculous part of the process.)

How can librarians help? In addition to understanding the process, LaBaugh mentioned Info-To-Go areas, one-on-one meetings with students, peer tutoring, using the Web to teach critical thinking, and not giving the students more than they need. He concluded by saying the libraries are not warehouses or archives and librarians are not "access engineers"; libraries and librarians help people "discover". LaBaugh is an engaging speaker, and the fact that he has also taught composition classes made his comments especially relevant.

*Information and literature in ancient libraries were recorded on scrolls which needed to be read in order; therefore, when they were transported, most often by camel, it was important to "keep the camels in order" so that the information would remain in its correct sequence.

"InfoLit10: Clustered, Collaborative, and Cool"

Judy Clarence, Instruction and Interpretive Services Librarian and Music Librarian, California State University, Hayward.

Elizabeth Ginno, Instruction and Interpretive Services Librarian, California State University, Hayward.

Kristin Ramsdell, Instruction and Interpretive Services Librarian, Coordinator for Library Instructional Services, California State University, Hayward.

Using a combination of PowerPoint slides, overhead transparencies, handouts, and ordinary lecture, the three Hayward librarians outlined the new General Education program at California State University (CSU), Hayward, in which librarians teach information literacy credit-bearing courses to all incoming first-year students as part of a "campus learning community", or cluster. The clusters are thematically based and the Library courses tie into those themes, while at the same time teaching the relevant information competency skills. Departmental and Library faculty work together to plan and implement the cluster sessions; and while there are many rough edges to be smoothed out, last year's experience was positive and, as preliminary data indicate, beneficial to both students and faculty. System financial support, such as funding for conferences, workshops, and seed money grants to individual campuses to implement various information literacy programs, was a necessity to the success of this project. Additionally, the fact that the CSU librarians are full faculty members and participate in the committees responsible for the General Education Curriculum helped ensure Library involvement. A lively question-and-answer session followed the presentation.

"Channeling Basic Skills into Higher Learning: Enhancing the Learning Experience of First-year Students"

Judy Zebrowski, Librarian/ Information Specialist in User Education, Information Services & Resources, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA.

Zebrowski began the session with some regression exercises for the audience ­ what feelings are evoked by recalling your first visit to a library? Frustration and anxiety were two that the audience mentioned. Zebrowski then asked us to fast forward to the present day with the advent of all the new technology facing students as they enter the modern library ­ the first question is usually, "Where are the books?" Therefore, it should not surprise us to learn that most first-year students are overwhelmed.

At Bucknell University, Zebrowski worked with other groups on campus to restructure the first-year experience for their new students. She described what the folks in the library did to help with their New Student Orientation program.

Café Info, a one-day transformation of the first floor of the library into a French café complete with cappuccinos and biscotti, allowed library staff to introduce library services and resources in a non-threatening and entertaining way. For three to four hours, staff served at interactive stations in reference, circulation, computer services, and reserves for the approximately 1,000 students who filtered through the library during orientation. Two days later, the library provided an introduction to the University Library and the Internet by giving library tours and sessions on how to use the catalog and find information within the library and on the Web.

Another innovation Zebrowski introduced to Bucknell library was the idea of "Techno-stress appointments". These appointments were to provide help to students all year round. Meetings could last from ten minutes to two hours and were provided by trained library assistants and peer tutors.

All of these services for first-year students are made available via the library Web site ( http://www.isr.bucknell.edu/help/usered/First_Year/index.html). The idea behind these services is based on a profile for Generation X (1961-81). Zebrowski described this group as independent, latchkey kids; multitaskers; result-action oriented, which translates into reality-directed learning; and techno-literate. These students want information accessible all the time, with rich content and a lot of variety provided. The challenge was to make the Web site attractive to the Gen-Xers as well as to incorporate academic standards of critical thinking, engaged learning, life-long learning, information management, and evaluative thinking.

Although the program for first-year students is draining on staff and resources, Bucknell is in it for the long ride. Zebrowski and her colleagues are working on creating a support system of joint partnerships and programs on campus, and in their training and utilization of library school students. While there is no funding forthcoming from the campus to help defray the library costs of the program, Zebrowski and the rest of the library staff feel that the Café Info, library tours, and Techno-stress appointments, along with the Web site, are worthwhile and have proven a motivation to keep students returning to the library.

"The Second Time Around: What I'd Do Differently Designing and Building my Next Electronic Classroom"

Kendall Wallis, Assistant Head of Reference, McLennan-Redpath Library, McGill University.

Dale Huston, Reference Librarian, St Lambert Campus, Champlain CEGEP.

Stephen Park, Computer Services Librarian and Director of the Law Information Management Centre, Nahum Gelber Law Library, McGill University.

Anyone interested in designing an electronic classroom (and that includes most instruction librarians at the moment) would have gained tremendous insight into the entire process by attending this session. The three panelists were from varying kinds of libraries and had built their electronic classrooms under vastly differing circumstances ­ a community college library adapted an existing facility, a university library retrofited internal space, and a law library built an entirely new facility. While some concerns were highly specific to the type of renovation being undertaken, a surprising number of similar comments were made by all panelists, including admonitions to "watch the architects", pay attention to ventilation and heating concerns (extremely important), and stay on top of wiring, hardware, and connectivity issues. One of the more interesting discoveries was that installing a glass wall at the back of the classroom which enabled anyone in the library to observe the class or lab session essentially eliminated the use of pornographic or risqué Web sites. The presentation was casual and the panel members were relaxed and receptive to questions from the audience. It was a useful, informative, effective session.

"Challenges of Life: Intro Biology Meets the Library"

Janet Kaufman and Greg Rowell, University of Guelph Library, Guelph, Ontario.

"Challenges of Life" is a course introduced in the fall of 1998 at the University of Guelph, a school with a strong agriculture and veterinary emphasis. It is required for over 1,300 students who are entering the Bachelor of Science program. Early on, it was decided that information literacy skills would be an essential part of the students' experience. So the Library was asked to provide instruction to all the students during the first two weeks of the semester. The students were asked to each write a short essay that required several types of information resources (books, journal articles, Web materials); thus a library session was to be a required component of the laboratory section of the course.

Library instruction for 1,300 students is a Herculean task! The group was divided into 26 lab sections of over 50 students. The time frame of two weeks was a tight one ­ a total of 24 classes were held in early September, in 80-minute time slots, four per day for three days each week (each librarian taught one class a day, lecture-style). The students were then turned loose to complete their assignments, which they could do alone or working in pairs ­ they could not proceed with their "wet lab" work until the assignment (ungraded) was turned in. In the meantime, the Library was experiencing changes: a brand-new online catalog system had been installed in May 1998, the entire book collection was completely reorganized during August, and a new computer interface for indexes and abstracts was brought up on September 1.

Course objectives were to teach the use of the catalog, to introduce computerized indexes and abstracts, to familiarize students with book and periodical locations, and to introduce some basic skills to enable students to find and evaluate Internet sources. Biology faculty and teaching assistants were asked to assist students with the assignments. Some problems were encountered the first day, when zero students arrived for the first class session and nearly 80 arrived for the second session! The screens of the new online catalog system kept freezing unexpectedly. By the end of the two-week period it was evident that the Internet assignment template wasn't working as well as had been hoped; it was subsequently modified.

The final evaluations showed that the first three objectives were met, though there is much room for improvement: scheduling the class a little later in the semester, providing a bit less content, improving testing and proofreading of assignments, diagramming the path from topic selection to location of journal article, and providing a link to the course Web site.

Plenary and Wrap-up: "Fostering a Pedagogy for Information Literacy"

Gloria Leckie, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.

Leckie is concerned with bridging the gap between librarians and academic faculty as we approach the introduction of Information Literacy on our campuses. She sees librarians' work with teaching faculty as absolutely critical, but not an easy task because of poor understanding of one another's roles. It all comes down to issues of pedagogical discourse: a faculty member's discourse is acculturated and immersed entirely to an individual discipline, and this dedicated discourse works against the introduction of other concepts, like Information Literacy. Further, many academic faculty feel that students need to learn information navigation skills on their own, although these faculty members don't realize that many of today's university students are ill-prepared for academic work. Should faculty coddle students? This is a major debate on many campuses.

Librarians' discourses are acculturated to a service profession that values the needs of the student. We know the students are lacking in sharp research skills, and we know we need to assist them. So we need to identify and acknowledge our own discourses while understanding the teaching faculty's approach. Avenues for dialogue suggested by Leckie consist of a blending of the two discourses by informed listening (holding afternoon get-togethers with faculty, going out to faculty offices for discussion), demonstration of our expertise by forming liaison partnerships and collaborations with faculty, and offering hands-on faculty workshops.

We need, says Leckie, to stop thinking of ourselves as powerless, and to explain the concept of Information Literacy vigorously to faculty. We cannot ­ and should not ­ attempt to change faculty's discourse; rather to introduce our own and to collaborate.

Judy Clarence is Instruction and Interpretive Services Librarian and Music Librarian: jclarenc@csuhayward.edu,Elizabeth Ginno is Instruction and Interpretive Services Librarian: eginno@csuhayward.edu,and Kristin Ramsdell is Instruction and Interpretive Services Librarian and Coordinator for Library Instructional Services: kramsdel@csuhayward.edu, California State University, Hayward.