Library Instruction for Romanized Hebrew

Abstract

University students, looking for records in Hebrew language in the library catalog, often face difficulties finding material due to the unfamiliarity with the Library of Congress rules for romanization. These difficulties may hinder their research results. This paper will present the findings of a study conducted at McGill University that investigated students' abilities to romanize Hebrew titles so they can consequently search these in the library catalog, and will show how library instruction can be a very successful tool for providing students with the knowledge they require in order to retrieve these titles.Objective — This study examined the impact on students who attended a library workshop on the Library of Congress (LC) rules of Hebrew romanization. Although this group of users had knowledge of the Hebrew language, most of the bibliographic records on McGill University's online catalog are romanized. A lack of understanding of the rules involved in romanizing makes the retrieval of records more difficult due to the inexactitudes of the spelling.Methods — The students enrolled in the course Advanced Hebrew at McGill University where selected for this study due to their knowledge of the Hebrew language. Students were asked to spell six Hebrew titles in romanized characters, a task that it is necessary to do in order to search for these titles in the catalog. This was followed by a presentation on the LC rules on romanizing the Hebrew language. Each student received a copy of the LC romanization table (see Appendix A) and with the table in hand and the explanation on how to apply it, students were asked to spell six different Hebrew titles.Results — There was an 81% improvement in the accuracy of spelling six new Hebrew titles once the students were familiar with the romanization rules. We can consider this gain a very successful outcome that would benefit these students in their academic endeavors.Limitations — One of the main limitations for this research was the small number of students (68.7% of the total enrolment for that course) that was present in the class on the day of the study. Another important limitation was the time allotted for this study. The students did not have time to practice the methodology for romanization. Right after the presentation of the LC rules, they were asked to answer the second questionnaire.Conclusions — Spelling mistakes when searching for romanized Hebrew titles in the catalog can be diminished through a targeted library instruction workshop. This research demonstrated that being familiar with the romanization rules is an effective tool for increasing students' abilities to spell correctly and thus retrieve Hebrew bibliographic records.