Library Instruction Classes Research Articles

How a library instruction class imitates a news broadcast

In our increasingly audiovisual world, library instructors have something to learn from television new media. By watching and borrowing from the evening news, librarians can learn techniques for arranging, structuring, and presenting information in ways that hold our “audience,” especially in electronically-based classes.

Point-of-Use Instruction:

Attempts to teach higher level critical thinking skills in library instruction classes are often undermined by students' difficulty in physically locating materials at the library. A User's Survey conducted by a Stack Maintenance Total Quality Management (TQM) Team at Oregon State University's Kerr Library provided further evidence of this difficulty. Consequently, Stack Maintenance support staff and student assistants are now trained to provide point-of-use assistance and instruction. Thus, they have become adjuncts to the Library's information and instruction services.

Library Instruction and Intellectual Stimulation

Library instruction classes often fail to give students the intellectual stimulation they need. Ann Irving, in her thought‐provoking article about bibliographic instruction, recognized the problem, noting that library teachers neglect subject content (Irving 1980, 11). Instead, they emphasize the process of obtaining facts and ideas. Too often, librarians get overinvolved in the process, and ignore the substance, of research. They frequently become lost in the retrieval of data and fail to teach students how to interpret the information they find. John Lubans, Jr., in his book Educating the Library User, discusses the obsessive concern with the layout of the library. A boring list of library services and dull tours are often the result of this approach to bibliographic instruction (Lubans 1974, 86). A bland and mechanical approach to the value of the library is far removed from the psychological and intellectual needs of the students. The result is a lack of student enthusiasm about the research project they are about to begin.