ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries February 1986 / 125 IV. M anuscript A uthors sho u ld su b m it tw o copies, d o u b le ­ spaced, following either the Chicago M anual of Style or T urabian. The preferred typew riter elements are: Courier 10, Prestige Elite 12, or L etter Gothic 12. H yphenated w ord breaks should be avoided. V. Requests for Donations CC-RL N ews may occasionally p rin t requests for the donation of books or m aterials to libraries, es­ pecially foreign libraries, which have suffered ex­ tensive loss through fire, hurricane, or other n a tu ­ ral disaster. O ther libraries soliciting contributions for other reasons will be referred to the rates for classified advertising in C & RL News. Editor's Note: These guidelines were adopted by the C&RL News Editorial Board at the Denver M idw inter M eeting on January 25, 1982. M ■ In volving cla ssro o m fa cu lty in the r e fe r e n c e fu n ctio n B y B o n n ie G ratch Head/Coordinator o f Reference Service Bowling Green State University English instructors answer questions at a special Research Paper Assistance Desk. S i m i l a r to m any m edium or large academ ic li- braries, at Bowling Green State University in Ohio we have a course-integrated, research paper skills instructional com ponent in the required English 112 class. Since over 3,000 freshmen enroll in this course during Spring semesters, we have developed a packet of w ritten m aterials w ith a self-guided tour, corrected by library support staff, and re­ search strategy exercises, corrected by classroom instructors, to completely replace library faculty class presentations. However, observations at the reference desk and a desire to prom ote increased librarian-student interaction were responsible for a plan to involve ENG 112 instructors and library faculty in a more direct way. A lthough the lib rary research p ap er strategy m aterials were a help to students, m any students still required assistance at the reference desk in re­ searching their paper topics. The volume of ques­ tions generated by these students was straining the limits of the reference staff, even w ith our norm al double staffing at peak times. In order to give the freshmen im proved service and lighten the load at the reference desk, a separate service location was created. A small table and chair were placed in the m ain entrance area across from the reference desk. A sign identified the table location as “ENG 112 Re­ search Paper Assistance” and it listed the hours of staffing. In addition to two library faculty, we re­ cruited tw o ENG 112 instructors to provide refer­ ence assistance six hours a day, five days a week over a five-week period. Reference desk statistics from p rio r semesters assisted us in selecting the 126 / C&RL News tim e to staff this new service location. An aw ard of $650 from the Friends of the Libraries paid for the salaries of the two instructors and the cost of ru n ­ ning an advertisement in the student newspaper to further publicize the service. Training the ENG 112 instructors was accom­ plished in three sessions. The training was very b a­ sic, emphasizing in detail the content of the search Freshmen identify better with an English instructor. strategy materials th at the students received; such as, using background sources, the Library o f Con­ gress Subject Headings, the card catalogs, and pe­ riodical indexes. We m ade it very clear that we ex­ pected them to refer to the reference desk those students who needed m ore assistance th a n the ENG 112 instructors could provide. Evaluation As p art of a larger evaluation project, we asked ENG 112 students, ENG 112 faculty, and reference librarians about their experiences w ith and percep­ tions of the ENG 112 Research Paper Assistance Desk. Overall, the d ata document very positive re­ actions to this additional service location. On a scale of 1-5 w ith 5 being the best rating, 75% (n = 42) circled a 5 or 4 to indicate th at the service was helpful. Ninety-five percent circled 5 or 4, in­ dicating th at the service was courteous. Eighty- eight percent of the faculty respondents (n = 34) m arked “yes” to the statem ent: “As far as you know, your students received adequate assistance at the ENG 112 Research Paper Assistance Desk.” All but one instructor thought th a t this service should be offered on a regular basis. W hen analyz­ ing the reference librarians’ reactions, all but one of them agreed th a t a separate service location for ENG 112 students is desirable. However, all six re­ plied th a t their support for the continuation of this service would depend on having very well trained ENG 112 instructors. O ther data analyzed were the num ber of ques­ tions asked at the two desks (reference and ENG 112 desk). This comparison revealed that the ENG 112 desk staff handled double the am ount of ques­ tions per day on the average; reference desk h an ­ dled an average of 17 per day and the ENG 112 desk handled an average of 38 per day. To give one an idea of the range, the greatest num ber of ques­ tions answered in a day at the ENG 12 desk was 63 and at the reference desk the greatest num ber was 56. The lowest num ber answered in a day at the ENG 112 desk was four; at the reference desk one day there were no ENG 112 questions answered. One of the ENG 112 instructors described her ex­ perience at the desk in great detail. She felt th a t the greatest advantage to using ENG 112 instructors was th a t students identified better with her. This instructor stated, “The students seemed relieved to find a 112 instructor—we gave them someone who could identify w ith w hat was happening, and we had the ability to say ‘well, I tell my students...”’ She also pointed out th a t the ENG 112 instructors could better advise students about topic selection and narrow ing. All the reference librarians ex­ pressed a similar opinion. What next? The experience was definitely worth the efforts required. Certainly, the library gained immensely from a public relations aspect, as the ENG 112 desk idea was perceived by the instructors as a special service for their students. I also believe th a t the ex­ perience of providing research paper reference as­ sistance gave the two instructors a solid apprecia­ tio n of th e ran g e of problem s th a t referen ce lib rarian s encounter. Both of these instructors made comments which revealed their surprise at some of the research topics th at their colleagues had approved, as well as the lack of library re­ search skills dem onstrated by many students. If more instructors would have this experience, per­ haps their approach to teaching the research paper would be diffrent, particularly the library research component. At the m inim um , the lines of com­ m unication would be vastly improved. Certainly, the library faculty could learn a lot more about library research expectations and as­ sumptions made by these instructors. We would also have an improved opportunity to consult with them regarding the design and development of our instructional materials. But do the data and our opinions justify the continuing need for a separate service location for these students? Perhaps not—not if certain conditions are satis­ fied. Certainly, the large num ber of students need­ ing assistance and the data collected do recom­ m end some type of special assistance, b u t not necessarily a separate service location. Apparently, student respondents who received assistance at the reference desk were just as satisfied, since 76 % cir­ cled a 5 or 4 to indicate th at the service provided was helpful. The cost of staffing it is considerable, even if only for four to six hours, five days a week. M aintaining a high quality service level is quite de­ m an d in g , since ongoing tra in in g w ould be re ­ quired to keep up w ith the annual turnover of ENG 112 instructors. (These instructors are nearly all graduate teaching assistants or fellows.) Instead, we could accomplish nearly the same effect by adding a third librarian or a well-trained ENG 112 instructor to the reference desk during the late afternoon and evening periods for the four week peak period of ENG 112 research paper activ­ ity. To “personalize” this added assistance for the February 1986 / 127 freshm en, we could locate a sign on th e reference desk or have the reference desk staff w ear buttons th a t w ould convey a message inviting EN G 112 re ­ search p ap er questions. In this w ay our desire to provide service to them w ould becom e m ore visi­ ble, just as the separate service location h ad been. W e could also encourage the reference librarians to becom e m ore involved w ith th e p ap er topic selec­ tion process. If w e hired an EN G 112 instructor to help staff the reference desk, he/she could tra in us in learning how to b etter assist students w ith topic selection questions. Given our present staffing level and the n atu re of th e lib rary instruction program for the freshm an com position course, w e will continue to provide this needed research p ap er assistance as a com ple­ m ent to regular reference service. Next spring we are considering adding a th ird person to the refer­ ence desk to determ ine if the sam e level of user sat­ isfaction can be attain e d as th a t w hich was docu­ m ented at a separate service location. 8 ■ C a ta lo g in g r a r e b o o k b a c k lo g s B y Jill H a r c o u r t Catalog Librarian University o f O klahom a The rise and fall of a Title II-C grant at the University of Oklahoma’s Western History Collections. T h e W estern History Collections of th e U niver­ sity of O klahom a has one of the finest libraries on th e N ative Americans of N orth Am erica and the history of the Trans-Mississippi W est. T he m ajor focus of its collection developm ent is the history of th e Southwest and its N ative A m erican population. T he Collections acquire m aterials in a w ide range of form ats, from photographs to m anuscripts to m icroform s and books. In 1982, the L ib rary D ivi­ sion of the W estern History Collections h ad 63,673 volumes (m onographs and serials), in both the LC and D ewey classification schemes. The Division also h ad accum ulated an uncataloged backlog of 42,000 volumes. T he inertia of this backlog becam e so great th a t the Collections applied for a HEA Title II-C grant. T he first-year objectives of this grant were: 1) To catalog and record in national databases approxim ately one h alf of the uncataloged p u b ­ lished book holdings in the W estern History Collec­ tions. At the tim e of application, the uncataloged backlog consisted of 42,000 volumes. 2) To increase the availability and use of the W estern History Collections by n ational and in te r­ n ational scholars. 3) To facilitate the bibliographic control of this special research collection by placing our holdings in an in-house circulation system. 4) To aid in th e long-range plan n in g and devel­ opm ent of th e W estern History Collections. 5) To s tre n g th e n th e m a jo r n a tio n a l b ib lio ­ graphic systems by in p u ttin g th e specialized hold­ ings of the W estern History Collections into the RLIN and O C L C systems.1 U n iv ersity of O klahom a W estern History C ol­ lections. HEA T itle II-C (dated Jan u ary 2, 1982). S tren g th en in g U niversity Research L ib ra ry R e­ sources T h ro u g h R ib lio g ra p h ic Access fo r th e W e s te r n H is to r y C o lle c tio n s . G r a n t n u m b e r 6008200688. Project n u m b er 091AH20057.