ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 1 5 4 / C&RL News ■ M arch 2004 THE WAY I SEE IT The language barrier Don’t let library lingo get in the way of learning by A n n e P e m b e rto n a n d P e te r F ritz le r T ake a look at th e follow ing sets o f terminology: • Controlled vocabulary, Su Doc, bib record, full-text access, classification scheme, m ono­ graph, database • Wack, th a t’s dope, dubs, off the chain, phat, crib, dude • Baryon-antibaryon asymmetry, fermion, Higgs boson, muon chamber, vertex detector All of us understand the first set of terms. We (the authors) happen to understand the first two sets of terms. We’re librarians, w e’re also in our 20s, and we still watch MTV. Librarians who are parents with teenagers perhaps understand the first two categories, as well. For those who don’t know, the second list of terms contains many of the words frequently used by today’s traditional col­ lege-aged students (18-24 year old). Fab was used in the ’60s to describe what in the ’70s was grooυy and in the ’80s became awesome. But what about the third set of words? If you happen to have an interest in high-energy physics, then you probably understand or have at least seen the words in the last category. Chances are that most readers of this essay will not understand nor be familiar with the words in at least one of the categories of terminology above. We all recognize the first as they are terms we were taught in library school or encountered in our first library jobs. As librarians and library staff, we use these terms almost every day. We use these words with colleagues and they understand exactly what w e’re talking about. They are in­ grained in our vocabulary, and we rarely give them a second thought. We use these words when we direct patrons at the reference desk and when we provide instruction. We know our terminology and assume the rest of the world does, as well. But do our students understand us? Finding common ground If an instructor came into a classroom and imme­ diately began using the physics terms listed above, most of us would quickly lose interest and our minds would wander. Few instructors could make us stay focused on a class w hen they were not speaking “our language.” We would have an espe­ cially hard time if w e did not see how the class and its terminology related to our needs directly or if we knew that our grade was not dependent on learning the terminology. We wouldn’t under­ stand what the instructor was saying, and most likely, w e wouldn’t really care. Why should we? How could we? If we had no education or back­ ground in physics, how could we possibly be on “the same page” with our instructor? The imaginary physics instructor above may not realize that the students do not grasp the terms he or she is using. Similarly, it seems as though we, as library professionals, do not understand why the rest of the w orld d o esn ’t know w hat we are talking about, often prom pting the ques- About the authors Anne Pemberton is public services librarian, e-mail: pembertona@uncw.edu, and Peter Fritzler is outreach and reference librarian, e-mail: fritzlerp@uncw.edu, a t the University o f North Carolina-Wilmington ©2004 Anne Pemberton and Peter Fritzler mailto:pembertona@uncw.edu mailto:fritzlerp@uncw.edu C&RL News ■ M arch 2004 / 155 tion, “Don’t these people use the library?” We know they do use the library, but as ad hoc users, students cannot possibly be asked to know the lingo of li­ braries. That is not to say that students do not need to understand the various concepts behind the ter­ minology, but that they n eed not becom e “little librarians.” Students are already bogged dow n with new terminology from their courses and a new way of life (leaving home and coming to college). Why should they be burdened with trying to learn yet another set of terms that they see n o n eed for understanding? What is driving them to under­ stand this terminology? While we seek answers to these and similar questions, we need to find a way to explain library collections and systems to o ur students w hile minimizing the use o f “li­ brary lingo.” Compounding this issue, our students come from more diverse backgrounds than ever before and no two students have the same baseline knowl­ edge of libraries. Many have never set foot in their high school library and some may not have had a high school library to use at all. Many may have used their library but never needed to know the finer points of library lingo. They had no rea­ ( “Building community… ’’continued from page 132) memories and songs during the summer and fall after reading and discussing the play. Although the schedule of activities has not been completed, conversations with a cross-sec tion of university faculty members w ho created unique assignments are being held regarding se­ lecting the next book and enhancing the learning experiences. An English teacher is interested in improving critical thinking activities and getting more fac­ ulty to buy into the experience. Another idea is to choose a book by an author who can visit campus and participate in the discussions, thus increasing the glamour of and adding interest to the experi­ ence. Also being discussed are determining the best time to present the new title to the faculty in order to ensure that more faculty plan class activi­ ties and the need to give administrators an oppor­ son to do so then, and w e believe they really shouldn’t be expected to do so in college. Learning, not lingo Perhaps we can find a way to pu t an en d to the heavy use of library lingo in our reference transac­ tions and in our instruc­ tion sessions. By no means do we have the answers to this problem right now. Many libraries already recognize this problem and have created guides to ibrary lingo for their students (some examples are isted above). We hope to come u p with other olutions to this problem with an investiga­ ion w e are about to begin. We plan on sur­ eying students at the University of North arolina-Wilmington to find out which library- elated terms our students do understand and hich ones they do not. O nce w e collect this information, w e will ake sure that all our library staff and faculty are aw are of the terms that w e all use that are eaningful to our students, and w e also hope to share our findings with the profession as a whole. opefully, w e will be able to better communi­ cate with them and actually teach them only that hich they really need to know: how to obtain and evaluate information. unity to lead a discussion to ensure that they do ore than just endorse the concept. The one book, one community experience has ot increased the number of books checked out of he O’Kelly Library collection, but because of an ggressive library instruction program and assign­ ents given when instruction is provided, the num­ er of students coming to the reference desk seek­ ng assistance with their assignments has increased. Projects such as “One Book, O ne Commu­ ity” enrich and extend the WSSU learning envi­ onment and illustrate to faculty that the library is n innovative campus agency. As a result of ad­ ertising their services, projects and availability, ibrarians are being seen outside of the library. ecause of their demonstrated willingness to ac­ ively participate in learning experiences, maybe ibrarians will be given new opportunities to part­ er in the enthe learning process. l l s t v C r w m m H w Guides to library lingo • University o f Texas-San Antonio: www.lib.utsa.edu/Instruction/lingo.html • Colorado State University Libraries: manta.library.colostate.edu/lingo/ • Arizona State University Libraries: www.asu.edu/lib/help/liblingo.htm • University o f Tennessee-Knoxville: www.lib.utk.edu/~instruct/fys/lingo.html • New Mexico State University (library lingo crossword puzzle): lib.nmsu.edu/instruc tion/ENGL111 crossword.htm t m n t a m b i n r a v l B t l n http://www.lib.utsa.edu/Instniction/lingo.html http://www.asu.edu/lib/help/liblingo.htm http://www.lib.utk.edu/~instruct/fys/lingo.html