ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries January 1988 / 7 T he lib rary-f acu ity p artn ersh ip in cu rricu lu m d evelop m en t By John A. L an n in g Department of Chemistry University of Colorado at Denver A paper delivered at the A C R L President’s Program in San Francisco, June 29, 1987. I t is fair to ask why a chemist is discussing library- faculty partnerships, particularly a chemist with little formal training in library science. As a faculty member interested in curriculum development, I see library science, or information literacy, central to new directions in curriculum development. F ur­ therm ore, I have been teaching a course entitled “ C hem ical L ite ra tu re ” for approxim ately ten years, the last five of which have been a team effort between myself and a science librarian. From this background I will ask you to look at curriculum development as a joint library-faculty partnership. It is necessary to note th at my views are from a fairly limited exposure to library person­ nel and policies. Before discussing any change in the library- faculty relationship, it is necessary to review the current relationship between faculty and librari­ ans. I characterize this relationship as distant, inef­ fective, and often driven by frustration. There are several reasons why such a poor relationship cur­ rently exists. • Many, if not most, faculty consider only the service role of librarians. This results in a relation­ ship where faculty consider librarians more as sub­ servient staff rather than academic colleagues. • Faculty do not understand the m ultitude of re­ sponsibilities carried out by librarians. While fac­ ulty are responsible to many students in a single dis­ cipline, librarians must serve as liaison to a very large number of faculty and students over a variety of disciplines. • Faculty too often dwell on the frustrations of not having journals and monographs for their re­ search and teaching projects. • Librarians tend to concentrate on the frustra­ tions of not having faculty solicit their experience and expertise. • A close working relationship between faculty and librarians is difficult with the large turnover in personnel often encountered in academic institu­ tions. Although I have painted a rather bleak picture for library-faculty relationships, this need not be the case. Indeed this is the right time to foster a working relationship between faculty and librari­ ans for the purpose of curriculum development. My view of curriculum development may be a little different than you are used to hearing. I see very few truly innovative and successful curricu­ lum changes in higher education and a tendency for curriculum development to play “follow the leader.” Many “new” curricula are adaptations of older systems which have just been repackaged to confuse faculty and students alike. The change from quarter to semester system, the adoption of 8 / C&RL News pass-fail grades, and the pro liferatio n of plus- minus grading systems have to some extent spread across the United States as one campus tries to keep up w ith another. Nevertheless, there are currently two areas of change in higher education which are having a dram atic influence on curriculum developm ent and tow ards w hich faculty and librarians must work together in order to influence a proper direc­ tion of curriculum development. The first area of curriculum development comes under the heading of education assessment. State legislatures and governing boards of private insti­ tutions are increasingly finding it politically bene­ ficial to hold higher education accountable for the large am ount of funds invested. That is, do stu­ dents learn anything for the dollars invested in their education? States such as Tennessee are lead­ ing this movement, while others including Colo­ rado have already passed legislation which m an­ date a process of education outcome assessment. How can one quantify an increase in educational skills? There are either no or many answers to this question, and most states are leaving the assess­ ment methodology up to the institutions. I believe th a t library skills should be an im portant compo­ nent in any education assessment system. Summer Research Fellowships in American history and culture The Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the L ib ra ry C om pany of P h iladelphia will again be holding their joint program of summer fellowships for 1988. The fellowships are solely for the support of research in the collections of these two libraries. Applications are welcomed in any relevant field of scholarship, from tradi- tional aspects of American history to bibliogra- phy, the history of the book, and historical edit- ing. The project proposal should demonstrate th a t these collections contain prim ary sources central to the research topic. Candidates are encouraged to inquire about the appropriate- ness of a proposed topic before applying. The fellowships, which are tenable for one month from June to September, carry stipends of $1,000. Fellows will be assisted in finding reasonably priced accommodations. While the program is designed for scholars possessing a Ph.D. or a significant record of professional ex- perience and scholarly publication, several fel- lowships will be reserved for doctoral candi- dates doing dissertation research. Candidates must apply by February 1,1988; í appointments will be made by March 15, 1988. ! To apply, send a vita, the names of three refer- j ences, and a short description of your proposed project to: James G reen, C u ra to r, L ib rary Com pany of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust St., Philadelphia, PA 19107; (215) 546-3181. Since few students enter college w ith even rudi­ m entary information literacy skills, colleges and universities should place a strong emphasis on the development of these skills. My experience in the chemical literature course indicates th at senior un­ dergraduate students have poor library skills, a fact th at is easily quantified w ith a brief examination. Librarians and faculty must seek a partnership to mold curriculum development and the resulting education assessment with an information skills component. W hether the assessment methodology is a standardized examination at the end of the sophomore year or a senior-level seminar program, information literacy must play an im portant role. The second area of development is th at of core curriculum or general education requirem ents. The liberal arts and sciences colleges have a core curriculum to ensure a broad educational back­ ground as the cornerstone of life-long learning skills. This concept is being expanded to an institu­ tion level where each student, regardless of college or major, must satisfy 35-50 semester hours of gen­ eral education requirements. M andatory courses in English, speech, and m athem atics are common components of the new core curriculum require­ ments. Core curriculum courses have at least two dis­ tinct goals: to provide elements for critical thinking and to integrate diverse educational backgrounds. Inform ation literacy skills are essential to both goals. The library should be a classroom for core curriculum courses. I see two possibilities for library-faculty partici­ pation in the core curriculum development. First, a freshman-sophomore level course in general li­ brary science skills. This is best taught by librarians in the library. The library personnel resources nec­ essary to teach large numbers of students must be considered. Self-paced, audiovisual, or computer- assisted courses may be considered in lieu of trad i­ tional lecture courses. Second, a junior-senior level course taught in a narrow range of specific disci­ plines. T he chem ical lite ra tu re course at CU- Denver is an example of this approach. I strongly believe th at the best way to teach this type of course is a partnership between librarian and faculty member. From my experience, teaching a course in this m anner is rewarding for students and chal­ lenging for instructors. I receive more praise from chemistry graduates on the chemical literature component of their education than anything I do strictly in chemistry. Graduates quickly recognize the importance of information literacy skills spe­ cific to their professional training. If, as I have portrayed, information skills are im­ portant to curriculum development and if, as I be­ lieve, a strong library-faculty partnership is the best way to achieve proper curriculum develop­ ment, how can the library-faculty partnership be im proved? I suggest the following general a p ­ proaches. • Efforts should be directed to increase the dia- The Price Went Up AGAIN? I ’ve got a better idea. Instead of resubscribing, le t’s split the money and each of us buy a Ferrari! Yes, subscription costs are going up, and probably faster than your budget. Fortunately, Materials Information® has some tools to help you deal with price leaps, such as Metals Abstracts® and Engineered Materials Abstracts™. Do your patrons need to keep up with progress in metals or materials? Rather than scanning the contents pages of ten or twenty journals, they can skim the abstracts in MA or EMA, and cover about 2,000. Our informative abstracts will let them choose only the material they really need. Is your online budget as predictable as a horse race? The print versions of Metals Abstracts® and Engineered Materials Abstracts™ mean only one invoice per year, at a known cost. In addition, abstracts journals do not require special equipment or training to use. Your matrons can search on their own and let you make better use of your :ime. If you’d like to know more about how Materials Information can help you cope with price leaps, call (216) 338-5151, ext. 554, and ask for your FREE copy of our 1988 catalog. Metals Abstracts® and Engineered Materials Abstracts™. In an age of rising prices, it ’s good to know that there are still real values. 10 / C&RL News logue betw een lib ra ria n and faculty m em ber. There should be at least one faculty member in each departm ent who recognizes the importance of information literacy skills. • Many departments are accredited on a regular basis by national organizations such as the Ameri­ can Chemical Society for chemistry departments. Librarians should become familiar with library skills suggested or required by accrediting agencies in order to facilitate better relationships with de­ partments. • Librarian and faculty member should work towards a common goal of curriculum develop­ ment. The current campus discussions of education assessment and core curriculum requirements pro­ vide an excellent opportunity to integrate library and faculty skills in curriculum development. • Administrators and directors must recognize the importance of information literacy skills as they apply towards curriculum development. Library personnel must be willing to serve on curriculum development committees and be vocal advocates for their points of view. • The lib rary and d epartm ents should seek novel approaches to common problems of limited resources and heavy work loads as they affect cur­ riculum development. • Librarians and faculty should seek opportuni­ ties to team teach a course on information literacy. This can be general literacy skills or discipline spe­ cific. In this presentation I have portrayed a pessimis­ tic picture of current library-faculty relationships. But more im portantly, I have tried to indicate the dynamic nature of higher education curriculum development and the opportunity th at a library- faculty partnership has in guiding such develop­ ment. The synergism in a library-faculty partner­ ship is waiting to be exploited. I gratefully acknowledge three librarians who have had a very positive influence on my views of information literacy and faculty-library partner­ ships. Patricia Breivik is director of the Auraria Li­ brary for the University of Colorado at Denver, Betsy Porter is science librarian at the Auraria Li­ brary, and Beth W arner, a former science librarian at Auraria, is currently librarian at Louisiana State University. ■ ■ Teleconference on CD-ROM ACRL and CCAIT, the Community College As­ sociation for Instruction and Technology, will co­ sponsor T E C H N O -C O M , a n a tio n a l teleco n ­ ference on the topic of CD-ROM technology on Wednesday, April 27, 1988. Originating from the studios of O a k to n C o m m u n ity C ollege, Des Plaines, Illinois, it will air from 11:00 a.m . to 1:00 p .m ., CST. Moderator for TECHNO-COM will be Nancy Melin Nelson, editor of CD-ROM Librarian, au­ thor of Library Applications of Optical Disk and CD-ROM Technology, and contributing editor to CD-ROM Review and Optical Information Sys­ tems. The teleconference will feature vendor presenta­ tions of representative CD-ROM products which currently provide: public access catalogs; reference and collection development tools; library and fi­ nancial services; cataloging support; and major on­ line databases. Intended especially for library and LRC person­ nel, TECHNO-COM will: • supply an overview of CD-ROM technology and CD-ROM workstations; • provide in-depth information about available products and costs; • present an overview of library receptivity to CD-ROM products; • suggest a variety of uses for CD-ROM in li- brary/LRC environments; • address cost structures and im plementation is­ sues; • outline the latest trends in CD-ROM product development and marketing; • stimulate innovative uses of CD-ROM for in­ structional support; • promote the participation of library/LRC pro­ fessionals in sharing the future of this exciting in­ formation technology. Institutions can register as receive sites for $50 through February 1, 1988 ($100 after th at date). The fee entitles them to: ten participant packets; videotaping rights; telephoning rights; and C- Band reception. Information about the telecon­ ference may be obtained from: Joseph Borowski, director of learning resources, Oakton Community College, and vice-president of CCAIT, 1600 East Golf Road, Des Plaines, IL 60016; (312) 635-1641. Other members of the task force planning the te­ leconference are: Bernard Fradkin, dean of learn­ ing resources, College of DuPage, and president­ elect, CCAIT; Tom Zimanzl, president, CCAIT; R o b e rt B u rto n , e h a ir, A udiovisual Services, Oakton Community College; Eileen Dubin, direc­ tor of library services, Stockton State College, and ehair, ACRL/CJCLS; and M argaret Holleman, coordinator of library services, Pima Community College, and editor of C om m unity Junior Col­ lege Libraries. ■ ■ When You Need an Answer, and You Need It Fast, and It Has to Be Right—Turn to ONLINE ACCESS TO THE WILSON INDEXES "Recommended for all A ffo rd a b ility W IL S O N L IN E libraries." —reference W ILSO N LIN E's pricing makes D a ta b a s e s BO O KS BU LLETIN it affordable for more libraries • Applied Science & Technology than any comparable service. 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