College and Research Libraries By ROBERT S. TAYLOR A Coordinated Program of Library Instruction A s A RESULT of reading the multitude of articles, theses, descriptions, and notes on the subject of library instruc- tion to college and university students,! two observations can be made. First, most instruction is planned on a class basis; that is, freshman orientation or reference instruction or special biblio- graphical courses. Second, most librar- ians approach the library by way of the book (form) while the user, often un- consciously, approaches the library by way of information (content). With these observations in mind, it seems worth while to summarize the recent ex- perience at Lehigh University in plan- ning and conducting a coordinated sys- tem of instruction based on information rather than the traditional book. As this program was designed specifi- cally for the situation at Lehigh, the set- ting is briefly described. The university library has approximately 350,000 vol- umes, with open stacks and a liberal lending policy. During regular sessions the building is open 82 hours a week, with reference service available for 77 hours. There are two unsupervised spe- cial collections on metallurgy and chem- istry outside the building and a number of laboratory or office collections. The university has approximately 2,600 male undergraduates, 60 per cent in the Col- 1 See the following for summaries of library instruc- tion programs: J. D. Lee, "Instruction in the Use of Books and Libraries in Colleges and Universities" (Master's thesis, Kent State University, 1951); M. C. Marquis, "Study of the Teaching of Library Facilities to College Students" (Master's thesis, George Peabody College, 1952). Mr. Taylor is assistant librarian, Lehigh University. JULY 1957 lege of Engineering, which includes chemistry and physics, and 40 per cent divided between the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Business Administration. There are some 500 graduate students, both men and women, in 18 departments. In 1955, 20 doctoral degrees were awarded in departments ranging from Physics to English. There are a number of basic assump- tions in our approach to the student: 1. The student must know what a li- brary is and its relation to his needs be- fore he can learn how to use it. Most students will not be scholars. It is neces- sary, therefore, to recognize the need of an educated man (define him as you will) who understands the need to verify facts and to extend individual knowl- edge, whether he is in business, tech- nology, science, politics, or scholarship. 2. Locating information in a library is highly complex. Even librarians, pre- sumably trained in information sources, sometimes have difficulty locating spe- cific bits of information. We cannot ex- pect the faculty member or the serious student to know all possible sources. The users are not usually interested in techniques of filing, classification, or cataloging, and have to be oriented in these matters. 3. As librarians we are prone to as- sume the supremacy of the book. This assumption is no longer valid. The book today is merely one of the forms of avail- able information storage. 4. Some students may view the librar- ian as an ineffectual person who is con- cerned with a trivial and harmless sort of activity. As a result of this caricature, 303 earned or unearned, librarians have had to demonstrate their usefulness to be- ginning students. 5. A library instruction period, or course, can do little to arouse a "love for books." Either the student has such a love when he comes to college or the milieu of the four years' educational process, of which the library is a part, provides the proper setting for its de- velopment. It cannot be taught. With the outlined assumptions in mind an eclectic program was developed. Other librarians will recognize bits and pieces of their own work. We believe, however, that our approach to the stu- dent is valid and that the coordination of all facilities directed to instructional purposes will in time show positive and measurable results. Our program was as follows: 1. Library personnel would give all instruction, because faculty members are likely to be concerned primarily with their specialties. 2. Freshmen would receive a one-hour lecture and tour of the library, with par- ticular emphasis on the complexity of in- formation and the services of a library. 3. Juniors and seniors in specified de- partments would receive instruction in the information sources of their particu- lar fields. 4. Graduate students would receive special instruction in the bibliographical sources and the information problem in their respective fields. 5. The reference department would function as an integral part of follow-up instruction. The freshmen lectures are arranged in cooperation with the English depart- ment and include some thirty sections of about twenty students, each spread over a tw.o-week period. The lecture is fol- lowed by a student "research paper." Four points are stressed: (a) a library is information) (b) there is a certain order in the information as it is placed in the building, (c) information is complex and it comes in many forms, and (d) the reference staff is present to help the student. These points are dis- cussed, first generally and then in con- text at Lehigh. What is information? How do we use it? What forms does it come in? After this introduction, the freshmen are taken on the usual tour of the major points in the building. The emphasis is placed on the why and what of a library, rather than how to use it. The technique of use is not avoided. It merely plays second role to the raison d' etre of a li- brary. The students see how a divided catalog works by examining the entries in both catalogs under a particular name. They see the various approaches in the catalogs to one book. A discussion of the flow of work in the technical services di- vision shows the students the variety of work involved and the cost necessary to get a book to them. By seeing some of the less-used abstracting and indexing journals, such as Current List of Medi- cal Literature) Nuclear Science Abstracts) Economics A bstTacts) and the Patent Of- fice Gazette) the students receive some idea of the sources available and the problem of finding specific information in them. Comparisons of a bound vol- ume of the New York Times and its equivalent on microfilm and of a peri- odical with a microcard edition of it, give the students some idea of problems of storage and costs. These microrepro- ductions show them that there are forms of information storage other than the book. In summary, the following things are partially accomplished by the freshman library instruction: the student knows where the library is; he knows some- thing of the internal layout of the build- ing; he has some concept of what a li- brary is and the problems in administer- ing it; he has some idea of information and the role it plays in everyday life; he sees techniques for using the catalog; 304 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES J I and he knows the library -staff is present to help him. An exhibit on the library and infor- mation during the period of the fresh- man lectures helps to emphasize the in- tent of the program. In 1954, for in- stance, the methods of recording man's experience were traced from the cunei- form record on clay tablets to the cathode-ray tube and included the palm- leaf book of Ceylon, Greek papyrus, the medieval manuscript, the printed book, the photograph, the microfilm, and the punched card. A special exhibit panel borrowed from the American Institute of Biological Sciences showed the opera- tion of the Rapid Selector in the Depart- ment of Agriculture Library. Library handbooks are still used, but they seem to be an expensive and little- used medium. Large illustrated guides at the various catalogs and other trouble points would be more effective. Instead of the hand book, the freshman would receive a mimeographed outline of the major points of the lecture emphasizing the relations between information and the indexes, catalogs, and bookstacks. On the upper-class level, when stu- dents are beginning to specialize, the in- struction system is changed to meet the particular detnands of the subject. At the time the system was established, we decided to approach first those depart- ments which were traditionally the smallest users of the library: industrial, mechanical, mining, and chemical engi- neering. The results were, if not spec- tacular, highly gratifying. To these de- partments were added, as time permit- ted, geology, education, speech, metal- 1 urgical engineering, electrical engineer- ing, government, and international re- lations. Others will be added as they can be fitted in. The lecture is scheduled as part of a regular course: in some cases a two-hour laboratory period, in others a 50-minute lecture period. A two-page mimeographed sheet of "Information Tips" is compiled by the 'JULY 1957 reference staff for each subject gtvtng the following data: major professional handbooks; major indexes or bibliogra- phies; special information sources avail- able, such as trade catalogs, corporation annual reports, directories, encyclope- dias, biographical dictionaries; major current journals received in the subject; peculiarities of the subject catalog in the field. In the lecture, the four points of the freshman instruction-:-information, or- der, complexity, and the reference staff -are repeated, with emphasis on the particular subject. Som_e of the aspects of machine control and information anal- ysis are discussed. With electrical engi- neers, the possible application of infor- mation theory to library systems is briefly presented. With the assistance of the course in- structor, an information problem is de- vised and used as a basis for examining the various sources of information in the library. In chemical engineering, for in- stance, a particular problem chosen was "liquid-liquid extraction as applied in the petroleum industry." With the class, the instructor searched the Kirk- Othymer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology) Chemical Abstracts) the sub- ject catalog, and 'various handbooks. Sev- eral books or parts of books, one or two articles, and a patent were noted. Under the guidance of the librarian-instructor; the class traced the items through the various catalogs to see if the library had them and, if so, where they were located. The third type of instruction is on the graduate level. So far, the departments of biology, geology, and civil engineering have participated. Many points of the freshman and upper-class instruction are repeated because of the diversity of grad- uate student background. The problem of information is discussed on a more sophisticated level, pointing out, for ex- ample, the intricacies and complexities of government and institutional research reports and their indexing (if any). Spe- 305 cific bibliographical sources are exam- ined and, if justified, a search for infor- mation is made. Interwoven through the entire system of library instruction is the emphasis on the reference staff. It is the policy of the readers' service division that, within the limits of good sense and available time, any student or faculty member searching for information should leave the build- ing either with the information desired, or satisfied that the information is not avaiia:ble. Of course, this is an extrava- gant statement, but it represents an ideal. The object is to move the library out of the warehouse level to a newer information pattern. The reference department uses three methods to extend the intent of the li- brary lectures: I. Individual instruction in the use of the catalogs and periodical indexes at the time a question is asked. 2. A postcard which the questioner ad- dresses to himself if the question is intri- cate or time is short. When time permits, the questions are worked on and the cards posted. 3. A worksheet filled out in consulta- tion with the reference staff for students working on reports or theses. This is basically a guide to sources the student might search for the information he wants. The sheet lists particular subject headings in the main catalog; specific periodical indexes with some indication as to subjects; bibliographies to search; or reference books. A series of special subject guides to the library's collections provides a second ex- tension of the instructional program. These guides are a result of a fifteen- month study of reference questions, which indicated subjects causing particu- lar pressure on the reference staff. The instructional system is by no means perfect. Continual adjustment and criticism by the library staff bring changes every year. More time for lee- tures and more follow-up reports by the courses are needed. These will come in time. The pattern is established and ac- cepted by the faculty. Cooperation from the faculty was forthcoming only be- cause they were convinced that the situ- ation required it and the students needed it. This took time, patience and an understanding of teaching needs. Everything was not done at once. The work described was accomplished over a three-year period. Our object in the library instruction system is to relate the user to informa- tion: to give him an idea of the com- plexities of information systems such as a library and to show him how the li- brary can be a vital source of informa- tion. What we are trying to do is estab- lish a pattern of habits that will lead the student and later citizen to informa- tion sources to verify or extend his knowledge. In our judgment, we have partially succeeded. There may be a criticism that the sys- tem described is valid only for Lehigh University, where a majority of the stu- dents major in engineering or in the physical sciences. The system cannot be lifted in toto and placed in another situ- ation. We believe, however, that our ap- proach to the problem of library in- struction is valid. The mass of informa- tion exists in sociology, government, his- tory, and psychology as well as in chem- istry. The study of logic and languages, traditionally subjects of the humanities, is becoming increasingly important in information analysis. In many cases, the indexing services in the social sciences (if they exist at all) lag far behind the comprehensive indexing projects, such as Chemical Abstracts~ in the sciences, yet ~he amount of available knowledge is JUSt as vast. For these reasons, the ap- proach to instruction on the basis of information rather than the book (con- tent rather than form) is applicable to the social sciences and the humanities, as well as to the sciences and technology. 306 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES - -