College and Research Libraries Measuring Information . Searching Competence Leon A. Jakobovits and Diane Nahl-Jakobovits A taxonomy of instructional objectives for search behavior was used to develop a quiz that mea- sures skills in three domains of search behavior (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor) at three levels of competence (basic, intermediate, advanced). A computer-based education system known as PLATO was used to test an online interactive measure of information searching com- petence on three populations of university students (n = 69). A rationale is presented for mea- suring these three domains of search behavior by means of three corresponding types of quiz items (true/false, multiple choice, and fill-in). Implications for bibliographic instruction are explored, including the desirability of tailoring teaching activities to build up three correspond- ing types of memory for search behavior: affective memory, cognitive memory, and sensorimo- tor memory . • ta.tements of instructional ob- jectives for bibliographic in- struction usually have included only cognitive items. 1 Recent trends in instruction have recognized that teaching and learning involve the three traditional domains of human affairs: af- fective for feelings, and attitudes; cognitive for knowledge and reasoning; and senso- rimotor for perception and action. 2 There is an increasing awareness in librarianship of the advantage in considering all three domains of behavior when organizing ac- tivities for users, as exemplified at a Mary- land public library . where toys in the col- lection are categorized according to the major areas of child development in the three domains. 3 A handbook on teaching library instruction includes instructional objectives in the three domains. 4 Thecate- gories "feelings, thoughts, and actions" are used in a study on the stages students go through in the library research pro- cess. 5 A library resource workbook was re- vised to include exercises designed to im- part skills in all three domains. 6 Similarly, our intention was to develop a balanced curriculum for information searching competence for university students, mak- ing certain that all three domains were ad- equately represented. TAXONOMY OF INFORMATION SEARCHING COMPETENCE From the behavioral perspective, searching is a threefold activity. The searcher first feels an information need or motive, then plans a seek-and-find strat- egy, and finally, executes it. Information needs provide the motive power for searching behavior. Planning and deci- sion making provide the means by which a need can be fulfilled through performing an activity. This activity is goal-directed (integrated), which means that the motive or goal continuously governs the selection of steps to be executed. The goal contains a definition of what the last step ought to be. Blocks to achieving success in this ulti- mate step are alsd solved under the guid- ance of the ruling objective or goal. These distinctions represent three traditional do- mains of human endeavor: the affective (needs, motives), the cognitive (thoughts, images), and the sensorimotor (sensa- tions, movements). Leon A. ]akobovits is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and Diane Nahl-]akobovits is an Instructor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. 448 A threeway perspective on library be- havior was recently proposed as a taxon- omy of search skills. 7 Table 1 summarizes the taxonomy. Following the work of Ben- jamin Bloom and associates on educa- tional objectives, all possible search activi- ties that users can perform in a library are automatically defined as separate skills. Three types of skills in human behavior are affective skills (corresponding to feel- ings and motives), cognitive skills (corre- sponding to thoughts and plans), and sen- sorimotor skills (corresponding to perceptions and motor acts). Three stages of learning library skills within each of these three behavioral domains are de- picted in table 1. The nine cells or catego- ries from a matrix for localizing particular library skills according to behavioral do- main and level of expertise. A searcher's persistent attraction to learning the information searching pro- Measuring Information 449 cess and striving to improve are ''affective skills." A searcher's abilities to develop effective plans and make valid decisions are ''cognitive skills.'' A searcher's acuity in visual identification and prowess in ma- neuvering in dynamic information envi- ronments are "sensorimotor skills." Three levels of skills acquisition exist within each of the three behavioral do- mains. The nine categories represent dif- ferent and independent aspects of the complex behavior of learning to become a competent searcher. For example, cate- gory [Al] (Affective domain, Levell) is ti- tled Affective Orientation and is defined as ''demonstrating willingness to practice library tasks, and maintaining selective at- tention ( = library adjustment versus li- brary maladjustment)." Category [C2] Cognitive domain, level2) is titled, Cogni- tive Interaction and is defined as '' acquir- ing objective knowledge of search se- TABLE 1 TAXONOMY OF LffiRARY SKILLS AND ERRORS Affective Domain Cognitive Domain Sensorimotor Domain A3 C3 53 Affective Cognitive Sensorimotor Internalization Internalization Internalization Level3 Demonstrating support for Acquiring hersonal know- Performing cumulative Internalizing the .library lertlechve on ing and su jective intui- searches in one's field and the library soctety an se . tion of a scholarly disci- promoting the library in (=Library Conscience and (,line. one's life. Morality versus Negli- = Disctlinary Connection (=Lifelong Library Use gence) versus acking Connec- versus Library Disuse) tion) A2 C2 52 Affective Cognitive Sensorimotor Interaction Interaction Interaction Level2 Demonstrating continuous Acquiring objective know- Negotiating search queries Interacting striving and value ~efer- ing of search sequences, an performin~ a single, with the ences avorable to t e li- their analysis and synthe- one-time searc that meets Library brary and its system. sis. a current information (=Positive Libr':t ( = Libr~ Search Protocol need . Attitudes versus ibrary versus I · osyncratic (=Library Proficien:X ver- Resistance) Search Protocol) sus Library Ineptitu e) Al Cl 51 Affective Cognitive Sensorimotor Orientation Orientation Orientation Levell Demonstrating willingness Acquiring rdresentative Performing dshysical oper- Orienting to ~ractice library task.s knowing an com~re- ations (han s-on experi- to the an maintaining selective hendinS library re evant ence, browsing and walk- Library attention. distinctions. in~ around) (=Library A~ustment ver- (=Library Mah and Glos- ( = ibrary Exploration and sus Library aladjust- sary versus Li rary Igno- Efficiency versus Library ment) ranee) A voidance and Ineffi- ciency) 450 College & Research Libraries quences, their analysis and synthesis ( = library search protocol vs. idiosyncratic search protocol)." The taxonomy provides a theory for de- veloping instructional objectives in the ac- quisition of information searching compe- tence (15C). Affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor (AC5) objectives can be con- structed for three levels: orienting to the information environment (Ll, basic); in- teracting with it (L2, intermediate); inter- nalizing its features (L3, advanced). Quiz questions can then be constructed to mea- sure a student's feelings, comprehension, and performance. This study was de- signed to develop a half-hour online mea- sure of a person's current skills profile in the nine categories of information search behavior. INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES FOR SEARCHING COMPETENCE It was necessary to adapt the taxonomy to the topic of information searching com- petence by following the definitions for the nine categories of search behavior (as given in table 1). Table 2 is the result. The progression in the affective domain from ba- sic (Ll) to advanced (L3) plots the devel- opment of a person's struggle to over- come technophobia (general and specific). For example, many students experience a general fear on entering a large library or computer lab. At a basic level, they must learn to overcome this resistance through accepting the ways of the new environ- ment (adjustment) [Al]. However, to ad- September 1990 vance they must in addition learn to be- come supportive in specific ways, such as appreciating and desiring to make use of the tools the library provides [A2]. Lastly, users must learn to derive enthusiasm and energy from the perception that they are improving [A3]. The progression in the cognitive domain is marked by first learning how to interpret displays and acquiring necessary termi- nology ([Cl] in table 2); then, learning the classification scheme and how to deter- mine search steps [C2]; finally, acquiring familiarity and intuition about how infor- mation is organized in disciplines and how professions disseminate findings [C3]. The progression in the sensorimotor domain from basic skills ([E x ] in table 2) to advanced skills [53], begins with recog- nizing the salient information elements of a search problem. This involves learning to modulate the rhythm of visual and mo- tor acts, such as visually focusing on the information fields in an entry, rather than randomly looking around, or walking ac- cording to a plan rather than aimlessly [51]. In the next stage, users must go be- yond merely recognizing the literal mean- ing to identifying the background struc- ture from the foreground elements, such as distinguishing between title of article and title of magazine [52]. Ultimately li- brary users must learn to incorporate ac- curacy and standardization in their infor- mation recording, becoming regular searchers as they develop into informa- tion specialists [53]. TABLE2 TAXONOMY OF BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES FOR INFORMATION SEARCHING COMPETENCE (ISC) Levels Affective Domain Cognitive Domain Sensorimotor Domain A3 C3 53 Level3 Feeling Empowered Acquiring Familiarity and Practicing Documentation Advanced Intuition with Disciplines Routines A2 C2 52 Level2 Being Supportive Understanding Search Identifying Implicit Fea- Intermediate Strategy tures Al Cl 51 Levell Showing Acceptance Decoding Information Recognizing Information Basic Displays and Terminol- Elements and Locations ogy CONTENT AREAS AND QUESTIONS Table 2 was used to help isolate content areas that are important to students searching an academic library environ- ment. Quiz items of various types were constructed to represent specific skills in each of the nine categories of search be- havior. Table 3lists the content areas rep- resented in the set of seventy-one ques- tions used in this study. 8 In the affective domain, the purpose was to sample posi- tive and negative feelings toward some features of the information environment. For example, ''I feel that I am bothering the librarian when I ask a question.'' Yes/No [Al] or, "It is unfair to make peo- ple look up things themselves. The librari- ~.Etns should do it for the patrons." Yes/No [A3]. An individual with a low score in this skills category may be struggling with technophobia and can be helped with in- structional activities that debunk mal- adapted attitudes within the information environment. 9 "Without the affective support, cog- nitive skills are not acquired." Some may wonder whether the concept of ''skill'' applies to the affective as well as the cognitive domains. Traditionally, the cognitive domain was considered primary in educational objectives because it was evident that intellectual activities can be broken into sub-tasks and can be taught sequentially. However, this experience with the cognitive objectives brought the awareness that without the affective sup- port, cognitive skills are not acquired. For instance, librarians can teach and demon- strate the use of particular tools, but this will not promote better searching unless people have positive attitudes about learning to use tools. Scholars used to think that developing such positive atti- tudes was up to the individual, but now they realize that attitudes are learned skills and can be taught. 10 Thus, affective skills need to be taught along with cogni- tive skills to ensure that learning can oc- cur. Measuring Information 451 In the cognitive domain, the purpose was to sample the steps college students ideally go through when learning to do li- brary research for a required paper. In the current setting this included using an on- line catalog. For example, an online cata- log record was displayed on the screen, and a series of questions were asked about it ("Type the two broadest subject head- ings of the four listed." [C3], "Which OPAC command should you use to find other books in this series?" [C2] "Would you be able to borrow this book right now?" [Cl]). Sampling the students' em- erging familiarity with LC classification and academic fields was done through matching, such as this question [C3]: ''Assign the correct call number to each of the following academic fields.'' (a) L (b) K (c) BF (d) HM ___ LAW ___ EDUCATION ___ SOCIOLOGY ___ PSYCHOLOGY Learning to recognize elements of re- search design in articles by their titles was measured in the following [C3] example: ''Identify the independent variables (IV) and the dependent variables (DV) in each title . Here are two examples: "The role of intergroup contact in change of prejudice and ethnic relations." IV = intergroup contact DV = change of prejudice and ethinic relations "Comparative effectiveness of a slide-tape show and a library tour. 1 I IV = a slide-tape show and a library tour DV = comparative effectiveness Now here is the title: "Lecture titles written in plain English in- crease student interest." IV= {ANSWER: Lecture titles (written in plain English)} DV = {ANSWER: student interest} 11 In the sensorimotor domain, the pur- pose was to sample certain perceptual skills, such as identifying information in labeled fields when looking at an OPAC display ("Who is the publisher of this book?" [51]," Is Political Threat one of the subject headings?" [E x ] . Another skill sampled was transforming the informa- tion from a catalog entry into a biblio- graphic citation [53]. 452 College & Research Libraries The content areas in table 3 are not fixed, but reflect the focus of this study. Other content areas should be explored, each with its own pool of questions. Theoreti- cally, an unlimited pool of potential ques- tions exists within each content area and category. The ISC measure is a technique to be adapted to individual situations, rather than a fixed instrument. Figure 1 portrays an overall perspective on the distribution of instructional objec- tives for information search behavior. The shaded grid of the cube is the same as the face of table 2. Questions can be con- structed for each of the nine categories of search behavior in any number of content areas. For example, Reading Displays had [Cl], [Sl], and [52] items. Of course, any content area can be measured in all of the nine categories. L E v E L s c T N 0 R A A NT E S A E c DOMAINS September 1990 ONLINE QUIZ ENVIRONMENT The author selected an online delivery · system for making the ISC quiz readily available to users, deciding on the PLATO computer-based education system. 12 Questions were entered in the quiz format of PLATO's Tutor authoring language. The question forms include mul~ip~e choice, matching, yes/no, and fill-1n items. Answers typed in are automatically evaluated by PLATO's judging capacity, matching the alternatives supplied for each item. For example, in an item asking the student to identify the month in a peri- odical index entry, acceptable answers in- clude "February," "Feb," "F," and "2." In the case of writing a citation from a cata- log record, punctuation, capitalization, and order were ignored in judging, so that an answer was scored incorrect only for s ) FIGUREl The Distribution of Instructional Objectives for Information Search Behavior omitting necessary information or for mis- spelling. Online statistics are available on the choices selected by each student, and on the total time spent. A printout of the fillin answers is obtainable. each person re- ceives a random presentation of the ques- tions and immediate feedback on the cor- rect answer. At the end of the session the computer displays the number and per- centage of correctly answered questions. Students then have a chance to answer an online biographical questionnaire and to add their personal comments. RESULTS FROM ITEM ANALYSIS Table 3 presents the percent correct for each of the seventy-one questions. These item analysis statistics are taken from the PLATO records and are based on approxi- mately 130 scores on the average. This number varies slightly from item to item since the data includes the attempts of people who didn't complete the test, as well as a few trials by the PLATO system operators. Also included are retakes done by some students. These cumulative per- centages continually change somewhat but tend to stabilize as more people take the quiz. The highest percentages are ob- tained for the affective items, regardless of the level. An abnormally low score (2%) is posted for the item on writing a citation (53). The cognitive and sensorimotor scores appear broadly distributed, thus measuring a variety of independent skills. As well, the scores validate the levels, with level 3 items posting lower scores. Exact calculations are presented in table 4 for a subset of scores isolating the three · designated student populations. RESULTS FOR THREE POPULATIONS From the perspective of teaching infor- mation skills, the students in this study comprise three different population groups: undergraduates, library and in- formation science graduate students (LIS), and international graduate students who did not meet the certification level on the TOEFL. 13 The expectation was that the overall score on the ISC measure would reflect the differences in information skills Measuring Information 453 among the three populations. Thus, the highest scores should come from LIS stu- dents and the lowest scores from interna- tional graduate students. The undergrad- uates should produce scores in between. The subjects took the online quiz in the computer lab at their own convenience. No time limit was imposed, but they were told that the quiz takes less than an hour to complete. The results are presented in table 4. The average time to complete the online quiz was thirty-four minutes. The differences among the three samples are in the ex- pected direction and are statistically highly significant. The undergraduates' familiarity with the PLATO system might account for their faster completion time. In terms of percent correct, the three groups performed as expected, with a mean of 74% for the library students, 59% for the undergraduates, and 49% for the internationals. Statistically, this is a highly significant effect despite the small sam- ples. The sub-scores corroborate the in- tended manipulation of three levels of de- velopment. The questions in the basic level averaged out at 73%, intermediate level questions at 53% and advanced, at 45%. This pattern was confirmed for each of the three groups. Also, the expected difference among the three populations is replicated at each level to a highly statisti- cally significant degree. "The concept of affective library search errors recognizes that users' freedom of access to information is restricted by irrational fears or unrea- sonable frustrations.'' RESEARCH ISSUES The concept of affective library search errors recognizes that users' freedom of access to information is restricted by irra- tional fears or unreasonable frustrations. These fears are evident in user selfreports, as in the following samples: I was totally lost when I first walked into Hamil- ton. 454 College & Research Libraries September 1990 TABLE 3 DISTRIBUTION AND ANALYSIS OF ITEMS Content Areas and Abbreviated Questions Affective Domain (nine questions) Service and Facilities (7) I appreciate floorplan maps. I feel I'm bothering the librarian. I like using computers for searching. Is it o.k. to ask about phone numbers? Unfair to have people look things up. Glad library has oriline computer. People learn by looking things up. Disciplines and Areas (1) There are too many fields of study. Reading Displays (1) OP AC displays are useful, well organized. Cognitive Domain: (45 questions) Reaains Displays (2) Is this book available at Sinclair Library? Can this book be borrowed right now1 Subject Headings (3) What's the main subject heading? To find more on this topic, which subject heading is best? Which are the two broadest subject headings? OPAC COMMANDS (4) To find another book on the same topic, which command is best? To find other books in this series, which command is best? What will happen on this screen if you press ENTER? When you know title but not author, which command is best to get call number? LC Classification (12) What is call number area for these fields? Search Strategy (3) Which alternative is best to find a journal article on this topic? Which alternative is best to find this book with this call number? Which strategy alternative is wrong? Tenninology (6) Select the correct definition for terms. Locations ( 4) Select the correct location for these materials. Disciplines and Areas (5) Match fields of study with major areas of study. Research Methods in Titles (6) Identify the independent and dependent variables for these titles. Sensorimotor Domain: (17 questions) Reading Displays (8) Who is the publisher of this book? Where was this book l'ublished? Is there an index in this book? Is "Political Threat" one of the subject headings? In which month was this article published? Is this article illustrated? What's the magazine title? What's the title of the article? Writing Citations (1) Write a citation from this catalog entry. Reproducing Titles (6) Try to remember these titles. Now type them from memory. Call Number Ranges (2) Select the shelf range that includes this call number. Cate~ory % of Skill Correct [All 98 [Al] 84 [A2] 94 [A2] 83 [A3] 94 [A3] 92 [A3] 92 [A2] 90 [A2] 94 [Cl] 96 [Cl] 82 [Cl] 76 [C2] 58 [C3] 28 [C2] 41 [C2] 36 [C2] 38 [C2] 81 [C2] 58 [C2] 49 [C2] 63 [C2] 41 [Cl] 73 [Cl] 68 [C3] 81 [C3] 40 [51] 69 [51] 40 [51] 90 [51] 93 [51] 74 [52] 86 [52] 69 [52] 83 [53] 2 [53] 23 [51] 62 Measuring Information 455 TABLE4 PERCENT CORRECT ON THE ISC QUIZ FOR THREE POPULATIONS Time Groups N (mins.) Total LIS Students 11 35 74 Undergraduates 43 29 59 International Grad Students 15 47 49 Combined 69 34 59 Anova: F (2,66) = 24.4 27.8 Significance level .0001 .0001 Number of Questions 71 I can tell you that I had great apprehensions at the thought of having to do a library research paper. It shocked me to visit a library with five floors compared with one floor, and I felt that I was in another world. Two weeks ago I walked into the library lost and confused. Here is another description of the hectic time I spent looking for information on diet. I was frustrated when many of the articles that I looked up in the indexes were in magazines not carried at the library. The most frustrating thing was trying to look for articles in the indexes. Walking around the library with a dazed and confused look on my face wasn't unusual. The implication of this evidence is that li- brary services need to take explicitly into account the affective behavior of users as well as their cognitive strategies and sen- sorimotor actions. Tests of library skills generally have fo- cused on the cognitive domain. Where af- fective as well as cognitive skills are mea- sured, the practice seems to be to obtain separate scores for each domain. 14 A com- bined score, where two or all three do- mains are included, as in this study, re- flects the integrated nature of human behavior. While there are three discreet domains of behavior, the three integrate in human interaction. As table 4 shows, the percent correct is reported for each do- main as well as the combined total percent correct. Since it is the affective that makes the cognitive alternatives available, peo- ple with a ,negati,ve affective direction hin- der their ability to learn search strategies. Research and practice will indicate the Levels Domains 2 3 A c s 89 81 56 92 75 60 72 56 49 90 57 48 63 48 37 85 48 33 73 53 45 88 53 42 11.8 23.6 9.0 1.4 24.4 15.3 .0001 .0001 .0004 .2613 .0001 .0001 23 22 26 9 45 17 types of feedback that are best for affective items, as distinguished from feedback for cognitive or sensorimotor items. Scoring the items in all three domains as correct or incorrect and obtaining a total score re- flects the theoretical and methodological properties of the behavioral taxonomy. Future studies will explore the relation- ship between cognitive and affective scores. In this study all of the intercorrela- tions among the nine categories were too low to reach statistical significance. In future studies, a greater variety of af- fective items will be used. The current items appear to be too general, with aver- age scores above 85 percent (see table 4). Affective items of the following kind illus- trate other directions for testing this do- main: Libraries should be small. YES/NO[A2] When I have to go to the library I put it off as long as I can. APPLIES TO ME/DOES NOT APPLY TO ME [A1] When I'm doing research for a paper, I feel that I am wasting a lot of my time. APPLIES TO ME FREQUENTLY/APPLIES TO ME SOMETIMES [A1] When I'm doing research for an assignment, . I'm grateful that the library is well organized. YES/NO [A2] When I leave the library, I feel that my intellect is expanded. SOMETIMES/NEVER [A3] Learning how to find information will help me in my future career. DEFINITELY APPLIES TO ME/DOES NOT APPLY TO ME [A3] I like being in the library. ALMOST ALWAYS/ALMOST NEVER [A3] I love libraries. ALMOST ALWAYS/ALMOST NEVER [A3] 456 College & Research Libraries The atmosphere in the library is peaceful ALMOST ALWAYS/ALMOST NEVER [A3l The library is too big and impersonal. ALMOST ALWAYS/ALMOST NEVER [A3l The library is too frustrating. ALMOST ALWAYS/ALMOST NEVER [All I don't like using OPAC. YES/NO [A2l I have to improve on using OPAC. YES/NO [A2l I need to improve my library research skills. YES/NO [A2l I feel I should be using libraries more. YES/NO [A2l I am frequently embarrassed to ask a librarian a question when I should already know the an- swer. TRUE/FALSE [All The library is the heart of the academic and sci- entific community. AGREE/DISAGREE [A3l Library research should not be required to get a bachelor's degree. AGREE/DISAGREE [All Libraries are wonderful and fun. AGREE/DISAGREE [A3l It is important to continue to use libraries after graduation. AGREE/DISAGREE [A2l Is not appropriate to ask the librarian how to find information on personal problems? YES/NO [All It is exciting to find needed information. YES/NO[A3l It is not important to continue to learn new ways of searching for information throughout life. AGREE/DISAGREE [A2l Whether or not I find what I need in the library depends more on how much the library has on my topic than on my own research skills. AGREE/DISAGREE [A2l To a great extent finding information that I need is controlled more by chance than by systematic searching. TRUE/FALSE [A2l I can pretty much find on my own whatever I need in the library. YES/NO [A3l I hate it when I have to look up the same subject heading in several annual volumes of a periodi- cal index. YES/NO[All They should go back to card catalogs instead of computers. AGREE/DISAGREE [A2l I don't like looking for call numbers because the books are hardly ever there. TRUE/FALSE [All September 1990 These items reflect student comments made in a special Library Research J oumal section of their term papers. Each item represents an affective skill or error de- pending on which direction the person is moving. Assuming the person is answer- ing the questions objectively, as a selfwit- ness, the item identifies some particular adaptive or maladaptive habit in the affec- tive domain. For instance, persons an- swering "Applies to me" to the item ''When I have to go to the library I put it off as long as I can,'' indicates a tendency to circumvent instructions and the learn- ing steps they must go through to acquire information searching competence. It is to be expected that such feelings of resis- tance occur in clusters and begin to inter- fere actively with the acquisition of cogni- tive and sensorimotor skills. In the behavioral sense they are affective errors or impediments to skill acquisition. "Bibliographic instruction can help address affective errors or impedi- ments to skill acquisition in many searches." Bibliographic instruction can help ad- dress this need in many searchers. 15 To al- ert students to the pervasiveness of this maladaptive syndrome in learning search behavior, the authors have presented stu- dents with lists of affective errors and dis- cussed their causes and solutions. To make students more specifically aware, they had to read the Library Research Journals of previous students and were given the opportunity to discuss research strategy in small groups. They were also teamed in pairs who met in the library to do research together. These motivational techniques were effective in reducing the strength of maladaptive affective habits as is evident from the student reports. Here are some examples: Since I have become more familiar with the li- brary through this assignment, my attitude to- ward research is not negative. Struggling through the paper has given me confidence to do more papers. Now when I walk into the library the surround- ings are familiar and I do not feel threatened or lost. The assignment broadened my ability as well as my awareness of what the library has to offer, not only scholastically just for pleasure. I discovered how to make the library work for me. I now know how to use most of the library system including the help of the reference li- brarians. The process of gathering information was an enriching lesson that can be utilized for years to come. I enjoyed the trips to the libraries and found it educational. Now I know where to get informa- tion that I need. As can be seen from these comments, ap- prehension and avoidance were replaced by enthusiasm and gratitude, and a feel- ing of empowerment in having acquired a tool that can be used again and again. Thus, maladaptive affective errors are re- placed by adaptive affective skills in infor- mation searching. An additional research issue concerns the online environment of the quiz and the effect of prior experience with com- puters. The online environment could be contrasted with a control such as a written version, in order to assess the effect of typ- ing errors, using function keys, screen dis- plays, and the controlled sequencing of items. Another control consists in using a different online environment such asHy- per Card, a more visually oriented user- friendly system. 16 Research will show the extent to which the ISC measure can be used for diagnos- tic purposes. Test/retest reliability needs to be established. A small sample of un- dergraduates who took the quiz again within three weeks improved their scores by nine percent. This modest, but statisti- cally significant gain occurred even though students did not received any bib- liographic instruction. The increase could be attributed to the test's instructional fea- ture of giving immediate feedback for each item. The test/re-test correlation was . 78 (N =27), showing the answers to be quite stable. Pre-post test studies in an instruc- tional context ought to be done to deter- Measuring Information 457 mine the sensitivity to change in compe- tence as a result of an instructional intervention or other learning experience. As well, the predictive value of the total ISC score needs to be explored. Is it indica- tive of a person's on-the-job ferformance, or success in making use o information tools? THE STRUCTURE OF THE ACS INFORMATION UNIT Figure 2 is a three-dimensional view of table 2. The shaded rectangles in figure 2 correspond to the face of table 2. It can be seen that each of the nine categories of skills is made up of all three domains. In this study, only one of the three domains was selected for each of the nine catego- ries, though it would be possible to con- struct a quiz that samples all three do- mains for each item. Behavior theory requires the integration of all three do- mains in every act (the ACS unit). How is it possible to have separate instructional objectives for each domain? Teaching re- quires a single-minded focus and leads to the selection of one of the three domains KEY LEVEL 3 ADVANCED 2 INTERMEDIATE 1 BASIC DOMAIN AFFECTIVE COGNITIVE SENSOR I MOTOR FIGURE2 The Structure of the ACS Information Unit 458 College & Research Libraries of the ACS unit to be measured by a single item. For instance one question used for category [52] is: Computers see also Artificial intelligence Microprocessors Psychological Uses My fair software. J. Gorman. il Discover 6:64-5 F '85 Question: What is the title of the magazine in which this article is published? ANSWER: Discover The instructional focus here is on the sensori- motor skill involved in perceiving the distinc- tion between magazine title and article title and then typing the title accurately-an item that had a 30 percent error rate. To focus on the cognitive component that relates to this sensorimotor skill, the librarian could construct the following item [C2]. Computers see also Artificial intelligence Microprocessors Psychological Uses My fair software. J. Gorman. il Discover 6:64-5 F '85 Question: You know what the title of the maga- zine is because: a. the magazine has a one-word title and the article title has several words. b. the magazine title is accompanied by a vol- umenumber c. the magazine tit_le always has the word "il" before it d. software has to do with computers ANSWER:b The focus here is on measuring compre- hension of the content of an index entry [C2] rather than recognizing it or copying is accurately [52]. To focus on the affective component, a librarian could ask the ques- tion [A2]: ''Look at the entry. How sure are you that you can tell which is the mag- azine title and which is the article title?" Sure/Not Sure. Individuals who are not sure need to be taught this distinction so that their information gathering may pro- ceed with confidence-an important affec- tive search skill. September 1990 MEASURING THE HUMAN CAPACITY TO SEARCH FOR INFORMATION Inspection of the seventy-one questions revealed an interesting relation between the form of the question and the behav- ioral domain. For instance, the affective questions are all bi-polar (Yes/No, Agree/Disagree), the cognitive questions are multiple-choice and matching forms, and the sensorimotor questions are all fil- lin type. Human capacity is defined as a rational neurosystem structured into three domains of experience arranged in a topdown control hierarchy. The schema in figure 3 shows the relation between the structure of the domain and the corres- ponding type of measure. The affective domain on the left is defined as the top of the control hierarchy. 17 It corresponds to the bi-polar affective system governing the will or the motivation. This has a direc- tional function in all behavior and serves to prioritize goals and to define success. A person with a need for information and the desire to look for it must obtain rele- vant rather than irrelevant answers. This requires a two-valued logic. Users may have a supportive attitude towards the in- formation environment, or not. As well, they can be supportive in varying degrees. Items measuring the affective component of information searching behavior are bi- polar: Yes/No, Agree/Disagree, or a se- mantic differential scale like "important- unimportant'' or ''pleasant-unpleasant'' with any number of degrees in between. The affective feeds into the cognitive system's representational function, en- coding relevant features of a situation and mapping search strategies under the con- trol of the affective system as each alterna- tive is accepted or rejected. Multiple choice and matching questions are well suited to represent successful and unsuc- cessful alternatives (scenarios) in decision making. The affective and the cognitive systems jointly feed into the sensorimotor system that has an operational function, noting and performing. Fill-in questions are well suited for this performative func- tion as they require the person to perceive selected features and accurately encode them in a fixed order. In keeping with the basic ACS informa- tion unit, it is to be noted that a sensorimo- tor fill-in item has associated with it both a cognitive and an affective component (see figure 2), though these are not necessarily measured. For example, a [Cl] question is: Select the correct definition for CROSS REFER- ENCE. a. A publication that is issued recurrently at specific times under the same title. b. A scientific, technical, scholarly, or profes- sional periodical. c. An oversized publication shelved in sepa- rate, larger stacks. d. Broader, narrower, or related terms used Measuring Information 459 to describe topics or subject headings. ANSWER: d The instructional focus here is to measure basic cognitive skills relating to the con- cept of cross-reference. This involves cog- nitive memory and comprehension of groups of interrelated vocabulary. The correct answer depends on this cognitive activity much more crucially than the sen- sorimotor skill of typing the letter '' d,'' or the affective skill of desiring to recall what one knows about it. Thus, the affective and sensorimotor components for this cognitive item would ordinarily not be measured. Suppose one constructed a fill-in item for defining this term: "Type in the defini- tion for CROSS-REFERENCE." Since RFFECTIUE "' COGNITIUE ' SENSOR I MOTOR OOMRIN , OOMRIN , OOMRIN Bi-polor Items Multiple Choice or Motchi ng I terns Fill-in Items Choosing positiue response 0 I RECTI ONRL System Houing o need for relevont informotion & o desire to get it Being mot 1 voted to ouercome technophobio Figuring out correct olternotiue REPRESENTRTIONRL System Designing o seorch strotegy with ronked olternotives Rnolyzing problems & memorizing solutions FIGURE3 Writing stondord formot OPERRTI ONRL System Coordi noting the execut 1 on of seorch octs Developing efficiency with seorch technologies Type of Quiz Item and Behavioral Domain 460 College & Research Libraries this uses the question format for sensori- motor items (see figure 3), the answer de- pends on sensorimotor memory, rather than cognitive as in the previous format for this item. This sensorimotor memory depends on prior experience with writing down and reading definitions of cross- reference. Thus, a person unable to write out a definition for CROSS-REFERENCE may be able to reason out the correct defi- nition from a set of alternatives. The most difficult question was the sen- sorimotor item asking students to type a bibliographic citation from a catalog entry [53]. Error analysis showed that part of the problem for many people was having to type an answer as long as two lines, and another part was knowing which informa- tion to select from the catalog entry dis- played. These two components should be measured separately, using items appro- priate to each. THE LIBRARY USER'S THREE MEMORIES The instructional significance of the ACS information unit is that teaching peo- ple to become searchers, or helping searchers to be better searchers, involves the management of three different types of human memory-affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor. Affective memory is re- quired for acquiring affective information skills, just as cognitive memory is required for learning cognitive information skills. The same is true for sensorimotor mem- ory. Advances in research and practice will reveal the characteristics of each memory and how these may be applied to curriculum design. 18 In general, sensori- motor memory is built up by hands-on practice; cognitive memory is built up by exploration of alternatives to a specified September 1990 11The widespread practice of focus- ing almost exclusively on cognitive skills relies on the individual's own initiative to supply the affective and to keep up with the sensorimotor.'' situation; affective memory is built up through social exchanges and through successes. The wide spread practice of focusing al- most exclusively on cognitive skills relies on the individual's own initiative to sup- ply the affective and to keep up with the sensorimotor. However, as the informa- tion environment becomes more complex, a greater percentage of the population is cut off from normal interaction with stan- dard information tools. This is due to au- tomation and the proliferation of refer- ence tools. 19 As the ~equisite cognitive skills become more complex, individuals with low affective skills will not be able to acquire them due to frustration, tech- nophobia, and learned aversion to li- braries.20 Therefore, bibliographic instruc- tion can address these affective problems by teaching users those affective skills that will permit them to acquire the complex cognitive skills. This is not a matter of psy- chotherapy, rather it is the recognition by the information specialist that effective search b~havior includes affective skills. These must be dealt with in bibliographic instruction by developing appropriate in- structional objectives in the affective do- main, including them in the curriculum and in library skills tests. 21 The ACS unit can be used as a model for developing these instructional objectives. REFERENCES AND NOTES 1. Dennis Hamilton, "Library Users and Online Systems: Suggested Objectives for Library Instruc- tion,'' RQ 25:195-97 (Winter 1985); ''Model Statement of Objectives for Academic Bibliographic Instruction: Draft Revision," College & Research Libraries 48:256-60 (May 1987). 2. Benjamin S. Bloom, ed., Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals: Handbook I: Cognitive Domain (New York: David McKay, 1956) passim; David R. Krathwohl, Ben- jamin S. Bloom, and Bertram B. Masia, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Edu- cational Goals: Handbook II: Affective Domain (New York: David McKay, 1964) passim; Walter D. Pierce and Charles E. Gray, Deciphering the Learning Domains: A Second Generation Classification Measuring Information 461 Model for Educational Objectives (Washington, D.C.: Univ. Press of America, 1979) passim. 3. Karen Ponish, " 'Babywise' and Toys Develop Literacy Skills," American Libraries 18:709-10 (Sept. 1987). 4. James Rice, Jr., Teaching Library Use: A Guide for Library Instruction (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1981), p.42. 5. Carol Collier Kuhlthau, "Feelings in the Library Research Process," Arkansas Libraries 42:23-26 Gune 1985). 6. Carol Wright and Mary Ellen Larson, "Basic Information Access Skills: Curriculum Design Using a Matrix Approach" College & Research Libraries (submitted 1989). 7. Leon A. Jakobovits and Diane Nahl-Jakobovits, "Learning the Library: Taxonomy of Skills and Errors," College & Research Libraries 48:203-14 (May 1987). 8. The set of 71 questions is available on request from the authors. 9. Diane Nahl-Jakobovits and Leon A. Jakobovits, "Managing the Affective Micro-Information Envi- ronment," Research Strategies 3, no.1:17-28 (Winter 1985). 10. Charles E. Osgood, George Sud, and Percy H. Tannenbaum, The Measurement of Meaning (Ur- bana, ID.: Univ. of IDinois Pr., 1957). 11. Diane Nahl-Jakobovits and Leon A. Jakobovits, "Teaching the Analysis of Titles: Dependent and Independent Variables in Research Articles," Research Strategies 5:164-71 (Fall1987). 12. PLATO is a national computer network developed at the University of IDinois in the 1960s for the delivery of general education lessons to schools and homes. PLATO terminals are available in the computer lab located in the Library. PLATO has a catalog of hundreds of interactive lessons in most academic subjects. Instructors may input their own lessons, quizzes, tests, and messages. Students use the terminals on their own time by signing-on with their password. Donald L. Bitzer, "The PLATO Project at the University of IDinois," Engineering Education 77:175-80 (1986); Elisabeth R. Lyman, PLATO Highlights 7th ed. (Urbana: University of IDinois, 1981). The quiz was entered with assistance from David Lassner and Sue Larsen of the University of Hawaii Computing Center. 13. TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language (Princeton, N.J.: Educational Testing Service, 1988). 14. Virginia Tiefel, ''Evaluating a Library User Education Program: A Decade of Experience,'' College & Research Libraries 50:249-59 (March 1989). 15. Nahl-Jakobovits, "Managing the Affective," passim. 16. Dan Shafer, HyperTalk Programming (Indianapolis, Ind.: Hayden Books, 1988); Mimi Jones and Dave Myers, Hands-on HyperCard: Designing Your Own Applications (New York: John Wiley, 1988). 17. The foundations of rational neuroscience are found in the writings of Emmanuel Sweden borg. ''In every complete thing there is a trine which is called First, Mediate, and Ultimate, also End, Cause, and Effect." He identifies the trine of human behavior as the affective ("loves" and" affections"), and the cognitive ("thoughts," "reflections," and "understanding"), and sensorimotor ("actions" and "sensations"). Actions and sensations are thus effects of thought propelled by loves. True Christian Religion (New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1981 [1771]), no. 210; "Affec- tion, thought, and action are also in a series of like degrees, because all affection has relation to love, thought to wisdom, and action to use." Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom (New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1976 [1763]), no. 214. 18. Carol Tenopir, Diane Nahl-Jakobovits, and Dara Lee Howard, "Magazines Online: Users and Uses of Full Text," ASIS '89 Proceedings 26:173-75 (October 1989); Carol Tenopir, Diane Nahl- Jakobovits, and Dara Lee Howard, "Full Text Search Strategies and Modifications: The Role of the Searcher and the Role of the System," National Online Meeting 1990 (in press May 1990). 19. " ... All members of the academic community are likely to become increasingly dependent on skilled professional guidance in the acquisition and use of library resources as the forms and num- bers of these resources multiply, scholarly publications appear in more languages, bibliographical systems become more complicated, and library technology grows increasingly sophisticated. The librarian who provides such guidance plays a major role in the learning process.'' From the ''Joint Statement on Faculty Status of College and University Librarians" of the AAUP, Association of American Colleges, and ACRL. Quoted in Ruth W. Clinefelter and Jack E. Hibbs, "The Neglected Information Specialist," Academe 75:29 Guly-Aug. 1989). 20. ''The library anxiety described by students is similar to that described in the literature on math and test anxiety." Constance Mellon, "Attitudes: The Forgotten Dimension in Library Instruction," Library Journal (Sept. 1, 1988), p.139; Bobbie L. Collins, Constance A. Mellon, and Sally B. Young, ''The Needs and Feelings of Beginning Researchers,'' in Bibliographic Instruction: The Second Gener- ation, ed. Constance A. Mellon (Littleton, Col.: Libraries Unlimited, 1987), p.73-84; Constance A. Mellon, "Library Anxiety in College Students: A Grounded Theory and Its Development," Col- 462 College & Research Libraries September 1990 lege & Research Libraries 47:160-65 (March 1986); See also:" ... unless we are careful, users could become increasingly suspicious of the technology while becoming more dependent on it.'' Grant Noble and Steve O'Connor, "Attitudes Toward Technology as Predictors of Online Catalog Us- age," College & Research Libraries 47:610 (Nov. 1986); "The micro-information environment encom- passes two interdependent domains of inner behavior: the voluntary or affective skills and the intellectual or cognitive skills. The affective micro-environment needs must be managed along with the intellectual needs." Nahl-Jakobovits, "Managing the Affective," p.17. 21. Experience with undergraduate students in a large academic library revealed these facts, as enu- merated in their library research journals. They resisted the use of formal aids, such as floor plans and fields in OP AC displays, preferring to follow hunches, guesses, and hopes, rather than be systematic. Research needs to determine the pervasiveness of these affective errors. "When we wanted to improve our serials management) Faxon responded with DataLin:t. We needed journal availability information) quickly. They gave us online access to other libraries' check-in records. When Faxon responds) the whole subscriber community benefits. Faxon has helped us through competitive pricing policies and global access to publications. Now they're enhancing relations in the broader subscriber/publisher community by advancing common data communication standards and promoting shared resources. In this sense I see them as colleagues." &::on -EllEN]. WAI7E, U IVERSITY LIBRARIAN , LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Helping you manage your world of information. To learn more about the Faxon Company, the international subscription agency with a commitment to quality service, calll (800) 766-0039 .