College and Research Libraries


) 

Library Instruction to 2000 Freshmen 

CAN FORMAL INSTRUCTION in the use of libraries be given to all college fresh-
men in these days of steadily increasing 
enrollments? The staff of Swen Franklin 
Parson Library at Northern Illinois Uni-
versity says it can. Such a program was 
started in 1943, when there were four sec-
tions of freshman English composition; 
it has been continued up to the point of 
fifty-four sections in the fall of 1959, and 
continued with sixty sections during the 
current fall term. 

The first two essentials for Northern's 
program are the cooperation of the Eng-
lish Department and released library 
staff time. The English Department ac-
cepts as a definite part of its freshman 
composition course one week of library 
instruction given by a librarian. 

This program was begun by a member 
of the library staff after World War II 
when there was an influx of ex-service 
men to our college. When the library sci-
ence area was started, library instruction 
to freshmen was given by members of 
this department. The reference librarian 
taught classes occasionally when there 
were conflicts of schedules, and the as-
sistant librarian took over the program 
one year. The next year the library sci-
ence area resumed this responsibility and 
continued to carry it for several years. 

As the number of English sections con-
tinued to increase and the importance of 
the program continued to be evident, a 

. new position, teacher of library ins truc-
tion and readers' adviser, was added in 
the fall of 1957. Two years later the posi-
tion of assistant reference librarian, read-
ers' adviser, and teacher of library in-
struct.ion was added. The combination of 
teach;tng and advising has proved to be a 
logic~ and efficient one, for the students 
who iiave had this instruction ask help 

462 

By VERNA V. MELUM 

Aiiss Melum is Teacher of Library Admin-
istration and Readers' Adviser, Northern Illi-
nots University, DeKalb. 

more readily from staff members whom 
they already know. 

DUTIES OF TEACHERS 

The teacher of library instruction and 
readers' adviser gives full time to the 
teaching program the first semester, or at 
least until the Christmas holidays. She 
schedules, plans, and organizes the work, 
teaches two or three hours a day, spends 
as much time as possible at the card cata-
log or in the reference room to help the 
freshmen with the problems assigned, 
and corrects and grades these problems. 
The assistant reference librarian teaches 
some of the classes and assists at the ad-
visory desk. 

During the second semester, when 
there are only a few new classes of fresh-
man English composition, the first ad-
viser teaches them all, works up new 
materials for teaching, shares the duties 
of readers' advising with the reference 
assistant, and helps out at the circulation 
and reference desks. She has also taught 
a library science course when the library 
science area has been short-staffed. 

SCHEDULE 

The whole-hearted cooperation of the 
English Department is further evident 
in their acceptance of the schedule made 
out by the librarians. This factor is im-
portant in order that the teaching li-
brarians may fit the classes, including 
late afternoon and evening classes, into 
logical working loads each week and also 
carry out their other commitments. The 

C 0 L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I·B R A R I E S 



English teachers are notified at the be-
ginning of the semester of the dates and 
the rooms for library instruction for 
their sections. All classes are taught at 
their regularly scheduled class hours. 
The librarian goes to the regular class-
room if she is teaching only one section, 
but for the past two years the problem 
of an ever-increasing number of sections 
has been met by scheduling two sections 
together whenever a room anywhere on 
campus large enough to accommodate 
up to seventy students is available. Here 
the cooperation of the registrar has been 
enlisted. The instruction is scheduled 
for as early in the school year as possible, 
but it necessarily extends over most of 
the first semester. 

HANDBOOK . 

Mimeographed lesson materials were 
replaced in the fall of 1958 by a veri-
typed handbook. The first edition con-
tained six sections: I. Staff, Areas and 
Floor Plans of the Library, II. Locating 
and Obtaining Books and Other Mate-
rials, III. Loan Privileges, IV. The Card 
Catalog, V. Periodical Indexes, and VI. 
Reference Books. In the second edition 
the local orientation material of the first 
three sections was condensed into one 
page. This same material was also pub-
lished separately on brightly-colored sin-
gle sheets, with the floor plans on the 
back, for distribution to all students at 
registration. 

The handbook is sold to students at 
fifty cents a copy. Since it was produced 
on campus by the Duplicating Service 
and the Industrial Arts Department, the 
cost is well below this figure, but it has 
seemed desirable to charge an amount 
which recognizes both the labor involved 
and the value of the material to the stu-
dent. The Wilson pamphlet, "How to 
Use the Readers' Guide to Periodical 
Literature ... and other Indexes," is 
included with each handbook. Mimeo-
graphed worksheets designed to empha-
size the points the students are expected 

NOVEMBER 1960 

to master, and therefore to serve as a 
method of study, are given out with the 
handbooks. 

PROBLEMS 

The handbook and its worksheets do 
not give the students actual practice in 
the use of the library tools. Therefore 
problems are assigned also. The types 
and the forms of these problems have, of 
course, gone through many stages of de-
velopment. Our present plan for prob-
lems on the card catalog and on periodi-
cal indexes is meeting the following cri-
teria satisfactorily: (1) to provide actual 
library practice for each student, (2) to 
provide enough different problems to 
avoid excessive wear on the library tools 
and to avoid students.' copying from each 
other, (3) to provide for quick but defi-
nite checking and grading. 

The plan consists of 125 different sets 
of problems, set up on 5" X 8" mimeo-
graphed form cards, white cards for the 
clues, green cards for the keys. The clues 
for the students are typed in red on the 
white mimeographed cards; the students 
copy onto mimeographed form sheets 
provided them. (See forms below.) The 
instruction, "Copy everything in red," is 
easily followed and does not seem to be 
confused with the fact that only subjects 
are in red on catalog cards. (The nota-
tion "in red" is added after subject head-
ings.) Ten or twelve minutes of class 
time are required for this copying. 
Though this is a sacrifice of some time 
that could well be used for explanations, 
the plan saves so much clerical time that 
it is well worth while. Every student in a 
class group gets a different set of prob-
lems; the cards are collected and used 
again and again with other class groups. 
Another advantage of the plan is that 
problems can be changed or added at 
any time. Fifty sets were sufficient to be-
gin with; 125 sets have been completed. 
A few sets have been marked "Ad-
vanced" and numbered in the 200's; 
these are harder problems intended for 

463 



students who already have a knowledge 
of the fundamentals. 

Definite criteria have been set up for 
ma.king out the problems in order that 
certain points will be included in each 
set: 

CARD CATALOG PROBLEMS 

I. POINT OF EMPHASIS: AN AU-
THOR OR A TITLE. A personal au-
thor or a title to look up publisher and 
date given as further clues with an au-
thor's name. 

2. POINT OF EMPHASIS: A SUB -
JECT . Publisher and date given as fur-
ther clues. Author and title avoided as 
clues in order to force the student to 
look up a subject. 

3. POINT OF EMPHASIS: AN OR-
GANIZATION AS A N AUTHOR. 
Title given as clue. 

4. POINT OF EMPHASIS: A CROSS 
REFEREZVCE. First line of "See" ref-
erence given; student to complete this 
reference. Publisher and date of a book 
under the subject referred to given as 
clues. Authors and titles avoided as clues 
in order that the student will be forced 
to follow through with a cross reference. 

On the line, "One other item of in-
formation," such an item as number of 
pages, subtitle, series, or bibliography is 
called for, a variety of these being in-
cluded in each set. These items are con -
sidered more advanced work and there-
fore are not required for an average or 
satisfactory grade. At least one call num-
ber consisting of more than two lines, 
often one including a special location, is 
included in each set. 

The problems are made out on form 
sheets with complete information for the 
keys. The items which are to be given to 
the students as clues are checked with a 
colored pencil. The typist then can make 
out both cards, the clues cards and the 
keys cards. In making out the problems 
care h as to be taken that only one card 
in the catalog and only one entry in an 
index has the clues given. 

464 

FORM FOR CATALOG PROBLEMS 

CATA~~i.LP~Z~tr;: 1 sUBJECT (if given i n clues) - - ·-----

AUTHOR-------

TITLE-------

PUBLISHER ----

OTHER INFORMATION 

DATE __ 

PERIODICAL INDEXES PROBLEMS 

I. READERS' GUIDE OR EDUCA-
TION INDEX 

2. ONE OF THE SPECIAL SUB-
JECT FIELD INDEXES LISTED IN 
THE HANDBOOK 

For each of these problems the same 
items are given as clues: name of index; 
subject; title of article ; year. 

FORM FOR PERIODICAL INDEX PROBLEMS 

PERIODICALS PROBLEM 1 : 

INDEX ____ _ 

SUBJECT----------------

Au thor (if given) ----------------

TITLE ____ _ 

NAME OF PERIODICAL ----·----

VOLUME ___ PAGES ___ DATE OF PER I ODICAL month "'daY --year 
L IBRARY HAS __ LI BRARY HAS NOT __ (checl< one) 

In addition to four specific card cata-
log problems and two periodical indexes 
problems, forms are provided for select-
ing random examples in other indexes 
and in reference tools. This plan does 
not meet the criteria of discouraging 
copying and of providing quick but defi-
nite checking, but still it seems to fulfill 
its major purpose of getting the students 
to use the specified tools without caus-
ing the wear and tear on the books 
which specific problems entail. Many 
students have expressed interest and sur-
prise to learn that these reference books 
and tools exist. If the teacher were to 
check every answer, this plan would be 
too laborious; she merely scans most of 
the problems to see whether the answers 
are logical ones, spot-checking occasion-
ally, especially in cases where she ques-
tions the validity of the answers. She 
calls in students who have handed in 
identical problems and assigns them fur-
ther work, thus discouraging copying. 

COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



FoRMS FOR SELECTED REFERENCE TooLs 

PERIODICALS PROBLEM 3: ~ IDID llirn 
DIRECTIONS: Choose any example from any volume. 

DATE OF VOLUME OR ISSUE USED------ - ----

AUTHOR OF BOOK REVIEWED -----

TITLE OF BOOK REVIEWED ------

PERIODICALS IN WHICH BOOK IS REVIEWED _ __ --~~-~~ 
Tj lle or per j odical 

VOLUME ___ PAGES --- - DATE _ _ ___ _ 
month day year 

LENGTH OF ORIGINAL REVIEW------ words 

PLUS (favoriible revie,,r) __ MINUS (llnf;Jvorable rav:lew) _ _ 

PERIODICALS PROBLEM 4. !:!D'i YQ.!lli ill§ INDEX 

SUBJECT UNDER WHICH YOUR REFERENCE APPEARS --------

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE AS IT IS GIVEN IN THE INDEX __ 

SECTION (if given)---- PAGE ___ COLUMN __ _ 

DATE ____ ---
month .day year 

REFERENCE PROBLEM 7: ~ALMANAC or INFORMATION~ ALMANAC (required " 

Check the book used 

Place of publication ____ Publisher ___ Date __ _ 

Choose one item in the index: --,-M,-ai,-n-,-H""'ea"'d.,...,in-=-g- Subheading (if any; 

Give one fact given on this page about this item-------

REFERENCE PROBLEM 9 : STATESMAN'S YEARBOOK (required) 

Place of publication---- Publisher ____ Date __ 

Choose a country (Look up this country in the index) _("'N=-=am"'"e...,-
0

.,-f ""'co""'u,.nt""'ry.,.-) 

Give page on which information on this coun try begins-----

Choose one h eading or topic under this country -----,.,(H"'ea""'d""in=-=g,-) --

Give one fact under this h·ead ing ------------

Is there an index in this book? Yes_ No_ (Check one) 

REFERENCE PROBLEM 12. COLUMBIA LIPPINCOTT GAZETTEER .QE ]:ill; YiQlli& 
or 

WEBSTER'S GEOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY (one required) 

CHECK above the book chosen. 

Choose one item--------- {name ol' item) 

Identify this item as to geographical ~ (city, mountain, etc.) and 

~ 

Give one oth er fact about this item--------

Give page on which information is found---------

REFERENCE PROBLEM 1. (any one of the following - onP. required} 
~llliQ.l!JAMERICA 
llliQ '!JM.ll'!!Q.l!l AMERICA 
~llliQ. 
llliQ.'!JM.ill!Q 

CHECK above the book chosen . 

Place of publ ication ____ Publisher ___ Date __ 

Choose one person about whom information is given------

Give date of birth of this person __ _ 

Give one position or office this person has held------

Give page on which the above information about this person is given_ 

REFERENCE PROBLEM 2. CURRENT BIOGRAPHY (required) 

Place of p ublication ____ Publisher ___ Date __ _ 

Choose one person about whom information is given------

Give page on which the ar t ic le about him begins __ _ 

Give date of birth of this person--------

Give occupat ion of th is per son -----------

Give one other item of information about this person-----

Give one bibliographic reference-----------

NOVEMBER 1960 

In addition to the above forms, blanks 
are also provided for the following: 

PERIODICAL INDEX oF YouR OwN 

CHoiCE NoT UsED IN YouR OTHER 

PROBLEMS BUT LISTED . IN THE 

HANDBOOK 

DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN 

RAPHY or DICTIONARY OF 
TIONAL BIOGRAPHY 

BIOG-

NA-

STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED 

STATES 

BARTLETT'S FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS 

oR STEVENSON's HoME BooK OF 

QUOTATIONS 

GRANGER's INDEX To PoETRY 

A sheet of directions is attached to the 
problem forms, and blanks are provided 
for the name of the student, the name of 
the English teacher, and the hour of the 
class meeting. 

TEST 

A multiple-choice test of from fifty to 
sixty questions is given at the close of 
the unit, thirty minutes being allowed 
for this test. Machine-scored answer 
sheets are used. The Office of Testing 
Services has done item analyses on the 
tests to determine which items discrimi-
nate well and to scale the items in order 
of difficulty to some extent. However, 
the questions are grouped, first, by sub-
ject matter; second, by order of difficulty 
within the group. Some easy items which 
all students should be able to answer are 
included as morale builders. Because this 
testing is for mastery, the test is compre-
hensive, covering all areas. 

CLERICAL HELP 

Even though Northern's plan elimi-
nates preparation of problems for each 
individual student, considerable clerical 
work is involved in the typing of mimeo-
graph stencils for forms and tests and the 
typing of the cards (both clues and keys), 
as well as such routines as counting out 
materials and recording grades. For this 
work a student assistant is employed 
eight or ten hours a week. 

465 



GRADING 

Because the unit of library instruction 
extends over a full week and because 
grades are one method of motivation, 
both the· problems and the test are 
graded and these grades averaged for a 
final grade on the unit. Two 'methods of 
grading have been used. The first 
method is to grade both the problems 
and the test with the usual letter grades 
of "A, B, C, D, F" and to count the prob-
lems one-third and the test two-thirds for 
the unit grade. 

The second method is to use only Sat-
isfactory or Unsatisfactory for both the 
problems and the final grade. This seems 
decidedly preferable for the problems for 
several reasons: the students are encour-
aged to get as much help as they need in 
order to get their problems correct; the 
random examples selected by students 
cannot be checked carefully enough to 
justify specific grades; the emphasis for 
the unit of instruction is on the skills 
learned for future use rather than on an 
immediate grade. This method also 
seems preferable for the final grade be-
cause the English teachers have reported 
that the library instruction grade often 
does not correlate with a student's other 
grades in the English course and there-
fore it is difficult to know how much 
weight to attach to it. Two additional 
reportings are made in order to encour-
age students to do their best work, how-
ever; first, a letter grade is reported for 
the test so that the student may know the 
degree of proficiency he attained; sec-
ond, an "S plus" is reported for students 
who have almost perfect work on the 
problems and "A" on the test. 

QUESTIONS SETTLED AND UNSETTLED 

Can the work be motivated sufficiently 
without giving grades? Is the test neces-
sary? Is it advantageous and practical to 
use a specific topic for all the problems 
to be done by one student? These mat-
ters have been given consideration from 
time to time, and are currently being 

466 

discussed in several conferences with a 
committee of faculty members of the 
English Department. 

If lectures only were given, grading 
would be eliminated. But the questions 
the students ask and the errors they 
make in both the problems and the test 
show that lectures do not produce suffi-
cient mastery; practice is needed. Fur-
thermore, the problems have to be 
checked to insure their being done indi-
vidually, and a test is in itself both a 
learning device and a motivating force. 
It therefore seems highly desirable to 
continue specific assignments and testing 
as long as such a program can possibly 
be managed. A disadvantage of the test-
ing is that the student does not find out 
what points he missed. It is not feasible 
to give him this information for two rea-
sons: (I) the librarian does not meet the 
class again after the test has been given; 
(2) the same test is used with many 
groups. This objection is being met some-
what by giving a few warm-up exercises 
and discussing them before the test is 
given. 

PROBLEMS ON ONE TOPIC 

The assignment to look up entirely 
unrelated items can be motivated only 
by stimulating interest in learning that 
such sources are available. One has to 
start somewhere, and interest in unre-
lated quiz-type facts is still alive. Yet mo-
tivation would be higher and the value 
to the student greater if he uses an indi-
vidually assigned topic for all the prob-
lems, or at least for all the reference 
problems. 

The plan of having all of the specific 
problems on the card catalog and the 
periodical indexes in a set on one topic 
has been tried but has been abandoned 
because of the time required to meet 
both this requirement and the criteria 
designed to cover certain specific points 
which we wish to teach. 

Some experimenting has been done in 
a few sections this semester with the plan 

COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



of having each student select a topic to 
use for all of the problems not specifi-
cally assigned from the cards. He is to 
try to find this topic in each of the as-
signed references. One teacher assigned 
the general topic of "gems," each student 
to select one precious stone as his spe-
cific topic. Two difficulties encountered 
in trying to use the one-topic assignment 
are: (I) much labor is involved in select-
ing topics which will be found in the 
majority of the books assigned; (2) topics 
do not apply to the biographical sources. 
(Some have occupational indexes in 
them, but this is not the most common 
way of using these tools. If the student 
were reading on his topic, he would 
come across names important in the field, 
but since this work is only bibliographic, 
he would not have this information.) It 
can be suggested to the student however, 
that he might wish to use a single topic 
for as many of the problems as he can. 
This idea would make the library in-
struction assignments more purposeful 
to some students. 

ULTIMATE GoALS 

The teaching of any skill subject in-
volves the hazard of letting the larger 
purposes become obscured by the details. 
Does this program of library instruction 
teach more than the use of library tools? 
Does it teach the students how to tackle 
a new subject? Does it inspire students to 
make their own further explorations in 
the wonderful world of books and other 
printed materials? Can the teacher who 
teaches the same content according to 
the same plan, week after week for al-
most an entire semester, keep above bore-
dom himself and lift his students to see 
beyond the commas and the dashes, the 
catalogs and the indexes? Are his stu-
dents gaining intellectual curiosity? 
Herein lie real challenges to the teacher. 

This unit presents to the college fresh-
man a handbook of material to be covered 
in one week. For many it is an entirely 
new subject. How should the student ap-

NOVEMBER 1960 

proach it? Does he note the terminology? 
Does he know how to select the most im-
portant items for mastery? He needs 
guidance in doing so. If he has used some 
of the tools before, he needs guidance in 
noting more advanced points; he should 
not be given the opportunity to become 
bored because he thinks he already 
knows it all. Does he pay attention to ac-
curacy and detail, or is he a careless 
worker? Does he know the pitfalls and 
the guides in objective tests? The assign-
ments call for accuracy in detail and care 
in following directions. The multiple-
choice test is an exercise in discrimina-
tory thinking as well as a test of knowl-
edge of how to use the library. Library 
instruction can help careless students to 
improve their methods of study. 

Occasional remarks from even a few 
students that they will use the library 
more now that they know where to start 
and that they are glad to have their care-
less errors pointed out to them, help the 
teacher to see each new group as a new 
opportunity to teach the silent influence 
of books. 

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 

The library staff of Northern Illinois 
University recognizes that the ideal pro-
cedure is to give each individual student 
help on his particular problem as the 
need arises. But with an enrollment. of 
several thousand students this is not al-
ways possible. Therefore this library staff 
considers its program of formal teaching 
of classes for several periods a strong one 
and plans to continue it as long as such 
a plan is practicable. But it is also con-
sidering other ways in which library in-
struction might be given when the en-
rollment soars far beyond the sixty sec-
tions of freshman English expected in 
1960. 

Should library instruction always be 
given in English classes? Are not other 
departments, such as Social Science and 
Speech, interested in having their stu-
dents learn how to use the library? Cer-

467 



tainly the answer to this question IS In 
the affirmative. But in most colleges Eng-
lish is the only course which enrolls all 
or most of the new students. If library 
instruction is offered in some other de-
partment, will enough of the students be 
reached? Can plans be made for reaching 
those who are not enrolled in that par-
ticular department? 

When it is no longer feasible for the 
readers' advisers to go to the classrooms, 
they might plan units of instruction 
which could be presented by the teach-
ers, the advisers staying in the library to 
work with students as they do the prob-
lems assigned. 

But a far better solution would be 

presentation of library instruction over 
dosed-circuit television. When the cam-
pus of NIU becomes equipped for teach-
ing by this method, library instruction 
promises to be among the first units so 
taught. The readers' advisers would pre-
sent the programs to many classes or 
other large units at once; classroom 
teachers could follow up with handing 
out problems and giving tests. 

Whatever the method, the readers' ad-
visers at NIU expect to continue plan-
ning and organizing library instruction 
for as large a segement of the student 
body as possible, for they believe that li-
brary instruction can best be given by 
librarians. 

New Zealand Library Resources 
Andrew D. Osborn, formerly assistant librarian at Harvard University, and now 

librarian at the University of Sydney, Australia, is the author of New Zealand Li-
brary Resources (Wellington, New Zealand Library Association, 1960, 70 p., 5s to 
members, 7s.6d. to non-members, NZ currency, plus postage). This is a report of a 
survey for the New Zealand Libraray Association under the auspices of the Camegie 
Corporation of New York. Dr. Osborn covers in this report problems dealing with 
public, school, special academic libraries. Starting from the Munn-Barr report of 
1934, Osborn traces the development of library service on the several levels. "As a 
group the public libraries are easily the brightest spot in the New Zealand Library 
picture," writes Osborn. The Auckland Public Library, for example, has among its 
holdings several of the best collections. Similar collections exist in Wellington, 
Christchurch and Dunedin. In respect to university libraries, Osborn observed, 
"In each of the past decades the plight of the university libraries has been a matter 
of concern to professors, students, investigating bodies and others. Document after 
document has hammered away at the inadequacies for teaching and research li-
braries, the lack of financial support and the overall failure to look on the library 
as the heart of the university." Dr. Osborn is categorical in his recommendations 
that bold steps must be taken to strengthen resources and facilities· if the university 
libraries of the country are to serve the constitiuent groups depending upon them. 
He is also direct in his support of the need of a strong National Library. "Estab-
lishment of a National Library is a matter that is worth doing, and worth doing 
well." In order to accomplish this, prompt and decisive actions are essential. The 
National Library may be a useful instrument in the development of the library 
resources of New Zealand, described by Dr. Osborn as "slender." His program in-
cludes the acquition of materials of various kinds, for all groups of readers andre-
searchers, in all subject fields, for all types of libraries. 

468 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES