ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries D ecem ber 1994 / 715 Lib ra ry instruction the cooperative w a y By D eb orah J . Grimes A m ulti-institutional approach to teaching library skills T he days of the self-sufficient library are long gone. The information wildfire, which feeds off ever more rapidly changing informa­ tion and telecommunications technologies, has changed the nature o f the library forever. The information superhighway, which is not yet complete and not yet accessible at smaller li­ braries, holds great promise for college and uni­ versity students. Many o f these students, lim­ ited by their experiences, have no idea where the information superhighway can take them and what resources will be available. Academic library instruction programs must address this limitation and educate students to view the “li­ brary” in a different way. In an effort to pro­ mote information literacy1 in a broader con­ te x t, S h e lto n S tate Com m unity C o lle g e , Tuscaloosa, Alabama, provides library instruc­ tion to over 800 students each semester within a multi-institutional environment by requiring students to utilize not only the Shelton State Library but also the local public library and the local university libraries. Institutional coopera­ tion is vital to the success of the program. Factors for success How is a cooperative library instruction pro­ gram developed? A key element of the success of the Shelton State library instruction program is cooperation among the staffs of Tuscaloosa Public Library (TPL), the University of Alabama (UA) Gorgas, or main, Library, the UA School o f Library and Information Studies (SLIS), and Shelton State. A number o f factors contribute to this success. First, there is frequent, two- way communication betw een librarians that fosters the climate in which multi-institutional instructional programs can flourish. Shelton State librarians were open and frank in their initial statements about the burdens the pro­ gram would place upon the other libraries and their staffs. Shelton State librarians have regu­ larly shared the results o f surveys and other reports with the staffs of the other libraries, being careful to point out the positive responses o f Shelton State students to the staffs o f both the TPL and UA libraries. Problems reported by public and UA librarians are acted upon quickly. A willingness to compromise has been evi­ dent in the communication between institutions. Shelton State librarians are willing to meet the requests o f the other institutions in order to promote the LBS (library skills) sessions and activities in their facilities. Originally, UA bib­ liographic instruction librarians provided the UA sessions for Shelton State students. When this proved to be too much o f a burden for the UA staff, the Shelton State librarians agreed to provide their ow n instructors. In addition, Shelton State librarians attempt to schedule sessions for their students when the UA stu­ dents are not involved in BI activities. Another contributing factor to the success o f the programs is the location o f the UA SLIS on the fifth floor o f the UA Gorgas Library. In exchange for classroom space, Shelton State agreed to hire SLIS students to provide the UA sessions for its students. This agreement moved the Shelton State classes out of the UA biblio­ graphic instruction classroom and provided SLIS students with both experience and employ­ ment. Shelton State library instructors hire, train, Deborah J. Grimes is director of library services at Shelton State Community College, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; e-mail: dgrimes@ualix. ua.edu 7 1 6 /C&RL News and monitor the SLIS instructors to ensure ac­ curate and high-quality instructional sessions for their students. In addition, Shelton State li­ brary instructors are careful to set schedules, post directions, and provide instructions that remove burdens from SLIS administrative and office staff. The only request made by the director of TPL in exchange for participation in the pro­ gram was to have Shelton State students ac­ quire library cards. Because the public library charges no fee for issuance o f a library card, there is no additional cost to Shelton State stu­ dents. This activity introduces or reintroduces the student to his/her local public library and encourages its use. It also helps to build the patron base of the public library, which is use­ ful in obtaining funds from various sources. Finally, Shelton State librarians have long maintained friendly, collegial relationships with public librarians, UA librarians, and SLIS fac­ ulty and administrators. Some o f these relation­ ships go back to shared library school classes, while some grew out o f committee work and other professional projects. A reference librar­ ian and former assistant director o f TPL was one o f the original library instructors in Shelton State’s LBS programs. In addition, Shelton State librarians have fostered and maintained work­ ing relationships with administrators and su­ pervisors at the public and UA libraries. Shelton State has been a willing site for SLIS student internships. All o f these relationships provide a solid base upon which to build cooperative, interinstitutional library programs o f all types. W h a t is Shelton State's lib ra ry instruction p ro g ram ? Shelton State Community College is a two-year institution which offers both vocational/tech­ nical training and academic educational pro­ grams to approximately 6,000 students in Tus­ caloosa and the West Alabama community. Shelton State students enrolled in English Com­ position I and English Composition II classes are required to be concurrently enrolled in Li­ brary Skills (LBS 101) and Research Skills (LBS 102) courses, respectively. The library courses are one-hour, credit-bearing courses that in­ clude lecture, hands-on tool-specific exercises, and hands-on strategy-building exercises. Im­ portant components of the LBS courses are the requirements that students complete exercises at TPL and, after attending orientation sessions, at the UA Gorgas Library. Learning ab o u t the un iversity lib ra ry Several objectives o f LBS 101 and LBS 102 courses require Shelton State students to at­ tend 50-minute orientation sessions and com­ plete related exercises for each course at the UA Gorgas Library. Specifically, students in LBS 101, the basic introductory course, are expected to learn the location and layout o f the UA Gorgas Library, and how to use Amelia, the UA online library catalog, for author, title, and subject searches. In addition, LBS 101 objec­ tives include becoming familiar with UA library circulation policies and the location o f UA branch libraries. The objectives o f the UA component o f LBS 102, the research skills course, are to learn more sophisticated search techniques, such as key­ word searching, and to learn how to use spe­ cialized subject indexes or collections, such as Government Documents (available at UA Li­ braries but not at Shelton State Library). B e­ cause LBS 102 is designed to help students learn how to gather information and develop a re­ search strategy for research papers, students seem to be particularly receptive to the UA component o f the course. Emphasis is on help­ ing the student locate resources that supple­ ment those available at Shelton State. Each semester, 40 to 45 classes, based on enrollment projections, are scheduled in both day and evening sessions in the UA Gorgas Library for Shelton State students. Students se­ lect a session and must have their exercise sheets stamped by the instructor as evidence o f attendance. Students then must complete an exercise designed to help them locate resources and tools not available in the Shelton State Li­ brary. Generally, students stay a few minutes after the session to complete the exercise. This component both reinforces and facilitates the reciprocal borrowing agreement that has been in effect between the Shelton State and UA li­ braries since 1979. Because they are held in classrooms located on the fifth floor o f the UA Gorgas Library, the sessions provide a friendly welcome to Shelton State students to a somewhat imposing research library. This approach addresses the threshold anxiety related to entering a new place by hav­ ing someone waiting to meet Shelton State stu­ dents and to provide instruction in using the UA libraries. Other agreements between Shelton State and UA, such as reciprocal recognition of faculty and student parking decals, also con­ tribute to the success o f the program. D ecem ber 1994 / 717 Although there have been a n u m ber o f co m p la in ts from Shelton State students about the requirement to attend UA ses­ sions (and about the difficulties o f parking on the UA campus in particular), survey results o f small samples o f students indicate that the components are quite effec­ tive. High numbers of students report that they feel better able to use the UA libraries after at­ tending the session. Specific ac­ tivities identified as helpful by students include: the tour o f the S h e lto n S ta UA G orgas Library, learn ing u se th e n ew about the UA reference room, learning about keyword searching, and learn­ ing about government documents. Informally, BI librarians at UA report that they find Shelton State students who have participated in the LBS program to be better prepared to use the UA libraries than are many other students. Learning ab o u t the public lib ra ry The public library component o f LBS 101 is designed to enable students to identify the sys­ tem of classification in use at the public library, to identify and use the type o f catalog avail­ able at the public library, to identify the loca­ tion o f current periodicals, and to identify a specific periodical reference (on a topic o f stu­ dent choice) by using TOM (a CD-ROM-based periodicals index available at the public library but not at Shelton State), and to acquire a pub­ lic library card. There is no public library com­ ponent o f LBS 102. At the beginning o f the semester, LBS 101 students are given an exercise to be completed, outside o f class, at TPL by a given deadline. The exercise is relatively simple, requiring the student to visit TPL and locate its major access tools. TPL staff members are provided with a stamp by Shelton State librarians and asked to stamp or sign each student’s exercise, thus pro­ viding evidence that the student actually com­ pleted the exercise on site. After initiation of the program in 1990, small samples o f students were informally surveyed to determine their level o f satisfaction with the public library component o f LBS 101. Results were surprisingly positive, falling in the 70 per­ cent range for average or excellent ratings. When surveyed again in 1993, results were even more positive. When asked to indicate what te lib r a r ia n D o n B ell te a c h e s a stu d e n t h o w to u to m a te d s y s te m . they felt to be the most beneficial aspects of the exercise, students indicated learning how to use TOM, acquiring a library card, and learn­ ing the location of the public library. Conclusions The multi-institutional components o f Shelton State’s LBS 101 and LBS 102 courses seem to be quite effective. The majority o f students con­ sistently earn high grades on UA and public library exercises, indicating successful comple­ tion o f course objectives. Informal survey re­ sults show that students are meeting the objec­ tives o f the course highly satisfied with the instruction provided and the benefits gained. Through LBS 101 and LBS 102 classes, Shelton State students are encouraged to view information literacy as an important aspect of college life and to interpret the concept o f “li­ brary” in the larger sense o f “libraries.” Experi­ ences gained at other libraries broaden their perspectives and help prepare them for the information superhighway. With indicators such as grades, student reactions, and librarians’ re­ actions showing positive results, Shelton State will continue to promote institutional coopera­ tion and, through it, information literacy within a multi-institutional environment. Note 1. The definition o f information literacy used in the Shelton State library instruction program is “the ability to locate, evaluate, and effectively use needed information,” as outlined by Patri­ cian Senn Brievik and Barbara J. Ford in “Pro­ moting Learning in Libraries through Informa­ tion Literacy,” A m erican L ibraries 25 (January 1993): 98-101. ■ a