ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 259 Bibliographic Instruction L ib ra ry and Inform ation R etrieval In stru ction : Competency Testing At Findlay College competency requirements in reading, writing, mathematics, and the library have been integrated into the general curriculum since the mid-1970s. They developed out of a strong concern among the faculty and the ad­ ministration that the college needed to respond to wide varieties of student achievement as well as identify minimum academic skill levels.1 Seven years later the college continues to maintain the original competency requirements, and during the past year serious consideration has been given to including competencies in speech and computer literacy. The competency requirements are included beyond the 128 degree credit hours. The library and information retrieval competency, like the other competency skills, is a graduation requirement and must be completed by both full and part-time students for junior standing at the college. The term “competency-based instruction” may raise several possible definitions, but generally within the scope of college and university instruc­ tion the term “competency” has stood as a spe­ cific measure of skill and knowledge. The use of competency-based instruction revolves around the use of specific or accepted levels of skill and knowledge attainment which are demonstrable and measurable, and which an institution can cer­ tify and/or classify. A majority of the institutions in higher education which use competency-based instruction have preconceived minimum levels of acceptance which individuals (students) must meet to fulfill specific competencies.2 The use of competency-based instruction in higher education has been the result of two con­ temporary trends. One, there has been a move­ ment in certain colleges and universities during the past decade to turn the curriculum back to 1Findlay College Com petency Handbook, 1975. 2Gerald Grant, et al., On Com petence: A Criti­ ca l Analysis o f C o m p eten ce-B a sed R eform s in H igher E ducation (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1979), pp. 18-65; David A. Trivett, Competency F rog ram s in H ig h er E d u c a tio n ‚ ERIC/Higher Education Research Report No. 7 (Washington: American Association for Higher Education, 1975); and Vince T. Peterson, ed., R enew ing H igher E du cation : The C om p eten cy -B ased A p­ p roach (Toledo: Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Toledo, 1976). the “basics.” And two, there has been a move­ ment in some institutions to provide certification that students have acquired and can perform cer­ tain academic skills. The acceptance of a competency-based form of instruction in colleges or universities has been scattered across the country among various in­ stitutional types. For example, the following col­ leges and universities have designed significant segments of their curriculum around a compe­ tency format: Alverno College in Wisconsin, the College of Human Services in New York City, Mt. Hood Community C ollege in Oregon, Florida State University, and College IV associ­ ated with Grand Valley State College in Michi­ gan.3 Competency-based instruction in higher education has received a certain amount of public support as people have clamored about declining test scores as well as the skill and literacy levels of college and university graduates. However, the institutional accomodation of the competency ap­ proach to curriculum development and institu­ tional process is still dependent upon the willing­ ness of the faculty to design and implement this format. There is relatively little in the literature which substantiates the use of competencies in the im­ plementation of bibliographic instruction.4 The use and acceptance of a library and information retrieval competency at Findlay College is partly due to acceptance and use of competencies in other curricular forms at the college. Competen­ cies at Findlay College are used to certify that students have acquired and can demonstrate cer­ tain minimum levels of skill and knowledge profi­ ciency. Briefly, Findlay College is a small private col­ lege with relatively n on-selective admission 3Grant, On Com petence. 4Carla J. Stoffle & Judith M. Pryor, “Competency-Based Education and Library In­ stru ctio n ,” L ib r a r y T ren d s 29 (Summer 1980):58-65. The authors list the following institu­ tions which use competencies in library instruc­ tion: Alverno College, Doane College, Sangamon State University, University of Louisville, Findlay C ollege, and the University of W isconsin- Parkside. See also Richard Hume W erking, “Evaluating Bibliographic Education: A Review and C ritiq u e ,’’ L ib r a r y T ren d s 29 (Summer 1980):153-72. 261 standards and a curriculum which consists of a blending of the liberal arts and career prepara­ tion. The college has maintained a flexible ap­ proach to curriculum building and instructional methods, and through careful planning and mar­ keting it has experienced enrollment growth over the past three years. In addition to the resident undergraduate population, Findlay College has strong continuing education and weekend college programs. Currently the enrollment is 1,300 (975 FTE) with 55 full-time faculty and a library staff of 3.5 professionals and 3.5 non-professionals. The library and information retrieval compe­ tency at Findlay College was initially conceived to function at a Level I (basic) and a Level II (ad­ vanced), but the complexity of administering the competency requirement with a small library staff prevented the staff from developing a Level II. At the same time competency-based instruction was incorporated into the Findlay College cur­ riculum , another new cu rricu lar design was established— the freshman seminar. These semi­ nars were designed for all freshman students and were team taught by faculty identified as strong classroom teachers. The purpose of the freshman seminars was to combine academic content and socialization for newly enrolled students, and the seminars presented ideal formats to initiate the competencies. During the first three years of the competency program, the library and information retrieval competency received modest support in the sem­ inars. In 1978, however, the faculty voted to make the library competency a requirement to be completed by the second semester of the sopho­ more year. Since 1978, through promotion and individual planning with the freshman seminar faculty, a greater acceptance of the library com­ petency has occurred. During the past two years the public services librarian has worked closely with all freshman seminar faculty to integrate li­ brary instruction relating to the library compe­ tency into the theme of each seminar. He has also received the cooperation of freshman seminar faculty in the testing and administration of the competency examination; this same pattern of cooperation has spread to other areas of the col­ lege, such as the division of continuing education and the weekend college. At Findlay’s Shafer Library the competency is conceived as a basic approach to teaching specific library and information skills and knowledge. The program consists of three parts: orientation, in­ struction, and examination. The orientation and instruction segm ent requires the librarian to spend approximately two hours in the classroom. Instruction on the library is integrated into the major theme or content of the specific course or sem inar. The co n ten t of the in stru ction is twofold. Part one is informational (skills), showing students where resources and services are located in Shafer Library; and part two is knowledge, showing students how to use basic reference and retrieval sources. The methods of instruction have varied and have included the use of hand­ outs, multimedia presentations, and tours of the library and media center. The instructional se­ quence usually takes place between the fourth and the twelfth week of the 18-week fall semes­ ter. The philosophy behind the library competency at Findlay College is not to assume that the stu­ dent has an understanding of the library. The competency process is therefore intended to pro­ vide the student with an understanding of library media services and resources which can be meas­ ured at a basic minimum level. Library instruc­ tion is designed to acquaint the learner with both the knowledge of library and media resources and the skill to retrieve basic information and data to use in fulfilling class and seminar requirements. Students are introduced to the card catalog and the Library of Congress classification system as well as the various indexes and abstracts main­ tained by the library. Differences and similarities among various resources are explained to the stu­ dent. A simple and graphic approach is made in explaining citations as well as the physical loca­ tion of specific sources. The use of slides to high­ light the library/media facility coupled with a tour of the facility provides the student with a familiar­ ity with the library and the personnel. One of the outcomes of this approach for Shafer Library is that students (particularly freshman and part-time students) develop an awareness and a confidence in an academic library. After completing the instructional unit, the li­ brarian returns to the individual class or seminar two to three weeks later to administer the com­ petency exam, which requires that the student recall informational as well as instructional com­ ponents of the library. Students need to know the physical facility as well as where resources and services are located, and they must be able to correctly read citations as well as interpret basic reference and retrieval sources (card catalog and indexes). The written portion of the examination is composed of 33 questions. A student who fails more than six questions must retake the examin­ ation and/or confer individually with a librarian. In addition, each student is expected to suc­ cessfully retrieve an item from the collection as well as locate a citation in the New York Times Index and find the source on microfilm. The success of any good library instruction program, especially a competency-based model, is based on both quantitative and qualitative mea­ sures of evaluation. During the initial years of the library competency, little constructive or system­ atic evaluation was made of the program. Since 1980 this has changed substantially. For example, of the freshman seminar students who took the competency in 1980, 41% were successful on the first examination, while in 1981 this figure improved 262 to 57%. In fall term 1981, 281 freshman students out of 325 took the competency instruc­ tion and examination; this represents seven semi­ nars and fifteen teaching faculty. It ought to be noted that one group of students— those majoring in equestrian studies— are exempted from the freshman seminar sequence; however, they are required to take and pass the library and informa­ tion retrieval examination for graduation. These students receive library instruction through their equestrian classes. The evaluation of the library competency as a form of library instruction at Findlay College il­ lustrates that progress has been made, particu­ larly in the area of faculty acceptance and the numbers of students involved in the process. The percentage of students successful with the compe­ tency substantiates to some degree the wide vari­ ety of achievem ent levels represented by the Findlay College student body. It also identifies for the library and media staff the constant need to examine the content of the competency pro­ cess as well as the methods of instruction and testing. Perhaps most significant for the library at Findlay College is the fact that the library com­ petency is considered an integral part of the col­ lege’s curriculum and a requirement for gradua­ tion. Part of our mission is to serve as an open- door institution, and through competency testing BI WORKSHOPS Instruction librarians— if you could not come to the ALA preconferences, they can now come to you. The Bibliographic Instruction Section, through its Continuing Education Committee, has been awarded a J. Morris Jones World Book Encyclo­ pedia ALA Goal Award of $5,000 for its project, “Bringing Worskhops to the M em b ers.” This award will provide funds to any state or regional library association to help underwrite the cost of workshops to be offered throughout the country during the 1983 calendar year. Through this grant workshop leaders from the 1979 and 1981 ACRL/BIS preconferences will re -cre a te th e ir workshops on such topics as: classroom dynam ics; concep tu al frameworks; course-integrated library instruction; evaluation tools and tactics; library instruction for faculty and graduate students; the one-hour stand; teach­ ing librarians to teach; teaching students to think; and the organization and development of work­ books. Eligibility: Any state or regional library associa­ tion, including organizations such as ACRL chap­ ters. D ea d lin e: Applications are due O ctober 15, 1982. Award announcements will be made in San Antonio at the 1983 Midwinter Conference. in library instruction we feel that Shafer Library plays a visible and direct role in academic plan­ ning at the college. The authors are now compiling longitudinal data which will enable the library and college to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of this form of library instruction on student body habits and use of the college library. Also the authors feel that this type of instruction is applicable to other types o f academ ic library, particularly those which are constrained financially in staff or re­ sources but which need some form of educational process to ce rtify stud ents and users with minimum library and information retrieval skills. The library and information retrieval compe­ tency program performs a real service for all con­ cerned. Students are made aware of much that Shafer Library has to offer and they may benefit from that knowledge throughout their lives. The co lleg e obtains a q u an tifiable m easure of achievement and skill. And Shafer Library re­ ceives valuable exposure to the students at one of the most impressionable points in their academic career.—R o b ert S chirm er an d G. C h arles New­ man. E d it o r ’s Note: R obert Schirm er is pu blic services librarian an d G. C h arles Newman is d irec to r o f S h a fer L ib ra ry , Findlay C ollege, Ohio. ■ ■ A pplication s a n d In form ation : Write to Anne Beaubien, Chair, ACRL/BIS Continuing Educa­ tion Committee, Michigan Information Transfer Source, U niversity of M ichigan, 413 Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; (313) 763-5060. ■ ■ SHINN GETS SNAGGED James Richard Shinn pled guilty in July to two counts of unlawful possession and transportation of stolen property before Daniel Huyett III, a judge in the Federal District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania. Shinn’s defense lawyer had initially attempted to have the evidence, 16 footlockers of books taken illegally from university libraries across the country, declared “tainted” and there­ fore suppressed because of Sh in n ’s irregular arrest at Oberlin College by librarian William Moffett. However, the judge ruled that the argu­ ment lacked credibility. Each count carries a maximum of 10 years im­ prisonment and a fine of $10,000. Shinn’s sen­ tencing is on August 30, after which he may be liab le to extradition from four state jurisdictions. ■■