ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries June 1990/511 Library/classroom partnerships for the 1990s By Barbara B. Moran Associate Professor, School o f Library and Information Science University o f North Carolina at Chapel Hill Increasing active learning in undergraduate education. O ver one hundred and twenty-five years ago, Ralph Waldo Em erson chided colleges for establishing libraries without providing a “p sor o f books.”1 As E m erson realized, academ ic libraries serve little purpose if students are not taught how to utilize their resources. Libraries serve less purpose if students are not required by their professors to use them as part of their course- work. The struggle to make the library an integral part of the educational process is a long-standing one which has yet to be resolved. O f course, it is an oft-repeated truism that the library is the heart of the college. In many institu­ tions, however, the library has been relegated to a peripheral role in education. If evidence were needed of the neglect of the library by most u n d er­ graduates, that evidence was provided by E rnest Boyer in his book, College: The Undergraduate Experience in America. Boyer reported that in a normal week one of every four undergraduates spends no time in the library and 65% spend four or fewer hours th ere.2 1Ralph W aldo E m erso n , “Books,” A tla n tic M onthly 1 (1858): 343-53. 2E rnest L. Boyer, College: The Undergraduate Experience in America (New York: H arper and Row, 1987), 160-63. r As Boyer’s book clearly shows, in most academic institutions today there is a wide gap between the ocfelass­sroom and the library. In many classes the only reading that is done is out of a textbook, and in many others, the only use of the library is to do reserve reading. Boyer, however, strongly advo­ cates that the library be moved to the center of undergraduate education. H e writes: “The college library must be viewed as a vital part of the undergraduate experience. . . . The library staff should be considered as im portant to teaching as are classroom teachers. . . . Students should be given bibliographic instruction and be encouraged to spend at least as much tim e in the library— using its wide range of resources— as they spend in class.”3 Throughout his book, Boyer stresses the im por­ tance of students becom ing independent learners. In emphasizing the independent learner, Boyer echoes a them e found in a whole series of reports published during the decade of the 1980s that focused on the topic of improving education in the U nited States. The first report, A Nation at Risk, issued in 1983, assessed the state of elem entary and secondary education.4 F our other reports focusing 3Boyer, 164-65. 4U.S. D epartm ent o f Education, A Nation at 512 / C& RL News specifically upon u n d erg rad u ate education fol­ lowed soon after.3 All o f these reports asserted the im portance o f active learning. Faculty w ere urged to make g reater use o f active m odes o f teaching and require th a t students take g reater responsibility for th eir learning. T he reports em phasize th e im por­ tance o f m ore in d ependence in th e classroom, with “less te llin g an d m o re asking an d c ritiq u in g .”6 Again and again, th e concept em phasized is “active learning.” Students should not be tre a te d as objects of learning b u t as colleagues in the learning p ro c­ ess. Among o th e r w orthy objectives, these reports provide an im petus for a new look at th e role o f th e library in u n dergraduate education. In a w orld o f rapidly expanding inform ation and proliferating technology, u n d erg rad u ate students n e e d to be prepared for a future w here they will continue to learn and be educated. As H arlan C leveland w rote in “E ducating for th e Inform ation Society,” those “people who do not educate them selves—and keep re-educating them selves— to p articip ate in th e new knowledge environm ent will be th e peasants of the inform ation society.”7 T he library provides a laboratory w here students can be train ed to take a more active role in th eir own education and be taught how to learn not only for today b u t for the future. Librarians in consort with faculty m em bers can em pow er u n d erg rad u ate students to becom e independent, self-directed learners— not passive recipients o f inform ation. T he academ ic library can play a vital role in ensuring th at students acquire the skills and attitudes towards learning and infor­ mation th at will allow th em to keep abreast o f the rapid changes in this “inform ation society.” Librarians and faculty have trie d nu m ero u s times in the past one h u n d re d years to give the library a larger role in th e educational process of students, b u t none o f these efforts have b een completely successful. O ne o f th e m ost co m p re­ hensive endeavors to increase th e role o f th e library Risk: The Im p era tive f o r E d u cational R eform (Washington, D.C.: N ational Com m ission on Ex­ cellence in E ducation, 1983). 5These reports are: To Reclaim a Legacy (W ash­ ington, D.C.: National E n d ow m ent for th e H u ­ manities, 1984); Involvem ent in Learning: Realiz­ ing the Potential o f Am erican H igher Education (Washington, D.C.: National In stitu te o f E d u ca­ tion, 1984); F rank Newm an, H igher E ducation and the American Resurgence (Princeton, N.J.: T he C arnegie F o u n d atio n for th e A dvancem ent o f Teaching, 1985); F red erick Rudolph, Integrity in the Undergraduate C urriculum (Denver: E d u ca­ tional Commission o f th e States, 1986). 6Newman, xi. 7Harlan Cleveland, “E ducating for th e Inform a­ tion Age,” Change 17 (July/August 1985): 21. can be found in th e library-college m ovem ent th at began in th e 1930s. T he proponents o f th e library- college concept thought th at the library instead of th e classroom should be th e m ajor source o f a stu d e n t’s learning. A stu d en t w ould learn by means o f in d e p en d en t study carefully planned by both the stu d e n t and by bibliographically expert faculty m em bers to achieve a specific aim. Advocates o f th e library-college envisioned students freed from th e rigidly prescribed lockstep o f classroom, lec­ tures and grades pursuing educations th a t would be truly c en tered on th e ir specific needs. T he library-college concept was an intriguing idea, and elem ents o f th e library-college philoso­ phy w ere adopted by a n u m b e r o f institutions. Louis Shores, an early p ro p o n en t o f this philoso­ phy, estim ated in 1975 th a t some 300 colleges w ere using some elem ents o f th e library-college m odel.8 Ultimately, however, no institutions ever evolved into p u re library-colleges, b u t this model is c e r­ tainly w orth a reexam ination today as one m ethod o f making students m ore “active” learners. This is an ideal tim e to rethink th e relationship betw een th e library and th e classroom. As a result o f th e reports discussed earlier, many institutions o f higher education are reexam ining th e ir u n d e r­ graduate curricula and are puttin g a new em phasis on th e proactive stu d en t and th e process o f disci­ plined inquiry at th e undergraduate level. T he objective o f creating a m ore dynam ic learning environm ent for undergraduates cannot be carried out fully w ithout th e active involvem ent o f th e library and th e librarians. T he relationship betw een th e classroom and th e library needs to be restru c­ tu re d and a new p artnership forged, with th e li­ brary playing an expanded role in undergraduate education. Although not a library-college in th e strictest sense, th e re w ould be elem ents o f th e library-college m odel contained in this new coop­ erative venture. T he gap betw een th e classroom and th e library th a t Boyer discussed has to be bridged, b u t librari­ ans alone can not provide th e bridge. A partnership betw een th e library and th e classroom cannot be created w ithout th e cooperation o f the teaching faculty. Librarians have often rightly b een accused o f insularity and for caring m ore about acquisition and preservation o f library collections than th eir use. Those attitudes have b een discarded by most academ ic librarians in th e past few decades as librarians have becom e m ore user o rien ted and have a tte m p te d to educate students about library resources. In m ost colleges and universities, li­ brarians have instituted bibliographic instruction program s and have created subject bibliographies, 8Louis Shores, “Library College: Prototype for Universal H igher E d ucation,” The Encyclopedia of L ibrary and Inform ation Science, 1975, p. 465. self-paced library resource manuals and other user aids. Some o f these librarians have been assisted by interested faculty, but the num ber of faculty who are actively involved in this effort is small. Library instruction succeeds best when it is an integral part o f a student’s coursework, and most faculty have not integrated library resources into their teaching. But, there are some convincing arguments that can be m ustered in favor of more library-centered education. First, this m ethod can be more individually tai­ lored to the needs of the individual learner. Stu­ dents differ greatly in their ability, motivation and cognitive styles, and these differences have im por­ tant consequences for the way in which students learn. The library could provide multi-m edia ap­ proaches to gathering information about the same topic, and students would be able to utilize their preferred learning styles. In addition, a more library-centered curriculum would be b etter able to match the developmental needs of students. Even within the traditional 18-22 year college age span, students may be in many different developmental stages. Add to this the non-traditional students, some coming to col­ lege for the first tim e and others returning for con­ tinuing education, and it becom es very difficult to shape a classroom experience that m eets all of these developmental needs. The more individual­ ized library-centered curriculum would be more flexible in m eeting these needs. This m ethod of learning would also be more like the real world for which students are preparing. After graduation, students will not learn from lec­ tures and lists of reserve books. They need to be prepared for this future now by being taught how to gather, evaluate, and utilize sources on their own. They need to be taught while in college how to develop patterns of critical thinking which they can use as effectively after graduation as during their college days. In addition, library-centered learning would give the faculty a unique chance to do some m od­ elling for the students. Faculty m em bers expect to transm it knowledge by lecture, but how much of their learning do they get by that means? How often does a college professor sit in on a class offered by another? Not often. They gain new knowledge by reading journals, exchanging refer­ ences, talking to colleagues and keeping up with the literature that appears in their fields. In short, their learning takes place outside the classroom. Faculty should teach students to learn in the same way that they do their own learning. Even when faculty are convinced that a more library-centered learning process is superior to the traditional classroom methods, the new p artn e r­ ship betw een library faculty and teaching faculty will not be easy to achieve because it will require basic changes in the way each group functions. But a powerful outside force is already impelling both faculty and librarians to rethink their purpose and function—that is the force of the new technologies which are slowly infiltrating higher education. On many campuses the new information technologies are requiring a reexamination of how students should be taught and how scholarly information should be provided and made accessible. Some schools such as Brown, Carnegie-Mellon, and MIT have invested heavily in the com puterization of their campuses and already have networks in place for campus-wide information sharing. At these institutions, com puters are being used in classroom teaching and for linking faculty, students and li­ braries. But most colleges and universities are still not fully utilizing the technology that is available, and so there has not yet been sufficient tim e to study how this innovation may change the lives of faculty, students, and, indeed, the very nature of higher education. It seems likely that the educational revolution being driven by technological forces will force the academic library into a more centralized role in undergraduate education while at the same time providing the means to make this change viable. For, with the advent of the new technologies, the library is at last able to escape the boundaries of its physical location. One of the major reasons that the library-college concept discussed earlier did not succeed was because it called for a sweeping realignm ent of learning with all learning taking place within the physical confines of the library building. The new technologies make the library-college concept possible because the resources contained in the library can now be made available not just in the library but across campus as well. In addition, by the use of library networks, the resources of librar­ ies across the country will also be available to faculty and students through their individual com ­ p u te r workstations. Most campuses do not yet have the technology available to begin the restructuring of higher ed u ­ cation, but every campus has the capability to begin now to make its education more library centered; then, when the technological infrastructure is in place, it will be able to utilize it fully. W hat should be done now to encourage an expanded role of the library in undergraduate education? First, the faculty need to be encouraged to move away from the lecture/textbook m ethod of educa­ tion to a more library-centered one. Before they are going to do this, however, many faculty m em ­ bers will need to be re-educated about the re ­ sources and the technology already available in the library. Librarians need to work harder at keeping faculty inform ed and up-to-date about the library. Libraries have changed more in the past few dec­ 514 / C &R L News ades th a n they h ad in hundreds o f years. T echnol­ ogy has provided th e means to offer services and to access m aterials in ways never possible before. Even librarians who work closely with these new technologies and resources have to struggle to stay abreast o f the changes. It is little w onder th at individuals who use a library infrequently are often overw helm ed by th e changes in th e materials avail­ able and th e services offered even in th e ir own subject areas. Faculty m ust be apprised o f w hat is available because only w hen faculty them selves feel com fortable using th e resources o f th e library, will they be likely to have th eir students use them . Faculty should be encouraged to work to d e ­ velop library c e n te re d assignm ents. T h ere are some liberal arts colleges, for example, Earlham , which have already instituted m ore library-cen­ tered curricula. Class units based on library re ­ search, learning contracts, and in d e p en d en t study are all being utilized. Ideas from colleges such as these should be dissem inated to th e faculty, and perhaps some faculty and librarians could visit them to see how library-based education works. As colleges struggle to change th e ir curricula to make th e student a m ore active participant in th e learning process, librarians m ust stay familiar with what is being planned. Librarians should be placed on com m ittees which deal with th e restructuring o f the curriculum and assigned to work as liaisons with specific d epartm ents on cam pus. Many librarians have advanced subject area degrees and could be encouraged to work with faculty in developing library-based courses. In some cases, courses could be team taught by regular faculty and by librarians. As more colleges invest in co m p u ter technology to be used in teaching, librarians can work with faculty to develop th e coursew are necessary to utilize the technology. Conversely, w hen th e library plans for new te c h ­ nology, the librarians should work closely with teaching faculty in deciding w hat technological resources would be most effective in providing the linkages n eed ed to bridge th e gap betw een the classroom and the library. In addition, th e re should be a cam pus-wide com m ittee in place to plan for the integration o f all th e learning resources on campus. Finally, and perhaps m ost im portant, to make this partnership succeed th e re m ust be a strong institutional com m itm ent to support th e necessary changes. Cam pus leaders m ust support and e n ­ courage th e integration o f library and classroom learning. W ithout th e support and encouragem ent of adm inistration, lasting change is unlikely. These are th e types o f changes th at n eed to be instituted now, so that universities and colleges will be able to make wiser decisions about th e larger changes that will undoubtedly be confronting them in a few years w hen th eir cam pus networks are in place and powerful scholars’ workstations make easy sharing o f inform ation betw een faculty, stu ­ dents, and the library possible. T hese changes will also enable institutions to be b e tte r able to cope w ith th e likely transform ation o f traditional higher education. Some futurists have p red ic ted th at colleges of th e future will be com pletely deinstitutionalized. Students will cease to atten d classes because they will b e able to learn at hom e with th e aid o f co m p u t­ ers. These prophets foresee th e disappearance o f b o th th e college and its libraries as th e ir functions are replaced by electronic technology. It seem s unlikely th a t a change this drastic will occur anytime in th e n ear future. Most students n e e d th e hum an contact found in interactions with o th e r students and faculty. But, it does seem likely th a t th e day o f th e lecture, textbook and reserve reading list are num bered. Technology will provide a m eans for students to move at an individualized pace through learning materials. H ypertext-based learning systems will allow students to draw to ­ g e th e r th e work o f outside authorities, o th er stu ­ dents, and their teachers and th e n add th e ir own contributions. Both the full-text and bibliographic resources o f the library will be available to students in th e ir classrooms and dorm itories. M ultim edia resources will be easily accessible and utilized in com bination with traditional p rin t media. F acu lty will use both com m ercial and self-created course­ w are to create interactive learning experiences. T hese new inform ation technologies have the capacity to transform th e world o f higher education and to tu rn every student into an active learner. W hen th e physical barriers separating th e class­ room and the library no longer exist, th e library- college concept will be able to succeed. T he library will becom e an integral p art o f th e classroom expe­ rience because th e library can becom e p art o f every classroom (and dorm room and faculty office). W e are still a few years away from this future, b u t colleges and universities should be working now to p rep are for it. E rn est Boyer states th at quality in higher education can be m easured by th e resources available for learning and th e extent to which stu ­ dents are encouraged to becom e in d ep en d en t, self-directed learners.9 Perhaps this statem ent can b e carried one step further. It seems likely th a t the institutions which now are trying to improve th eir learning resources and to make th eir students in d e­ p e n d e n t learners will be the institutions best able to m ake th e transition to th e new world o f higher education. A u th o r ’s Note: This article is adapted fr o m a speech made at the rededication o f M yrin L ibrary Ursinus College, in N ovem ber 1989. 9Boyer, 160.