iassist quarterly - 15

Educating the

data user:
classroom support

services

by Bobbie Pollard'

Baruch College, CiK UniversiU' of New York

"You people are really in the business of selling

information" was a recent comment from a

faculty member at Baruch College after a

presentation to his class of 98 students. We
certainly are in the business of marketing

information. Indeed, our Classroom Support

Services Program is an active and proactive one.

During the past academic year we conducted

nearly 200 Library Research Workshops. Over

6000 students were spoken to directly and many
more were reached through printed literature

such as Resources for Research and Access

Guides. Currently, twenty-two departments in

the college use our services, including:

Marketing, Management, Business

Communications, Marketing, Education, Speech,

and English, to name only a few.

The goals of the Classroom Support Services are

to inform assist students in their search for

information for assignments in the various

classes, and, equally important, to provide them

with an imderstanding of how information is

organized in the various disciplines. These

information seeking skills help students develop

confidence in the use of bibliographic and

quantitative sources, not only for their college

assignments but throughout their their later

careers.

'Presented at the International Association for

Social Science Information Service and
Technology (IASSIST) Conference held in

Washington, D.C., May 26-29, 1988

The library research workshops are assignment

driven and given at the request of faculty.

Therefore the success of the program depends

on how well faculty are informed about the

importance of students learning how to do

research. We advertise our program to faculty

through a flyer and by attending departmental

meetings. A lot of our publicity is done by

word of mouth; a faculty member who is

pleased with the program tells his colleague.

Most of the requests come from otir

undergraduate faculty. We only do library

research workshops for classes with research

assignments (sometimes these assigimients are

made up by the librarians and faculty member

together), and we require faculty members to be

present at the workshops.

Summer 1988



16 - iassist quarterly

The content of a typical library research

workshop includes the following: (1) the

importance of information and an outline of a

research strategy with examples of tools

appropriate to the subject, discipline, or topics

that the students are researching; and (2)

practice in the library or online classroom using

the materials and techniques discussed in the

workshop. Practice is essential because it is

effective in clearing confusion and

misunderstandings about the information

presented in the workshop. Most workshops are

seventy-five minutes in length.

The majority of the subjects taught at Baruch

require students to use some type of public

data. The basic bibliographies and keys to

finding information which are tailored to the

content of the assignments and/or the course

are called Resources for Research. Most of the

Resources for Research include government

docments or an access tool that refers to

government documents as sources of

information. For example, the most heavily

used Resources for Research . "The Basic

Research Strategy", lists the Public Affairs

Information Service Bulletin (PAIS) which

indexes several government documents. The one

entitled "Company and Industry" includes many
other public data sources as well. Others that

include listings of public data sources are:

"International Marketing," "Statistics",

"Marketing", "Education", "International

Business", and "Business Journalism".

Public data are presented to students as being

plentiful, reasonable, and generally easily

accessible. Because Baruch College is one of

the largest business schools, it is not surprising

that our students need information on
companies, industries, marketing, and statistics.

Even the English classes tend to do research on
social science issues which required access to

government data. In the majority of workshops
some information on government data is

presented, but it is a crucial source of

information in the following classes; Business

Communications, Marketing, International

Business, and Business Journalism. Below is a

sampling of the kinds of information sought

most by students in these classes, with some

representative public data sources about which

students are informed.

The usual assignment in the business

communications and marketing classes requires

students to research companies, industries,

products, and demographic data. They need

information on sales, maketing, a financial

profile, market share information, etc. In these

classes, students are introduced to a variety of

public data sources such as annual reports of

publicly held companies, and U. S.

Department of Commerce publications such as

the U. S. Industrial Outlook . For statistical

information on both products and industries

students are advised to begin with the Statistical

Abstract which serves as a summary and guide

to most federal statistics including census data.

Predicasts F & S Index of Corporations and

Industries . PAIS, and other indices such the

Business Periodicals Index identify governmental

data in periodicals. For information in books,

students are shown how to look up information

by subject, e.g. U. S. industries, or by

governmental agency, e.g. U. S. Department

of Commerce.

In some market research classes, students are

required to develop questionnaires. The
instructors suggest that they look at many
different types of questionnaires. The
Inter-University Consortium for Political and

Soda! Research (ICPSR) codebooks such as The
Qualitv of American Life are very helpful to

students in completing these assignments.

In international business and international

marketing classes, students study conditions for

business in foreign countries and the import and

export trade. For assignments in these classes,

students are introduced to the numerous

publications produced by the U. S.

Department of State and U. S. Deparmenl of

Summer 1988



iassist quarterly — 17

Commerce. Background Notes . Overseas

Business Reports. Marketing in .. . and Foreign

Economic trends and Their Implications for the

United States are but a few of the public data

sources taught in these classes.

The business journalism class produces a

national periodical called Dollars and Sense .

The students research and write articles using

mostly primary- sources. Therefore, the>- need

general backgroimd information, names of

experts to interview, and a great deal of

statistical data to back up their theses. The

topics in the latest issue of this magazine,

AIDS, women entrepreneurs, illiteracy in the

workplace. West Indian businesses, are

representative of the articles that students write

for this publication. Public data sources on

national and local levels are used heavily.

Students are introduced to the following indices

which are excellent for identifying statistical

information to support a point of view or to

document a trend. The indices are the

American Statistical Index which identifies

statistical information in over 400 federal

governmental agencies, and Statistical Reference

Index , an excellent source of statistical data

published by local governments. For example.

Business Statistics by the New York State

Department of Commerc conttained important

statistical data on West Indian businesses in

New York. Students are also made familiar

with many other government publications

through the use of the Monthly Catalog . CIS

Index , and a multitude of other government

directories.n

Summer 1988