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Vast library research resources underused

by Abby Person

Fifteen years ago, a student doing research in the library could limit her search to a few printed sources leaving any possible computer searching to a professional librarian. Today however, students are bombarded with resources that vary from books to obscure databases to very specified bibliographies.

A report issued in September by the 1996 General Faculty Library Committee describes various problems that these increased resources have created. The report focuses on students' information illiteracy and the under use of the College's vast research resources.

An example of students' inefficient use of library resources is the Lexis/Nexis database. A search can often yield 2000 articles on an entered topic. Unfamiliarity with the limiting features of the search system leads students to searching through hundreds of selected articles that may not contain usable information.

Reference librarians are available to all library patrons to aid in these searches, but Oberlin students are often unfamiliar with their importance and purpose.

This report of the committee outlines steps the committee believes the College as a whole should take to increase information literacy of the students.

The report, distributed to all department chairs, contains descriptions of the various problems that plague students doing library research as well as an overall prognosis that Oberlin students are not becoming adequately information literate.

Reference librarians in Mudd and branch libraries expressed concern regarding the difficulty of keeping Oberlin students aware of the myriad resources available to them. Their teaching duties, according to Cynthia Cromer, a Reference Librarian, are normally limited to explaining search techniques when directly asked by students at the Reference Desk.

The individual approach to making Oberlin students critical users of library resources has been deemed inadequate by the GF Library Committee. The teaching role of reference librarians, the report suggested, should be integrated into every student's curriculum.

The GF Library Committee has suggested five skills that define goals of the proposal to promote information literacy. According to the report, Oberlin students should better understand how information is produced, disseminated and organized. They should know how to formulate questions. They should know how to access and evaluate information. And they should be able to understand how to make use of this information.

The report suggests that first and second-year general courses include library research in their class scope. It also calls for advanced courses on research methods to be available within a major. A suggested model for the advanced course is the Chemical Information course available to Chemistry majors.

The report was addressed at an interdepartmental meeting of faculty in October. The response was generally positive. Cromer said that in order to begin incorporating information literacy into the various fields of study the library is starting with those who teach them. Special sessions and refresher courses on library use will be offered to faculty during Winter Term.

The focus of these classes will be the vast array of technology involved with library searches today. Organizers hope that the classes will alert faculty to what students need to be exposed to in the realm on information searching. Using CD-ROM networks, on-line searches, and other electronic search engines to find journal articles and journals is will be a focus of the classes.

Librarians remain an integral part of library use because "the universe of information is so vast," Cromer said. The librarians stress that although their position is one of help to all library patrons, it remains on of teaching so as to educate library users in general information literacy. A reference librarian can be found on duty over sixty hours a week.

According to Cromer, the librarians wish to break down barriers that prevent students from asking even the most simple questions at the Reference Desk. No one should feel lost in the library, she reminded. "We are committed to helping people to find information."

With the goals and actions outlined in "Information Literacy and the Oberlin Education" the GF Committee hopes to graduate Oberlin students not only with the information that they gained here but also with the ability to obtain useful information quickly given the resources of the modern world.


Oberlin

Copyright © 1996, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 125, Number 9; November 15, 1996

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