1.
Introduction: Library
user education or library instruction or bibliographic instruction (BI) or
library orientation, consists of instructional programs designed to teach the
library users how to identify and locate the information they need quickly and
effectively. It usually covers the library’s system of organizing materials;
finding tools (library catalogue, indexes and abstracting services,
bibliographic databases, etc.) and teaching of concepts like controlled
vocabulary. Broadly defined, library user education teaches users how to make
the most effective use of the library system.
2. Definition: Fleming (1990)
defined user education “as various programs of instruction, education and
exploration provided by libraries to users to enable them to make more
effective, efficient and independent use of information sources and services to
which these libraries provide access”.
According
to Jacques Tacatlian, user education is to include any effort or programme
which will guide and instruct existing and potential users in the recognition
and formulation of their information needs, in the effective and efficient use
of information services and their assessment.
Mews
has defined user education as “instruction given to readers to help them to
make best use of the library”.
Nancy
Fjalibrant and Ian Malley said that “user education is concerned with the whole
information and communication process and one part of this involves the total
interaction of the user with the library. This should be continuous process
starting with school and public libraries and with possibilities of extension
into academic and specialised libraries”.
3. Needs of User
Education: The
majority of new learners entering into the libraries are seriously facing
problems that stresses on the user education. They don't know how to deal with
new environment; they need careful and special guides which help them to deal
with various sources of information independently. The goal is always teaching
so that users would transfer what they learned to new situations, reference
tools, and environments new to them—that is, they would learn how to learn.
Besides these, libraries have long been acknowledged as single resources
supporting teaching, learning, and research. They are the chief contributor to
the ‘repository of knowledge’ characteristic of a college or university which
sets it aside from other institutions of higher learning. So it has a central
role in assisting users to find relevant information in the most appropriate
format in a timely fashion (and at an acceptable cost to the user or the
funding institution or both). The major need arises for
a) Introducing to the Library: The new users are new to the facilities,
services of the library and have no idea about its collection and how to deal
with it. They need to be instructed about their routes to the information,
duties and responsibilities as well as the services for which they can depend
on the libraries.
b) Effective use of Information: Library user education prepares
individuals to make immediate and lifelong use of information effectively by
teaching the concepts and logic of information access and evaluation, and by
fostering information independence and critical thinking.
c) Enhancing use of the Library: After admitting the learners /
students in the college / university the freshmen should be introduced to the
library or there should be a scope for orientation / education programme to
enhance their library use.
d) Dealing with Information Explosion: The amount of
information available in any field drastically increased during last few
decades and they are now available in different formats and scattered widely.
The user feels the need of training to deal with it.
e) Enhancing the Capabilities: Absence of proper library guidance at
the lower level, i.e. at the school, college generally lead to ineffective
literature search, and resultant waste of precious time.
f) Providing Assistance: The major difficulties with the
E-Journal are that the users are not generally aware about the subscribed
E-journal in their field of specialization. Sometimes they also forget the URL
of the subscribed E-journal so at every point of time they need assistant or
their movement should be controlled otherwise they will lose themselves in the
vast amount of information that are available over internet.
4. Objectives of
Library User Education: Objectives for library instruction were established
as early as 1881 when Otis Hall Robinson called for clarification of
instructional goals at the American Library Association conference. He wanted
purposeful instruction. As relevant today as they were a hundred years ago,
three important objectives were cited:
a) Students need
to “develop the art of discrimination” to be able to judge the value of books
to develop critical judgment;
b) Students need
to become independent learners-to teach themselves;
c) Students need
to continue to read and study-to becomes lifelong learners.
The
basic objective of user education is to introduce the user to library
techniques, resources and services and thus turn the potential user into an
actual user. Further, it is often noted that in all libraries, the users are
not really interested in libraries but are interested in them; only as a means
to their end purpose of finding out what they are really interested in, i.e.
their subject. This clearly indicates that the users should be taught about
“how to get the information they want”.
5.
Categories of User Education: User education includes all the
activities involved in teaching users how to make the best possible use of
library resources, services and facilities, including formal and informal
instruction delivered by the library staff. The user education can be of the following types
a) Library
Orientation: Library orientation is a user education programme
where the new users are introduced to the layout of the library, its services,
and facilities and so on.
b) Library
Instruction: Library instruction educates users to enable them to
use information resources-offline and online provided by the library. Library
instruction includes an introduction to the subject literature, books,
periodicals, handbooks, indexing and abstracting services, review of
literature, information retrieval, use of specialized bibliographic tools, card
catalogue, OPAC, current awareness service and so on.
6. Formats of
User Education Programme: Library instruction occurs in various forms such as
formal class settings, small group sessions, one-on-one encounters, written
guides and brochures, audiovisual presentations, virtual tour and such others.
A
model library instruction program utilizes complementary tools and resources to
deliver memorable, interactive instruction. Generally, the student with same
subject should be taught in the same class. The user education programme should
be innovative one and student centered active learning methods should be used.
Students
should firstly teach to the principal library services as well as major library
collection as well as teach to access and use relevant library electronic
resources. This should definitely include library home page, OPAC, basic
internet resources. Student should also teach to evaluate relevant World Wide
Web sites, distinguishing between popular and scholarly periodicals, citing
electronic materials and so on. They should be introduced to the library
subscribed electronic resources, database and how this could be used.
Identifying the information in the online OPAC, card and controlled vocabulary
list also proved to be useful.
The
following methodologies are adopted in user education programme.
a) Formal Class
/ Lecture Method: Lecture method is used for teaching large groups of
students and it make use of both auditory and visual sensory inputs via the
blackboard or overhead projectors, etc. In lecture method the students play a
passive role. The speed of delivery of information cannot be controlled by the
receiver and repletion is not possible unless printed hand-outs are provided.
The students can only manage to write a synopsis of the topic.
b) Seminar,
Tutorial and Demonstration: The seminar,
tutorial and demonstration are given to smaller groups of students than the
average lecture. Here the atmosphere tends to be less formal and there is
greater opportunity for conversation between the staff and students and between
the students themselves.
c) Guided Tour: In guided tour, the users are given a short tour to the library during
their first week as a student. In the library premises there is a tendency to
provide different written guides and brochures.
d) Audio-Visual
Method: Audio-visual material like film that depicts moving
pictures will be very suitable for library user education. This types of
material posses the ability to convey both motion and colour. They can be used
to create an atmosphere of reality which could be useful for students to learn
the things from distance.
e) Virtual Tour:
A virtual tour is a simulation of an existing
location, usually composed of a sequence of videos or still images. It may also
use other multimedia elements such as sound effects, music, narration, and
text. The library can think of providing the library user education programme
through virtual tour of the library.
7.
Evaluation and Feedback: It is necessary for user
education programmes to be evaluated to see whether users find them adequate
enough to enable them to identify information sources, facilities and tolls in
the library. There
are two purposes for evaluation-
a) Formative
Evaluation:
One is to measure the effectiveness of instruction for guidance in how to
improve the program.
b) Summative
Evaluation:
The other is to measure the effect of library instruction on the students and
their performance.
Most evaluation studies appear to fall
into one of three methods:
a) Opinion
Polls:
Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by
conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio
or within confidence intervals.
b) Knowledge
Testing:
Knowledge testing assesses learned skills or knowledge through written or by
other means. The question can be on the reference collection of the library,
periodical sections; subject based online collections that are available in the
library and so on.
c) Library Use
Observation: Observation
is the active acquisition of information from the user behaviour through senses
by asking them to search in Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), finding out
a reference book out of the reference stack and so on. By studying the patterns
of use of the library before and after the initiation of the programme the
evaluation can be carried out.
Evaluation can also be carried out by
means of pre-structured interviews with a random sample of participants and by
performance measurements.
The
assessment should also centered to overall instruction programme and should
motivate the users to submit their feedback for future modification.
Breivik (1982) study indicated that
library instruction correlated with higher course completion rates and term
paper writing scores. She concluded that the study did not show how well
instruction helps students with library use, but there is a demonstrated
correlation between library instruction and overall student academic
performance.
There are three methods which are
normally used for evaluation purpose. They are; the psychometric, the
sociological or management, and the illuminative or responsive.
a) Psychometric
Evaluation:
Psychometric evaluation is based on the assumption that it is possible to
expose experimental and control groups to different treatments, while all other
variables are controlled and to measure the changes by means of psychometric
tests, achievement tests or attitude scales. Thus, the experimental group may
be exposed to a new type of course where as the control group follows the
traditional course, in every other respect the two groups are exactly
comparable. Pre-tests and post-tests are: given to both groups and the analysis
is concerned with establishing significant differences in performance of the
two groups. This evaluation procedure is concerned with measuring output in
terms of pre-specified goals and no attention is paid to unexpected effects.
b) Sociological
or Management:
The sociological evaluation method is used in the study of changes in the
structure of an organisation. This type of evaluation makes use of interviews
and questionnaires. Attention is focused on the organisation undergoing the
change, rather than on comparison with any control group.
c) Illuminative
or Responsive:
The third type of evaluation has been called illuminative evaluation by Parlett
and Hamilton. It is not limited by the initial formulation or aims, but allows
the expression of unexpected results. The actual implementation of an innovation
is regarded as the most important part of the study, Research is focused on
what is actually happening in response to the innovation, This type of
evaluation is not concerned so much with testing of an educational `programme,
but with describing and understanding the conditions in which the programme
works, and how the participants are affected by it: Observational studies and
explorative interviews are used to obtain the information.
8. Role of
Library Orientation Exchange (LOEX): LOEX (http://www.loex.org) is a
non-profit, self-supporting educational clearinghouse which was established in
1971. The first conference was held at Eastern Michigan in 1973 and has been
held annually around the United States ever since. The LOEX borrowing
collection consists of print materials such as one page handouts,
bibliographies, and subject guides; instructional videos and audio tapes; and
CD-ROMS. By 2014, LOEX had over 685 members in the in the United States,
Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
9. Cephalonian
Method: The
cephalonian method is a method of active learning for library orientation first
made popular in the United Kingdom at Cardiff University. The name is taken
from a method used for orientation of tourists at a popular resort in
Cefalonia. Introduced to a wider audience in 2004 by Linda Davies and Nigel
Morgan, the method consists of giving the students at a library orientation
class cards with prepared questions they are to ask during the session for the
instructor to answer. Questions are grouped into categories and colour coded to
provide some structure; the order of the questions in any section is based on
the order the students choose to stand up which makes the sessions more random
and reduces the repetitive nature of library induction / orientation.
How to Cite this
Article?
APA Citation, 7th Ed.: Barman, B. (2020). A comprehensive book on Library and Information Science. New
Publications.
Chicago 16th Ed.: Barman, Badan. A Comprehensive Book on Library and Information Science. Guwahati:
New Publications, 2020.
MLA Citation 8th Ed: Barman, Badan. A Comprehensive Book on Library and Information Science. New
Publications, 2020.
Badan Barman
at present working as an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Library and Information Science,
Gauhati University, Guwahati-781014,
Assam, India. He is the creator of the LIS Links (http://www.lislinks.com) - India’s most popular social networking
website for Library
and Information Science professionals. He also created the UGC NET Guide (http://www.netugc.com) and LIS Study (http://www.lisstudy.com) website.
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