Week 4

This week I observed two library instruction classes: an entry level English course taught by Dr. Marilyn Parrish, the university archivist and special collections librarian, and an upper level business course taught by Professor Scott Anderson, the information systems librarian.

The students in the entry level English course have a series of assignments that revolve around using primary and secondary sources, and the first assignment in the series requires them to closely examine a primary source of their choice.  The instructor asked Marilyn to introduce students to primary sources:  how to find them and how to analyze them.  As the students gathered around the tables in Franklin House, they began looking at the various primary sources Marilyn pulled for the class.  There were some Millersville related items, such as yearbooks from the 1920s and '30s and confessions from the turn of the 20th century written by students who had broken the university's once very strict rules, as well as several 19th century books on diet, etiquette and health, and books and trial transcripts from some well-known local trials.  Students were encouraged to look through these various materials to get ideas for their assignment.

Marilyn began by having the class come up with a general definition of what a primary source is, and asked them to think about something from today's world that scholars might someday examine as a primary source.  The students then examined a letter written by a local man who served as a Union soldier during the Civil War, who was writing to his family back home in Lancaster County.  The students answered a series of questions that encouraged them to think critically about the letter and begin answering questions such as who was the man writing the letter, where he was from, what were his feelings about being a soldier, what were his feelings about the direction of the war, what were his feeling about the politics surrounding the war, what was his level of education, what was his socio-economic status, and what were his speech patterns like?  Marilyn also asked the students to related things that the soldier complained about in his letter to typical complaints of modern-day student life, which encouraged students to see commonalities in the human experience over time.  Through this exercise, the students learned the kinds of questions they should ask about a primary source, how to understand the content of a primary source, and to glean the context of a primary source from the details in it.  By asking students to compare the attitudes and mores expressed in the various texts with those of modern-day life, the students began to see how primary sources demonstrate shifts in social norms on campus and in society at large.

The upper level business course taught by Scott also revolved around an assignment the students received from their instructor, which involves researching, analyzing and preparing a report on a company.  Scott walked through the resources outlined in the research guide he prepared for the class, and explained to the student which resources would be good to use for various parts of the assignment.  He gave the class examples of specific questions they might ask about the company they chose to investigate for the assignment and explained how they might go about answering those questions with the resources available.  In doing so, Scott got the students to think critically about how to examine a company and how to approach the kinds of questions and problems that arise in the business world.  The students could carry forward the research and critical thinking skills they learned from Scott not only to this specific assignment, but to all of their assignments in the business department, and to the work they will do in their jobs after graduation.  Scott also gave the student tips about using the resources available - which databases are best suited for different parts of the assignment, which platforms work best with certain databases, and best practices for conducting searches in specific databases.

Although they addressed very different subjects and students at different levels, both Scott and Marilyn demonstrate the value of library instruction - giving student not only hands-on experience with the research tools they need to complete assignments now, but also the critical thinking skills they will need to tackle the challenges they will face in their future careers.  Library instruction really compliments and enhances the goals and objectives that all instructors across campus have for the student body.

In addition to having my first opportunities to observe library instruction, I also continued to work this week on the library move.  I talked to various people involved in the move and learned that we are very close to having details about the type and amount of shelving that will be available in the renovated library.  We also discussed strategies for measuring the collection and mapping out where materials will be placed in the renovated library.  I also researched various open-source, freely available project management programs that would allow everyone involved in the move to track upcoming deadlines and milestones on a shared calendar, create and check off shared to-do lists, create and participate in shared discussions about various details of the move, and share documents relevant to the project.  Fortunately there are several well respected and easy to use project management tools freely available on the web that allow team members to work together on projects.