Library instruction design : learning from Google and Apple

152 Pages·2014·7.72 MB·English

by  Di Su

Library Instruction Design
CHANDOS
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL SERIES
Series Editor: Ruth Rikowski
(Email: [email protected])
Chandos’ new series of books is aimed at the busy information professional.
They have been specially commissioned to provide the reader with an authoritative
view of current thinking. They are designed to provide easy-to-read and
(most importantly) practical coverage of topics that are of interest to librarians
and other information professionals. If you would like a full listing of current and
forthcoming titles, please visit our website, www.chandospublishing.com.
New authors: we are always pleased to receive ideas for new titles; if you would
like to write a book for Chandos, please contact Dr Glyn Jones on g.jones.2@
elsevier.com or telephone [phone].
Library Instruction Design
Learning from Google and Apple
D S
I U
AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • CAMBRIDGE • HEIDELBERG • LONDON
NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO
SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
Chandos Publishing is an imprint of Elsevier
Chandos Publishing
Elsevier Limited
The Boulevard
Langford Lane
Kidlington
Oxford OX5 1GB
UK
store.elsevier.com/Chandos-Publishing-/IMP_207/
Chandos Publishing is an imprint of Elsevier Limited
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
store.elsevier.com
First published in 2014
ISBN 978-1-84334-741-5 (print)
ISBN 978-1-78063-407-4 (online)
Chandos Information Professional Series ISSN: 2052-210X (print) and ISSN: 2052-2118 (online)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013957390
© D. Su, 2014
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. This publication may
not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or
cover other than that in which it is published without the prior consent of the publisher. Any person
who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution
and civil claims for damages.
The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the
information contained in this publication and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for
any errors or omissions.
The material contained in this publication constitutes general guidelines only and does not
represent to be advice on any particular matter. No reader or purchaser should act on the basis of
material contained in this publication without first taking professional advice appropriate to their
particular circumstances. All screenshots in the publication are the copyright of the website
owner(s), unless indicated otherwise.
Typeset by Domex e-Data Pvt. Ltd., India
Printed in the UK and USA.
Dedication
To Shaoshan and Emma
List of tables
2.1 General purposes and appropriate
instructional forms 22
2.2 Content to teach for short-term goals 23
2.3 Content to teach for long-term goals 24
2.4 Design principles and tasks 25
4.1 Comparable categories in business and
education 66
4.2 Philosophies and principles we may borrow
from Google and Apple 68
4.3 Library orientation in two styles 73
7.1 Suitable styles for the design of library
instruction programs 100
7.2 Comparison between the two styles applied
to library instruction 101
xi
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Chandos Publishing for giving me the
opportunity to write this book; and my thanks go to the
people at Chandos, especially assistant commissioning
editor George Knott, commissioning editor Jonathan Davis,
copy editor Louise Larchbourne, production editor
Fenton Coulthurst, publisher Dr. Glyn Jones and all the
staff members who were involved in this project, for their
professionalism and patience.
I also wish to thank Dr. William Miller, who kindly agreed
to write a foreword for the book. I am appreciative of my
York College Library colleagues, whose encouragement was
the source of my energy. I am indebted to my wife, Shaoshan
Li, who always reads my manuscripts and offers invaluable
advice, for her understanding and tolerance.
This book would have been impossible without the help
of all of you. For this, I am truly grateful.
xiii
Foreword:
Evolving Instructional Activities
by Using the Philosophies of
Google and Apple
People keep predicting the death of libraries, but unlike so many
other institutions, from telegraph offices to travel agencies,
libraries have survived, because librarians have had the wisdom
to evolve as technology and societal needs have changed. Had
libraries remained merely repositories for printed materials,
they would now be history. However, far from being a thing of
the past, the average academic library today is a vibrant
institution, one of the most heavily used facilities on campus,
and a favorite place for both socializing and scholarship.
The author of this book has traced the history of library
instruction for those unfamiliar with it, but he has also gone
far beyond that, pointing to the philosophies of both Google
and Apple as guideposts which can better enable libraries to
evolve and meet user needs as time goes by. Google’s search
engine clearly put libraries’ arcane search processes to
shame, and as a result most academic libraries have now
implemented Summon, or a similar discovery tool, which
comes close to the simplicity and power of the Google
search, but focuses on the library’s own collection—an
imitation that has made collections much more ‘discoverable’
than heretofore, though much work remains to be done to
achieve total accessibility to the information most libraries
theoretically have to offer.
xv
Library Instruction Design
Google’s simplicity and focus on giving the user what he
or she wants quickly are admirable, but not always optimal.
Di Su points out that Apple’s top-down approach also has
its value; in their role as educators, academic librarians
sometimes have to expand the users’ universe, and tell them
what they need to know, not just what they had assumed
would be enough. Without being overly prescriptive, Su
points out circumstances in which one philosophy or the other
is preferable. A library tour or a 50-minute one-shot lecture
is no place to provide specialized content, much as the
librarian might desire to engage in that futile attempt. In a
15-week course, however, inculcation of in-depth content is
reasonable and potentially more helpful to students than just
providing them with simple sources and approaches.
It is interesting to consider that libraries have much to learn
both from Google’s service-oriented, patron-centered, bottom-up
design and from Apple’s vision-driven, top-down, long-term
approach. Both the ‘yin’ of the one and the ‘yang’ of the other
are important, as is having the wisdom to know when to apply
each. Su’s thoughtful analysis will help librarians apply both
philosophies and even more importantly, help them to realize
that instructional activities are not one-size-fits-all gloves into
which every instructional effort must be shoved.
As my own career as a person formerly much involved
with reference and instruction approaches its end, it is good
to see people like Di Su carrying the ball forward and
advancing the work which so many of us devoted ourselves
to in earlier decades. Here’s hoping that he and his colleagues
will continue to learn the lessons society and our users are
teaching us, and help libraries to evolve as useful institutions,
even though their missions and roles may change over time.
William Miller
Dean of University Libraries
Florida Atlantic University
xvi
About the author
Di Su is Associate Professor and Head of Information
Literacy at York College Library of the City University of
New York (CUNY), USA. He holds a Master’s degree in
Library Science (MLS) from the State University of New
York at Albany. His work experience ranges from public
library through corporate library to academic library.
Having a wide range of interests, he has been a contributor
to publications including Information Outlook, Journal of
Electronic Resources Librarianship and The Reference
Librarian, as well as to publications in other areas such as
music, business, and sports. He was the editor of Evolution
in Reference and Information Services: The Impact of the
Internet (Binghamton, NY: Haworth Information Press,
2001) and Collection Development Issues in the Online
Environment (Binghamton, NY: Haworth Information Press,
2007).
xvii