Understanding Librarians. Communication Is the Issue

181 Pages·2011·1.598 MB·English

by  Barbara Hull (Auth.)

Understanding Librarians
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Understanding Librarians
Communication is the issue
Barbara Hull
with Contributions from Marion
Churkovich, Christine Oughtred
and Denise Turner
Chandos Publishing
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Oxford OX28 4BN
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First published in 2011
ISBN:
978 1 84334 615 9
© B. Hull, M. Churkovich, C. Oughtred and D. Turner, 2011
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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
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This book is dedicated to Bill, my lifelong partner,
who probably values libraries even more than I do myself.
List of tables
Table 6.1 Large/small power distance societies
and teaching and learning cultures 58
Table 7.1 Percentage of adults with low literacy
and low numeracy 65
xiii
About the author
and contributors
Barbara Hull
Dr. Barbara Hull is the author of the British Library-
commissioned Report ‘Barriers to Libraries as agents of
lifelong learning’ For many years she has demonstrated a
simultaneous enthusiasm for both library management and
teaching – a range of subjects including information literacy
skills, inviting the epithet ‘poacher and gamekeeper’.
Her fi rst experience of working in libraries was as an
assistant in a UK university library in the 1960s. She then
became an undergraduate herself and gained an Honours
degree in French Studies from Manchester University in
1972. After qualifying as a teacher in 1973, she began her
teaching career, teaching French and Latin in secondary
schools and French in Adult and Community Education.
In 1977, while still maintaining her involvement in adult
education, she qualifi ed as a librarian at the then Manchester
Polytechnic and she went on to gain valuable experience as a
librarian in a special library where she devised a unique
retrieval system. She then became the librarian in a tertiary
xv
Understanding Librarians
college, where she was responsible for setting up the library
from the college’s inception. Here, after observing students’
very minimal information handling skills, she started to
teach a library studies course.
In 1986 she was awarded an MA from Salford University,
her thesis being a study of the impact of architectural design
on the functioning of two large public libraries.
Her awareness of the problems faced by the adult learner
has grown throughout her working life. The life-changing
effects of involvement in adult education, observed in the
fi eld, led to formal research at the University of Leeds, where
in 1997 she was awarded a PhD for her thesis, ‘Changes in
the self concepts of adult students with special reference to
previous educational disadvantage’.
In tandem with her role as Senior Tutor Librarian at a
large further education college, she also taught French,
English and job seeking skills. She was appointed as Social
Sciences Librarian at Teesside University in 1992, a position
which involved a heavy teaching load of Information
Handling skills. Becoming increasingly sensitised to the very
crucial role played by libraries in the education process and
the communication barriers which can impede access to
information she applied to the British Library for research
funding in this area and in 1998, as the result of a competitive
bid, she was awarded funding to conduct a large scale
research project. This resulted in the publication of the
British Library report, ‘Barriers to Libraries as agents of
lifelong learning’ and generated numerous journal
publications and international conference presentations, a
number by invitation.
In 2000, updating her interest in language teaching, she
qualifi ed as an ESOL teacher and subsequently taught the
‘English for Learning’ module to non-native speakers of
English at Teesside University, where in 2003 she was
xvi
About the author and contributors
nominated as the university’s fi rst Associate Teaching Fellow.
She was awarded a Trinity College Diploma in ESOL in
2005 and is currently a Trinity international ESOL examiner,
working mainly in Europe.
Dr. Hull may be contacted at the Social Futures Institute,
Teesside University, Middlesbrough TS1 3BA, UK (b.hull@
tees.ac.uk).
Christine Oughtred and Marion Churkovich are Liaison
librarians for Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin
University, Geelong campus at Waurn Ponds.
Contact details: [email protected]
[email protected]
Denise Turner is currently Assistant Director (Learning and
Research Support) at Teesside University. Before moving to
Teesside she worked in public libraries and further education.
Since joining the University she has developed her interest in
education and qualifi ed as a teacher. She has co-authored
papers on information literacy and methods of assessment.
She was recently a member of a JISC funded project on study
skills (UKAN-SKILLS). Her interests include e-learning, the
use of educational technology and information literacy.
Contact details: [email protected].
xvii
1
Defi ning the problem
Abstract: This chapter explains the ideas behind the impetus
to write this book. It considers the concern regarding
communication failure in general, the traditional mismatch
between expert and layman and some observations on
ameliorating the problems. It contains a brief synopsis of the
book as a whole.
Key words: communication failure, libraries, expert and
layman.
Rationale for this book
Many useful and erudite books have been written by
librarians, to advise and guide librarians. Many have been
written by librarians as guides to non-librarians in their
quests for information. Understandably, however clearly
expressed, these books are written primarily from a librarian’s
perspective. Our view of the world is formed by our
experience. As a practising librarian of many years standing,
with qualifi cations and extensive experience in other areas of
endeavour (schoolteacher, adult educator, tax offi cer, to
name some) I believe that I may be in the privileged position
of having access to a variety of perspectives which have
informed the writing of this book, which is written with the
intention of improving understanding and communication
between librarians and others.
1