ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Teaching with scratch paper

By Carol Withers and Donnelyn Curtis

An example of minimalist library instruction

The problem.Our patrons often do not write down sufficient or appropriate information from the indexes and our OPAC to actually retrieve an article. The situation has been exacerbated by the addition of a tape- loaded general index (that we called PAN) to our online system, at which time our subscription to InfoTrac was cancelled. InfoTrac had been popular and heavily used by patrons, due in part to its provision of holdings infor- mation. Unlike our CD-ROM workstations, most of our OPAC terminals don’t have print- ers, and although the index has links to the library’s holdings, the steps to the call num- ber are not obvious.

Steps toward a solution.Increasingly, we have found ourselves providing patrons with handwritten lists of what they need to write down from indexes and the OPAC to help them learn the two-step process of finding an article: 1) using a print index or PAN;

2) using the OPAC or PAN’s linking feature to see if or where we housed the item. In library instruction classes we present this information with an overhead transparency and discuss it at length. We have developed PAN and printed index worksheets for freshman English students to help reinforce the twostep concept.

Because not all library users attend instruction sessions, and even those who attend do not usually internalize the entire retrieval process, we first thought of adapting the instructional worksheets to something we could distribute at the reference desk that would instruct (or remind) users while at the same time it would guide them through the steps, with blank lines for each element of the citation and for the journal’s call number.

As we considered the worksheet format, we began to acknowledge the resistance to instruction we sometimes encounter at the desk, usually from graduate students and faculty, even when it is obvious that they also need to learn the retrieval process. We removed instructional wording and reduced the size of the two worksheets to a half page and then abbreviated and further reduced them to a less cum- bersome quarter-page size. They intentionally look like simple forms, and yet they are still designed to teach unobtrusively the step-by- step process. We print them on the blank side of used paper and place the PAN form alongside the scratch paper that is used for writing down call numbers of books, around the OPAC termi- nals, and at all public service desks.

Form 1.

The index form is placed near in- dexes in place of scratch paper.

One possible drawback to the forms is that, because of their sim- plicity, the patron is not prompted to write down all of the informa- tion required for interlibrary loan. We have decided to go with sim- plicity over thoroughness for a number of reasons: it serves our purpose of teaching the process; a simpler form is more likely to be used; its small size makes it easy to distribute; and it is fairly easy for patrons to retrace their steps and get additional information if needed.

We maintain the flexible attitude that these forms can easily be changed when new or better ideas are developed. With their adoption, we’ve seen fewer incomplete citations. Patrons have accepted them as useful tools and are beginning to ask us for them. We believe that the forms are instructional as well as convenient, and that they encourage users to be independent without pedantry on our part.

Form 2.

Carol Withers and Donneleyn Curtis are reference librarians at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces; e-mail: cwithers@lib.nmsu.edu, dcurtis@lib.nmsu.edu