Classroom
Odyssey: Teaching Adventures in the
Art Library & Cyberspace
Tuesday
April 3, 2001; 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Moderators:
B. J. Kish Irvine, Fine Arts Librarian, Indiana University
Tom Greives, Reference Librarian/Fine Arts Bibliographer,
Arizona State University
Recorder:
Sponsors:
Speakers:
Maya
Gervits, Art Librarian, Rutgers University,
"Subject-Integrated Instruction in the
Christina
Gjertsen, Reference Librarian, Adam and Sophie
Gimbel Design Library,
Miguel Juarez, Fine Arts and Photography Librarian,
University of Arizona Library,
Lauren
Lessing, Reference Librarian, Ryerson and Burnham
Libraries, Art Institute of
Related Event:
Poster session by Monica Fusich, "The Art of
Instructing," Tuesday, 10:00-10:30am
Tom
Grieves introduced the session:
Classroom and online instruction by art librarians in
academic, museum, and art school libraries have undergone dramatic changes in
the last decade. Traveling between the worlds of print media and cyberspace
demands capacity and enthusiasm for change, innovation, and technological savvy
coupled with respect and knowledge of traditional art historical resources.
How does one keep pace with rapid and constant changes in
the field?
What kinds of institutional support can one expect for the
constant need for update of hardware and software?
How does one evaluate and update bibliographic and
instruction methodology that respects reliable, tried and true print resources,
while intro new electronic approaches to gathering art information?
What are the expectations/attitudes of their patrons, their
supervisors and their institutions.
Representing art school, museum, and university art
libraries, the speakers will explore and discuss the varied approaches to
instruction which mandate the need to bridge our historical roots with the
vastness of cyberspace.
B.J.
Irvine introduced the speakers individually prior to each of their
presentations.
Maya
Gervits spoke about her experiences as Art Librarian at Rutgers,
specifically with what she calls “subject-integrated instruction”.
In a rapidly changing environment, instruction can be approached in
different ways, depending on the subject being taught, the materials available
for research and teaching, and the academic level of the students.
She listed the ingredients that should be included in all instruction
sessions. Library instruction
sessions should include exercises that strengthen critical thinking skills, they
should be cost effective and students should receive some individual attention.
Maya also recommended trying not to overwhelm the students by giving them
too much information at once.
The course-integrated approach takes instruction a step
further, in that it is tailored to meet the needs of a particular subject area.
This method gives students a better understanding of the subject being
taught, presenting them with the opportunity to focus on resources that are
specific to a given subject. Usually,
it is necessary that a course-integrated instruction session include
interdisciplinary resources (such as Web of Science) in addition to the usual
art and architecture resources.
In order to prepare for
a course-integrated session, Maya suggested sitting down and writing out
an outline of possible directions to take in researching the course topic.
Identify and organize a wide range of resources and select the most
reliable and scholarly resources from this list.
Ultimately, the goal is to design a course that empowers students to
successfully undertake the research process on their own.
She presented examples of resources that she covers in the sessions she
teaches for the multidisciplinary course, Art
and Archaeology of the African Diaspora.
Approaches to distance learning were also discussed.
A session taught to remote classrooms of students may be presented via
the web, video or through live discussion online.
Maya often utilizes PowerPoint as a teaching tool in her
instruction sessions. She noted
that it allows her to focus on key points and keep the information she is
presenting better organized. PowerPoint
does not require expensive technology and offers the flexibility of including
internet links, video and images in an instruction session. A PowerPoint session may also be published on the internet,
or emailed to a student.
The cooperation of faculty has also been a crucial aspect in
designing a successful course-integrated session. Faculty have reported back that they have noticed a
difference in the quality of papers submitted by students who have benefited
from library instruction tailored to their subject.
Maya has found that their experiences with this approach to instruction
has increased their confidence in using the library, and that they now have more
feelings of ownership regarding the library and its resources.
Christina
Gjertsen, Reference Librarian at the Adam and Sophie Gimbel Design
Library of the Parsons School of Design spoke about library instruction in an
art school setting. Parsons is part
of a larger university (The New School), and the Design Library is one of three
campus libraries. They all share an
OPAC in partnership with NYU. Because
of this consortia arrangement, Christina explained how items cited in the online
catalog can be located in one of many libraries around New York City.
When talking with students she reminds them that they should start their
research at Parsons, making it less overwhelming for them.
Each year, she and another reference librarian conduct an
average of twenty library tours, four “mass orientations”, two faculty
seminars, and about sixty library orientations. The mass orientations are for students just starting out at
Parsons. They are taught in an
auditorium using PowerPoint during orientation week.
Library tours are available for those patrons who may not get the
traditional introduction to the library through required coursework:
usually faculty, continuing ed and graduate students, transfer students
and adjunct faculty.
Faculty seminars were just started this past year at Parsons
and are team-taught in the New School Library’s computer lab.
The seminars are largely promoted by the department heads, and more than
half of those attending are usually faculty from Parsons.
The focus of the seminars are on electronic resources and how to search
the online catalog efficiently.
Library instruction classes tailored for specific classes
are also offered. Christina
explained that they focus on getting the students into the library and making
them feel comfortable there, making sure that the students actually see where
everything is in the library. Because
there is no room set aside for instruction, they spend a lot of time touring the
library. Handouts that includes a
map of the library and a brief overview of the LC classification system are
passed around. One unique aspect of
the Parsons experience is that about 40% of the students are from Asia and are
new to the LC system.
Christina also described what she calls “The Research
Triangle”. This “triangle” is
comprised of 1) books, 2) reference works, and 3) periodicals and how to use
these resources in art research. She
also discusses the internet with them and how to evaluate information on the
net. She ended her talk with
pictures of her sessions at Parsons.
Lauren
Lessing drew upon her experiences at the Art Institute of Chicago
as Reference Librarian to discuss the unique role of instruction within museum
libraries. She pointed out that
most museum libraries serve two distinct groups of patrons: an internal community of curators and research staff, and an
external one comprised of the general public.
At the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago, a
third community is served: the
students and faculty of the Art Institute.
In order to meet the needs of these three main groups, the Reader
Services Department at the Libraries is developing a three-part bibliographic
instruction program.
The question, why museum libraries should consider library
instruction was raised. At the Art
Institute, art is seen as inseparable from education, and the joining of the two
is explicit in the institution's mission. Teaching
patrons how to do their own art research allows them to develop their own
interpretations about the objects in museum collections, or even in their own
living room. Research staff and
curators, while focused on recent developments in art history, are usually not
up constant changes in the world of information science.
It is the responsibility of librarians to not only introduce new research
tools to them, but to also provide instruction.
In theory, by providing instruction to research staff and empowering them
to do their own research, both the time of the patron and that of the librarian
is saved.
Point of need instruction cuts across all three categories
of users, but is not always practical as it is usually very time consuming.
Additionally, not everyone is comfortable asking for help.
For these reasons, more formal instructional programs tailored for
particular groups with similar research requirements, are being developed.
The first example Lauren gave involved working with a Modern Art Survey
class from the School in which over 600 students were enrolled. The
students had two weeks to research a 19th or 20th Century
work of art in the museum collection. They
were to compile a list of published sources that discussed either a particular
work in the collection, or ones similar to it by the same artist.
As a requirement of the assignment, each student was to visit both the
Flaxman and the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries.
Prior to the beginning of the course, the librarians took an
active role in creating the assignment with the professor and assistant
instructors. A handout explaining
the research tools available in the library supplemented a short presentation
given to the class. Extra copies of
the handout were provided at the reference desk as well.
Lauren reported that, overall, the project was a success.
All of the students in the class (the entire incoming freshman class)
visited both libraries and became acquainted with basic research tools (such as
the on-line catalogs and indexes), and with the strengths of each library's
collection. This was particularly
important for the museum's library as it is physically removed from the School.
The most difficult aspect of the project was dealing with the surge of
students that came into the library the last four days prior to the deadline for
the assignment (about half the class). After
the assignment, the librarians met to discuss what could be improved next time
and shared their insights with the professor.
The introduction of a new, web-based online catalog allowed
the library to provide workshops to the museum's curators and research staff.
Under the pretext of introducing the new catalog, groups of ten or fewer
were led through hour-long, hands-on instruction sessions that included the
basic principals of database searching (such as Boolean logic).
Lauren also described a series of workshops created for
museum members who were interested in researching artwork that they personally
owned (the most popular research topic for this group).
The evening workshops were advertised in the Institute's newsletter and
were limited to 15 participants. Each
lasted an hour and a half. General
principals as to what constitutes value in a work of art were discussed, as well
as how value is assigned to a work of art by appraisers.
A variety of resources were covered, including catalogs, indexes,
biographical dictionaries, and auction catalogs.
A tour of the library, along with a hands-on session with the online
catalog was provided. A new
series of workshops researching Chicago area homes is now in the works, and may
be done in collaboration with Chicago Public Library.
Lauren concluded that bibliographic instruction does not
actually save the time of the librarian, particularly in the museum setting, as
no single program of instruction can meet the needs of all their patrons.
Regardless of the obstacles, she also recognizes the responsibility of
museums as educational institutions to provide this service for their patrons.
Miguel
Juarez, Fine Arts Librarian of the University of Arizona began his
talk by asking how many people in the audience had heard of a teaching
portfolio, and how many actually had one. (Less
than ten people raised their hands.) Miguel listed a few reasons for creating a teaching
portfolio, most importantly because it “makes your life easier”. A teaching portfolio can be a tool for self-evaluation and
reflection. It can provide evidence
of teaching effectiveness and be used in applying for tenure, new jobs or
promotions. Keeping a teaching
portfolio can also allow a teacher to examine job performance over a period of
time. In archiving the different
stages of a teaching portfolio, research into changes in the teaching role of
librarianship can be measured more definitively.
Miguel cited four websites that discuss teaching portfolios:
Teaching Portfolios: Web
Links
http://fls.cll.wayne.edu/fls/teachptf.htm
Teaching Portfolios: UT
El Paso site
http://www.utep.edu/cetal/portfoli/
Teaching Portfolios: University
of Buffalo site
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/tlr/development.html
University of Tennessee site
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/tlr/development.html
He also referred to Peter Seldin’s book, The
Teaching Portfolio : a practical guide to improved performance and
promotion/tenure decisions.
A
librarian’s teaching portfolio may include a wide variety of material,
including: lists and descriptions
of courses taught, examples of handouts and instruction materials, a statement
of teaching philosophy, examples of student and faculty evaluations, projects
that students completed as a result of library instruction, and any teaching
awards presented. It may also
include letters or comments about teaching performed, passed along to the
librarian from colleagues, students, faculty or department heads. Any participation in teaching seminars, conferences or
workshops may also be included.
Miguel also made recommendations for developing an online
teaching portfolio and offered his own portfolio as an example:
(http://www.library.arizona.edu/users/juarezm/TeachingPortfolio.html).
An online portfolio will contain most of the same information listed for
the paper version (such as a philosophy statement and lists of courses taught).
It can also include digitized and PDF versions of letters, instruction
materials and evaluation tools, as well as streaming video or audio examples of
instruction sessions. An online
teaching portfolio may also include statements on information literacy, visual
literacy and teaching strategies.
In closing, Miguel reminded the audience that “there are
no endings, only beginnings” and that the teaching portfolio is always a work
in progress.
Q
& A
One
member of the audience asked Christina what issues she has had to overcome in
the faculty seminars that she teaches and whether or not she has return
visitors. Christina replied that
the group is usually pretty small, so she is able to work with them
individually. She takes steps to
make the faculty feel more comfortable by asking them to introduce themselves to
each other and includes a cookie and coffee break in the seminar.
She does have some return again, and they also come into the library
after the seminar to visit.
An audience member from Columbia College in Chicago
suggested that the librarians at Columbia College would be interested
what Lauren’s students were doing, as they could benefit from this
knowledge.