Fostering Self-Regulated Learning at the Reference Desk

Abstract

T hose who assist undergraduates at the reference desk know how tempting it can be, especially under time pressure, to find sources or perform online database searches for them. At the same time, reference librarians are likely to spend a significant number of classroom hours each week teaching undergraduates how to find, evaluate, and use information.1 The question arises: is it logical or effective for librarians to instruct students in information literacy if they then undermine that instruction at the reference desk?The independent research skills that are an integral part of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education have a great deal in common with the educational concept of self-regulated learning.2 A self-regulating researcher is able to formulate a research plan as well as monitor and control progress toward the completion of the research.3 Furthermore, this self-regulation is an essential aspect of information literacy that is short-changed when librarians, with the best of intentions, insist on finding answers for students.This article focuses on the one-on-one nature of reference interactions, and how they relate to tutoring interactions. It argues that, in approaching reference interactions as tutorial interactions, librarians can scaffold the self-regulation of student researchers and thereby more effectively support their emerging information literacy. REFERENCE SERVICE: TO TEACh OR NOT TO TEAChTwo contradictory views regarding the function of library reference services commonly surface in the library literature. This dichotomy was essentially expressed more than forty years ago in the title of Anita R. Schiller' s 1965 article "Reference Service: Instruction or Information."4 Schiller argues that librarians should focus on "providing direct answers to questions" and that instructing users at the reference desk confuses them with regard to what service they may expect. 5Schiller also appears to blame librarians' self-defined instructional role for the inability of patrons to voice their information needs.6 (This argument is effectively refuted by several subsequent articles and studies that show that the inability to articulate an information need is common at the beginning of the information search process.

Providing assistance to students in the process of seeking informationas a service in academic libraries in Croatia

“…S jedne strane postoji mišljenje da knjižničari korisnicima trebaju izravno pružiti informaciju, odnosno informacijski izvor koji traže, a s druge strane da knjižničari prilikom odgovaranja na informacijski upit trebaju poučiti korisnike kako da sami pronađu informaciju. Navedena je rasprava u određenoj mjeri i dalje prisutna, a Eckel (2007) zaključuje kako knjižničari u okviru odgovaranja na korisničke informacijske upite nužno ulaze u poučavanje te stoga moraju biti svjesni svoje obrazovne uloge. Elmborg (2002: 459) smatra da je upravo informacijski pult najprimjerenije mjesto za poučavanje te da knjižničari trebaju biti ti koji poučavaju studente i koji surađuju s drugima u njihovu obrazovanju.…”

Tracking student learning outcome engagement at the reference desk to facilitate assessment

“…Alongside the genesis of the assessment movement in higher education and their academic libraries as described above, the case for teaching as a major goal of reference service, especially in academic libraries, began to emerge in the 1990s (Eckel, 2007). Beck and Turner described reference as short, one-on-one instruction-based situations in 2001, and offered a set of practical techniques and strategies for integrating instruction into reference.…”