Faculty and student attitudes toward credit courses for library skills

摘要

Libraries have used credit classes as one method of teaching library and research skills to students for many years. A 1995 survey conducted by the LOEX Clearinghouse for Library Instruction reported that 30 percent of libraries offer basic library skills courses or academic subject area library research classes for credit.(FN1) Credit courses have been used consistently since 1987 at the institutions surveyed. Other methods such as lectures, computer-assisted instruction, videotapes, and pathfinders or guides also have been used consistently since 1987.(FN2) The relative merits of these various methods also have been debated for many years. Several studies have documented the effectiveness of credit courses for improving students' knowledge of library and research skills using pretests and posttests of student learning.(FN3) Credit courses continue to be developed and added into some college and university curricula, whereas other universities have discontinued for-credit library courses.(FN4,5) RESEARCH QUESTIONS Despite these evaluations and long-standing debates, little research is reported on what value faculty and students place on credit courses. Do the faculty and students consider instruction in library and research skills important? What methods of instruction do they prefer? What are they willing to use? How much administrative support is necessary for credit classes? This paper reports on a study addressing these questions. BACKGROUND Librarians at Oregon State University (OSU) teach several one-credit, discipline-specific library research courses for academic departments. In 1998, the library assessed the importance of these classes to the faculty and students as part of an overall review of the services provided to the campus by Information Services (IS).