The results of a survey involving fifty-four U.S. colleges and universities having the largest number of foreign stu dents are examined. Separate questionnaires were distrib uted to the international education office and library of each institution requesting information regarding library orientation for foreign students. The results revealed that while 98 percent of the international education offices of fered orientation programs for newly enrolled foreign stu dents, only 56 percent of the libraries provided special in struction for this group. The need for such programs is discussed and suggestions are given for ways to establish them.

Library Orientation Programs for Foreign Students: A Survey.

This thesis describes the case history of the development of a programme of user education at Chalmers University of Technology Library, Gothenburg, Sweden. It was shown, by means of user studies, that there was a need for instruction in the use of the library and its resources. The needs of student library users, as seen by students, academic staff, administrative staff, engineers and library staff, were studied. These views were used in the formulation of goals and objectives for the programme of user education. A three stage programme was drawn up: 1. Orientation for new users. 2. An introductory course in information retrieval for undergraduates. 3. An advanced course in information retrieval for postgraduates. Teaching methods and media were chosen for the various parts of the programme. Priority was given to the development of the introductory course in information retrieval for undergraduates and to library orientation, as these would reach the largest group of potential library users. The undergraduate course was evaluated in a number of ways, as part of the formative process development, and in order to provide information on the product of the instruction. Modifications were made in the course, and these have resulted in a model which now functions very well. It has been shown that, by taking account of student needs, a successful course of library instruction, integrated into the general pattern of university studies, can be developed. This course is now attended by practically all the undergraduate students at the university. One of the most important points arising from this work is that library user education is not an isolated function at the library. It needs to be integrated both into the general pattern of university studies and into the other functions and activities at the library.

The Development of a Programme of User Education at Chalmers University of Technology Library.

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Cooperation in Library User Education

The major purpose of this study was two-fold: to determine the level of achievement in selected library skills for freshmen at Central Washington State College (CWSC), and to determine which library skills, as delimited within a test, were possessed by those freshmen and which skills needed to be taught. This study was designed to test the following primary hypothesis. Freshmen entering CWSC in the fall quarter 1971/1972 who were (1) graduates of Washington state secondary schools in the spring of 1971; and who were (2) enrolled in English 101 course, did not possess the selected library skills at the fiftieth percentile or better as measured by the test, "A library orientation test for college freshmen," by Ethel M. Feagley et al. A subordinate null hypothesis, posed for the purpose of validating the result of the Feagley test, stated that the observed grouping of percentile scores of the test population would not vary from the expected grouping of percentile scores on the Feagley test. The test revealed that the entering freshmen possessed a selected list of library skills at the 47th percentile, so the hypothesis was upheld. (Author/SO)

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Allan Mirwis

Papers

Academic Library Instruction - A Bibliography, 1960-1970.