Challenges: I think many librarians identify with the challenge of simplifying our lessons. What comes most readily to mind is the one-shot info session commonly practiced at small academic libraries (since this is what I just wrote my paper on). No one can deny that a user is most engaged when the format is clear and simple--when the design is free of "chart junk" and everything is intuitive and clear.
When one is pressed for time, one wants to make sure that as much content as possible is delivered--this could be your only time interacting with the students for their entire four years. This is counter-intuitive, but is still often practiced during one-shot sessions.
Another challenge for professionals could be engaging the listeners from the beginning. I sat in on a really good session for my Observation Analysis paper in which the presenter led with the question, "Is Research Hard?" There are any number of ways to get a user's attention--Booth describes a great pitch she used that both interests the learners and establishes credibility (who knew you needed a Master's degree to be a librarian??)
Despite these challenges, they are pretty easy to remedy if you constantly remind yourself of them before every lesson--simplify, engage. Not every library info session is going to be a home run, but if we keep striving to simplify our content and engage our users, we're on the right track for success.
I agree with everything in this post--simplifying is hard. One thing one or two of the librarians I observed mentioned was that the expectations of the class instructor complicate things. The librarian may have a few objectives, but then the instructor has a list of "resources" they want the librarian to introduce.
ReplyDeleteI was particularly interested in how the librarians I was observing opened the lesson, because I think it can really make or break a session. Interestingly, all three of mine started with questions. Two asked the class about their research/topics/questions and the third had them write their questions about library research on the whiteboard. I like the "Is Research Hard?" question!