I had 27 responses to my question concerning referencing and whether
Librarians should be teaching this. No-one specifically stated that it was
the library's role, but many indicated that they felt it was an area that
should be taught (13). This was largely because they felt that as experts
librarians were the obvious choice, and in addition it would enhance the
library's reputation. 3 respondents specifically stated that it was not the
library's role, and some places that were teaching it, said they had
lecturers who felt it was not the library's role, and therefore did not
organise classes. 15 indicated that they taught this area, some of these
delivered to all first year students, but most were delivered when
requested by the lecturer. 7 places produced helpsheets, or web pages to
assist students.
Many of the respondents raised the issue of how difficult it was to have a
standardised class with so many different styles available. This of course
makes the design of a class time consuming when so many aspects have to alter.
In the end we did teach the class. The theory of referencing was covered as
part of an hour's lectures (probably took about 15 minutes of the time).
This was then followed by a 1 hour hands-on tutorial, where they completed
a referencing exercise. The students were asked to reference a short
paragraph using 1 book, 1 journal article and 1 internet site, providing
in-text references, and a bibliography. During this time the librarian
floated, giving assistance as required. The follow-up assignment then
consisted of identifying 4 books, 6 journal articles and 2 internet sites,
and creating a bibliography of these. Overall the students found it
incredibly hard to grasp the concept of referencing. Many of the
bibliographies produced were incorrect, not only in the style of the
referencing but in the actual material included. For example 1 student
listed 10 URLs as their bibliography with no additional information, e.g.
author, title, etc… Some assignments were not submitted, and I suspect that
these students had decided it was worth losing the 10 marks in favour of
using the time to concentrate on other assignments.
It is definitely an area that students need to be taught. As a team we
still need to discuss this and decide whether we will continue to teach, or
whether we will stop. An alternative is to develop an online version which
will answer both the problem of the students needs, and the amount of time
that librarians spend teaching this.
An interesting increase was experienced at the information desk. In the
week prior to when the assignment was due the info desk spent just under 5
hours fielding students questions relating to this assignment. (160
students completed the course).
Thankyou to all those that responded. Jenny
Jenny Booker Tel : 02-4349 4478
Client Services Librarian Fax : 02-4348 4215
University of Newcastle
Central Coast Campus
Chittaway Road
Ourimbah
NSW, 2258, AUSTRALIA
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