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2006 Annual Meeting Minutes
Notes from ALA Annual Meeting
24 June 2006
New Orleans
Members present: Nancy DuPree; Susan Gardner; Nancy Huling;
Helen Subbio; Paul Victor; Kaiping Zhang.
Members absent: Erica Carlson; Allison Carr; Diane Mizrachi; Lisa Roberts;
Paula Smith
Virtual member: Corey Johnson
Guests: Barb Mann; Judy Solberg; Cathy Michael
This was the second meeting of the committee since its official formation in
January, 2006. We continued our discussion on identifying what our unique contribution
to the field of user education might be.
Nancy DuPree shared the findings from her literature search and reading on
the "teachable moment." We also touched on the topic of unmediated
instruction, such as online tutorials.
We talked about hosting a panel discussion at the ALA Midwinter Meeting scheduled
for Seattle. Ideas included presenting case studies of reference interviews
that have worked: what is working and to what extent it is formalized, and how
the teachable moment is woven into the reference interview.
Helen asked if anyone is modeling reference librarianship on what a therapist
does as opposed to what a teacher does. She noted that casual instruction (e.g.,
the one on one or consultation) is not hierarchical -- the librarian and the
patron are in the search for information together.
The idea of peer coaching - patron/librarian, staff/librarian - arose.
We touched on models of reference service and trends in reference services.
Barb mentioned going where the students are and that information literacy can
occur how and where you interact with students.
How does the teachable moment fit into the various models: roving, going where
the students are, research consultation?
How do we work with staff who do reference to help them recognize the teachable
moment?
We further discussed the possibility of a discussion at Midwinter. Nancy H
will check with the chair of the Frontline Reference discussion group to see
if it might be possible to sponsor a discussion on the reference interview.
One of Nancy's staff could talk about the reference interview from the perspective
of a therapist (he refers to the "interview" as a dialogue and conversation,
emphasizing that we learn from each other). Another possible participant would
be Dave Tyckoson, who has written extensively on the reference interview. Perhaps
a case study approach could be taken, with focus on what the reference interview
does and how to facilitate the teachable moment. How do we work in the teaching
-- in the blink of an eye! How do we conduct a reference interview so that teaching
occurs and we adapt to/recognize the patron's learning style? The psychological
aspects of the reference interview would be interesting to explore.
Finally, we briefly touched on the role of the physical desk or physical arrangement
of reference in facilitating a reference conversation. Cooperative learning
can certainly be enhanced by the arrangement. Perhaps a future panel could discuss
this.
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