Medical Library Education: Academic Orientations
Now that the academic year is fully underway, it is time to take a breath and to reflect upon what was wrought at the beginning of the year to gain insight into future opportunities. In the academic universe, the advent of the school year marks a round of frenetic pursuits fondly—or not so fondly—referred to as orientation. Orientations are a big thing at numerous institutions and libraries of higher learning, and this holds especially true for medical library education. In fact, health sciences librarians are often called upon to deliver orientations to students from a multitude of disciplines in an attempt to impart a basic understanding of the library not only as a place, but as a source for crucial resources.
The uninformed may naively assume the orientation process begins and ends with the student; however, the reality is that this flurry of activity can, and most likely does, extend to faculty as well as incoming residents. For the health sciences librarian who has endured their umpteenth, gazillionth, same old, tired, and tried orientation program, a quick online search brings some relief to this ennui in the form of a vast assortment of helpful links on the topic—not the least of which is Planning Academic Library Orientations: Case Studies from around the World, a book published in 2018, that is all about academic library orientations [1].
Surprisingly, what this type of research reveals is that librarians are finding novel—and creative—approaches to conducting these types of services. One prime example comes from Australia, where flipped learning was incorporated into an orientation program that was designed specifically as an outreach for the university’s population of international students [2]. The American Library Association’s Center for the Future of Libraries “Trends” section describes flipped learning as a more personal form of knowledge acquisition that is self-driven and, therefore, individually paced. Beyond the obvious reasons for the flipped learning orientation by the Australian library was a desire to enhance overall first-year experiences among the target group. To this end, library personnel involved key constituents to inform and to guide the project in an effort to construct a more responsive, well-rounded product.
Another contribution to library orientation design comes from California and integrates technology with zombies. Yes, you read right: zombies! An article published in the Canadian Journal of Information & Library Sciences in 2015 canvasses this and other technology-based orientations [3]. The author describes these services as computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and draws a line from this delivery method to greater wholesale promotion of the library as an online space.
The project’s librarians contemplated the possible usefulness of social media to the orientation process as well as possible positive outcomes that CAI might have on students’ library anxiety. In addition, the author spent time exploring traditional orientation activities—fleshing out the gist of the concept before advancing to contemporary variations. The following distinctions among library orientations were identified in the piece: orientations focusing on navigation of the actual corporeal library, orientations focusing on navigation of the library’s virtual domain, orientations focusing on the library’s online public access catalog (OPAC), orientations focusing on library resources, and orientations focusing on discovery tools for locating library resources and information.
The underlying take-away from these programs is the perpetual need for librarians to assess everyday tasks and activities for “freshness.” The sad truth is that library managers are now forced to seize every opportunity, no matter how mundane, to facilitate an awareness of the library as a valuable shareholder and contender in the information eco-structure. Indeed, a creative mind-set may be crucial to maintaining the library as a desirable physical and online destination. After all, snaring the imagination and challenging the mind are the heart and soul of librarianship.
References
- Bailin K, Jahre B, Morris S. Planning academic library orientations: case studies from around the world. San Diego, CA: Elsevier Science; 2018.
- Hughes H, Hall N, Pozzi M, Howard S, Jaquet A. Passport to study: flipped library orientation for international students. Aust Acad Res Libr. 2016 Sep;47(3):124–42. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2016.1225552.
- Ingalls D. Virtual tours, videos, and zombies: the changing face of academic library orientation/Visites virtuelles, vidéos et zombies: le nouveau visage de l’initiation à la bibliothèque universitaire. Can J Inf Libr Sci. 2015 Mar;39(1):79–90. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/ils.2015.0003.