Eve Hollis

Biography

I started my library work as a library assistant to Lois Allen, the former Librarian of the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.  Since Lois' retirement I have been the Librarian having completed a BSc in Library and Information Studies by Distance Learning from University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Education never stops and I have attended numerous seminars, workshops, conferences and trainings, and I have found that most of them, while interesting in content are often profoundly dull to sit through, often leading to afternoon snoozes.   Learning should start as fun in the nursery and continue to be enjoyed when discussing one's pension.

Abstract - Are we being effective?  A humorous look at teaching.

A necessary part of a librarian's job is to teach readers how to get the best from the library.  Unfortunately a lot of readers don't want to be taught, either because 'they know it all' (we have some of those), 'they don't have time' (meaning they don't want to take time) 'they don't need to use the library' (oh dear, oh dear!) or 'the library doesn't have what I need' (how do they know?).

Teaching is a relatively new skill for librarians, previously we were the finders and keepers and dispensers of information contained in traditional formats, from traditional libraries.  Nowadays the growth of the World Wide Web has made so much searchable information available to the general public that someone has to teach that public how to find and appraise information from new sources in an entirely different fashion.  Librarians are eminently good at finding, appraising, classifying and cataloguing and it is a natural extension of these skills to teach others.

It behoves librarians to be effective as teachers by making the learning experience memorable and thus persuading the recalcitrant readers that a visit to the library is not only useful and relevant but fun!

This presentation looks at the problems presented by reluctant readers and suggests some ways to improve the experience for all concerned.  It mentions some things which are off-putting for learners and some ideas for getting and keeping their attention.

For instance lectures about the nitty gritty of your classification scheme are not likely to win any converts but a quiz to find items using the scheme will demonstrate the relevance of the scheme.  This and other ideas are given to help make your library more 'reader friendly'.

How do we measure the effect of these ideas?  The main measure is increased use of the library and a demonstrable higher interest in library services, but also, greater achievements by the reader after they have made use of the library.

This page was last updated on: 17 June, 2004