Reference Services for the Adult Learner: Challenging Issues for the Traditional and Technological Era / Edition 1

by Sarkodie-Mensah Kwasi

Overview

Help adults returning to school learn to find and use the information they need!

Reference Services for the Adult Learner: Challenging Issues for the Traditional and Technological Era offers proven, effective approaches for teaching adult patrons how and where to find information. Unlike younger students, who in many cases grew up with computers at school and in the home, many older patrons are uncomfortable with current technologies. They may not remember how to use a card catalogue, but at least the drawers and index cards look familiar. A phrase like database search may bring on confusion and anxiety for them.

Including the views of faculty, adult students, and administrators as well as librarians, Reference Services for the Adult Learner provides you with theories of educational psychology that explain how adults learn, as well as suggestions from adult learners to help you understand what these clients need to know about using new technologies and finding information.

Reference Services for the Adult Learner provides original empirical research on such vital issues as:

• technophobia, technostress, and information literacy
• the unique needs of the adult learner, including evening and weekend access to information and instruction
• adult-learning theories and appropriate teaching strategies to take advantage of adult students’strengths
• distance learning and the adult student
• issues of information literacy and approaches to seeking, analyzing, and evaluating information
• adult learners in special populations, including international and disabled students
  
  Containing research from librarians and adult learners from the United States, Canada, and Australia, Reference Services for the Adult Learner offers you teaching strategies that will enable adult patrons to easily locate and properly use all of the materials in your library.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780789009906
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/11/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	435
Product dimensions:	8.12(w) x 6.58(h) x 1.18(d)

About the Author

Sarkodie-Mensah Kwasi

Table of Contents

Introduction, SECTION 1: INFORMATION EXPLOSION, TECHNOPHOBIA, AND TECHNOSTRESS, The Information Explosion: Continuing Implications for Reference Services to Adult Learners in Academia, The Information Explosion and the Adult Learner: Implications for Reference Librarians, Stress Relief: Help for the Technophobic Patron from the Reference Desk, Overcoming Technostress in Reference Services to Adult Learners, Technological Mediation: Reference and the Non-Traditional Student, Challenges Faced by Reference Librarians in Familiarizing Adult Students with the Computerized Library of Today: The Cuesta College Experience, SECTION 2: UNDERSTANDING THE CHARACTERISTICS, NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS OF ADULT LEARNERS TO BETTER SERVE THEM, Envisioning the Mature Re-Entry Student: Constructing New Identities in the Traditional University Setting, A Close Encounter Model for Reference Services to Adult Learners: The Value of Flexibility and Variance, Helping Adult Undergraduates Make the Best Use of Emerging Technologies, Understanding the Characteristics, Concerns, and Priorities of Adult Learners to Enhance Library Services to Them, The After-Five Syndrome: Library Hours and Services for the Adult Learner, SECTION 3: THEORIES OF ADULT LEARNING: IMPLICATIONS FOR REFERENCE AND INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES FOR THE ADULT LEARNER, How Do We Learn?: Contributions of Learning Theory to Reference Service and Library Instruction, The Andragogical Librarian, Adult Learning Theory and Reference Services: Consonances and Potentials, SECTION 4: FROM A DISTANCE: PROVIDING REFERENCE AND INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES FOR THE ADULT LEARNER, The Librarian as Bricoleur: Meeting the Needs of Distance Learners, Interactive Reference at a Distance: A Corporate Model for Academic Libraries, Reference Provision in Adult

Editorial Reviews

4 Stars! from Doody

Offers proven approaches for teaching adult patrons how and where to find information, integrating perspectives of faculty, adult students, administrators, and librarians. Reviews theories of education psychology that explain how adults learn, and describes research on technophobia and information literacy, evening and weekend access to information and instruction, distance learning, and adult learners in special populations, including international and disabled students. The editor is chief reference librarian at Boston College's O'Neill Library. Co-published simultaneously as , nos. 69-70, 2000. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Reviewer: Kirk Howard, MLS (Marylhurst University)
Description: This collection of essays and research studies, originally published in the periodical The Reference Librarian, address the various challenges and methods of providing both reference services and library instruction to adult learners.
Purpose: Nontraditional students have different needs and anxieties, and as the editor points out, the number of these types of students is on the rise. This book looks at these needs, and offers useful ways for librarians and educators to implement new procedures to better serve these patrons.
Audience: Librarians and educators are the intended audience.
Features: The book is divided into seven distinct subjects, such as "Information Explosion, Technophobia, and Technostress" and "Reference, Instruction and Information Literacy." The individual chapters range from practical advice on how to make adult patrons comfortable with computers to a theoretical discussion on the factors of effective learning. Though some of the chapters would appear to cover the same territory - the four chapters dealing with international students have very similar titles - they do cover different enough areas to be included. One suggestion would be to put the title of the individual chapter at the top of each page. The index is very helpful, although a glossary would have been beneficial for some of terms used.
Assessment: This book benefits from the expertise of the contributors and their experience in working with nontraditional students, as well as the currency of the information. With the increase of adult students and online resources, there is both a need and an audience for this book. There is not another book that deals exclusively with this specific subject, and the anthology format with its various authors and viewpoints serves it well. Librarians and educators serving adult students will definitely find worthwhile information in this book.

Doody's Review Service