Library education (reader education programs)
The library education programs established in WAIT’s first decade had to adapt in the 1980s to cope with the growing number of students at WAIT and to impart the new skills clients needed to engage with electronic information.
While face-to-face classes were still a significant part of the program, the move to self-paced guides saw the number of students participating in some form of ‘reader education’ more than double from 3 450 to almost 7 200 over the period 1979 to 1989.
Self-guided resources
With WAIT one of the largest tertiary education institutions in Australia, there was a clear imperative to find ways of providing user education to large numbers of students without the need for face-to-face instruction. In response, the Library introduced a range of self-paced/self-guided learning resources.
In 1980, for the first time, a booklet providing a self-paced library skills learning program was used as a course text by WAIT students - Finding Information in the Therapy Library: a self-paced learning program.
In 1982, Library staff created a self-guided tour of Robertson Library, introducing students to the resources and facilities available. The booklet was used by large numbers of first year students who had no special library component within their courses.
In 1989, 3 500 first year students at Bentley received their library orientation by working through a printed Self-paced introduction to the Library. The printed booklet included exercises which students completed and marked, providing practice in the use of the microfiche catalogue and later, the online catalogue.
In following years, completion of the activity and/or an online test based on the content of the activity, formed part of students’ assessment for some units. Student response was positive and the time Library staff spent preparing and presenting library orientation sessions for undergraduates was significantly decreased.
Guides to journal indexing databases
When the first CD based databases which indexed journal articles were installed in the Library in 1988, clients needed help to use these new electronic resources. Library staff created in house guides to help users search the databases effectively. By 1991, there were 10 different guides catering for the 19 databases then available.
A Library staff member presenting a reader education class using print based resources, 1980s.
Face-to-face classes remained a key part of the reader education program in the 1980s. The Library ran 90 reader education courses in 1989 which reached over 7 000 students, compared to 56 courses for around 3 500 students in 1979.
A page from the booklet Finding Information in the Therapy Library: a self-paced learning program, 1983.
This guide was developed by Library staff for use by Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Podiatry students. The booklet was used for the next 15 years, being updated as needed to reflect changes in Library services and resources.
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