Yes, Librarians are Teachers

Albert Bryson, Guest Blogger

I feel that many teaching faculty do not really understand why librarians at academic institutions are part of the faculty. Our roles are different because we are an academic support service at colleges. We supplement what the teaching faculty do in the classroom.

For years the libraries have provided for the teaching faculty a course reserve area with books and articles that supplement the textbooks student purchase for their courses. We are where the students come to work on their research papers and projects.

Since I came to Lincoln in 1987 the library has progressed from physical card catalog to online public access catalog (OPAC) which lists all the items, primarily books that the library owns which are available for our patrons. I am the Catalog Librarian who decides where the book is located in our library using Library of Congress classification and subject headings. I am the one who knows where everything actually is on the shelf.

We have progressed as well from periodicals in bound volumes and on microfilm to where you obtain full text articles from peer reviewed journals online through the many databases which the library now subscribes to online, using the various computers in the library. We still get many of periodicals and journals in print as well, but we do not need to keep some of them in physical storage due the online databases.

Librarians do the majority of our teaching individually using a technique called the reference interview, where we assist students, staff and faculty in finding materials on the topics they are interested in searching. The amount of time we devote to this could be from just a few minutes to as long as an hour, depending what topic needed to be researched.

On request we do what we call bibliographical instruction in the classroom at the request of the teaching faculty where in one class session we provide a quick introduction to what we have available in the library to the students to assist them as they do their various class assignments. We provide handouts on the library services we offer, and we demonstrate how to use the OPAC and several of the online full text databases we have available on the topic associated with the actual class provide to us by the faculty member.

So remember if you need assistance with your research and you need assistance to get going, please feel free to contact one of the faculty librarians. We are available when the library is open to assist you.

Academic Excellence

Guest Writer, Zizwe Poe

I would like to begin my comments by thanking you, my colleagues, for allowing me to kick off this week's blog on academic excellence. I want to touch on two aspects and I will attempt to do this in the most succinct way I know how.

Aspect 1: There is no way around it. We need physical space that supports academic excellence. This means the library AND an academic presence in the residential space of the campus. The completion of phase 1 of the library's renovation makes the edifice usable as a library. Reading the meticulous report of the president we should be able to see that phase 2 is not about library functions. Glossy pictures aside I want our students and faculty to benefit from the opportunity of stumbling upon texts that they did not intend to use because of the text's juxtaposition to a targeted text. This is the type of serendipity that can only come by walking through the stacks. Our students are tacitly being prepared to seek answers without knowledge and a degree without collegiate research. Our president's post said that the students and faculty currently have all the library and library services needed to facilitate learning. I hope that this isnot true for if it is we may never have a true library again.

Aspect 2: Lincoln University needs a Pan-African Studies program. Lincoln University has a historic relationship with Africa and the most diverse population of students from African countries than most HBCUs. This is an undervalued niche that we should take advantage of. A Pan-African Studies program would strengthen relations with African countries and Caribbean countries while assisting with connecting African American students with our international populations.

I will begin with these concerns as I expect there will be some feedback on both issues. Again, thanks for allowing me to initiate this week's string.