Measuring Information
Searching Competence
Leon A. James and Diane Nahl
College &
Research Libraries 51(5): 448-62
A taxonomy of instructional objectives for search
behavior was used to develop a quiz that measures skills in three domains of
search behavior (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor) at three levels of
competence (basic, intermediate, advanced). A computer-based education system
known as PLATO was used to test an online interactive measure of information
searching competence on three populations of university students (n = 69). A
rationale is presented for measuring these three domains of search behavior by
means of three corresponding types of quiz items (true/false, multiple choice,
and fill-in). Implications for bibliographic instruction are explored,
including the desirability of tailoring teaching activities to build up three
corresponding types of memory for search behavior: affective memory, cognitive
memory, and sensorimotor memory.
Statements of
instructional objectives for bibliographic instruction usually have included
only cognitive items.1 Recent trends in instruction have recognized
that teaching and learning involve the three traditional domains of human
affairs: affective for feelings and attitudes; cognitive for knowledge and
reasoning; and sensorimotor for perception and action.2 There is an
increasing awareness in librarianship of the advantage in considering all three
domains of behavior when organizing activities for users, as exemplified at a
Maryland public library where toys in the collection are categorized according
to the major areas of child development in the three domains. A handbook on
teaching library instruction includes instructional objectives in the three
domains.4 The categories "feelings, thoughts, and actions"
are used in a study on the stages students go through in the library research
process.5 A library resource workbook was revised to include
exercises designed to part skills in all three domains.6 Similarly,
our intention was to develop a balanced curriculum for information searching
competence for university students, making certain that all three domains were
adequately represented.
TAXONOMY OF INFORMATION
SEARCHING COMPETENCE
From the behavioral perspective, searching
is a threefold activity. The searcher first feels an information need or
motive, then plans a seek-and-find strategy, and finally, executes it.
Information needs provide the motive power for searching behavior. Planning and
decision making provide the means by which a need can be fulfilled through
performing an activity. This activity is goal-directed (integrated), which
means that the motive or goal continuously governs the selection of steps to be
executed. The goal contains a definition of what the last step ought to be.
Blocks to achieving success in this ultimate step are also solved under the
guidance of the ruling objective or goal. These distinctions represent three
traditional domains of human endeavor: the affective (needs, motives), the
cognitive (thoughts, images), and the sensorimotor (sensations, movements).
A three-way perspective
on library behavior was recently proposed as a taxonomy of search skills.7
Table 1 summarizes the taxonomy. Following the work of Benjamin Bloom and
associates on educational objectives, all possible search activities that users
can perform in a library are automatically defined as separate skills. Three
types of skills in human behavior are affective skills (corresponding to
feelings and motives), cognitive skills (corresponding to thoughts and plans),
and sensorimotor skills (corresponding to perceptions and motor acts). Three
stages of learning library skills within each of these three behavioral domains
are depicted in table 1. The nine cells or categories from a matrix for
localizing particular library skills according to behavioral domain and level
of expertise.
A searcher's persistent attraction to
learning the information searching process and striving to improve are
"affective skills." A searcher's abilities to develop effective plans
and make valid decisions are "cognitive skills." A searcher's acuity
in visual identification and prowess in maneuvering in dynamic information
environments are "sensorimotor skills." Three levels of skills
acquisition exist within each of the three behavioral domains. The nine
categories represent different and independent aspects of the complex behavior
of learning to become a competent searcher. For example, category [Al]
(Affective domain, Level 1) is titled Affective Orientation and is defined as
"demonstrating willingness to practice library tasks, and maintaining
selective attention (= library adjustment versus library maladjustment)."
Category [C2] Cognitive domain, level 2) is titled, Cognitive Interaction and
is defined as "acquiring objective knowledge of search sequences, their
analysis and synthesis (= library search protocol vs. idiosyncratic search
protocol)."
TABLE 1
TAXONOMY OF LIBRARY SKILLS AND ERRORS
|
|
Affective Domain |
Cognitive Domain |
Sensorimotor Domain |
|
|
A3 Affective Internalization |
C3 Cognitive Internalization |
S3 |
|
Level 3 Internalizing the library |
Demonstrating
support for the library perspective on society and sea. |
Acquiring personal
knowing and subjective intuition of a scholarly discipline, (=Disciplinary
Connection versus Lacking Connection) |
Performing cumulative
searches in one's field and promoting the library in one's life. |
|
|
A2 |
C2 |
S2 |
|
Level 2 Interacting Library |
Demonstrating
continuous striving and value preferences favorable to the library and its system.
(=Positive Library Attitudes versus Library Resistance) |
Acquiring objective
knowing of search sequences, their analysis and synthesis. |
Negotiating search
queries and performing a single, one-time search that meets a current
information need. |
|
|
Al |
Cl |
SI |
|
Level I Orienting Library |
Demonstrating
willingness to practice library tasks and maintaining selective attention. |
Acquiring
representative knowing and comprehending library relevant distinctions. |
Performing physical
operations (hands-on experience, browsing and walking around) (=library
Exploration and Efficiency versus Library Avoidance and Inefficiency) |
The taxonomy provides a theory for
developing instructional objectives in the acquisition of information searching
competence (ISC). Affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor (ACS) objectives can
be constructed for three levels: orienting to the information environment (Li,
basic); interacting with it (L2, intermediate); internalizing its features (12,
advanced). Quiz questions can then be constructed to measure a student's
feelings, comprehension, and performance. This study was designed to develop a
half-hour online measure of a person's current skills profile in the nine
categories of information search behavior.
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
FOR SEARCHING COMPETENCE
It was necessary to
adapt the taxonomy to the topic of information searching competence by
following the definitions for the nine categories of search behavior (as given
in table 1). Table 2 is the result. The progression in the affective domain
from basic (L1) to advanced (L3) plots the development of a person's struggle
to over come techno phobia (general and specific). For example, many students
experience a general fear on entering a large library or computer lab. At a
basic level, they must learn to overcome this resistance through accepting the
ways of the new environment (adjustment) [A1]. However, to advance they must in
addition learn to be come supportive in specific ways, such as appreciating and
desiring to make use of the tools the library provides [A2]. Lastly, users must
learn to derive enthusiasm and energy from the perception that they are
improving [A3].
The progression in the
cognitive domain is marked by first learning how to interpret displays and
acquiring necessary terminology ([C1] in table 2); then, learning the
classification scheme and how to determine search steps [C2]; finally, acquiring
familiarity and intuition about how information is organized in disciplines and
how professions disseminate findings [C3]. The progression in the sensorimotor
domain from basic skills ([Ex] in table 2) to advanced skills [S3] begins with
recognizing the salient information elements of a search problem. This involves
learning to modulate the rhythm of visual and motor acts, such as visually
focusing on the information fields in an entry, rather than randomly looking
around, or walking according to a plan rather than aimlessly [S1]. In the next
stage, users must go beyond merely recognizing the literal meaning to
identifying the background structure from the foreground elements, such as
distinguishing between title of article and title of magazine [S2]. Ultimately
library users must learn to incorporate accuracy and standardization in their
information recording, becoming regular searchers as they develop into
information specialists [S3].
TABLE 2
TAXONOMY OF BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES
FOR INFORMATION SEARCHING COMPETENCE (ISC)
|
|
Levels |
Affective
Domain |
Cognitive
Domain |
Sensorimotor
Domain |
|
|
|
Level 3 Advanced |
A3 Feeling
Empowered |
C3 Acquiring
Familiarity and Intuition with Disciplines |
S3 Practicing Documentation
Routines |
|
|
|
Level 2 Intermediate |
A2 |
C2 Understanding
Search Strategy |
S2 Identifying
Implicit Features |
|
|
|
Level 1 Basic |
A1 |
C1 Decoding
Information Displays and Terminology |
S1 Recognizing
Information Elements and Locations |
|
The content areas in table 3 are not fixed, but
reflect the focus of this study. Other content areas should be explored, each
with its own pool of questions. Theoretically, an unlimited pool of potential
questions exists within each content area and category. The ISC measure is a
technique to be adapted to individual situations, rather than a fixed
instrument.
Figure 1 portrays
an overall perspective on the distribution of instructional objectives for
information search behavior. The shaded grid of the cube is the same as the
face of table 2. Questions can be constructed for each of the nine categories
of search behavior in any number of content areas. For example, Reading
Displays had [C1], [S1], and [S2] items. Of course, any content area can be
measured in all of the nine categories.
ONLINE QUIZ ENVIRONMENT
The author selected an online delivery system for making the ISC quiz
readily available to users, deciding on the PLATO computer-based education
system.12 Questions were entered in the quiz format of PLATO's Tutor
authoring language. The question forms include multiple choice, matching,
yes/no, and fill-in items. Answers typed in are automatically evaluated by
PLATO's judging capacity, matching the alternatives supplied for each item. For
example, in an item asking the student to identify the month in a periodical
index entry, acceptable answers in include ‘February, ‘ ‘Feb,’ ‘F,’ and ‘2.’ In
the case of writing a citation from a catalog record, punctuation,
capitalization, and order were ignored in judging, so that an answer was scored
incorrectly only for omitting
necessary information or for misspelling.
Online statistics
are available on the choices selected by each student, and on the total time
spent. A printout of the fill-in answers is obtainable. Each person receives a
random presentation of the questions and immediate feedback on the correct
answer. At the end of the session the computer displays the number and
percentage of correctly answered questions. Students then have a chance to
answer an online biographical questionnaire and to add their personal comments.
RESULTS FROM ITEM
ANALYSIS
Table 3 presents
the percent correct for each of the seventy-one questions. These item analysis
statistics are taken from the PLATO records and are based on approximately 130
scores on the average. This number varies slightly from item to item since the
data includes the attempts of people who didn't complete the test, as well as a
few trials by the PLATO system operators. Also included are retakes done by
some students. These cumulative percentages continually change somewhat but
tend to stabilize as more people take the quiz. The highest percentages are
obtained for the affective items, regardless of the level. An abnormally low
score (2%) is posted for the item on writing a citation (S3). The cognitive and
sensorimotor scores appear broadly distributed, thus measuring a variety of
independent skills. As well, the scores validate the levels, with level 3 items
posting lower scores. Exact calculations are presented in table 4 for a subset
of scores isolating the three designated student populations.
RESULTS FOR THREE POPULATIONS
From the perspective
of teaching information skills, the students in this study comprise three
different population groups: undergraduates, library and in- formation science
graduate students (LIS), and international graduate students who did not meet
the certification level on the TOEFL.13 The expectation was that the
overall score on the ISC measure would reflect the differences in information
skills among the three populations. Thus, the highest scores should come from
LIS students and the lowest scores from international graduate students. The
undergraduates should produce scores in between. The subjects took the online
quiz in the computer lab at their own convenience. No time limit was imposed,
but they were told that the quiz takes less than an hour to complete.
The results are
presented in table 4. The average time to complete the online quiz was
thirty-four minutes. The differences among the three samples are in the
expected direction and are statistically highly significant. The
undergraduates' familiarity with the PLATO system might account for their
faster completion time.
In terms of
percent correct, the three groups performed as expected, with a mean of 74% for
the library students, 59% for the undergraduates, and 49% for the
internationals. Statistically, this is a highly significant effect despite the
small samples. The sub-scores corroborate the intended manipulation of three
levels of development. The questions in the basic level averaged out at 73%,
intermediate level questions at 53% and advanced, at 45%. This pattern was
confirmed for each of the three groups. Also, the expected difference among the
three populations is replicated at each level to a highly statistically
significant degree.
"The concept of
affective library search errors recognizes that users' freedom of access to
information is restricted by irrational fears or unreasonable
frustrations."
RESEARCH ISSUES
The concept of
affective library search errors recognizes that users' freedom of access to
information is restricted by irrational fears or unreasonable frustrations.
These fears are evident in user self reports, as in the following samples:
TABLE 3
DISTRIBUTION AND ANALYSIS OF
ITEMS
|
Content Areas
and Abbreviated Questions I appreciate floorplan maps OPAC COMMANDS
(4) |
Category of Skill Correct [A1] [A1] [A2] [A2] [A3] [A3] [A3] [A2] [A2] [C1] [C1] [C1] [C2] [C3] [C2] [C2] [C2] [C2] [C2] [C2] [C2] [C2] [C1] [C1] [C3] [C3] [S1] [S1] [S1] [S1] [S1] [S2] [S2] [S2] [S3] [S3] [S1] |
% 98 84 94 83 94 92 92 90 94 96 82 76 58 28 41 36 38 81 58 49 63 41 73 68 81 40 69 40 90 93 74 86 69 83 2 23 62 |
TABLE 4
|
PERCENT CORRECT ON THE
ISC QUIZ FOR THREE POPULATIONS |
|
||||||||
|
|
|
Time |
|
|
Levels |
|
|
Domains |
|
|
Groups |
N |
(mins.) |
Total |
1 |
2 |
3 |
A |
C |
S |
|
USStudents Combined Significance level
below ANOVA Number of Questions |
11 |
35 |
74 |
89 |
81 |
56 |
92 9 |
75 |
60 |
I can tell you that I
had great apprehensions at the thought of having to do a library research
paper.
It shocked me to visit a
library with five floors compared with one floor, and I felt that I was in
another world.
Two weeks ago I walked
into the library lost and confused.
Here is another
description of the hectic time I spent looking for information on diet.
I was frustrated when
many of the articles that I looked up in the indexes were in magazines not
carried at the library.
The most frustrating
thing was trying to look for articles in the indexes.
Walking around the
library with a dazed and confused look on my face wasn't unusual.
The implication of this
evidence is that library services need to take explicitly into account the
affective behavior of users as well as their cognitive strategies and
sensorimotor actions.
Tests of library skills
generally have focused on the cognitive domain. Where affective as well as
cognitive skills are measured, the practice seems to be to obtain separate
scores for each domain.14 A combined score, where two or all three
domains are included, as in this study, reflects the integrated nature of human
behavior. While there are three discrete domains of behavior, the three
integrate in human interaction. As table 4 shows, the percent correct is
reported for each domain as well as the combined total percent correct. Since
it is the affective that makes the cognitive alternatives available, people
with a negative affective direction hinder their ability to learn search
strategies. Research and practice will indicate the types of feedback that are
best for affective items, as distinguished from feedback for cognitive or
sensorimotor items. Scoring the items in all three domains as correct or
incorrect and obtaining a total score reflects the theoretical and
methodological properties of the behavioral taxonomy. Future studies will
explore the relationship between cognitive and affective scores. In this study
all of the intercorrelations among the nine categories were too low to reach
statistical significance.
In future studies, a
greater variety of affective items will be used. The current items appear to be
too general, with average scores above 85 percent (see table 4). Affective
items of the following kind illustrate other directions for testing this
domain:
Libraries should be
small.
YES/NO [A2]
When I have to go to the
library I put it off as long as I can.
APPLIES TO ME/DOES NOT
APPLY TO ME [Al]
When I'm doing research
for a paper, I feel that I am wasting a lot of my time.
APPLIES TO ME
FREQUENTLY/APPLIES TO ME SOMETIMES [Al]
When I'm doing research
for an assignment, I'm grateful that the library is well organized.
YES/NO [A2]
When I leave the
library, I feel that my intellect is expanded.
SOMETIMES/NEVER [A3]
Learning how to find
information will help me in my future career.
DEFINITELY APPLIES TO
ME/DOES NOT APPLY TO ME [A3]
I like being in the
library.
ALMOST ALWAYS/ALMOST
NEVER [A3]
I love libraries.
ALMOST ALWAYS/ALMOST NEVER [A3]
The atmosphere in the library is peaceful
ALMOST ALWAYS/ALMOST NEVER [A3]
The library is too big and impersonal.
ALMOST ALWAYS/ALMOST NEVER [A3]
The library is too frustrating.
ALMOST
ALWAYS/ALMOST NEVER [Al] I don't like using OPAC.
YES/NO [A2]
I have to improve on using OPAC.
YES/NO [A2]
I need to improve my library research
skills.
YES/NO [A2]
I feel I should be using libraries more.
YES/NO [A2]
I am frequently embarrassed to ask a
librarian a question when I should already know the answer.
TRUE/FALSE [Al]
The library is the heart of the academic
and scientific community.
AGREE/DISAGREE [A3]
Library research should not be required to
get a bachelor's degree.
AGREE/DISAGREE [Al]
Libraries are wonderful and fun.
AGREE/DISAGREE [A3]
It is important to continue to use
libraries after graduation.
AGREE/DISAGREE [A2]
Is not appropriate to ask the librarian
how to find information on personal problems? YES/NO [Al]
It is exciting to find needed information.
YES/NO [A3]
It is not important to continue to learn
new ways of searching for information throughout life.
AGREE/DISAGREE [A2]
Whether or not I find what I need in the
library depends more on how much the library has on my topic than on my own
research skills.
AGREE/DISAGREE [A2]
To a great extent finding information that
I need controlled more by chance than by systematic
TRUE/FALSE [A2]
I can pretty much find on my own whatever
I need in the library.
YES/NO [A3]
I hate it when I have to look up the same
subject heading in several annual volumes of a periodical index.
YES/NO [Al]
They should go back to card catalogs
instead of computers.
AGREE/DISAGREE [A2]
I don't like looking for call numbers
because the books are hardly ever there.
TRUE/FALSE [Al]
These items reflect student comments made in a special Library Research
Journal section of their term papers. Each item represents an affective skill
or error depending on which direction the person is moving. Assuming the person
is answering the questions objectively, as a self-witness, the item identifies
some particular adaptive or maladaptive habit in the affective domain. For
instance, persons answering "Applies to me" to the item "When I
have to go to the library I put it off as long as I can," indicates a
tendency to circumvent instructions and the learning steps they must go through
to acquire information searching competence. It is to be expected that such
feelings of resistance occur in clusters and begin to interfere actively with
the acquisition of cognitive and sensorimotor skills. In the behavioral sense
they are affective errors or impediments to skill acquisition.
"Bibliographic
instruction can help address affective errors or impediments to skill
acquisition in many searches."
Bibliographic
instruction can help address this need in many searchers.15 To alert
students to the pervasiveness of this maladaptive syndrome in learning search
behavior, the authors have presented students with lists of affective errors
and discussed their causes and solutions. To make students more specifically
aware, they had to read the Library Research Journals of previous students and
were given the opportunity to discuss research strategy in small groups. They
were also teamed in pairs who met in the library to do research together. These
motivational techniques were effective in reducing the strength of maladaptive
affective habits as is evident from the student reports. Here are some
examples:
Since
I have become more familiar with the library through this assignment, my
attitude toward research is not negative. Struggling through the paper has
given me confidence to do more papers.
Now when I walk into the
library the surroundings are familiar and I do not feel threatened or lost. The
assignment broadened my ability as well as my awareness of what the library has
to offer, not only scholastically just for pleasure.
I discovered how to make
the library work for me. I now know how to use most of the library system
including the help of the reference librarians.
The process of gathering
information was an enriching lesson that can be utilized for years to come.
I enjoyed the trips to
the libraries and found it educational. Now I know where to get information
that I need.
An
additional research issue concerns the online environment of the quiz and the
effect of prior experience with computers. The online environment could be
contrasted with a control such as a written version, in order to assess the
effect of typing errors, using function keys, screen displays, and the
controlled sequencing of items. Another control consists in using a different
online environment such as Hyper Card, a more visually oriented user16
friendly system.
Research will show the
extent to which the ISC measure can be used for diagnostic purposes.
Test/retest reliability needs to be established. A small sample of
undergraduates who took the quiz again within three weeks improved their scores
by nine percent. This modest, but statistically significant gain occurred even
though students did not receive any bibliographic instruction. The increase
could be attributed to the test's instructional feature of giving immediate
feedback for each item. The test/re-test correlation was .78 (N = 27), showing
the answers to be quite stable. Pre-post test studies in an instructional
context ought to be done to determine the sensitivity to change in competence
as a result of an instructional intervention or other learning experience. As
well, the predictive value of the total ISC score needs to be explored. Is it
indicative of a person's on-the-job performance, or success in making use of
information tools?
THE STRUCTURE OF THE ACS
INFORMATION UNIT
Figure 2 is a
three-dimensional view of table 2. The shaded rectangles in figure 2 correspond
to the face of table 2. It can be seen that each of the nine categories of
skills is made up of all three domains. In this study, only one of the three
domains was selected for each of the nine categories, though it would be
possible to construct a quiz that samples all three domains for each item.
Behavior theory requires the integration of all three domains in every act (the
ACS unit). How is it possible to have separate instructional objectives for
each domain? Teaching requires a single-minded focus and leads to the selection
of one of the three domains of the ACS unit to be measured by a single item.
For instance one question used for category [S2] is:
Computers
see also
Artificial intelligence Microprocessors
Psychological Uses
My fair software. J. Gorman. il Discover
6:64-5 F '85
Question: What is the
title of the magazine in which this article is published?
ANSWER: Discover
The instructional focus
here is on the sensorimotor skill involved in perceiving the distinction
between magazine title and article title and then typing the title accurately,
an item that had a 30 percent error rate. To focus on the cognitive component
that relates to this sensorimotor skill, the librarian could construct the
following item [C2].
Computers
see also
Artificial intelligence
Microprocessors
Psychological Uses
My fair software. j.
Gorman. il Discover 6:64-5 F '85
Question: You know what
the title of the magazine is because:
a. the magazine has a
one-word title and the article title has several words.
b. the magazine title is
accompanied by a volume number
c. the magazine title
always has the word "il" before it
d. software has to do
with computers
ANSWER: b
The focus here is on
measuring comprehension of the content of an index entry [C2] rather than
recognizing it or copying is accurately [S2]. To focus on the affective
component, a librarian could ask the question [A2]: "Look at the entry.
How sure are you that you can tell which is the magazine title and which is the
article title?" Sure/Not Sure. Individuals who are not sure need to be
taught this distinction so that their information gathering may proceed with
confidence-an important affective search skill.
MEASURING THE HUMAN CAPACITY TO SEARCH FOR
INFORMATION
Inspection of the
seventy-one questions revealed an interesting relation between the form of the
question and the behavioral domain. For instance, the affective questions are
all bi-polar (Yes/No, Agree/Disagree), the cognitive questions are multiple-choice
and matching forms, and the sensorimotor questions are all fill in type. Human
capacity is defined as a rational neuro system structured into three domains of
experience arranged in a top down control hierarchy. The schema in figure 3 shows
the relation between the structure of the domain and the corresponding type of
measure. The affective domain on the left is defined as the top of the control
hierarchy." It corresponds to the bi-polar affective system governing the
will or the motivation. This has a directional function in all behavior and
serves to prioritize goals and to define success. A person with a need for
information and the desire to look for it must obtain relevant rather than
irrelevant answers. This requires a two-valued logic. Users may have a
supportive attitude towards the information environment, or not. As well, they
can be supportive in varying degrees. Items measuring the affective component
of information searching behavior are bi polar: Yes/No, Agree/Disagree, or a semantic
differential scale like "important-unimportant" or
"pleasant-unpleasant" with any number of degrees in between.
The
affective feeds into the cognitive system's representational function, encoding
relevant features of a situation and mapping search strategies under the
control of the affective system as each alternative is accepted or rejected.
Multiple choice and matching questions are well suited to represent successful
and unsuccessful alternatives (scenarios) in decision-making. The affective and
the cognitive systems jointly feed into the sensorimotor system that has an
operational function, noting and performing. Fill-in questions are well suited
for this performative function as they require the person to perceive selected
features and accurately encode them in a fixed order.
In keeping with the
basic ACS information unit, it is to be noted that a sensorimotor fill-in item
has associated with it both a cognitive and an affective component (see figure
2), though these are not necessarily measured. For example, a [C1] question is:
Select the correct
definition for CROSS REFERENCE.
a. A publication that is
issued recurrently at specific times under the same title.
b. A scientific,
technical, scholarly, or professional periodical.
c. An oversized publication
shelved in separate, larger stacks.
d. Broader, narrower, or
related terms used to describe topics or subject headings.
ANSWER: d
The instructional focus
here is to measure basic cognitive skills relating to the concept of
cross-reference. This involves cognitive memory and comprehension of groups of
interrelated vocabulary. The correct answer depends on this cognitive activity
much more crucially than the sensorimotor skill of typing the letter
"d," or the affective skill of desiring to recall what one knows
about it. Thus, the affective and sensorimotor components for this cognitive
item would ordinarily not be measured.
Suppose one constructed a fill-in item for
defining this term: "Type in the definition for CROSS-REFERENCE."
Since this uses the question format for sensorimotor items (see figure 3), the
answer depends on sensorimotor memory, rather than cognitive as in the previous
format for this item.
This
sensorimotor memory depends on prior experience with writing down and reading
definitions of cross-reference. Thus, a person unable to write out a definition
for CROSS-REFERENCE may be able to reason out the
correct definition from a set of alternatives.
The most difficult question was the
sensorimotor item asking students to type a bibliographic citation from a
catalog entry [S3]. Error analysis showed that part of the problem for many
people was having to type an answer as long as two lines, and another part was
knowing which information to select from the catalog entry displayed. These two
components should be measured separately, using items appropriate to each.
THE LIBRARY USER’S THREE
MEMORIES
The instructional significance of the ACS
information unit is that teaching people to become searchers, or helping
searchers to be better searchers, involves the management of three different
types of human memory-affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor. Affective memory
is required for acquiring affective information skills, just as cognitive
memory is required for learning cognitive information skills. The same is true
for sensorimotor memory. Advances in research and practice will reveal the
characteristics of each memory and how these may be applied to curriculum
design.18 In general, sensorimotor memory is built up by hands-on
practice; cognitive memory is built up by exploration of alternatives to a
specified situation; affective memory is built up through social exchanges and
through successes.
The widespread practice of focusing almost
exclusively on cognitive skills relies on the individual's own initiative to
supply the affective and to keep up with the sensorimotor. However, as the
information environment becomes more complex, a greater percentage of the
population is cut off from normal interaction with standard information tools.
This is due to automation and the proliferation of reference tools.19 As
the requisite cognitive skills become more complex, individuals with low
affective skills will not be able to acquire them due to frustration, techno
phobia, and learned aversion to libraries.20 Therefore,
bibliographic instruction can address these affective problems by teaching users
those affective skills that will permit them to acquire the complex cognitive
skills. This is not a matter of psychotherapy, rather it is the recognition by
the information specialist that effective search behavior includes affective
skills. These must be dealt within bibliographic instruction by developing
appropriate instructional objectives in the affective domain, including them in
the curriculum and in library skills tests.21 The ACS unit can be
used as a model for developing these instructional objectives.
REFERENCES AND NOTES
1. Dennis Hamilton, "Library Users
and Online Systems: Suggested Objectives for Library Instruction," RQ
25:195-97 (Winter 1985); "Model Statement of Objectives for Academic
Bibliographic Instruction: Draft Revision," College & Research
Libraries 48:256-60 (May 1987).
2. Benjamin S. Bloom, ed., Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals: Handbook I: Cognitive Domain
(New York: David McKay, 1956) passim; David R. Krathwohl, Benjamin S. Bloom,
and Bertram B. Masia, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of
Educational Goals: Handbook II: Affective Domain (New York: David McKay, 1964)
passim; Walter D. Pierce and Charles E. Gray, Deciphering the Learning Domains:
A Second Generation Classification Model for Educational Objectives
(Washington, D.C.: Univ. Press of America, 1979) passim.
3. Karen Ponish,
"'Babywise' and Toys Develop Literacy Skills," American Libraries
18:709-10 (Sept. 1987).
4. James Rice, Jr.,
Teaching Library Use: A Guide for Library Instruction (Westport, Conn.:
Greenwood,
1981), p.42.
5. Carol Collier
Kuhlthau, "Feelings in the Library Research Process," Arkansas
Libraries 42:23-26 (June 1985).
6. Carol Wright and Mary
Ellen Larson, "Basic Information Access Skills: Curriculum Design Using a
Matrix Approach" College & Research Libraries (submitted 1989).
7. Leon A. James and
Diane James, "Learning the Library: Taxonomy of Skills and Errors,"
College & Research Libraries 48:203?14 (May 1987).
8. The set of 71 questions
is available on request from the authors.
9. Diane James and Leon
A. James, "Managing the Affective Micro-Information Environment,"
Research Strategies 3, no.1: 17?28 (Winter 1985).
10. Charles E. Osgood,
George Suci, and Percy H. Tannenbaum, The Measurement of Meaning (Ur bana,
Ill.: Univ. of minois Pr., 1957).
11. Diane James and Leon
A. James, "Teaching the Analysis of Titles: Dependent and Independent
Variables in Research Articles," Research Strategies 5:164?71 (Fall 1987).
12. PLATO is a national
computer network developed at the University of lllinois in the 1%Os for the
delivery of general education lessons to schools and homes. PLATO terminals are
available in the computer lab located in the Library. PLATO has a catalog of
hundreds of interactive lessons in most academic subjects. Instructors may
input their own lessons, quizzes, tests, and messages. Students use the
terminals on their own time by signing-on with their password. Donald L.
Bitzer, "The PLATO Project at the University of Illinois,"
Engineering Education 77:175-80 (1986); Elisabeth R. Lyman, PLATO Highlights
7th ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1981). The quiz was entered with
assistance from David Lassner and Sue Larsen of the University of Hawaii
Computing Center.
13. TOEFL: Test of
English as a Foreign Language (Princeton, N.J.: Educational Testing Service,
1988).
14. Virginia Tiefel,
"Evaluating a Library User Education Program: A Decade of
Experience," College & Research Libraries 50:249-59 (March 1989).
15. James, "Managing
the Affective," passim.
16. Dan Shafer,
HyperTalk Programming (Indianapolis, Ind.: Hayden Books, 1988); Mimi Jones and
Dave Myers, Hands-on HyperCard: Designing Your Own Applications (New York: John
Wiley, 1988).
17. The foundations of
rational neuroscience are found in the writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg.
"In every complete thing there is a tine which is called First, Mediate,
and Ultimate, also End, Cause, and Effect." He identifies the trine of
human behavior as the affective ("loves" and "affections"),
and the cognitive ("thoughts," "reflections," and
"understanding"), and sensorimotor ("actions" and
"sensations"). Actions and sensations are thus effects of thought
propelled by loves. True Christian Religion (New York: Swedenborg Foundation,
1981 [17711), no. 210; "Affection, thought, and action are also in a
series of like degrees, because all affection has relation to love, thought to
wisdom, and action to use." Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and
the Divine Wisdom (New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1976117631), no. 214.
18. Carol Tenopir, Diane
James, and Dara Lee Howard, "Magazines Online: Users and Uses of Full
Text," ASIS '89 Proceedings 26:173-75 (October 1989); Carol Tenopir, Diane
James , and Dara Lee Howard, "Full Text Search Strategies and
Modifications: The Role of the Searcher and the Role of the System,"
National Online Meeting 1990 (in press May 1990).
19. ".... . All
members of the academic community are likely to become increasingly dependent
on skilled professional guidance in the acquisition and use of library
resources as the forms and numbers of these resources multiply, scholarly
publications appear in more languages, bibliographical systems become more
complicated, and library technology grows increasingly sophisticated. The
librarian who provides such guidance plays a major role in the learning
process." From the "Joint Statement on Faculty Status of College and
University Librarians" of the AAUP, Association of American Colleges, and
ACRL. Quoted in Ruth W. Clinefelter and Jack E. Hibbs, "The Neglected
Information Specialist," Academe 75:29 (July-Aug. 1989).
20. "The library anxiety described by students is
similar to that described in the literature on math and test anxiety."
Constance Mellon, "Attitudes: The Forgotten Dimension in Library
Instruction," Library Journal (Sept. 1, 1988), p.139; Bobbie L. Coffins,
Constance A. Mellon, and Sally B. Young, "The Needs and Feelings of
Beginning Researchers," in Bibliographic Instruction: The Second
Generation, ed. Constance A. Mellon (Littleton, Col.: Libraries Unlimited,
1987), p.73-84; Constance A. Mellon, "Library Anxiety in College Students:
A Grounded Theory and Its Development," College & Research Libraries
47:160?65 (March 1986); See also: ". . . unless we are careful, users
could become increasingly suspicious of the technology while becoming more
dependent on it." Grant Noble and Steve O'Connor, "Attitudes Toward
Technology as Predictors of Online Catalog Us age," College &Research
Libraries 47:610 (Nov.1986); "The micro-information environment encom
passes two interdependent domains of inner behavior: the voluntary or affective
skills and the intellectual or cognitive skills. The affective
micro-environment needs must be managed along with the intellectual
needs." James, "Managing the Affective," p.17.
21. Experience with
undergraduate students in a large academic library revealed these facts, as
enumerated in their library research journals. They resisted the use of formal
aids, such as floor plans and fields in OPAC displays, preferring to follow
hunches, guesses, and hopes, rather than be systematic. Research needs to
determine the pervasiveness of these affective errors.
©1990 AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION