John Hickok California State University Fullerton, USA

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John HickokCalifornia State University
Fullerton, USA
A Comparison of Library Instruction between Hong
Kong and U.S. Academic Libraries
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• ABSTRACT
• Each year, students from all parts of
  Asiaincluding Hong Kongstudy abroad to the USA.
  While there, they encounter U.S. libraries and
  research expectations that might be different
  than what they are used to in their own country.
  This prompts several questions what similarities
  and differences are there in library instruction
  (i.e. research training) offered in U.S.
  libraries compared to libraries in Asian
  countries? Do students learn library
  organization/classification the same? Are online
  database search strategies taught similarly?
  How are research skills taught, comparatively?
• This presentation will discuss the presenters
  research in this regard. Library instruction
  methods and programs at academic librariesin
  both the U.S. and throughout Asiaare being
  chronicled and analyzed by the presenter. Trends,
  strategies, differences, and commonalities are
  all being evaluated. Some preliminary results are
  already available between U.S. and Hong Kong
  libraries. They show both similaritiessuch as
  database-specific trainingas well as
  differences, such as bilingual language issues.
  These results are interesting to discover,
  especially in light of increased resource sharing
  and electronic connections between U.S. and Asian
  libraries.

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FirstA Review of the Literature

• Research into the two largest scholarly
  Library Science databases (LISA LibraryLit)
  provided much on Information Literacy training in
  general, but surprisingly little specific to Hong
  Kong.

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LISA

• DEuser training
• DEuniversity libraries
• 1,150 articles
• --------------------------------------------------
  --------
• DEuser training
• DEuniversity libraries
• KWHong Kong
• 1 article

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LibraryLit

• DEBibliographic instruction--
• College University Students
• 1,461 articles
• --------------------------------------------------
  --------
• DEBibliographic instruction--
• College University Students
• KWHong Kong
• 1 article

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Thus

• An inviting area for more research!

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Areas of Comparison

• HK vs. US approaches to library instruction
• -- in-person
• -- online
• HK vs. US challenges in library instruction

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In-person library instruction

• Historically, in academic libraries, this has
• typically occurred as one or more of 3
  approaches
• A library skills component built-in to an
  academic course (e.g., English 101, or Freshman
  Studies 100, or Computer Science 101, etc.)
  (typically several library sessions)
• A professor-requested library session for his/her
  class (typically a 1 hour session)
• A workshop/seminar offered by the library on
  specific library/Information Literacy skills
  (e.g., How to search databases) (typically a
  1 hour session)

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Regarding 1 (A library skills component
built-in to an academic course)

• This often reflects a university-wide
• (or a college/department-wide)
• requirement/commitment/policy
• toward information literacy.

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Example of 1 in the literature
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Regarding 2 (A professor-requested library
session for his/her class)

• This is the traditional subject-specific
  bibliographic instruction session. Librarians
  have been conducting these type of sessions for
  decades (with the content/technology varying).

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Example of 2 in the literature
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Regarding 3 (A workshop/seminar offered by the
library)

• Librarians have also been conducting these type
  of sessions for decades from How to use the
  card catalog of past decades to Advanced
  database search strategies of today.

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Example of 3 in the literature
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• Each approach has its advocates and arguments
• 1 advocates say an institutional-wide buy-in is
  the only way to seriously achieve information
  literacy
• 2 advocates argue subject-specific sessions are
  best because they are most meaningful
  (contextual) for students
• 3 advocates argue that workshops offer the
  greatest flexibility and point-of-need to a busy
  diverse student body

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• From a synthesis of the literature, perhaps it
  is not best to think of these approaches as
  either/or, but rather, as multiple tools to
  combine blend, in a custom-tailored strategy.

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Example of combined/blended from the literature
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Regarding Hong Kong academic libraries
approaches

• All 3 approaches were found. Some emphasized one
  over another. Some employed a blending/combinatio
  n.
• The following chart shows the approaches of 4
  randomly-selected libraries (anonymous) among
  Hong Kongs 8 major universities

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Hong Kong Libraries in-person instructional
approaches

• Component
  Professor-requested Workshops
• in a course? course-specific
  sessions (per semester)
• (per semester)
• Library A yes 25 8
• Library B sort of 45 25
• Library C sort of 8
  32
• Library D no 25
  43

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And in comparison,U.S. academic libraries
in-person instructional approaches

• (4 U.S. academic libraries were also
  randomly/anonymously selectedfrom a list of
  libraries covering several states with large
  urban universities (20,000 enrollment) to
  parallel HK universities)

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U.S. Libraries in-person approaches

• Component
  Professor-requested Workshops
• in a course? course-specific
  sessions (per semester)
• (per semester)
• Library A yes 200 16
• Library B no 72 15
• Library C no 65
  32
• Library D sort of 25
  40

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Analysis

• No single approach is dominant in either Hong
  Kong or the U.S. approaches vary from
  university to university in both countries.

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Online Library Instruction

• Historically, this has evolved along with
  technology. First, just text guides (reprints of
  library paper guides). Then pictures for photo
  tours. Then audio sound clips or slide shows or
  streaming video. And now Java/Flash
  interactivity.

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A U.S. example
Streaming video tour of the library
accompanying interactive quiz
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A Hong Kong example
Interactive Information Literacy
tutorial using Flash graphics
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Hong Kong Libraries online instructional
approaches

• A webpage of some type
  Features of the page?
• of library/IL instruction?
• Library A yes interactive Java
  tutorial
• Library B yes multimedia Flash
• Library C yes Macromedia
  interactive
• Library D yes text only
  

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U.S. Libraries online instructional approaches

• A webpage of some type
  Features of the page?
• of library/IL instruction?
• Library A yes streaming video
  quiz
• Library B yes text only (w/ some
  pics)
• Library C yes Java interactive
  tutorial
• Library D yes multimedia
  Flash

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Analysis

• The common trend among libraries in both
  countries is to capitalize on newer Web
  featurese.g. multimedia, interactivityto
  enhance online instruction (beyond text-only).

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Common challenges for HK-U.S. library instruction

• Students in both countries think going onto
  Google is the same thing as academic research
• Having administrators/professors understand that
  computer competency and information literacy are
  not the same
• Students increasingly busier! (part-time jobs,
  increased class loads, etc.)

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Different challenges for HK-U.S. library
instruction

• Hong Kong cultural/traditional aspect of
  students not wanting to ask questions, ask for
  help
• Hong Kong bilingual challengessome students
  wanting more in Chinese (e.g., Website text)
• U.S. a larger assortment of cultures and
  immigrant backgrounds to deal with

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Conclusions

• More commonalities than differences
• Technology has been a catalyst for common-ground
  (e.g., universal database interfaces)
• Cross-cultural exchanges add to innovation in
  instruction (e.g., Librarian training outside of
  HK)