Librarian-lecturer Partnerships and e-Learning – ‘Taking’ the Library Resources to the Students

Con Meyer
Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science
Stellenbosch University
cjm@sun.ac.za

Elbie van Wyk
Librarian, SU Library
elvw@sun.ac.za

Module: Chemistry and polymer science 214
Number of students in module: 92 students

This was the seventh year the Chemistry Department asked their second-year students to complete an information research assignment on a popular chemistry topic. The chemistry seminar topic for this year was ‘The composition and chemistry of perfumes’. Guidelines for the seminar specified that the subdivisions of the seminar had to include specific information on the chemistry of perfumes, for example the chemical composition or structure of perfumes, types of compounds present in perfumes, e.g. aromatic and aliphatic compounds, as well as perfume fixatives and enhancers. The students also had to include a section on reaction scheme and reaction mechanism for the synthesis of a compound with a pleasant odor present in a perfume.

The guidelines had specific instructions on the type of sources the students had to consult. The bibliography had to include a variety of information sources, such as books, peer-reviewed journal articles, chemical encyclopedias and internet sources. It was made clear to students that they had to comply with these guidelines and follow the prescribed instructions on the type of appropriate information sources that could be used.

‘How to find information the easy way’ WebSTudies module

Because of the complexity of the assignment, I compiled an Information Skills module for the Chemistry 214 students, which I called ‘How to find information the easy way’. I started the module with a link to the library homepage. The module was divided into five sections: finding books; finding articles in peer-reviewed journals with databases such as Science Citation Index, Academic Search Premier and Google Scholar; finding the journals the library subscribes to; a link to the plagiarism webpage; and the recommended reference style to use for this assignment.

This was the first time these students had to do a formal literature search for this subject and they were not familiar with the reference works available for chemistry and did not know where to find them. To assist them I compiled a short list of recommended reference works.

According to the lecturer, the journals most likely to include information on their topic would be journals such as the Journal of Chemical Education, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Chemistry and Industry, etc. These journals will list articles on the topic that will be understandable to a chemistry student on second-year level. After doing a few searches, I found that Science Citation Index and Scifinder Scholar were the only databases indexing all the journals recommended by the lecturer. It is important to keep in mind that these journals are not properly indexed in Google Scholar. Because of site limitations and licensing agreements of Scifinder Scholar it was not wise to recommend this database to students. I compiled a guide on Science Citation Index, in which I explained with screenshots and text how to limit the search to only these journals. I also made a link to the A-Z list of databases to make it easier for students to find Science Citation Index.

Google Scholar was recommended as a search engine for internet sources and a guide was compiled on how to use Google Scholar’s advanced search option. A link to Google Scholar was made available.

The prescribed referencing style for the Chemistry Department is that of the Royal Society for Chemistry (RCS). A link was made to the RCS’s instructions to authors and I recommended that the plagiarism webpage of the library should be consulted if further information is needed on plagiarism.

The 92 students were divided into two groups. Each group came to the library in one of their practical periods from 14:00 to 16:30 and attended a fifty-minute PowerPoint lecture in the auditorium of the JS Gericke Library. In this contact session I explained everything I made available to them on WebSTudies. Afterwards the students were taken on a library tour to show them the location of the chemistry reference books and printed journals. For the remainder of the afternoon the students started working on their seminar in the library or in Narga with the information skills module on WebSTudies as their guide. I was available for assistance if they needed help.

Why I decided to use WebSTudies as a tool

The ultimate challenge for us as academic librarians is to extend our educational partnership role and to contribute proactively to the development of an information-literate student community. The South African Qualifications Authority requires that students achieve certain general competencies during the course of their studies, and Stellenbosch University’s learning and teaching policy considers information literacy a critical building block of learning and teaching. With this goal as outcome I decided to use WebSTudies as a tool to take the library sources to the students so that they could achieve certain information skills in the process.

A Google search on the composition and chemistry of perfumes retrieved more or less 330 000 references. The problem was not that the students did not find information on the internet; the problem was to find the right type and level of information understandable for a second-year student and in the right format. From previous experience I knew that the students needed more than one contact session of an hour to fully understand where to find the right information. They were not familiar with the reference works or books available for chemistry or where to find it. They also did not know how to find scientific journal articles in databases. In the past I handed out printed guides to the students because there was not a big enough computer room in the library where they could receive hands-on training. It was also impossible to get a computer room in Narga during this busy time of the year. This year I put the guides for the students on WebSTudies and made links to the recommended databases and e-resources so that they could go back to the guides in their own time.

Lessons learned

The incorporation of a library module into WebCT Vista, an e-learning software program, highlights the important advantage of around-the-clock access without the restrictions of a physical library building and operational hours and with library information sources accessible to off-campus students. I plan to use WebSTudies information courses for all undergraduate and honors students in future. So far this year I have already compiled the following WebSTudies modules:

• Eight honors courses
• Seven undergraduate courses, including Biology 154 (590 students will have access to an Information Literacy module in the second semester) and Biology 372 (190 students already have access to a WebSTudies Information Literacy module and wrote a credit-bearing practical test during their contact session in Narga).

With the co-operation of lecturers I plan to develop information skills assessment tests on WebSTudies and make these tests credit bearing. The importance of partnerships between librarians, lecturers and WebSTudies support staff in the development of information literacy courses cannot be stressed enough. Without the support of the lecturer it is impossible for faculty librarians to help students achieve certain general information literacy competencies during the course of their studies at Stellenbosch University.

Powerpoint presentation