How to Teach: A Practical Guide for Librarians

by Beverley E. Crane

Overview

How to Teach: A Practical Guide for Librarians is designed for librarians and other educators who must instruct library patrons on subjects ranging from research skills to understanding and using electronic tools to providing self-paced instruction. This book provides public, academic, school, and special librarians with practical applications based on theoretical approaches to adult learning; instructional design principles to help them plan, deliver, and assess learning; examples and model lessons illustrating face-to-face instruction and online training; and descriptions and step-by-step instructions showing them how to create self-paced materials to complement their teaching. Ready-to-use, customizable worksheets; handouts; and evaluation forms serve as models. Exercises in each chapter reinforce its content. URLs identify additional ideas and materials from librarian colleagues to enhance teaching.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538104156
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/01/2017
Series:	Practical Guides for Librarians , #35
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	274
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Beverley E. Crane has taught both face-to-face and online courses to students, other educators, and librarians at three universities and middle and high schools in all types of libraries. In addition, while working for Dialog and ProQuest, she spent more than twenty years designing face-to-face and online webinars, as well as online materials including one-page how-to guides, short instructional videos, and other information to deliver concise training using images and text to librarians, educators, and the business community.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Teaching to Learn
Chapter 2. Planning Instruction
Chapter 3. Implementing Instruction
Chapter 4. Types of Instruction
Chapter 5. Face-to-Face Presentations
Chapter 6. Online Instruction
Chapter 7. Synchronous Instruction
Chapter 8. Asynchronous Instruction
Chapter 9 Self-Education: Keeping Current
Chapter 10. What’s Ahead for the Instruction Librarian?

Editorial Reviews

How to Teach: A Practical Guide for Librarians is a valuable resource for librarians who are new to teaching, as the author has included an array of important topics, including some that are rarely touched upon in this type of book. It is also a good refresher for librarians who are experienced teachers. It is lucidly written, and the author has provided a number of avenues and resources to spur further exploration. And the icing on the cake? It addresses the needs of librarians in public and special libraries, as well as academic libraries.

Trudi E. Jacobson

I wish I had How to Teach: A Practical Guide for Librarians as a resource when I started my career! In the first week at my first professional job, I was asked to present a course on MARC coding to other librarians. With no prior experience in teaching a class, I had to learn by trial and error. Starting with an overview of the context for adult learning, this book offers clear, practical advice on instructional techniques, plus examples and resources for creating course content and engaging students. What an invaluable resource for librarians, or indeed for professionals of any kind, who want to develop their teaching skills or learn how to communicate information more effectively.

Libby Trudell

The Practical Guide for Librarians series, of which this title belongs to, is designed to give librarians practical and innovative solutions to the everyday problems they face that can drain them of time and resources. The guides provide step-by-step plans for librarians brand new to the role of teaching customers how to access, evaluate, and use information. How to Teach explains to readers the theory behind delivering good instruction; helps them identify whether face-to-face or online instruction will be more effective for their users; shows them how to develop successful instruction; demonstrates ways to use individualized instruction; and provides advice on how to create objectives, present activities, and evaluate instruction. The work takes the reader through the steps of effective teaching. Library instruction is becoming a basic component of many library positions these days and this book will greatly assist those that are new to teaching and instruction. The suggestions can be adapted to fit face-to-face instruction as well as online instruction, making this volume a useful tool for any library manager looking to provide assistance to their staff in the area of teaching.

American Reference Books Annual

Beverley E. Crane has worked with librarians and information professionals for decades and has a deep devotion and understanding of teaching and learning. For someone who is considering his or her next role as an information professional and who has a passion for teaching and learning, this new edition of How to Teach will be an excellent resource.

Ethel Salonen

Beverley E. Crane’s How to Teach: A Practical Guide for Librarians is the perfect bridge between learning theory and the practical application of these pedagogical models on lesson plans, templates, self-paced instruction, and many other methods of adult learning. The detailed models created for librarians in many settings—special, school, academic, and public—allow the use of theoretically sound technologies and strategies to be implemented with confidence. This book is an indispensable guide for novice and expert alike.

Anne Caputo

01/01/2014
Crane (Dialog Information Systems; Using Web 2.0 and Social Networking Tools in the K-12 Classroom) offers practical advice to librarians faced with teaching an array of information literacy workshops. She begins by presenting summaries of various learning and pedagogic theories, from B.F. Skinner to Jean Piaget. (During her discussion of learning styles, she acknowledges that there are objections to learning style theory, but she does not cite specifics.) The next few chapters provide planning and implementation tips. Chapters four through eight outline types of instruction, including face-to-face and synchronous and asynchronous online instruction. The final chapter wraps up with what the future may hold for library instruction. The theories and principles highlighted in the first chapter are used throughout the book with practical examples. Each chapter begins with objectives and ends with key points, websites for more information, exercises, references, and further reading. The book also contains sample handouts and workshops. VERDICT As Crane states, "Learning is complex," which makes effective teaching a challenge. Her book is a serious attempt to make it an easier task. Recommended for teaching librarians both newly minted and experienced.—Robert Battenfeld, Long Island Univ. Post Lib., Brookville, NY

Library Journal