Use of a Pre-Assessment Tool to Start a Meaningful Dialogue: New Paradigms in Library Instruction

Abstract

In 2009, the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library started a library instruction dialogue with the medical students and faculty from the Emory School of Medicine. These discussions exposed a gap among faculty, students, and librarians in their perceptions of information processing. Follow-ups with the Associate Deans for Student Affairs and Medical Education led to the decision to administer an online assessment of the incoming student body and a complete redesign of the library orientation program. The aim of using self-assessment methodology in the framework of an orientation program was to set the students' foundation for self-discovery and introduce them to self-learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Active teaching
• information processing
• library instruction
• library orientation
• pre-assessment tool
• self-assessment
• self-reflection

Acknowledgments

This article is based on a poster that was presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., on May 24, 2010.

The authors would like to acknowledge unwavering support and commitment from the Emory School of Medicine Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Director of Admissions Dr. Ira K. Schwartz and Associate Dean for Medical Education and Student Affairs Dr. J. Alan Otsuki. The authors also would like to acknowledge the role of the WHSC Library Clinical Informationist Amy E. Allison, MLS, AHIP, whose pilot assessment project with the Pulmonology Fellows was used to model the study described in this article. The authors would like to thank WHSC Library Director Sandra G. Franklin for steadfast commitment and editorial support. Finally, the authors would like to acknowledge Dr. William H. Sullivan and Librarian Emeritus Lucretia W. McClure for proofreading the article and providing constructive criticisms.

Notes

(NA = Not Applicable, NI = Not important, I = Important, C = Critical, NS = Not Sure).

*Refers to the clinical rotations period.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna Getselman

Anna Getselman, MLS ([email protected]) is Associate Director, Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library, Emory University, 1462 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30322.

Mia S. White

Mia S. White, MILS, AHIP ([email protected]) is Reference Librarian, Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library, Emory University, 1462 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30322.