Researcher: BONIFACIO V. RAMOS
Course: Master of Arts in Education major in Library Science
School: Philippine Normal College, Philippines
Subject Area: Library Instruction-Programmed Text
Year of Graduation: November 1974
IntroductionLibrary instruction has always been a very effective method of advertising the library to library clientele albeit this is more of an educational than a publicity function of the library. Library instruction is aimed at making the student as independent and skillful as possible in the use of the library.
Statement of the ProblemThe construction of a programmed text on the use of the card catalog and the classification and arrangement of library books was the main concern of this study.
Methodology The knowledge and skills contents of the programmed text that was constructed in this study were based on Cook's The New Library Key which is a guide to the use of the college library. Parts of the lessons were taken, too, from other similar guides mentioned in the bibliography section of this study. The programmed text was divided into the following units: Unit I – The Card Catalog which was divided into further sub-units, A – Arrangement of cards in the Card Catalog, B – Author, Title, and Subject Cards, and C – Cross-Reference Cards; and, Unit II – Classification and Arrangement of Library Books. The lessons on each unit were presented in the form of frames sequenced according to the branching model of programming. The pre-test and post-test (in the nature of a knowledge and skill test) for each of the units of instruction were constructed based on a Table of Specifications prepared out of the guides to the use of the library mentioned in the bibliography section of this study. Some questions were also taken from the two sets of knowledge and skill test included in Bradshaw's program. Others were based on the entries found in the Union Card Catalog of the Saint Mary's University.
The program was tried out on a one-to-one testing basis with four students distributed as follows: two average level students and two below-average students. The try-out on the one-to-one testing basis started with the female subject in the average level and lastly with the male subject in the below-average level. The program underwent three revisions based on the comments, reactions, and responses of the subjects in the separate try-outs.
After the third and final revision, the program was tried out on a small-group testing basis. Two groups of students taken from the Freshmen English Ia classes were used in the small-group testing, each group consisting of 15 students. Each ability level in the two groups was represented by five (5) students (One male and four female). Group I was the experimental group and Group II was the control group.
Group I and II were given the pre-test before the former group was made to work on the program. Group I given the corresponding post-test after finishing each unit or sub-unit of the program. Group II attended the Library Orientation Lectures on the use of the library. The students in this group were given the post-tests after the Library Orientation.
Findings The t-test for paired samples was used to compare the effectivity of both methods of teaching the use of the library: the Programmed Text and the Freshmen Library Orientation.
The t-test for paired samples showed that the Group I students learned very well through the programmed text the: arrangement of cards in the card catalog; author, title, and subject cards; cross-reference cards; and, classification and arrangement of library books.
The same test also showed that the Library Orientation was effective, too, in teaching the Group II students the same knowledge and skills, except for cross-reference cards wherein the group did not show any progress in learning. The achievements of both groups in the post-test were compared using the t-test for independent samples. This test showed that the Programmed text was more effective than the Library Orientation in teaching the students the following areas: arrangement of cards in the card catalog; author, title and subject cards; and, classification and arrangement of library books. Both were equally effective on the unit, cross-reference cards.
Conclusions It was evident that the Group I students who worked on the programmed text enjoyed it. These gave such comments as: “The way I was taught how to use the card catalog was wonderful. I enjoyed it very much.”; “I am happy that I had such an experience to use the program. I learned many things about how to use the library aside from the fact that I enjoyed it very much”; “The program was very interesting. I could know whether my answer was right or wrong. The explanations on how to use the card catalog and how to locate a book in the library were clear and easy to understand. Now, I know how to use the library”; “it was very enjoyable, especially the parts wherein there is an 'If your answer is ____. proceed to frame ___ 'statement.”
Recommendations
The program was actually intended for the college freshmen of the Saint Mary's University, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. However, the program can also be used in college libraries whose form of cataloging entries is similar or the same as the form followed in the preparation of entries for the Union Card Catalog of the Saint Mary's University. This form followed in the descriptive part of the catalog entries in the Saint Mary's University Library union card catalog is a slight modification of the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules.
College Libraries that may want to use the program may simply change the examples of the catalog entries in the program to be the same as the form of catalog entries in their card catalogs.
The program on the Classification and Arrangement of Library Books will be useful, too, in the college libraries that follow the Dewey Decimal Classification in the classification and arrangement of their books. It will not be useful, therefore, in college libraries whose books are classified and arranged according to the Library of Congress Classification.
It is recommended that a program on the classification and arrangement of library books be made to explain the arrangement of books according to the Library of Congress Classification.
The programmed text made in this study makes only a part of the contents of the library instruction. It is recommended, therefore, that programmed materials using the branching model be made also on such important areas of library instruction as: the use of specific types and titles of reference books like encyclopedias, dictionaries, indexes, yearbooks, directories, atlases, gazetteers, biographical dictionaries, bibliographies, etc.; the parts of a book; etc.
