Learning about Diverse Patrons:
Report from the ACRL-WA/WLA Pre-Conference

by Beth Lindsay
Photographs by Linda Pierce

I agreed to organize the event, with Linda Pierce, our past-president, offering valuable logistic contributions. After some brainstorming with the board and with colleagues at WSU, we pitched “One Size Doesn't Fit All: Working with Diverse Patrons” to the WLA conference planners. The pre-conference was subsequently held on April 20, 2005, in Spokane.
	ACRL-WA-sponsored preconference session at WLA conference in Spokane.

As we know, instruction occurs constantly in libraries, and not only in the classrooms. A lot of one-on-one teaching and training happens at the reference desk, so most public services librarians are teaching - at least a little bit - every day. Changing demographics throughout our state are bringing in different audiences for instruction than we've seen in the past. To address these new, diverse audiences, we invited librarians and education professionals to speak about the theory and practice of working with adult learners, ESL patrons, and students known as Gen Y or Millenials.

	To lead off the pre-conference, Karen Munro of the University of Oregon gave a presentation about diversity and interdisciplinary research. Munro spoke about how the way we typically teach people to find books -- by constructing a keyword search, examining the subject headings and browsing the shelves -- fails or backfires when working with some topics.
Karen Munroe of University of Oregon.
Munro showed examples of results found in a catalog search for the topic of Native Americans and national parks, exploring the range of subject headings and call number classification that the items fall into. She also took us through a search related to disabilities, specifically looking for information about the portrayal of disabled persons in literature, film or culture. She discussed issues related to emerging, interdisciplinary fields and areas where the LCSH is not using current nomenclature, outlining strategies to assist patrons with their research.

 Professor Jim Gregson of the University of Idaho and Jonathan Betz-Zall of City University addressed the needs of adult learners. Gregson gave an overview of demographic changes in education and the impact the growth of adult learners has had on the community, the workplace and the educational setting. He also talked about some of the generalizations about adult learners and how to address their needs. Betz-Zall addressed the characteristics of adult learners, and had audience members brainstorm ideas for making instructional settings more useful and relevant for the adults. Together, these two segments gave attendees a solid overview of the learning styles, changing demographics and educational needs of adult learners.
 

Sayumi Irey of Bellevue Community College.

Professor Martha Savage of Gonzaga University and Sayumi Irey of Bellevue Community College provided insights into best practices for serving ESL patrons. Irey asked attendees to think of myths about ESL learners and then discussed some other myths that are addressed in the professional literature. She gave great examples about her own experience as an ESL student and provided insights into how to help ESL students succeed with becoming information literate in the U.S. Savage’s presentation touched on key socio-cultural issues that are affecting ESL students in the U.S. and talked about her work in teaching ESL students at Gonzaga. She offered excellent advice on communicating with non-native speakers, including a suggestion to start off a reference transaction or a class with interpersonal small talk. Just asking a simple question such as “How are you today?” and listening to the response gives both the patron and the librarian a moment to “tune in” to each other’s speech.

Scott Walter, formerly of Washington State University, now of University of Kansas, and Lisa Oldoski, Puyallup Public Library, spoke about working with the Millenials. Walter discussed the demographic impact of the Millenial or Gen Y populations and recounted some of their characteristics and learning preferences. He also noted their outlook on technology and the disconnect between using technological tools and critically thinking about research. He outlined ways to reach students using online communities, digital reference and blogs, noting implications for instructional design. Oldoski, a young adult services librarian, spoke about working with students of this age group in a public library setting. She offered extensive examples of programming and solid advice on communicating effectively. Oldoski has had great success in programming, even with a limited budget, by relentlessly pursuing outreach opportunities, getting out into the community, communicating with the students and involving them in the programming efforts.

A wide variety of librarians and library staff were in attendance, including people from public libraries, academic libraries, our state library, a tribal library and a prison library. Reactions were positive and there were many excellent comments and questions from the audience that enriched the content. Several of the presenters also noted that they learned a great deal from each other. The pre-conference was designed to offer a number of perspectives, both theoretical and practical, and to inspire people to think about ways to improve outreach and service to whatever diverse patrons are in their own communities. The energy and expertise of the speakers went above and beyond simply fulfilling that plan.

Beth Lindsay is Head of Library Instruction at Washington State University, current Member-at-Large, and now Vice President/President Elect.

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