Learning in digital libraries: an information search process approach - Children and the Digital Library

Library Trends, Spring, 1997 by Carol Collier Kuhlthau

Abstract

This article discusses a constructivist approach to information age learning environments for children and teenagers, particularly as students in schools. An intervention role for librarians is described for guiding and coaching students in the stages of the information search process (ISP) using the abundant resources of digital libraries. Five strategies for coaching students in the ISP -- collaborating, continuing, conversing, charting, and composing -- are recommended for adaptation to electronic environments. A theory for creating learning environments in digital libraries is presented based on the concepts in the constructivist approach of acting and reflecting, feeling and formulating, predicting and choosing, and interpreting and creating.

Introduction

The National Information Infrastructure Taskforce's (1993) report identified schools and libraries as essential sites for Internet connection, recognizing children and young adults as primary users of digital libraries. Many schools and libraries are well on the way to establishing access to a wide range of resources through the National Information Infrastructure (NII) as well as the Global Information Infrastructure (GII). Unfortunately, some places still have little in the way of technology and meager prospects for development in the near future. This article, however, will not consider the serious equity issues related to unequal access to digital libraries but will assume that the technology for connecting to digital libraries is in place and concentrate on the equally serious issues related to the process of learning in the electronic environment of digital libraries. What are some of the main considerations for learning in digital libraries? What problems do learners encounter; How can librarians assist learners in their use of digital libraries for lasting meaningful learning? What are some of the theoretical underpinnings for guiding meaningful learning in digital libraries

Digital Library Users as Learners

A recent workshop at the University of California at Los Angeles, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, addressed the "Social Aspects of Digital Libraries." The background paper for the workshop, prepared by a team led by Christine Borgman (1996), promoted the notion of digital library users as learners and raised some important issues related to developing digital libraries with learning as the goal. "Building digital libraries to exist on the NII/GLL means creating information spaces that can serve the needs of novices in a subject domain, especially students of all ages" (pp. 2-3). The paper explained that this perspective introduces a range of new problems for system designers. "Placing the learner at the center recognizes special needs, such as understanding the goal, the motivation, the diversity, and the potential growth of the learner-user of digital libraries" (p. 3 ).

The common view of information seeking is that the goal is to answer a specific question or to locate specific information. Therefore, the goal of information seeking is seen as being achieved by the location of relevant or useful information. However, the goal of the learner cannot be met by merely locating relevant, or even useful, information. When the learner is placed at the center, the goal of information seeking is no longer merely getting the relevant information but getting information that leads to a new understanding in the process of learning. This aspect of information seeking is of particular concern for those striving to create enabling learning environments for children using digital libraries. Children and teenagers are engaged in expanding their knowledge base and actively constructing a view of the world. They are developing areas of personal expertise by building on what they already know. How can children and teenagers use digital libraries to enable the learning process; This question goes beyond the issue of how to design systems to accommodate learners, and becomes how to develop learning environments that make effective use of digital libraries.

This article addresses children and teenagers as students in school settings using digital libraries for learning. However, the issues, theories, and interventions discussed have broad application for that population in other situations, such as in public libraries, and even by extension for learners of all ages.

Information Age Learning Environments

Schools and libraries are being restructured for the information age. Online computers are transforming contained closed institutions into connected open communities. This has transformed the resources available for children and teenagers from a relatively small pool of materials consisting mostly of textbooks and contained library collections into vast, almost limitless, resources of the NII/GII. Robert McClintock (1996) calls this the new rule of abundance that is changing learning environments, particularly in schools, in very significant ways. Traditionally schools have been dependent upon knowledge presented in textbooks, relatively small library collections, and individual teacher's knowledge of a subject. Even the best designed text, the most well supported library, and the most highly skilled teacher cannot match the abundance and currency of the information available on the NII/GII. McClintock explains that schools have changed from being places where teachers and students were isolated from the general culture with a scarcity of resources to being connected by networks with unlimited access to the abundant resources of our culture. He warns, however, that: "Such a new rule is not without its pitfalls, but to cope with these we must recognize that it is a new rule, deeply different from the old. In our extended present, the educational problem changes profoundly, shifting from stratagems for disbursing scarce knowledge to finding ways to enable people to use unlimited access to the resources of our cultures" McClintock, 1996, p. 2).