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The origin of library instruction in the United States, 1820–1900
Research Strategies 19 (2003) 233 – 243
The origin of library instruction in the United States, 1820–1900 Stephen C. Weiss* Utah State University Libraries, Logan, UT 84322-3000, USA Available online 27 January 2005
Abstract The origins of present-day instructional practices can be found in a dedication to bpersonal assistanceQ that emerged relatively early in the minds of American librarians. Bibliographic and information skills initiatives that have evolved into information literacy programs of today have roots in traditions dating back more than two centuries. Scholarship evolved from an amateur’s avocation to a full-time profession in the nineteenth century. The result was an increased regard for the importance of libraries to the progress of scholarship. It was not until after the new spirit and method emerging at midcentury transformed the library into a tool for scholarship that the concept of library instruction could evolve. D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Efforts to provide instruction in school, college, and public libraries have a long history. Bibliographic initiatives and information skills programs have roots in traditions dating back more than two centuries (Lee, 1966). Evidence of library instruction was found at Harvard College as early as the 1820s (Salony, 1995). Indeed, the acceptance of proactive instructional programs as an important part of library services began to evolve nearly 150 years ago (Thomas, 1999).
* Fax: +1 435 797 2880. E-mail address: [email protected]. 0734-3310/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.resstr.2004.11.001
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Education focused on the traditional, classics-dominated curriculum until the 1820s. Then, economic prosperity stimulated the creation of a variety of organizations interested in technical education. Most of these associations emerged out of a demand for useful knowledge, and they were nourished by the conviction that the future of humankind would be improved through the study of the practical uses of science. What ambitious middle-class supporters of technical education saw was the need for sophisticated knowledge in order to rationally exploit America’s economic potential. A properly functioning society depended on the balance between political ideology, educational opportunity, and the nation’s material advance (Sinclair, 1972). Rubin (1977) attributes the structure and concepts that define American library instruction to the following economic and social forces of the late nineteenth century: (1) the rapid growth of libraries in number, size, and complexity; (2) a dearth of competent professional library leaders able to provide assistance to the burgeoning number of unqualified librarians; (3) the dissolution of the concept of the library as a mere collection of books, and the recognition by librarians that they have the task of mediating the relationship between the patron and the collection; and (4) the decline of the classical English model of education based on the liberal arts philosophy and the rise of the technical education model emanating from the demands of the industrial revolution (p. 250). Economic and social forces created an ambiguity in the definition of library education during the late nineteenth century. At least two appropriate and correct interpretations of its meaning emerged. Rubin (1977) presents the notion that One interpretation presupposed that library education was extended to those individuals whose professional destination was either a library or a library school. A second interpretation considered library education as a valuable liberal art field in itself, without regard to the professional proclivities of the student. The former can be deemed deducation for librarianship,T the latter dlibrary instructionT (p. 251).
This paper focuses on a description of library instruction, rather than education for librarianship, as it evolved throughout the nineteenth century. Additionally, this paper will show that information literacy programs of today have their roots in early forms of library instruction that emerged throughout nineteenth century America. Thomas (1999) draws from several sources when she suggests that information literacy has been variously defined as (1) the ability to use techniques and skills for the wide range of information tools as well as primary sources in molding information solutions to problems; (2) the skills required for new careers and citizenship and life-long learning; (3) the ability to access, evaluate, and use information from a variety of sources; and (4) the ability to acquire and evaluate whatever information is needed at any given moment (p. xvii). Together, these definitions portray an information-literate individual who is capable of finding and accessing relevant information in appropriate formats and quantities, of assessing
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alternatives with critical thinking, and of using the information selectively to meet the challenges of everyday life (Thomas, 1999).
2. The emergence of scholarship Wealth and a leisured class emerged from the Civil War in a conspicuous way, giving rise to scholarship and a research movement (Winsor, 1894). The impact of the midcentury research movement resulted in a clear responsibility for library service to research (Rothstein, 1955). By 1876, methods of instruction in schools and colleges were changing to include reading courses, independent study, and research instead of lecture and textbook only (Salony, 1995). Melvil Dewey (1886) describes textbooks as byielding their exalted places to wiser and broader methods,Q and continues this theme when he writes, professor after professor sends his classes, or goes with them, to the library and teaches them to investigate for themselves and to use books, getting beyond the method of the primary school with its parrot-like recitations from a single text (p. 50).
The transformation of American scholarship in this period was the complex product of a number of elements. Rothstein (1955) identifies these elements as (1) the broadening of the curriculum to include scientific, technical, and professional education; (2) the introduction of the graduate school as the agency for the training of scholars; and (3) the acceptance of research as a university function on a coordinate basis with teaching (p. 9). The new university evolving in the third quarter of the nineteenth century brought these elements together into one institution, whereas earlier scholars had worked independently, relying only on their own resources (Rothstein, 1955). Scholarship had emerged from an amateur’s avocation to a full-time profession. The development of research and subsequent professionalization of scholarship brought demands for a large-scale expansion of holdings, for improved physical facilities, for freer access to books, and for a vehicle that would provide subject access to materials. Research libraries grew in magnitude during the last half of the nineteenth century to include a well-developed system of catalogs and shelf arrangements that made them indispensable tools for scholarship. It was not until after the new spirit and method emerging at midcentury transformed the library into a tool for scholarship that the concept of library instruction could evolve (Rothstein, 1955). Melvil Dewey (1886) describes libraries as btrue universities of scholarsQ when he states, I have spoken thus far of the missionary and popular side of libraries but there is another side as distinct as is the university from the common school. To some of you this scholarly work will be more attractive than the popular. The library is the real university of the future, not simply for the people but for scholars (p. 49).
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3. The seminary and the topical methods of instruction The seminary method of instruction in America evolved from ideas brought home by American students from German universities. The seminary is a sort of special laboratory of literature equipped with extensive collections of original sources for the benefit of a limited number of advanced students. These students undertake investigations involving original research (Harris, 1893). Professor Charles Kendall Adams, as early as 1869, developed one of the first forms of seminary instruction in America when he instituted a special class for the study of English Constitutional history at the University of Michigan. He published a pamphlet entitled, bNotes on the Constitutional History of England,Q with general topics and suggestions for the guidance of his students in their use of the university library (Adams, 1898). The time had fully come when departmental libraries and seminary methods were being used to supplement the course textbook (Bisbee, 1897). Edwin H. Woodruff, an assistant in the Cornell University Library, made valuable suggestions regarding the establishment of a closer rapport between students and the library in a paper he wrote on bUniversity Libraries and Seminary Methods of Instruction,Q read at the annual conference of the American Library Association, July 9, 1886. The main theme in this paper was that the mere multiplication of mechanical devices for facilitating the finding of books is not enough (Adams, 1898). Emma Louise Adams (1898), Librarian in Plainfield, New Jersey, also wrote, At Columbia College there is an interesting and suggestive phase of library-cooperation with the seminary method of work, which is becoming more and more prominent at the institution. There is a special librarian of the historical and political sciences, who gives an annual course of lectures upon the bibliography of his department to members of the School of Political Science, thus teaching students the ways and means of inquiry in their particular field. This librarian is stationed at the entrance to the political science section of the main library, and there serves as an efficient mediator between men and books (p. 17).
A monograph of 100 or 200 pages is produced as a result of seminary research. It may not always be worthy of publication, but it does provide evidence that the student has learned basic library research skills (Woodruff, 1886). The other method of instruction which brings its students into close relations with the library is the topical method. The professor assigns to the students of his class certain topics related to the subject of his lectures. They are required to investigate these topics using standard authorities on the subject, making use of mostly secondary rather than original resources of information. A report is given to the class when the investigation is completed (Harris, 1893). This method differs from the seminary method in that it does not require original scholarship work, but merely the use of secondary information that is acquired from authoritative literature rather than from original sources. The topical method is a training process, while the seminary method produces scientific results (Adams, 1887a, 1887b). Woodruff (1886) explains the benefits derived from the topical method of instruction when he writes, From the librarian’s point of view any one who has seen the dexterity and earnestness with which students reach into the books of the university library in search of material for these reports, and compares it with the indifference to the
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library displayed by students who have been bred down to mere passivity by lectures and recitations, will understand how the topical method affords one other help towards the achievement of that close relation to be established between man and book (p. 222).
4. Professor of books Ralph Waldo Emerson (1926) called for a bprofessor of booksQ in 1870 when he wrote, Meantime, the colleges, whilst they provide us with libraries, furnish no professor of books; and, I think, no chair is so much wanted. In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends, but they are imprisoned by an enchanter in these paper and leathern boxes;. . . your chance of hitting on the right one is to be computed by the arithmetical rule of Permutation and Combination,—not a choice out of three caskets, but out of half a million caskets, all alike (p. 311).
William Mathews (1876) defines a bprofessor of books and readingQ as a man of broad and varied culture, with catholic tastes, a thorough knowledge of bibliography, especially of critical literature, and much knowledge of men; one who can readily detect the peculiarities of his pupils, and who, in directing their reading, will have constant reference to these as well as to the order of nature and intellectual development. While he may prepare, from time to time, courses of reading on special topics, and especially on those related to the college studies, he will be still more useful in advising the student how to read most advantageously; in what ways to improve the memory; how to keep and use commonplace books; when to make abstracts; and in giving many other hints which books on reading never communicate, and which suggest themselves only to one who has learned after many years of experience and by many painful mistakes the secret of successful study (p. 249).
F. B. Perkins (1876) describes the records of past and present human knowledge as a trackless wilderness in which a guide would find ample occasion for his services. Seventeen years later, the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year 1892–1893 indicates that few college libraries have failed to make some attempt to give instruction in the use of books. The report goes on to state, bAll professional librarians, however, fully realize the need both of formal lectures and of that hand to hand, face to face instruction in the library itself, by which methods of investigation are taught, experience gained, and enthusiasm communicated. Quiet but effective work of this character is done in many collegesQ (Little, 1895, p. 927). M D. Bisbee (1897, p. 430), Librarian of Dartmouth College, declared in 1897 that, bUnless the scholar has a better method than the common people of selecting books and reading them, his primacy is gone.. . . Nowhere, then, is definite instruction more needed than in bibliography.Q 5. Assistance to readers The origins of present-day instructional practices can be found, then, in a dedication to bpersonal assistanceQ that emerged relatively early in the minds of American librarians (Thomas, 1999, p. 2). Collections grew in the last half of the nineteenth century causing libraries for the first time to abandon their makeshift quarters for buildings expressly designed for their purpose. It was in these buildings that rooms devoted to large reference collections were first established. As new intellectual movements emerged and people’s interest in learning grew deeper, librarians were asked to be more than just custodians of books (Kaplan, 1947).
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Public libraries, unlike college libraries, were not constrained by traditions that limited them to a narrow concept of service. On the contrary, public librarians had the burden of justifying the expenditure of city funds by demonstrating the values to be derived from their institutions. They appraised these values in terms of volume of use and number of services (Rothstein, 1955). Samuel S. Green (1876), City Librarian of Worcester, was the first to call for assistance to readers in 1876 when he wrote: bI need not remind you, however, that many persons who use a library have to be instructed in regard to the use of catalogues, and need practice before they can use them to the best advantage (p. 78). Give them as much assistance as they need, but try at the same time to teach them to rely upon themselves and become independent (p. 80).Q Green made no secret that his motives for advocating a program of assistance to readers were of a practical nature when he stated at the 1876 library conference: bThe more freely a librarian mingles with readers, and the greater the amount of assistance he renders them, the more intense does the conviction of citizens, also, become, that the library is a useful institution, and the more willing do they grow to grant money in larger and larger sums to be used in buying books and employing additional assistants (p. 81).Q What Green was sponsoring was not a new concept of library service, but rather a new technique in justifying funding for the Worcester Free Public Library (Rothstein, 1953). Woodruff (1886, p. 223), Librarian of Cornell University, described a public library as ba hospital for crippled minds, quite as much as an aid to those persons who already understand and appreciate it . . . near the catalogues, and among the readers, there ought to be active and helpful librarians, whose sole duty should be to furnish oral notes and advice.. . . Let the librarians now look around more for an opportunity to do personal hospital and reformatory service.Q The adoption of bassistance to readersQ by librarians in locating and selecting books gradually evolved in the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. Lee (1966) states, At first only a few librarians experimented in assisting readers; this was followed by considerable discussion concerning the desirability of providing this service; then, when the need was more fully recognized, more librarians began assisting readers, and, by 1890, attempts were being made to extend the provision and improve the quality of this service. With the growing concern over the library’s role as an educational institution, this service was gradually accepted not as peripheral but as one of the library’s main responsibilities (p. 23).
6. Library instruction evolves A number of librarians may be credited with the development of library instruction in the late nineteenth century from its roots in scholarship, seminary and topical methods of instruction, professorship of books, and assistance to readers. Each of these librarians worked to define library instruction in terms of teaching the library user how to access information for life-long learning rather than in terms of education for librarianship. Raymond C. Davis, librarian of the University of Michigan, began in 1879 to give lectures on the library in general, and on library aids in particular, at the opening of each
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college year. He observed that his readers had been working at a disadvantage when he writes, Their knowledge of books of common reference was very limited; they did not know of the existence of special bibliographies, and of indexes to serial publications; that they could help themselves in these matters by an intelligent exercise of their reasoning powers never occurred to them.. . . They were willing to leave all to chance (Davis, 1986, p. 36).
Professor Otis H. Robinson (1880, p. 21), Librarian of Rochester University Library, describes the acquisition of knowledge as bthe learning how and where it may be acquired.Q He goes on to write, New sciences are springing up, and new and diverse applications of science are rapidly multiplying. And in every department of learning new outlooks are taken, giving rise to new forms of thought. But the student period of a young man’s life cannot be indefinitely increased. We believe, therefore, that the demand can be met best, not by making the curriculum cover everything, but by giving special attention to the where and the how of acquisition.. . . The writer is accustomed, as librarian, to give familiar lectures from time to time to freshman and sophomore classes, to make them understand the great advantage of the use of a library, to explain in general terms the nature and use of the devices for finding what one wants, to show how they may supplement their course of study at every point by reading the authors and subjects studied, and, in general, to awaken as far as possible an interest in library work.
Robinson (1880) attributes the need for library instruction to the transition from a small library to a larger one when he writes, How to use a library is . . . a question of great and growing importance to nearly every college in the country. It is due to those liberal patrons of learning who are erecting library buildings and filling them with books that this question be carefully studied.. . . It is due to students that special instruction should be given in methods of investigation. It is due to the public, in an age when libraries are exerting so great an intellectual and moral influence, that young men should come from the colleges thoroughly trained in their nature and their use (p. 15).
Melvil Dewey (1891) believed that college students should not only be given experience in a laboratory library, but also receive instruction in the bibliographical apparatus. He points out that the concept of the library as a laboratory was comparatively new for his time, and was an essential part of the modern library movement. George W. Harris (1893, p. 42), Librarian of Cornell University, suggests that a blecture to the entering class from the librarian, explaining the plan of the catalogue and its arrangement, pointing out the principal works of general referenceQ would be useful. Justin Winsor (1894), Librarian of Harvard University, implies that our colleges should pay more attention to the methods by which a subject is deftly attacked, and should teach the true use of encyclopedic and bibliographical helps in order to make the library more serviceable. Emma Adams (1898, p. 138) concludes that binstruction in the use of books needs to be ingrafted as an integral part of the whole course of study. Until, however, normal and preparatory schools equip their future teachers with the requisite knowledge for this, it must necessarily devolve upon the librarian.Q George H. Baker (1897), Librarian of Columbia University, points out how important and necessary it is for students to know something about the library and its use for their own sakes, and the difficulty in imparting that knowledge to them when he writes, If you gave all the freshmen in college a lecture of an hour they would come away with a remarkably small amount of actual information.. . . I think the best thing you can do in the course of an hour’s talk is to impress on those men that there is a good deal that it is important to them to know, and that they had better come to you or to your assistants in the library and find out the details that have been hinted at. From my own experience, I think the way to teach young men
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Harry L. Koopman (1897), Librarian of Brown University, in 1897, taught a library instruction course of three hours a week amounting to 30 lectures. He describes the utilitarian objective of this course in a letter to William I. Fletcher, Librarian at Amherst College, when he writes, What I have had in mind is not the training of men to be librarians, but to have such a general knowledge of books and libraries as shall help them as students, and be of service to themselves and the public if they are ever called upon to serve as trustees or on book committees of libraries (p. 166).
Dr. Cyrus Adler (1897), Librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, states at the 1897 American Library Association Annual Conference in Philadelphia: I believe that a great many college students do not know how to use the books that will help them in their work, and I think that some sort of instruction ought to be given to them.. . . And I think that all post-graduate students—I will not speak of professors—would be very much assisted if they were given some instruction in what I would consider bibliography in the narrow sense (p. 167).
7. Library instruction at the turn of the century Azariah Smith Root, director of the Oberlin College Library, from 1887 to 1927, prepared three courses in librarianship which were described in the Oberlin College Catalogue of 1899. These courses were as follows: bThe use of Libraries,Q bElementary Bibliography,Q and bHistory of the Printed BookQ (Rubin, 1977, p. 254). Rubin (1977, p. 253) concludes that our understanding of Root’s pedagogical outlook is the philosophy that underlay the teaching of these courses. The introductory paragraph to the bibliography course section of the college catalogue stated in part that bthe work has been planned to give instruction which will be of immediate benefit to the student in his future college work . . . it does seem to me there is an important work to be done in the way of acquainting college students with the history of the printed book, and with the more important national and special bibliographies, as well as with modern library methods.Q Rubin (1977, p. 254) points out that the bworkQ Root referred to was not librarianship per se, but rather to develop library skills as part of the liberal arts curriculum. Root thereby made a distinction between the notion of library education and library instruction and recognized that his interest lay in the domain of library instruction. Rubin (p. 254) writes, bThe advanced character of Root’s vision lay both in his explicit distinction between library instruction and education for librarianship and in his systematic attempts to develop a curriculum based on the distinction.Q Root’s objective was to produce thinking students who were sensitive to the forces which surrounded the institution of librarianship. His perspective was clearly stated when he pointed out that a library curriculum should borganize school work so that the student may be helped to discover his own capacities, aptitudes and interests, may learn about the character and conditions of occupational life and may himself arrive at an intelligent vocational decisionQ (Rubin, 1977, p. 259). Rubin (1977) concludes that Azariah
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Root’s contribution to the development of library instruction at the turn of the century was twofold: (1)
He distinguished conceptually between education for librarianship and library instruction and recognized the need for instruction of students with no professional objectives toward librarianship. (2) And he developed a systematic program of library instruction that supported the demands of the liberal arts curriculum (p. 260).
8. Conclusion The emergence of scholarship in the mid-19th century gave rise to experiments with the seminary and topical methods of instruction. In 1870, Ralph Waldo Emerson called for a professor of books who would provide guidance in the selection of proper reading materials. Others of that period more broadly defined a professor of books as someone who would teach students how to read most advantageously. Professor Charles Kendall Adams developed the first American model of seminary instruction in 1869. Samuel Green was the first to suggest that public librarians provide assistance to readers at the 1876 American Library Association Conference. This suggestion was a factor leading to the gradual development of library instruction throughout the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. Azariah Smith Root, at the turn of the nineteenth century, made a distinction between library education and library instruction when he developed a formal course directed at instructing Oberlin College students, rather than would-be librarians, in modern library methods. Hardesty, Schmitt, and Tucker (1986, p. 3) attribute the significant growth in library use instruction during the 1880s and 1890s to the dramatic changes occurring in higher education in the same period when he writes, bAlthough reports on instruction about the library’s dmost rare and valuable worksT date from the 1820s, substantial, continuous course offerings and course-related lectures came about only as a result of major developments in the library’s academic environment in the latter part of the nineteenth century.Q Hardesty, Schmitt, and Tucker describe these developments as (1) (2) (3) (4)
the adoption of original research as a necessary function of academia; the introduction of the seminar method of instruction featuring student presentations; the birth of new curricula in the social sciences and in their German counterparts; and the creation of doctoral programs designed to make graduate-level research the capstone of higher learning in American universities (p. 3).
Today’s information literacy programs have their roots in nineteenth century library instruction objectives. Warmkessel and McCade (1997, p. 80) point out that bthe basic goal of information literacy is to enable people to become lifelong learners. The premise for this goal is that information literate individuals will be able to sift through the enormous amount of
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information available, effectively using appropriate sources to solve problems and make decisions in all areas of their lives.Q Warmkessel goes on to state, The current emphasis on more student-centered learning demands that students be able to use information to create knowledge rather than simply remember predigested knowledge delivered by teachers.. . . Rather than pass along their own thinking and learning styles, teachers can help students construct knowledge in ways that make sense to them individually. This approach facilitates both understanding and application while increasing the likelihood that the knowledge will form the basis of new learning (p. 81).
In a similar regard, Azariah Root’s objective was to produce thinking students who were able to discover with their own capacities, aptitudes and interests, the character and conditions of occupational life and arrive at intelligent vocational decisions.
References Adams, H. B. (1887a). Relation of the library to the university. In United States Bureau of Education (Ed.), The study of history in American colleges and universities. Circular of information, Vol. 2. (pp. 167 – 170). Washington7 U.S. Government Printing Office. Adams, H. B. (1887b). Seminary libraries and university extension. In H. B. Adams (Ed.), Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science (pp. 443 – 459). Baltimore7 The University. Adams, E. L. (1898, April). Library work with schools. Library Journal, 23, 137 – 141. Adler, C. (1897, October). Conference of librarians, Philadelphia: The college section of the A.L.A. Library Journal, 22, 168 – 172. Baker, G. H. (1897, October). Conference of librarians, Philadelphia: The college section of the A.L.A. Library Journal, 22, 168 – 172. Bisbee, M. D. (1897, September). The place of bibliography in the equipment of a cultivated man. Library Journal, 22, 429 – 432. Davis, R. C. (1986). Teaching bibliography in colleges. In Hardesty L. L., et al., (Eds.), User instruction in academic libraries: A century of selected readings. Metuchen, NJ7 Scarecrow Press. Dewey, M. L. K. (1886). Libraries the true universities for scholars as well as people. Library notes (pp. 49 – 50). Boston7 Library Bureau. Dewey, M. L. K. (1891). The relation of the colleges to the modern library movement. Proceedings of the 1891 annual convention of the college association of the middle states and Maryland (pp. 78 – 83). Philadelphia7 Globe Printing House. Emerson, R. W. (1926). Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Vol. 3. Smith, NY7 Bigelow. Green, S. S. (1876). Personal relations between librarians and readers. Library Journal, 1, 74 – 81. Hardesty, L. L., Schmitt, J. P., & Tucker, J. M. (1986). User instruction in academic libraries: A century of selected readings. Metuchen, NJ7 Scarecrow Press. Harris, G. W. (1893). College libraries: How best made available for college uses? Proceedings of the 1893 annual convention of the college association of the middle states and Maryland (pp. 40 – 44). Philadelphia7 Globe Printing House. Kaplan, L. (1947). Early history of reference service in the United States. Library Review, 11, 286 – 290. Koopman, H. L. (1897, October). Conference of librarians, Philadelphia: The college section of the A.L.A.. Library Journal, 22, 168 – 172. Lee, R. E. (1966). Continuing education for adults through the American public library, 1833–1964. Chicago7 American Library Association. Little, G. T. (1895). School and college libraries. In United States Bureau of Education. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year 1892–93, Vol. 1. (pp. 916 – 933). Washington7 U.S. Government Printing Office.
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Mathews, W. (1876). II.—Professorships of books and reading. In United States Bureau of Education, public libraries in the United States of America: Their history, condition, and management, special report (pp. 240 – 251). Washington7 U.S. Government Printing Office. Perkins, F. B. (1876). I.—Professorships of books and reading. In United States Bureau of Education, public libraries in the United States of America: Their history, condition, and management, special report (pp. 230 – 239). Washington7 U.S. Government Printing Office. Robinson, O. H. (1880). Rochester University Library—Administration and use. In United States Bureau of Education, college libraries as aids to instruction. Circular of information, Vol. 1. (pp. 15 – 27). Washington7 United States Government Printing Office. Rothstein, S. (1953, January). The development of the concept of reference service in American libraries, 1850–1900. Library Quarterly, 23, 1 – 15. Rothstein, S. (1955). The development of reference services through academic traditions, public library practice and special librarianship. Chicago7 Association of College and Reference Libraries. Rubin, R. (1977, Summer). Azariah Smith Root and library instruction at Oberlin College. Journal of Library History, 12, 250 – 266. Copyright n 1977 by the University of Texas Press. All rights reserved. Salony, M. F. (1995). The history of bibliographic instruction: changing trends from books to the electronic world. Reference Librarian, 51/52, 31 – 51. Sinclair, B. (1972). The promise of the future: Technical education. In G. H. Daniels (Ed.), Nineteenth-Century American science: A reappraisal (pp. 249 – 272). Evanston7 Northwestern University Press. Thomas, N. P. (1999). Information literacy and information skills instruction: Applying research to practice in the school library media center. Englewood, CO7 Libraries Unlimited Inc. Warmkessel, M. M., & McCade, J. M. (1997). Integrating information literacy into the curriculum. Research Strategies, 15, 80 – 88. Winsor, J. (1894, November). The development of the library. Library Journal, 19, 370 – 375. Woodruff, E. H. (1886, September). University libraries and seminary methods of instruction. Library Journal, 11(9), 219 – 224.
The origin of library instruction in the United States, 1820–1900 Stephen C. Weiss* Utah State University Libraries, Logan, UT 84322-3000, USA Available online 27 January 2005
Abstract The origins of present-day instructional practices can be found in a dedication to bpersonal assistanceQ that emerged relatively early in the minds of American librarians. Bibliographic and information skills initiatives that have evolved into information literacy programs of today have roots in traditions dating back more than two centuries. Scholarship evolved from an amateur’s avocation to a full-time profession in the nineteenth century. The result was an increased regard for the importance of libraries to the progress of scholarship. It was not until after the new spirit and method emerging at midcentury transformed the library into a tool for scholarship that the concept of library instruction could evolve. D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Efforts to provide instruction in school, college, and public libraries have a long history. Bibliographic initiatives and information skills programs have roots in traditions dating back more than two centuries (Lee, 1966). Evidence of library instruction was found at Harvard College as early as the 1820s (Salony, 1995). Indeed, the acceptance of proactive instructional programs as an important part of library services began to evolve nearly 150 years ago (Thomas, 1999).
* Fax: +1 435 797 2880. E-mail address: [email protected]. 0734-3310/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.resstr.2004.11.001
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Education focused on the traditional, classics-dominated curriculum until the 1820s. Then, economic prosperity stimulated the creation of a variety of organizations interested in technical education. Most of these associations emerged out of a demand for useful knowledge, and they were nourished by the conviction that the future of humankind would be improved through the study of the practical uses of science. What ambitious middle-class supporters of technical education saw was the need for sophisticated knowledge in order to rationally exploit America’s economic potential. A properly functioning society depended on the balance between political ideology, educational opportunity, and the nation’s material advance (Sinclair, 1972). Rubin (1977) attributes the structure and concepts that define American library instruction to the following economic and social forces of the late nineteenth century: (1) the rapid growth of libraries in number, size, and complexity; (2) a dearth of competent professional library leaders able to provide assistance to the burgeoning number of unqualified librarians; (3) the dissolution of the concept of the library as a mere collection of books, and the recognition by librarians that they have the task of mediating the relationship between the patron and the collection; and (4) the decline of the classical English model of education based on the liberal arts philosophy and the rise of the technical education model emanating from the demands of the industrial revolution (p. 250). Economic and social forces created an ambiguity in the definition of library education during the late nineteenth century. At least two appropriate and correct interpretations of its meaning emerged. Rubin (1977) presents the notion that One interpretation presupposed that library education was extended to those individuals whose professional destination was either a library or a library school. A second interpretation considered library education as a valuable liberal art field in itself, without regard to the professional proclivities of the student. The former can be deemed deducation for librarianship,T the latter dlibrary instructionT (p. 251).
This paper focuses on a description of library instruction, rather than education for librarianship, as it evolved throughout the nineteenth century. Additionally, this paper will show that information literacy programs of today have their roots in early forms of library instruction that emerged throughout nineteenth century America. Thomas (1999) draws from several sources when she suggests that information literacy has been variously defined as (1) the ability to use techniques and skills for the wide range of information tools as well as primary sources in molding information solutions to problems; (2) the skills required for new careers and citizenship and life-long learning; (3) the ability to access, evaluate, and use information from a variety of sources; and (4) the ability to acquire and evaluate whatever information is needed at any given moment (p. xvii). Together, these definitions portray an information-literate individual who is capable of finding and accessing relevant information in appropriate formats and quantities, of assessing
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alternatives with critical thinking, and of using the information selectively to meet the challenges of everyday life (Thomas, 1999).
2. The emergence of scholarship Wealth and a leisured class emerged from the Civil War in a conspicuous way, giving rise to scholarship and a research movement (Winsor, 1894). The impact of the midcentury research movement resulted in a clear responsibility for library service to research (Rothstein, 1955). By 1876, methods of instruction in schools and colleges were changing to include reading courses, independent study, and research instead of lecture and textbook only (Salony, 1995). Melvil Dewey (1886) describes textbooks as byielding their exalted places to wiser and broader methods,Q and continues this theme when he writes, professor after professor sends his classes, or goes with them, to the library and teaches them to investigate for themselves and to use books, getting beyond the method of the primary school with its parrot-like recitations from a single text (p. 50).
The transformation of American scholarship in this period was the complex product of a number of elements. Rothstein (1955) identifies these elements as (1) the broadening of the curriculum to include scientific, technical, and professional education; (2) the introduction of the graduate school as the agency for the training of scholars; and (3) the acceptance of research as a university function on a coordinate basis with teaching (p. 9). The new university evolving in the third quarter of the nineteenth century brought these elements together into one institution, whereas earlier scholars had worked independently, relying only on their own resources (Rothstein, 1955). Scholarship had emerged from an amateur’s avocation to a full-time profession. The development of research and subsequent professionalization of scholarship brought demands for a large-scale expansion of holdings, for improved physical facilities, for freer access to books, and for a vehicle that would provide subject access to materials. Research libraries grew in magnitude during the last half of the nineteenth century to include a well-developed system of catalogs and shelf arrangements that made them indispensable tools for scholarship. It was not until after the new spirit and method emerging at midcentury transformed the library into a tool for scholarship that the concept of library instruction could evolve (Rothstein, 1955). Melvil Dewey (1886) describes libraries as btrue universities of scholarsQ when he states, I have spoken thus far of the missionary and popular side of libraries but there is another side as distinct as is the university from the common school. To some of you this scholarly work will be more attractive than the popular. The library is the real university of the future, not simply for the people but for scholars (p. 49).
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3. The seminary and the topical methods of instruction The seminary method of instruction in America evolved from ideas brought home by American students from German universities. The seminary is a sort of special laboratory of literature equipped with extensive collections of original sources for the benefit of a limited number of advanced students. These students undertake investigations involving original research (Harris, 1893). Professor Charles Kendall Adams, as early as 1869, developed one of the first forms of seminary instruction in America when he instituted a special class for the study of English Constitutional history at the University of Michigan. He published a pamphlet entitled, bNotes on the Constitutional History of England,Q with general topics and suggestions for the guidance of his students in their use of the university library (Adams, 1898). The time had fully come when departmental libraries and seminary methods were being used to supplement the course textbook (Bisbee, 1897). Edwin H. Woodruff, an assistant in the Cornell University Library, made valuable suggestions regarding the establishment of a closer rapport between students and the library in a paper he wrote on bUniversity Libraries and Seminary Methods of Instruction,Q read at the annual conference of the American Library Association, July 9, 1886. The main theme in this paper was that the mere multiplication of mechanical devices for facilitating the finding of books is not enough (Adams, 1898). Emma Louise Adams (1898), Librarian in Plainfield, New Jersey, also wrote, At Columbia College there is an interesting and suggestive phase of library-cooperation with the seminary method of work, which is becoming more and more prominent at the institution. There is a special librarian of the historical and political sciences, who gives an annual course of lectures upon the bibliography of his department to members of the School of Political Science, thus teaching students the ways and means of inquiry in their particular field. This librarian is stationed at the entrance to the political science section of the main library, and there serves as an efficient mediator between men and books (p. 17).
A monograph of 100 or 200 pages is produced as a result of seminary research. It may not always be worthy of publication, but it does provide evidence that the student has learned basic library research skills (Woodruff, 1886). The other method of instruction which brings its students into close relations with the library is the topical method. The professor assigns to the students of his class certain topics related to the subject of his lectures. They are required to investigate these topics using standard authorities on the subject, making use of mostly secondary rather than original resources of information. A report is given to the class when the investigation is completed (Harris, 1893). This method differs from the seminary method in that it does not require original scholarship work, but merely the use of secondary information that is acquired from authoritative literature rather than from original sources. The topical method is a training process, while the seminary method produces scientific results (Adams, 1887a, 1887b). Woodruff (1886) explains the benefits derived from the topical method of instruction when he writes, From the librarian’s point of view any one who has seen the dexterity and earnestness with which students reach into the books of the university library in search of material for these reports, and compares it with the indifference to the
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library displayed by students who have been bred down to mere passivity by lectures and recitations, will understand how the topical method affords one other help towards the achievement of that close relation to be established between man and book (p. 222).
4. Professor of books Ralph Waldo Emerson (1926) called for a bprofessor of booksQ in 1870 when he wrote, Meantime, the colleges, whilst they provide us with libraries, furnish no professor of books; and, I think, no chair is so much wanted. In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends, but they are imprisoned by an enchanter in these paper and leathern boxes;. . . your chance of hitting on the right one is to be computed by the arithmetical rule of Permutation and Combination,—not a choice out of three caskets, but out of half a million caskets, all alike (p. 311).
William Mathews (1876) defines a bprofessor of books and readingQ as a man of broad and varied culture, with catholic tastes, a thorough knowledge of bibliography, especially of critical literature, and much knowledge of men; one who can readily detect the peculiarities of his pupils, and who, in directing their reading, will have constant reference to these as well as to the order of nature and intellectual development. While he may prepare, from time to time, courses of reading on special topics, and especially on those related to the college studies, he will be still more useful in advising the student how to read most advantageously; in what ways to improve the memory; how to keep and use commonplace books; when to make abstracts; and in giving many other hints which books on reading never communicate, and which suggest themselves only to one who has learned after many years of experience and by many painful mistakes the secret of successful study (p. 249).
F. B. Perkins (1876) describes the records of past and present human knowledge as a trackless wilderness in which a guide would find ample occasion for his services. Seventeen years later, the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year 1892–1893 indicates that few college libraries have failed to make some attempt to give instruction in the use of books. The report goes on to state, bAll professional librarians, however, fully realize the need both of formal lectures and of that hand to hand, face to face instruction in the library itself, by which methods of investigation are taught, experience gained, and enthusiasm communicated. Quiet but effective work of this character is done in many collegesQ (Little, 1895, p. 927). M D. Bisbee (1897, p. 430), Librarian of Dartmouth College, declared in 1897 that, bUnless the scholar has a better method than the common people of selecting books and reading them, his primacy is gone.. . . Nowhere, then, is definite instruction more needed than in bibliography.Q 5. Assistance to readers The origins of present-day instructional practices can be found, then, in a dedication to bpersonal assistanceQ that emerged relatively early in the minds of American librarians (Thomas, 1999, p. 2). Collections grew in the last half of the nineteenth century causing libraries for the first time to abandon their makeshift quarters for buildings expressly designed for their purpose. It was in these buildings that rooms devoted to large reference collections were first established. As new intellectual movements emerged and people’s interest in learning grew deeper, librarians were asked to be more than just custodians of books (Kaplan, 1947).
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Public libraries, unlike college libraries, were not constrained by traditions that limited them to a narrow concept of service. On the contrary, public librarians had the burden of justifying the expenditure of city funds by demonstrating the values to be derived from their institutions. They appraised these values in terms of volume of use and number of services (Rothstein, 1955). Samuel S. Green (1876), City Librarian of Worcester, was the first to call for assistance to readers in 1876 when he wrote: bI need not remind you, however, that many persons who use a library have to be instructed in regard to the use of catalogues, and need practice before they can use them to the best advantage (p. 78). Give them as much assistance as they need, but try at the same time to teach them to rely upon themselves and become independent (p. 80).Q Green made no secret that his motives for advocating a program of assistance to readers were of a practical nature when he stated at the 1876 library conference: bThe more freely a librarian mingles with readers, and the greater the amount of assistance he renders them, the more intense does the conviction of citizens, also, become, that the library is a useful institution, and the more willing do they grow to grant money in larger and larger sums to be used in buying books and employing additional assistants (p. 81).Q What Green was sponsoring was not a new concept of library service, but rather a new technique in justifying funding for the Worcester Free Public Library (Rothstein, 1953). Woodruff (1886, p. 223), Librarian of Cornell University, described a public library as ba hospital for crippled minds, quite as much as an aid to those persons who already understand and appreciate it . . . near the catalogues, and among the readers, there ought to be active and helpful librarians, whose sole duty should be to furnish oral notes and advice.. . . Let the librarians now look around more for an opportunity to do personal hospital and reformatory service.Q The adoption of bassistance to readersQ by librarians in locating and selecting books gradually evolved in the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. Lee (1966) states, At first only a few librarians experimented in assisting readers; this was followed by considerable discussion concerning the desirability of providing this service; then, when the need was more fully recognized, more librarians began assisting readers, and, by 1890, attempts were being made to extend the provision and improve the quality of this service. With the growing concern over the library’s role as an educational institution, this service was gradually accepted not as peripheral but as one of the library’s main responsibilities (p. 23).
6. Library instruction evolves A number of librarians may be credited with the development of library instruction in the late nineteenth century from its roots in scholarship, seminary and topical methods of instruction, professorship of books, and assistance to readers. Each of these librarians worked to define library instruction in terms of teaching the library user how to access information for life-long learning rather than in terms of education for librarianship. Raymond C. Davis, librarian of the University of Michigan, began in 1879 to give lectures on the library in general, and on library aids in particular, at the opening of each
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college year. He observed that his readers had been working at a disadvantage when he writes, Their knowledge of books of common reference was very limited; they did not know of the existence of special bibliographies, and of indexes to serial publications; that they could help themselves in these matters by an intelligent exercise of their reasoning powers never occurred to them.. . . They were willing to leave all to chance (Davis, 1986, p. 36).
Professor Otis H. Robinson (1880, p. 21), Librarian of Rochester University Library, describes the acquisition of knowledge as bthe learning how and where it may be acquired.Q He goes on to write, New sciences are springing up, and new and diverse applications of science are rapidly multiplying. And in every department of learning new outlooks are taken, giving rise to new forms of thought. But the student period of a young man’s life cannot be indefinitely increased. We believe, therefore, that the demand can be met best, not by making the curriculum cover everything, but by giving special attention to the where and the how of acquisition.. . . The writer is accustomed, as librarian, to give familiar lectures from time to time to freshman and sophomore classes, to make them understand the great advantage of the use of a library, to explain in general terms the nature and use of the devices for finding what one wants, to show how they may supplement their course of study at every point by reading the authors and subjects studied, and, in general, to awaken as far as possible an interest in library work.
Robinson (1880) attributes the need for library instruction to the transition from a small library to a larger one when he writes, How to use a library is . . . a question of great and growing importance to nearly every college in the country. It is due to those liberal patrons of learning who are erecting library buildings and filling them with books that this question be carefully studied.. . . It is due to students that special instruction should be given in methods of investigation. It is due to the public, in an age when libraries are exerting so great an intellectual and moral influence, that young men should come from the colleges thoroughly trained in their nature and their use (p. 15).
Melvil Dewey (1891) believed that college students should not only be given experience in a laboratory library, but also receive instruction in the bibliographical apparatus. He points out that the concept of the library as a laboratory was comparatively new for his time, and was an essential part of the modern library movement. George W. Harris (1893, p. 42), Librarian of Cornell University, suggests that a blecture to the entering class from the librarian, explaining the plan of the catalogue and its arrangement, pointing out the principal works of general referenceQ would be useful. Justin Winsor (1894), Librarian of Harvard University, implies that our colleges should pay more attention to the methods by which a subject is deftly attacked, and should teach the true use of encyclopedic and bibliographical helps in order to make the library more serviceable. Emma Adams (1898, p. 138) concludes that binstruction in the use of books needs to be ingrafted as an integral part of the whole course of study. Until, however, normal and preparatory schools equip their future teachers with the requisite knowledge for this, it must necessarily devolve upon the librarian.Q George H. Baker (1897), Librarian of Columbia University, points out how important and necessary it is for students to know something about the library and its use for their own sakes, and the difficulty in imparting that knowledge to them when he writes, If you gave all the freshmen in college a lecture of an hour they would come away with a remarkably small amount of actual information.. . . I think the best thing you can do in the course of an hour’s talk is to impress on those men that there is a good deal that it is important to them to know, and that they had better come to you or to your assistants in the library and find out the details that have been hinted at. From my own experience, I think the way to teach young men
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Harry L. Koopman (1897), Librarian of Brown University, in 1897, taught a library instruction course of three hours a week amounting to 30 lectures. He describes the utilitarian objective of this course in a letter to William I. Fletcher, Librarian at Amherst College, when he writes, What I have had in mind is not the training of men to be librarians, but to have such a general knowledge of books and libraries as shall help them as students, and be of service to themselves and the public if they are ever called upon to serve as trustees or on book committees of libraries (p. 166).
Dr. Cyrus Adler (1897), Librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, states at the 1897 American Library Association Annual Conference in Philadelphia: I believe that a great many college students do not know how to use the books that will help them in their work, and I think that some sort of instruction ought to be given to them.. . . And I think that all post-graduate students—I will not speak of professors—would be very much assisted if they were given some instruction in what I would consider bibliography in the narrow sense (p. 167).
7. Library instruction at the turn of the century Azariah Smith Root, director of the Oberlin College Library, from 1887 to 1927, prepared three courses in librarianship which were described in the Oberlin College Catalogue of 1899. These courses were as follows: bThe use of Libraries,Q bElementary Bibliography,Q and bHistory of the Printed BookQ (Rubin, 1977, p. 254). Rubin (1977, p. 253) concludes that our understanding of Root’s pedagogical outlook is the philosophy that underlay the teaching of these courses. The introductory paragraph to the bibliography course section of the college catalogue stated in part that bthe work has been planned to give instruction which will be of immediate benefit to the student in his future college work . . . it does seem to me there is an important work to be done in the way of acquainting college students with the history of the printed book, and with the more important national and special bibliographies, as well as with modern library methods.Q Rubin (1977, p. 254) points out that the bworkQ Root referred to was not librarianship per se, but rather to develop library skills as part of the liberal arts curriculum. Root thereby made a distinction between the notion of library education and library instruction and recognized that his interest lay in the domain of library instruction. Rubin (p. 254) writes, bThe advanced character of Root’s vision lay both in his explicit distinction between library instruction and education for librarianship and in his systematic attempts to develop a curriculum based on the distinction.Q Root’s objective was to produce thinking students who were sensitive to the forces which surrounded the institution of librarianship. His perspective was clearly stated when he pointed out that a library curriculum should borganize school work so that the student may be helped to discover his own capacities, aptitudes and interests, may learn about the character and conditions of occupational life and may himself arrive at an intelligent vocational decisionQ (Rubin, 1977, p. 259). Rubin (1977) concludes that Azariah
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Root’s contribution to the development of library instruction at the turn of the century was twofold: (1)
He distinguished conceptually between education for librarianship and library instruction and recognized the need for instruction of students with no professional objectives toward librarianship. (2) And he developed a systematic program of library instruction that supported the demands of the liberal arts curriculum (p. 260).
8. Conclusion The emergence of scholarship in the mid-19th century gave rise to experiments with the seminary and topical methods of instruction. In 1870, Ralph Waldo Emerson called for a professor of books who would provide guidance in the selection of proper reading materials. Others of that period more broadly defined a professor of books as someone who would teach students how to read most advantageously. Professor Charles Kendall Adams developed the first American model of seminary instruction in 1869. Samuel Green was the first to suggest that public librarians provide assistance to readers at the 1876 American Library Association Conference. This suggestion was a factor leading to the gradual development of library instruction throughout the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. Azariah Smith Root, at the turn of the nineteenth century, made a distinction between library education and library instruction when he developed a formal course directed at instructing Oberlin College students, rather than would-be librarians, in modern library methods. Hardesty, Schmitt, and Tucker (1986, p. 3) attribute the significant growth in library use instruction during the 1880s and 1890s to the dramatic changes occurring in higher education in the same period when he writes, bAlthough reports on instruction about the library’s dmost rare and valuable worksT date from the 1820s, substantial, continuous course offerings and course-related lectures came about only as a result of major developments in the library’s academic environment in the latter part of the nineteenth century.Q Hardesty, Schmitt, and Tucker describe these developments as (1) (2) (3) (4)
the adoption of original research as a necessary function of academia; the introduction of the seminar method of instruction featuring student presentations; the birth of new curricula in the social sciences and in their German counterparts; and the creation of doctoral programs designed to make graduate-level research the capstone of higher learning in American universities (p. 3).
Today’s information literacy programs have their roots in nineteenth century library instruction objectives. Warmkessel and McCade (1997, p. 80) point out that bthe basic goal of information literacy is to enable people to become lifelong learners. The premise for this goal is that information literate individuals will be able to sift through the enormous amount of
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information available, effectively using appropriate sources to solve problems and make decisions in all areas of their lives.Q Warmkessel goes on to state, The current emphasis on more student-centered learning demands that students be able to use information to create knowledge rather than simply remember predigested knowledge delivered by teachers.. . . Rather than pass along their own thinking and learning styles, teachers can help students construct knowledge in ways that make sense to them individually. This approach facilitates both understanding and application while increasing the likelihood that the knowledge will form the basis of new learning (p. 81).
In a similar regard, Azariah Root’s objective was to produce thinking students who were able to discover with their own capacities, aptitudes and interests, the character and conditions of occupational life and arrive at intelligent vocational decisions.
References Adams, H. B. (1887a). Relation of the library to the university. In United States Bureau of Education (Ed.), The study of history in American colleges and universities. Circular of information, Vol. 2. (pp. 167 – 170). Washington7 U.S. Government Printing Office. Adams, H. B. (1887b). Seminary libraries and university extension. In H. B. Adams (Ed.), Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science (pp. 443 – 459). Baltimore7 The University. Adams, E. L. (1898, April). Library work with schools. Library Journal, 23, 137 – 141. Adler, C. (1897, October). Conference of librarians, Philadelphia: The college section of the A.L.A. Library Journal, 22, 168 – 172. Baker, G. H. (1897, October). Conference of librarians, Philadelphia: The college section of the A.L.A. Library Journal, 22, 168 – 172. Bisbee, M. D. (1897, September). The place of bibliography in the equipment of a cultivated man. Library Journal, 22, 429 – 432. Davis, R. C. (1986). Teaching bibliography in colleges. In Hardesty L. L., et al., (Eds.), User instruction in academic libraries: A century of selected readings. Metuchen, NJ7 Scarecrow Press. Dewey, M. L. K. (1886). Libraries the true universities for scholars as well as people. Library notes (pp. 49 – 50). Boston7 Library Bureau. Dewey, M. L. K. (1891). The relation of the colleges to the modern library movement. Proceedings of the 1891 annual convention of the college association of the middle states and Maryland (pp. 78 – 83). Philadelphia7 Globe Printing House. Emerson, R. W. (1926). Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Vol. 3. Smith, NY7 Bigelow. Green, S. S. (1876). Personal relations between librarians and readers. Library Journal, 1, 74 – 81. Hardesty, L. L., Schmitt, J. P., & Tucker, J. M. (1986). User instruction in academic libraries: A century of selected readings. Metuchen, NJ7 Scarecrow Press. Harris, G. W. (1893). College libraries: How best made available for college uses? Proceedings of the 1893 annual convention of the college association of the middle states and Maryland (pp. 40 – 44). Philadelphia7 Globe Printing House. Kaplan, L. (1947). Early history of reference service in the United States. Library Review, 11, 286 – 290. Koopman, H. L. (1897, October). Conference of librarians, Philadelphia: The college section of the A.L.A.. Library Journal, 22, 168 – 172. Lee, R. E. (1966). Continuing education for adults through the American public library, 1833–1964. Chicago7 American Library Association. Little, G. T. (1895). School and college libraries. In United States Bureau of Education. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year 1892–93, Vol. 1. (pp. 916 – 933). Washington7 U.S. Government Printing Office.
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Mathews, W. (1876). II.—Professorships of books and reading. In United States Bureau of Education, public libraries in the United States of America: Their history, condition, and management, special report (pp. 240 – 251). Washington7 U.S. Government Printing Office. Perkins, F. B. (1876). I.—Professorships of books and reading. In United States Bureau of Education, public libraries in the United States of America: Their history, condition, and management, special report (pp. 230 – 239). Washington7 U.S. Government Printing Office. Robinson, O. H. (1880). Rochester University Library—Administration and use. In United States Bureau of Education, college libraries as aids to instruction. Circular of information, Vol. 1. (pp. 15 – 27). Washington7 United States Government Printing Office. Rothstein, S. (1953, January). The development of the concept of reference service in American libraries, 1850–1900. Library Quarterly, 23, 1 – 15. Rothstein, S. (1955). The development of reference services through academic traditions, public library practice and special librarianship. Chicago7 Association of College and Reference Libraries. Rubin, R. (1977, Summer). Azariah Smith Root and library instruction at Oberlin College. Journal of Library History, 12, 250 – 266. Copyright n 1977 by the University of Texas Press. All rights reserved. Salony, M. F. (1995). The history of bibliographic instruction: changing trends from books to the electronic world. Reference Librarian, 51/52, 31 – 51. Sinclair, B. (1972). The promise of the future: Technical education. In G. H. Daniels (Ed.), Nineteenth-Century American science: A reappraisal (pp. 249 – 272). Evanston7 Northwestern University Press. Thomas, N. P. (1999). Information literacy and information skills instruction: Applying research to practice in the school library media center. Englewood, CO7 Libraries Unlimited Inc. Warmkessel, M. M., & McCade, J. M. (1997). Integrating information literacy into the curriculum. Research Strategies, 15, 80 – 88. Winsor, J. (1894, November). The development of the library. Library Journal, 19, 370 – 375. Woodruff, E. H. (1886, September). University libraries and seminary methods of instruction. Library Journal, 11(9), 219 – 224.