BackTalk: Metasearching's Teaching Moments

We should without hesitation answer yes to William J. Frost's question and title of his Backtalk article (LJ 4/1/04, p. 68). Giving patrons what they want is nothing new to libraries.

Some users prefer to go no further than an encyclopedia to research a topic, while others want primary source material. Librarians, unlike classroom teachers, who get to know their students over time, cannot easily figure out whether a patron is good-enough searcher or power-searcher, especially when they often have only a few minutes of interaction. Even the best among us would admit that we feel let down when a patron interrupts our explanation of how to find full text in another database and exclaims, "I just want something right now!" Even the most experienced among us would admit it is challenging to recognize when it's best to give the bare minimum versus giving a brief, but exciting, explanation about all the advanced options available.

With a preference for metasearching and perhaps a reluctance for learning more advanced options, patrons may not easily provide us with teachable moments, so our task should be to make every interaction, to some degree, a teaching moment. They can bloom and wither in the blink of an eye, but teaching moments occur with every patron. Metasearching, viewed in a positive light, will compel us to recognize and create opportunities to help our patrons advance their skills beyond the basics. This new environment for research, then, is good for both patrons and librarians.

For many librarians, instruction takes place only in the electronic classroom, showing students databases and the OPAC. That view of information literacy instruction is narrow. It fails to see teaching moments and the possibility of creating them as librarians. Patrons create teaching moments in obvious ways: "Are there any better ways to search just the journals in biology?" or "I want to go to grad school in anthropology and need to know the important publications." Those are the ones we dream about at the reference desk. But what about the hordes of metasearchers the future will surely bring? Do we give in to mediocrity as educators or step up and motivate them to go to the next level?

Teaching moments rest in the fuzzy areas of body language and dialog between a librarian and patron. To someone rushed for time who needs so-so results fast, you could simply say, "This will work for now, but know that there are more advanced ways to get more refined results here at the library. Please contact me when you have more time."

To a student whose layer of impregnable coolness turns you off to marketing the library, you might say, "I know it's easier to search the way you're doing it, but I can show you how to save time and find better results. It'll just take a few more minutes," or "I don't know about you, but I would hate to have to go through all those results looking for the sources my professor wants. I can show you a way to narrow your search so you can be out of here in no time."

Metasearching is here, and we can choose to see it as a way to distinguish clearly between good-enough searching and smart or power-searching. We should not simply point everyone to metasearch options and expect that they want to use them or will stay at those basic levels. That might appear to be good service, but it compares with teaching literature without assigning outside reading. What would you do if a patron came up to you, after learning about power-searching elsewhere, and asked why no one had shown her this when she was a freshman?

What about those patrons who are unresponsive to the teaching moment? What do salespeople do? You have to learn not to come across as badgering the patron, but you want to still sound excited, optimistic, and helpful. You help them to the degree they want, make a pitch, and move on. Don't be surprised if they never come back. But they might…. You can't reach everyone; neither do classroom teachers. But always make sure that someone you've dealt with at least knows about advanced options.

Many librarians will feel their services are threatened by metasearching library databases. Before we can begin to master recognizing and creating teaching moments, we first must be willing to acknowledge their importance. The focus on the divide between metasearching and traditional searching allows us to hone our teaching skills, sell our services, however incrementally, and concentrate on patrons teetering on the edge of that divide.