Article
Exploration of Library Outreach to Nontraditional Students
Reference and User Services Quarterly
(2017)
Abstract
In 1976, Malcolm Knowles, known for his research on adult education and learn-ing, predicted that the library would be-come, “the most rapidly expanding edu-cational institution of all in [the United States],”1 regarding working with nontra-ditional students. His prediction has not come to fruition. In fact, there was little published regarding librarians support-ing adult students from the mid-1980s until 2000, when librarian Dorothy S. Ingram published “The Andragogical Li-brarian,” and 2010, with the publication of researcher Nicole Cooke’s article, “Be-coming an Andragogical Librarian: Using Library Instruction to Combat Library Anxiety and Empower Adult Learners,” published in 2010. The literature consulted includes research focused on adult educa-tion in academia, library anxiety, and li-brary literacy for nontraditional students, spanning from the mid-1970s through the present day. Nontraditional students at Providence College range in age from their twenties through eighties; therefore we did not include research that exclusively looks at library instruction for students who are age fifty-five and older returning to higher education. Providence College’s School for Continuing Education works with students who meet in a traditional classroom or blended online and classroom settings, and the library currently works exclusively with face-to-face classes, so research that focuses on online students or distance stu-dents was not included in the literature scan. We also excluded research that fo-cuses on outreach to graduate students as they have different needs and experiences than students seeking bachelor’s degrees.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2017
Citation Information
Andria Tieman and Megan Black. "Exploration of Library Outreach to Nontraditional Students" Reference and User Services Quarterly Vol. 56 Iss. 3 (2017) p. 198 - 205 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/andria-tieman/192/