Throughout the year here at Loyola Marymount University, librarians teach 50- to 75-minute instruction sessions for first-year students enrolled in rhetorical arts courses. Usually these sessions are in English, but recently, Instruction Design Librarian Darlene Aguilar accepted an invitation from Professor Mónica Cabrera (Modern Languages and Literatures) to conduct a session in Spanish for the first time. Darlene allowed us to observe her session. We sat down with Darlene afterwards to talk about her preparation, execution, and reflection of the first session she (and possibly the library) conducted in Spanish.
Observando a Darlene (Observing Darlene)
Although Darlene’s session was unique because it was offered in Spanish, all rhetorical arts library instruction sessions for first-year students follow a standard script consisting of a three-point agenda:
- Sitio web de la biblioteca (library homepage)
- Cómo evaluar información (how to evaluate information)
- Cómo encontrar información (how to find information)
When discussing the library homepage, Darlene pointed out options for students to get assistance online and in person. For example, she highlighted:
- “nuestro servicio de chat, disponible las 24 horas” / our chat service, available 24 hours a day
- “el escritorio de Información” / the Information Desk, staffed by librarians and trained students during regular business hours
- “consultas de investigación” / research consultations, for one-on-one or small group, in-depth meetings with librarians in person or via Zoom
- “una lista de videos en nuestro sitio de YouTube titulado ‘How To’” / a “How To” playlist on our YouTube channel
- “nuestros LibGuides organizados por tema, y tambien para esta clase de rhetorical arts” / our LibGuides organized by subject, and also for this rhetorical arts class
Darlene concluded her overview of the homepage by emphasizing how our LibGuides help navigate “más de 400 bases de datos” (more than 400 databases) by highlighting the top 3-5 databases for any subject.
When Darlene transitioned to “como evaluar información” (how to evaluate information), she discussed two frameworks: CRAP and RADAR. CRAP (current, reliable, authority, and purpose) was explained in a handout provided by Cabrera (who admitted it’s a funny acronym). The framework normally used by Darlene and other librarians here at the library is RADAR, which considers rationale, authority, date, accuracy, and relevance.
To make learning RADAR a memorable and fun experience, students are required to create teams of 2-3 classmates, come up with a team name, and play “The RADAR Challenge,” which challenges teams to apply the RADAR framework to a peer-reviewed article and earn up to 1,000 points.
All of Darlene’s students performed well, with all teams earning at least 825 points and team “Don Quixote” earning 1,000 points.
After the RADAR Challenge, Darlene transitioned the session into the final part: “Como Encontrar Información” (How to Find Information). She presented a library video entitled, “How to Search for Articles on OneSearch.” This was followed by Darlene leading a “Finding Sources” activity where students submitted examples of resources they found on an online form to display results “live” on a the class projector. She concluded her session by highlighting a list of search tips when using OneSearch:
- Use AND
- Use limiters
- Citation chasing
- Use official SUBJECT headings
Overall, Darlene’s session was a success with students remaining engaged during the entire session—and Darlene’s mastery of Spanish made it seem like she teaches in Spanish all the time. However, when I interviewed Darlene, I was pleasantly surprised to learn how much effort and preparation went into ensuring that her first session in Spanish would be a success.
Interview with Darlene
Ray: Were you nervous?
Darlene: YEAH! You were there taking pictures and watching! And I felt rusty. [laugh]
R: Why did you agree to teach this session in Spanish?
D: Spanish is my first language (my parents immigrated from Mexico). English is now my dominant language, or you can say Spanglish is my dominant language. Thankfully I had experience from a previous job that helped: I used to teach computer workshops in Spanish for parents with LAUSD [the Los Angeles Unified School District].
R: Rumor has it that you like to really prepare for all of your instruction sessions. This session was your first in Spanish. Can you tell us about how your preparation process for this session differed from other sessions?
D: The course’s professor [Cabrera] gave me a couple of documents to review ahead of time, including CRAP (current, reliable, authority, and purpose) and a couple of relevant pages from their class textbook. I also used a “Library Jargon” website – it was the first time I heard Librarian Spanish [laugh]
R: Before today’s interview, you hinted that you had a funny way of prepping for your Spanish session. What was the funny part?
D: I started watching “Love is Blind Mexico” [laugh]
R: What is “Love is Blind”?
D: It’s a dating show [laugh]
R: How did it help?
D: It helped as a good reminder for general pronunciation of words in Spanish. It also helped me learn that the way people now say “Let’s go!” … that would be “Ámonos!” in Spanish. [Note: “Ámonos” is short for “Vámonos.”]
R: Be honest: how many times did you rehearse? And what was the most challenging aspect about prepping?
D: I rehearsed every day for a week. The biggest challenge was learning technical terms I had never heard before, especially from the Library Jargon website. I learned terms such as “búsqueda,” “pertinente,” and “revisado por expertos” for “peer review.” I also learned how to say my own title: “bibliotecaria de diseño instruccional” (instruction design librarian).
R: How do you feel the session went?
D: Just like a regular session: some students came late, and we had computer problems. [One student discovered that their station’s wireless computer mouse didn’t work.]
R: Was there anything that went better than expected?
D: I can’t think of anything. [R: Although Darlene can’t think of anything, I was very impressed by the level of engagement from every student in the room, especially during the RADAR game and the activity to locate a peer-review article and submit it to an online form to display it “live” on the projector screen for classmates to see.]
R: Looking back, would you change anything?
D: Not to be as nervous! I also rehearsed a lot because I didn’t want to read directly from the session’s general script. Maybe next time I also won’t play videos. I usually don’t play videos because I prefer to explain things on the spot. [Darlene’s referring to videos that explain How to Search for Articles on OneSearch and How to: Play RADAR Challenge.]
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