Bakersfield College reference librarians are hopeful for another successful semester of research workshops for students. According to Marci Lingo, BC reference librarian, they are offering a total of 75 sessions over the course of 10 weeks beginning last month.
There are seven workshop topics: Research Strategies, Finding Books, Finding Periodical Articles Online, Beyond Basic Google Searching, Internet Evaluation, Evaluating Print Sources, and Ethics in Research. Lingo explained that the workshop topics are distributed based on past analysis of which workshops were more popular among students.
They are offering a wide range of dates and times for the workshops in order to cater to student availability. Although there are workshops that are more likely to be open as the times compete with more students’ class schedules, the Friday, Saturday, and afternoon classes do tend to fill up fast. The workshops are done on a first-come, first-served basis so students interested in attending the especially popular workshops are encouraged to arrive early to line up.
Of the seven workshops, two do not require the use of a computer. However, for the other workshops there is a maximum capacity of 23, as there are only 23 computers in the classroom.
“One little recommendation if you’re coming out to a popular time, if you bring your laptop you can log in using your laptop and then you can kind of just squeeze in,” Lingo said. “So, that’s a possibility too.”
Lingo said that in the past they have had to turn students away, which “hurts their souls.” She explained that the library does have a Twitter account, which they use to let students know if a workshop fills up, although she does sympathize that it wouldn’t help a student who was driving a long distance.
“We tried in the past to give tickets out in advance, but then what happens is someone will think they’re going to come on a Saturday, so we’ll we run out of tickets and then they won’t show up,” she said. “So then we’re in this kind of Catch-22 about what the best thing to do was.”
Although any students are welcomed to come to a workshop, they are thought to be especially beneficial to anyone who is currently enrolled in a class that requires any amount of research.
“It always makes us sad when people wait till the last minute to do [a workshop], especially when they’re in a class that requires research because they’ve missed the opportunity to get those skills in time that they really can help them in their classes,” Lingo said.
She empathized that students have many responsibilities, which might cause them to feel ambivalent about the workshops, thinking “it’s just one more thing I have to do,” but she emphasized that although it does take time out of a student’s day, it does end up being an efficient use of time.
“These end up, I think, saving you time if you’re doing research,” she said. “Because you can search much more effectively and find higher quality sources.
“If you put in poor search terms, then you’re going to get results that aren’t as good as someone who really knows the ropes on searching.”
The research workshops might even be worth credit, or possibly extra credit, in some classes, as they have become popular among a number of BC professors, especially in English and science.
After each semester, Lingo has discovered consistent similarities in the analyses and anonymous feedback given by students on workshop evaluations.
On an evaluation given to students after each workshop, students were asked if the information provided in the workshop would help with research for their college classes. On a 5-point scale, the average response was 4.66, which is beyond midway between “Essential,” a 5 out of 5, and “Quite Useful,” a 4 out of 5.
Lingo said that on the comment section of the evaluation, many students confessed that “they had been plagiarizing and didn’t know it,” after plagiarism workshops.
Many other students gave feedback after other workshops as well.
“This class should not be suggested just for English courses. This should be recommended for most subjects,” one student said.
Another student commented on his or her relief at completing the workshop in time to use the information, saying, “I am very glad I took this workshop in time for researching for my research paper,” while another student commented on wishing he or she had.
“I really needed this,” he or she wrote. “I only wish I had done this class earlier in my schooling.”
Schedules and information about the workshops can be found on the reference desk in the library, on the library homepage or InsideBC under the student tab.