Bridging the Gap
between School and
University
How Würzburg University Library supports
Information Literacy in Secondary Schools

Outline
• basic parameters:
city of Würzburg, schools and pupils in
Würzburg, Würzburg University Library
• our information literacy workshops:
content, aims, figures, evaluation
• the libraries additional offers for pupils:
pupil consultation hour, homepage
• work in progress:
subject-specific self-learning material,
information literacy for teachers

Active Users of the Library
305 719
4 125
1 967 Scientists
Students
Pupils
External Users
Others
15 941

source: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%BCrzburg

Cooperating Schools
• 11 grammar schools in Würzburg
• 48 grammar schools around Würzburg
• 19 „Fachoberschulen“ and „Berufsoberschulen“
in and around Würzburg

source: www.maps.google.de

The Pupils first Scientific Thesis should
• be about 20 pages in length and completed within
one year
• follow a citation style
 „Child Poverty in Würzburg“
 „Blood Pressure and Physical Effort“
 „Anxiety in Art – on the Basis of four Artists“
 „The Partnership between the Wine Villages
Sommerach and Dizy“
 „Acceleration Sensors: Structure and Functionality“

Würzburg University Library
• consists of one main library and about 70
departmental libraries
• holds about 3,4 million books, substantial media
items and over 8.000 current periodicals
• is financed by the State of Bavaria and as such,
has the designation as a regional library of
Franconia
• pupils can use the library without fees

Our Information Literacy Sessions
• did start in 2001
• have two principles: „learning by doing“, „keep it
simple“
• are held by 2 librarians
• last 90 minutes
• are not subject specific

Goals: What Pupils should learn
• that they are very welcome at Würzburg
University Library
• to use the library on their own – „help for self-
help“
• searching the resources of the library
• finding their way around in the library

Goals: Finding Books and Articles
• search the catalogue for books and journals
• search the catalogue for a topic
• search a database for articles
• library orientation

Method I: Question-Answer Play
• basic introduction (Cephalonian Method)
„Where are the books?“
„What does the the library offer?“
„When I need help, I…?“
• pupils get cards with the questions and they read
them out to the group
librarians answer (PowerPoint)

Method II: Pupils Work
• searching for material
• pupils get exercises
Find books about „Computer Viruses“
Search the database IBZ for articles about ring tones for
mobile phones
• they should try to solve the tasks on their
own – librarians are looking around and
helping

Method III: Presentation
• summary of the results, debriefing by the
librarians
• with PowerPoint-slides
• further tips for writing the thesis
• time for questions

Method IV: Library Tour
• tour through the
entrance hall, textbook
collection and reading
rooms
• pupils find the
books and journals they
have searched in the
catalogue before

Organizational Facts
• the library has two computer-equipped training-
rooms
• number of colleagues: 15 librarians
• standardized concept
• sometimes workshops also for big groups

Number of Courses
90 83
77 75
80 72
70 65
60
50 49
50
40
36
30
20
10
0
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001
Number of Participants
1800 1677
1600 1487 1429 1439
1400
1127
1200
1000 843
753
800 610
600
400
200
0
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001

Quality?
• continuing evaluation
• by questionnaire (1 page)

Quality?
For me the tutorial was
45 %
45 % 40 %
40 %
35 %
30 %
25 %
20 %
15 % 11 %
10 %
5%
2% 1% 1%
0%
1 2 3 4 5 n.A.
Interesting boring s

Now I can find a book in the Now I can find books on my
catalogue topic
70 % 60 %
60 % 50 %
50 %
40 %
40 %
30 %
30 %
20 % 20 %
10 % 10 %
0% 0%
1 2 3 4 5 n.A. 1 2 3 4 5
-10 %
Now I can find journal articles
60 %
50 %
40 %
30 %
20 %
10 %
0%
1 2 3 4 5
-10 %

What did you like most? What did bother you most?
library tour autonomous
too much
work,
information

examples
 bad and
stuffy air
good
nice and explanations
capable work with
librarians given
exercises

Homepage for Pupils
• launched in 2008
• special section tailored for pupils` needs and
interests
• information about registration, our resources,
search strategies…
• language is simple and even loose
• access to self-study material: e-tutorial
(catalogue), information sheets

Pupil Consultation Hour
• started 06.08.2009 – in summer vacations
• for pupils writing their thesis
• every week for 2 hours
• additional to the consultation at the reference
desk
• first week: 61 pupils; second week: 62 pupils

Gütesiegel: Libraries – Partners of
Schools
• certificate by two Bavarian ministries
• granted to libraries for outstanding
cooperation with schools
• aims at encouraging libraries to
strengthen cooperation
• 2009: 57 Bavarian libraries got it (4
academic libraries)

Cooperation Libraries – Schools, „G8“
• substantial changes in the cooperation schools –
libraries at the moment
• „G8“: eight years grammar school
• scientific work and thesis are weighted even
stronger
• search for information is component of the
curriculum
• ministry suggests cooperation with libraries

Subject-specific self-learning
PowerPoints
• subject librarians are preparing slides for each
school subject
• they are based on our introductory workshops
• focus on the specific resources of a subject

Information Literacy for Teachers
• requests for workshops by teachers for
themselves
• in cooperation with the „Teacher Training and
Education Center“ at the University of
Würzburg
• we want to develop a further training for teachers
in information literacy

Thank you
for
your attendance!
Viola Hämmer
University Library of Würzburg
Am Hubland
97074 Würzburg
phone: +49/931/31-85909
viola.haemmer@bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de