SC - teaching technique - nonmember submission

[Jenne Heise]

> Along the same lines, I must agree in fact yet disagree in principle
> with  the statement Ras made and which I have appended to this note.
> No, I do not
> think it a good idea to send a new student, of ANY subject, off to the
> reference library.  If that were all that were involved in learning we
> wouldn't need teachers we would only need book writers.  I DO, however,
> think sending a student off to the reference library with a directive to
> return for discussion before puting information to use is of inestimable
> value.  

And I have to agree yet disagree with this statement. If you already know
of one or two _general_ sources on a subject that are accurate and (if
books) well written or (if people) good at teaching/explaining, that are
accessible to the student, as a librarian I would send people there first,
and from thence to the primary (or secondary) sources from which they
came.  Also, one would never send a student hotfoot to the library if they
don't already have at least a vague sense of how to do research and,
perhaps, how to sniff out an unlikely assertion; how to trace information
back to the original; how to tell whether something is likely to be a
reliable source, etc.

But I wander into territory that belongs on another list (Universitas,
perhaps...)

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net
disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me.
   "My hands are small I know, but they're not yours, they are my own"