Katy Lenn’s presentation was incredibly thought provoking! She basically posed the question of whether we should be teaching IL sessions for freshmen students. She went through all the major arguments for why library instruction should happen for freshmen (it improves retention, reduces library anxiety, ‘it is good for them’, and validating our own roles), and then took them apart one by one. For example, in terms of retention, she asked how important library instruction really is to retention? Are we targeting those groups of students whose retention rates are really low?

Although I’m sure not everyone would agree with Lenn’s argument, it is a worthwhile discussion to have - especially, as she pointed out, now that the economic downturn means that many librarians are having to look at where they can cut back. Is it worth it to spend time and effort teaching freshmen if they don’t necessarily need (or want) library instruction, and often don’t retain the information anyway?

Lenn mentioned some interesting results from the National Survey of Student Engagement - ‘Promoting engagement for all students’ (2008).