In 1984, Kline and Rod reported the results of a study using 54 United States colleges and universities having the largest number of foreign students. The survey, sent to the international education office and library of each institution, showed that 64% (34) of the international educa-tion offices included some type of library orientation in their foreign student orientation programs. Of the programs which offered library orientation, 75% used tours; sixty-eight percent explained how to locate books and periodicals and/or basic reference sources; and twenty-one percent examined indexes and abstracts.

Fifty-six percent (30) of the libraries replied that they had a separate program for foreign students. Twenty-five (83%) of the thirty orientation programs for foreign students were presented by librarians. Of these 25 orientation programs, 22 (73%) included instruction in finding books and periodicals, 21 explained indexing services, and 19 examined reference tools.

Kline and Rod (1984) found that many schools offered a general orientation program for foreign students. However, many of the programs only included a tour of the library. The need for a more in depth introduction to library services became paramount. Hoffman and Popa (1986) described a library orientation and instruction program for international students at the University of California, Davis. The program, called Library Orientation and Instruction for International Students (LOIIS), was designed to contribute to the academic integration of international students by helping them function independently and efficiently in the library.

The LOIIS program consisted of three parts: (1) the formation of the LOIIS network, (2) the development of handouts, and (3) the organization and coordination of a lecture and library tour. The LOIIS network was formed by a core group of librarians who volunteered to be library contacts for foreign students. The purpose of the network was to give international students an opportunity to contact a librarian directly if a special need or problem arose. The handouts included a brochure which contained the purpose of the program, a list of LOISS librarians, and basic information about the library including a glossary of library terms. The orientation lecture and tour, presented by librarians in the LOIIS network, were given during the International Students' Orientation Week.

According to Macdonald and Sarkodie-Mensah (1988), cultural differences account for the special library needs of foreign students. They state that in many countries, the predominant teaching method is lecture and recitation; students learn from rote memory and are expected to re-call information rather than analyze, synthesize, critique, or expand on it. Foreign or international students who participate in an orientation program may only grasp the basic facts about the library and its resources. It is assumed that when students enroll in a course requiring library research, they will receive a more in depth introduction to the library component of the research process.

Many academic libraries provide lectures to teach students how to find materials for their research projects. Included in some of these lectures are demonstrations of and instructions on the use of online services and compact disk products. These lectures, however, are not given to every class requiring students to perform library research. Consequently, students must use other resources to find out about and learn how to use online services.

Littlejohn (1987) found that students most frequently learned about online services by word-of-mouth from other students. It was found that librarians were frequently observed recommend-ing online searching to students who needed very current data or who were searching obscure topics. The study also showed that individual instruction by a librarian was the greatest contributor to knowledge searching--60% of the respondents learned to search in a one-to-one situation.
 
 

2 COMPUTERS AND ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

The use of computers in academic libraries have increased significantly throughout the past decade. Computers are being used to store and provide access to library materials (e.g., online catalogs), to retrieve information from commercial vendors via telecommunication networks (e.g., DIALOG), and to access information stored on compact disks. Because of the advancement of computer technology in academic libraries, the type and level of service that academic librarians provide have changed dramatically. However, the types of users that academic librarians assist have also changed.

Students who now use academic libraries expect that some of the information they seek will be accessible from a computer terminal. This means that the majority of students entering college will have some type of computer experience. This does not mean, however, that students with computer experience will have a positive attitude toward, or experience with computerized services in the library.

Koohang (1986) investigated the effects of age, gender, college students, and computer experience toward Library Computer Systems in Morris Library at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. The results showed that anxiety towards, confidence with, and liking of computers was not determined by a person's age, gender, or college status. It also showed that computer experience was not associated with confidence in using a computer. As information specialists, librarians are faced with the problem of how best to train students with computer experience in the use of library computerized services.
 
 

3 COMPUTERIZED SERVICES IN CSULB LIBRARIES

The Main Library at CSULB provides a number of opportunities for students to access infor-mation from a computer terminal. The online catalog, called COAST (purchased from the NOTIS Library Management System) can be accessed from any floor in the library. The majority of the COAST terminals are located in the Reference Center, the Current Periodicals/Reserve Book Room, and near the Information Desk. The other computers providing access to bibliographic information are located in the Reference Center.

INFOTRAC, NEWSBANK, AND AUTOGRAPHICS are located near the Reference Desk. The use of these computer systems is on a first-come, first-served basis. The other computerized services are located in a room across from the Reference Desk. Students who want to use one of the online services (e.g., BRS AfterDark, Knowledge Index) or compact disk products (e.g., ERIC, PsycLit, Core Medline) have to make an appointment. The use of any of the compact disk products is free, while using the online database searching services costs $5.00 per 15 minutes. Students are not charged for the computer paper they use. Other computers, providing access to word processing and statistical packages, can be found in the Lower Level of the Main Library.

The North Campus Library at CSULB is arranged differently than the Main Library. Stu-dents have access to most of the computerized services available in the Main Library. The com-puterized services in the North Campus Library and the Online Database Searching Room in the Main Library are staffed with student assistants who assist users with the computers. Instructional handouts were developed by librarians to describe each compact disk product. An Online Database Searching Workbook (Littlejohn & Parker, 1988) was designed to show students how to perform an online search.
 
 

4. PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY

The purpose of this study was to investigate international students perspectives on library computerized services and compare them with freshmen enrolled in University 100. Students were asked to fill out a questionnaire that inquired about their use of the library's online catalog, online services, and compact disk products. They were also asked how much they would be willing to pay for information that could be retrieved through online databases either by a librarian or by themselves. Another aspect of the survey was to discover what instructional tool students wanted to used to learn about the library's computerized services.
 
 

5. SUBJECTS

Twenty-five freshmen and 16 international students were used as subjects. Thirty-three percent were male and 67% were female. The freshmen were students enrolled in University 100, a course all incoming students are required to take to learn about the university. The international students were members of the university's International Students Association and represented 13 countries (See Table 1).

Ninety-one percent of the students enrolled in University 100 and 31% of the international students were attending CSULB for the first time. Over 50% of the international students were in their third or fourth year at the university. Table 2 shows the students' major fields of study.

The average age of the students was 19.77, with the median age being 19 and the mode age being 18. The average age of the students enrolled in University 100 was 18.52, with the median and mode age being 18. The average age of the international students was 21.60, with the median age being 21, and mode ages being 21 and 23.
 
 

6. MATERIALS

A questionnaire, entitled Student Use of Library Services, was distributed to the students (See Appendix A). The questionnaire was divided into four major sections: (1) Using the Library, (2) Using Computers, (3) Using Online Database Searching, and (4) Questions About Yourself. The section on Using the Library focused on how often students used both libraries and whether or

not they used any of the general information tools in each library. Section two, Using computers,

7. PROCEDURE

A questionnaire was distributed to students enrolled in University 100 and students attending the second International Students Association meeting. Prior to the distribution of the question-naire, the experimenter outlined the purpose of the research project and explained that all responses would be confidential.
 
 

8. RESULTS

More than one half of the students used the Main Library one to three times a week and 31% used the North Campus Library one to three times a semester. Of those using the library, 73% used the COAST computer terminals. Seventy-eight percent of the students used the Reference Center (Main Library). Twenty-four percent of the students who used the Reference Center used the INFOTRAC and NEWSBANK computers. One half of those who used the INFOTRAC computer and 40% of those who used the NEWSBANK computer asked a librarian for assistance (See Table 3).

All freshmen and international students had experience using either an IBM or IBM compatible computer or an Apple or MACINTOSH computer. Twenty-four percent used only IBM or IBM compatible and 16% used only an Apple or MacIntosh computer. Sixty percent used both types of computers.

Twenty percent of the international students and freshmen accessed information from the online database searching services. Of this 20%, 75% of the students used the online services in the Main Library. Thirty-eight percent of the international students used the online services. However, only 8% of the freshmen used the online service.

Students were asked what instructional tool they used to learn how to access information from the online database searching services (See Table 4). The majority of the students responded that they learned from a friend. Students were also asked if they were given a choice, what instructional tool would they use to learn about online database searching (See Table 5). The majority of the students preferred to use a computer assisted instructional tutorial.

Students were asked how much they would be willing to pay a librarian to perform an online database search for them. Eighty-nine percent responded that they would pay less than

$20.00. Students were also asked how much they would be willing to pay to perform their own online database search. Seventy-nine percent responded that the most they would pay would be $2.00 for every 15 minutes or $8.00 per hour.

9. DISCUSSION

The literature showed that a number of academic libraries in the United States provide some type of library orientation or instruction for international students. These orientations and instruc-tional lectures usually include a tour of the library and an introduction to basic reference sources. However, because of the increasing number of computerized services available in academic libraries, students need to be given a detailed and in depth introduction on how to access informa-tion from a computer terminal. They need to understand the concepts of how the information is stored and how a computer allows us to access the information. They should also be informed of the cost libraries incur to provide this type of computerized service.
 
 

REFERENCES

Ball, M. A. & M. Mahoney, "Foreign students, libraries, and culture,"College and Research Libraries, 48 (2): 160-66 (1987).

Greenfield, L., S. Johnston & K. Williams, "Educating the world: Training library staff to com-municate effectively with international students,"Journal of Academic Librarianship, 12 (4): 227-31 (1986).

Hoffman, I. & O. Popa, "Library orientation and instruction for international students: The Uni-versity of California-Davis experience," RQ, 25 (3): 356-60 (1986).

Kline, L. S. & C. M. Rod, "Library orientation programs for foreign students: A survey,"RQ, 24 (2): 210-16 (1984).

Koohang, A. A., "Effects of age, gender, college status, and computer experience on attitudes toward Library Computer Systems (LCS),"Library and Information Science Research, 8 (4): 349-53 (1986).

Littlejohn, A. C., "End-user searching in an academic library--The student's view," RQ, 26 (4), 460-66 (1987).

Littlejohn, A. C. & J. M. Parker. Online Database Searching Workbook . Washington, DC: Educational Resources Information Center, 1988.

Macdonald, G. & E. Sarkodie-Mensah, "ESL students and academic libraries," College and Research Libraries, 49 (5): 425-31 (1988).

Walton, C., S. Williamson& H. D.White, "Resistance to online catalogs: A comparative study at Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore colleges," Library Resources and Technical Services, 30 (4): 388-401 (1986).

Wayman, S. G., "The international student in the academic library,"Journal of Academic Librarianship, 9 (6): 336-41 (1984).