Library Anxiety Case Study

“Oh wow,” Marina exclaimed to Velma, her friend and classmate, as she walked into the building. It was her first visit to the San Juan City College Library, although this was already her second semester. The building was huge. There were two different service desks and tons of workers who looked like students. Marina didn’t know where to start.

On the first day of her Child Development class, her instructor, Ms. Pitts, told the class they needed “scholarly sources” for an 8-page research paper that was due March 5. She told them they needed to go the Library to find these sources. It was already the middle of February, and, until today, Marina hadn’t been able to summon the courage to even enter the building.  Marina hadn’t been in a library since she was a young teenager. She remembered clearly the librarian at her middle school library, Mrs. Thompson, yelling at her for jamming the copy machine with a bad coin. Mrs. Thompson always seemed grumpy, and Marina avoided asking her questions at all costs.

“I don’t even know why we’re here, anyway,” Velma said, dismissively. “I told you, you can find articles online. Just get on a computer and Google it. What was your topic anyway?” “Should children have cell phones,” Marina mumbled. “You can find everything online!” Velma said. “Here, let’s get on a computer.”

The two women sat at a computer, logged in, and started searching. Marina searched for the words should children have cell phones? Her first search retrieved over 29 million web pages. She clicked on the first, a website called StayAtHomeMom.org. It looked okay. It listed five reasons children shouldn’t be given a cell phone. Marina printed the web page. She kept searching, and found five more sites on the first page of her results.  “What did I tell you?” Velma exclaimed. “You were totally freaking out over nothing.”

Marina wrote her paper later that week using the sources she found online. She even turned it in two days early. But when Ms. Pitts passed her paper back, Marina was shocked: A D+. “Scholarly sources?????” Ms. Pitts wrote in dark red pen across the first page of her paper.

Marina was confused and distressed. What had she done wrong? What did Ms. Pitts means by scholarly sources anyway? And why would Velma give her such horrible advice? Marina left class that day depressed and unsure.

Who’s most responsible for Marina’s bad grade? Rank the following characters in order of their responsibility (1 = most responsible, 4 = least responsible).

Marina:  ______                                                         Mrs. Thompson: _____

Velma:   _____                                                           Ms. Pitts: _____                    

Can you think of anyone else who might have some responsibility in this scenario? If so, who?