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Bibliotherapy Education Project. Paula McMillen & Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson Oregon State University Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities Honolulu, HI: Jan 16, 2005. Bibliotherapy Education Project.
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Bibliotherapy Education Project Paula McMillen & Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson Oregon State University Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities Honolulu, HI: Jan 16, 2005
Bibliotherapy Education Project The birth of this four year project began with a cup of coffee and a simple conversation. We pondered on the use of books by various helping professionals . Spontaneously, we posed two questions to each other, “How do therapists, teachers, etc. know what books to recommend?” and “How do they choose and evaluate materials?”… …the project was born.
Bibliotherapy“a rose by any other name…” • (AKA) Known by many names: • Bilbio-counseling • Biblio-guidance • Biblio-psychology • Book matching • Literatherapy • Library Therapeutics • Literapeutics • Reading Therapy • And many more…
DefiningBibliotherapy Use of reading materials for help in solving personal problems or for psychiatric therapy • Webster’s Collegiate 10th Ed., 1997 Literally involves treatment through books • Pardeck & Pardeck, 1998 Guided reading of written materials to help the reader grow in self awareness • Harris & Hodges, 1995 Process of dynamic interaction between the personality of the reader and literature under the guidance of a trained helper • Shrodes, 1950
Benefitsof Bibliotherapy • Increases Empathetic Understanding of Others (cultures, lifestyles and lived experiences) • Enhances Insight and Integration • Promotes Coping Skills • Provides Information and Alternatives • Stimulates Discussion of Feelings and Ideas • Increases Enjoyment of Literature and Reading
-Problem Statement- • Books are widely used in clinical settings • Limited training, tools or strategies for emerging or practicing clinicians • Limited funds/materials for graduate students • Criteria for selecting materials for a working collection • Criteria for selecting materials for clients
The Learning Objectives • To increase understanding of the uses of literature in therapy • To provide a tool to help practitioners consistently evaluate materials • To offer supervision in evaluating materials & use in therapeutic settings • To build a library collection to support curriculum and research • To increase the availability of evaluated books to subsequent students • To increase the number of book evaluations available by making the evaluation tool more widely available • To organize resources for learning about Bibliotherapy & finding books
Process: Web Relocation • Reformatting the Evaluation Tool • Paper & pencil Web based • Narrative categories, ratings, short answers • Library school intern • Tooling Up to Technology • Web design • Database design 3. Usability testing Graduate counseling students 4. Communication Regular team meetings Project E-mail list Other “stakeholders” 5. Sponsorship of the Web site Page appearance Ongoing funding mechanisms Administrative Support
ProjectMethods • Literature review • Articulate clinical criteria • Expert face validity • Learning module • Student involvement • Survey research • Cross-disciplinary consultation • Regular communication, feedback, input • Mutual respect for unique contributions
Research Discoveries • Literature Review • Widespread use • Years of research • Specific topics and populations • Few practice and evaluation guidelines • Electronic development • Complex • Plan infrastructure to accommodate future research • Graduate Counseling students tested pre- and post-learning module (self-report survey) • Significant increase in knowledge of Bibliotherapy benefits and uses • Significant increase in comfort level with using literature in therapy reported • Clinical Supervision • Practice and teaching lead to competence
Future Directions • Continued usability testing of overall Web site design • Further development of database search options • Increase flexibility of site and database structure for ease of maintenance • Establish ongoing funding mechanisms • Promote use to librarians and helping professionals to build database of evaluated literature • Contain creativity and focus
Future Projects • Create Librarian Guide • Analyze Database • Fund Student Assistantships • Refine Evaluation Tool • Create Therapist Guide • Enhance Website Content • Upgrade Website Functions • Publish and Disseminate • Refine Teaching
Lessons Learned • You can’t over-communicate • Regular meetings of the collaborators are essential for progress • Find money! Aggressively solicit grants, donors, sponsors • Collaboration is messy & complex but worth it!
For more information …http://bibliotherapy.library.oregonstate.edu Dr. Paula McMillen paula.mcmillen@oregonstate.edu Phone 541.737.7272 Valley Library Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon 97331 Dr. Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson dale.pehrsson@oregonstate.edu Phone 541.737-8551 New School of Education 311 Education Hall Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon 97331