Library skills instruction: A comparison of students in a Web-based course versus a traditional instruction course

This study compares two modes of delivery of a one hour credit “Use of the Library” course during Fall, 1998 at Western Kentucky University. Quantitative survey and test score data were collected on students enrolled in a traditional library instruction course and a totally interactive web-based library instruction course, using a post-test only causal-comparative approach.; Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed on data collected from skills test and a satisfaction/demographics survey for the two groups. Also, personality types using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and qualitative data were gathered.; An analysis of comparisons, using t-test and chi-square, for the two groups found that there were no significant differences between groups on the achievement variable. With respect to personality, the only significant differences were those relating to the J-P preference, where the web group contained 70% Js and the traditional group contained 40% Js. Research findings revealed significant differences between groups on the demographic and satisfaction variables. There were strong relationships between several of these variables.; Findings suggest that a web course draws from the non-traditional student populations and that these students were more satisfied with their choice of the web format than were the traditional students with their choice of the classroom setting.