Do you sometimes feel you're back in school when you help your children with homework?

Getting them to focus and work on student homework is hard enough. When assignments require library research too, it can increase the frustration for everyone. Like many parents, you may not have done library research since you were in school.

Don't panic! Library research doesn't have to be a source of parent stress. The library has changed a lot with the addition of computers and other technology, but it is still a friendly place.

Try visiting the library before a homework trip. Become familiar with the layout and what is available. If you don't have a library card, apply for one at this time. It's free in the city where you live. Any staff member should be able to help you learn to use the computer catalogs. This is one of their jobs. For specific questions, visit the reference desk and ask for help.

Visit Before Homework Is Assigned

"Come with your children to the library and support them," suggests Maria McCarville-Ogg, Youth Services Librarian at the River Rouge Public Library. "Let them know you value their education and want to help them."

She says about 85 percent of kids come in alone, or the parent drops them off and tells them to do their homework. When they do that, parents miss out on some valuable help from librarians.

"I would love the opportunity to educate the parents as well as their kids," says McCarville-Ogg. "I want them to be independent and confident they can find the information themselves while at the same time providing excellent service."

Master the Maze

Library specialists can help you discover the many tools available in today's libraries.

"Use the computer, use indices and tables of contents," says Youth Services Librarian Deborah Stewart. "Work with what we have. So many times people just want some magic answer, sometimes you have to hunt to find what you need."

Her library, the Yankee Clipper Branch in Grand Rapids, gives mini lessons on library usage as they answer questions. Their policy is to spend only five minutes on a patron's question, though, another reason to learn to navigate the maze of materials on your own.

Speaking of Time ...

Be prepared to spend some time at the library. There isn't always one source that has all the information you need, so you may have to do some digging.

If your child waits too long to visit the library after receiving the assignment, all the books on his chosen subject may already be checked out. Then the reference collection will be useful, but you'll need to read it in the library or photocopy the information.

"Be patient with the child," suggest Cathy Sullivan Seblonka and Caroline Jordan, of the Peter White Public Library in Marquette. "Research takes time."

This time, they say, can be a learning experience for both parent and child and a chance to learn to work together as a team, to accomplish something together and to listen to each other.

Just don't let the teamwork get carried away.

"Help the child with their work when appropriate," said Seblonka and Jordan, "otherwise, expect the child to do the work."

Know When to Step Back

"Determining the assignment is tricky sometimes especially when the parent is asking instead of the child," says Deirdre Morley at the Redford Township District Library. "I ask a lot about the assignment. When the parent keeps answering questions during this reference interview, I try to get the child to answer."

Some parents find it's easier just to do the research for their children, but this won't help your child learn to use the library for research--the purpose of many library homework assignments. Also, the librarian may help you locate a book, and even use the index to find the section of the book you need, but the rest is up to your child.

"We let parents know that we can help find the material but it would detract from a potential learning experience if we were to do the work, too," says Alyssa Sadler, Director of the Alcona County Library. "Our role is to help locate information, not to interpret it."

Communicate with Teachers

Teachers sometimes assign homework without knowing what the library has to offer. "One teacher assigned 90 kids summer reading on a title for which only four copies were owned by all 80 libraries in our system," said Stewart. Parents can help inform teachers when an assignment becomes too difficult.

Dena Becker of Redford Township Library faced such a project once.

"Each student had been assigned a different endangered animal," said Becker. "We could not find any information on many of them. When the teacher learned about it, he changed students' assigned animals."

Asking questions up front can sometimes save some time. For example elementary students in Beech Grove, Ill., were working on a local history project. The librarians could find information for only some of the questions, so they contacted the teacher. It turned out the teacher had created her own history folder for students to use and never intended her students to find their answers at the library.

Encourage Problem Solving

When students come to Susan Kinch for help with difficult assignments, she tries to guide them through the thought process needed to locate information. Parents can do the same.

"I use leading questions," says Kinch, a coach for teen girls in Metamora. "Questions like 'Hmmm, wonder if there is anything in the newspaper about that topic today.' or 'There's probably a magazine that covers that very topic. I wonder who would sell it?'"

But beware of the Internet as an easy source of information, she says. "Once they've been on the Internet that is where they want to go all the time." When they do go to the library, Kinch says, half the kids remember how to locate books in the collection and the other half are afraid to ask for help.

"Librarians like helping people or they wouldn't be where they are. They like knowledge and ferreting out bits of information," says Children's Librarian Dorience Malloy. "We want to help you find just what you need, and all we need is a little bit of help from you!" 



Lisa A. Wroble is a freelance writer and library aide at the Redford Township District Library.