"A minor gap in the student's information...led to a major problem in finding the material"

The Problem
From: Overdue at the Library: Good Guides on How to Use It
"According to Mr. Asher, the researchers found that small gaps in knowledge—e.g., how to tell from a catalog number where to look for an item in the library—created larger difficulties. He showed slides of a student trying to find a particular video in the stacks; it took her six steps (including asking library workers who didn't know the answer), 10 minutes, and three trips up and down the stairs to find the right spot. "Very few students will persist that long," Mr. Asher said.


"A minor gap in the student's information-literacy knowledge led to a major problem in finding the material," he added. "We saw this over and over again."

The Solution
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