"The Giggles Part: Keeping Instruction Light and Enlightening" by Marianne L. Sade, MILEX, 7/14/10 Salisbury University

So, a librarian and a lawyer and a priest all walk into a bar…no, seriously…

“Librarians are very funny in dark, devious and unexpected ways.”

Shockingly offbeat and with a weird sense of humor

Not “gallows” humor but more like Far Side in comfortable shoes.– so says

Will Manley of American Libraries fame.

It might have something to do with some of the reference questions we get, for example:

Patron: “I need books on youth in Africa.

Librarian: You need books on young people in Africa?

Patron: No, I need books about killing old people and vegetables.

Librarian: Oh, you have the wrong continent. That’s youth in Asia.”

or

Patron: “Is this library a government suppository?

Librarian: Sometimes.”

Being a good little librarian I have to disclose that these came from a chainletter email…but we all know it’s true anyway, right? <wink>

What are some of your favorites?

How many of you just don’t care? 

So, Why be funny?

There is a large body of research to suggest that students learn better when teacher’s use humor; this translates into warmth, promotes low stress (you apparently can’t be funny if you’re tense) as humor decreases social distance and invites conversation and repeat activity. Sound good? Are you motivated yet?

Getting my groove on

I’m not really about this (funny glasses) that’s more for my sister who showed up at Thanksgiving wearing a clown nose and costume one year…

We all have our own thing.

I read in my travels that someone came up with a Lickert scale with measures like “I regularly tell jokes or funny stories when I am with a group” to “Even funny jokes seem flat when I tell them”

What’s an instruction librarian to do?!

Maybe it’s about you either have it or you don’t. You may come away with that thought after my 10 minutes of fame today…or not. Maybe I can convince you to try to lighten up even if you really can’t  If for no other reason that it could be 50 minutes of relaxation in your otherwise taxing day. Because apparently you can’t be stressed out and funny at the same time.

Bottom Line: You have to know yourself and BE yourself. This is all about adding your personal touch so don’t worry about it! KEY POINT (shake) that was a key point

Maybe it’s about improvisation…I mean isn’t life kinda like that anyway?BIG REVEAL: my “jokes” are usually impromptu during my instructions. I riff off of a student or two. It’s about being the in the moment and listening. Waiting for it…and being confident and not trying so hard.

It’s also important to know your audience which is a challenge with the one-shots. Right?! One librarian/author suggests to *think* about your audience. That makes more sense to me.

My own experience of manymany years of preschool storytimes is that you must only read stories you like or suffer the consequences of inattention. I’m seeing a relationship of that observation to my present-day presentations.

I’d like to share some tips with you. I scanned The “literature” (don’t fret--there is a handout) which ranges from the from pedagogy educational theory (yawn)e.g. “humor is in itself a ‘high-inference variable’(yawn)to the just plain practical and fun. I’d prefer to focus on the latter.

Here are some of the things I’d like to remember and put to practice:

  • Set the tone for the class—wear your favorite clothes (your costume) and SMILE, lead with an icebreaker joke, music or cartoon
  • Be positive (avoid sarcasm, stereotypes—aim at yourself if you feel the urge to make fun of someone)
  • Be lighthearted and remember the purpose is to teach not to make them laugh
  • Be aware of your volume, pitch and diction (breathing) eliminate Ums and Uhs = be silent while you gather your thoughts; Pregnant pauses are ok while you gather your thoughts or give the punch line
  • Practice good movement : making eye contact, using gestures, good posture
  • Incorporate a surprise element e.g. “throw out a rubber chicken prop from Univ. of N. Texas” style—they do that and then they search in ERIC for “rubber chicken”Sean, I also read that one of your professors dresses up in costumes and plays with a rubber chicken too—truth or dare?
  • Pepper your handouts with mirth—fake funny titles or names or create a pneumonic acronym like CRAAP (currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, purpose to help students evaluate websites
  • Be confident
  • Practice
  • Keep a file or journal of funny stuff that relates to teaching library skills (cartoons, jokes, etc.)
  • “let your armpits breathe” (keep your arms away from your torso and stand up straight—ESP. IF YOU WANT TO be a stand up comedian!(TEE HEE)

END: My personal quest—a recent example (show my ARTstor intro)I’d like to close with one final tip that’s probably the best advice I came across so far Never play leapfrog with a unicorn!

"The Giggles Part: Keeping Instruction Light and Enlightening" presented by Marianne L. Sade, for MILEX, 7/14/10 Salisbury University

My Selective List on Using Humor in Library Instruction

Antonelli, Monika , Jeff Kempe, and Greg Sidberry. "And now for something

completely different…theatrical techniques for library instruction."

Research Strategies . 17. (2000): 177-185. Print.

Arnsan, Dan. "Libraries, Laughter and Learning: The Rubber Chicken School of

Bibliographic Instruction." Community & Junior College Libraries 9.4 (2000): 53-58.ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 13 July 2010.

Berk, Ronald A. Professors Are from Mars, Students Are from Snickers: How to

Writeand Deliver Humor in the Classroom and in Professional Presentations.

Sterling,Va.: Stylus, 2003. Print.

Bivens-Tatum, Wayne. "Humor in the Classroom, or Wherever." Academic

Librarian:On Libraries, Rhetoric, Poetry, History & Moral Philosophy.

Princeton.edu, 6 Dec.2008. Web. 13 July 2010.

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Blakeslee, Sarah. "The CRAAP Test." LOEX Quarterly 31 (n.d.): 6-7. Web. 12 July

2010.

Buijzen, Moniek, and Patti M. Valkenburg. "Developing a Typology of Humor in

Audiovisual Media." Media Psychology 6 (2004): 147-67. Print.

Curran, Charles. "Qualifications: MLS, plus sense of humor." American Libraries

20.5(1989): 471. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 12 July 2010.

Garner, R L. "Humor in pedagogy: how ha-ha can lead to aha!" College Teaching 54.1

(2006): 177-80. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 July 2010.

Girdlefanny, Snotty. "Using Humor in the Classroom." Techniques: Connecting

Education& Careers 79.3 (2004): 22-25. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.

Web. 12 July 2010.

Gorham, Joan, and Diane M. Christophel. "The Relationship of Teachers’ Use of

Humor in the Classroom to Immediacy and Student Learning." Communication

Education 39 (1990): 46-62. Print.

"Humor Increases Student Participation in Online Courses." Online Classroom

(2005): 18. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 12 July 2010.

The HUMOR Project, Inc. The HUMOR Project. Ed. Joel Goodman. The HUMOR

Project, Inc., 13 July 2010. Web. 13 July 2010. <

James, David. "A Need for Humor in Online Courses." College Teaching 52.3

(2004): 93-94. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 12 July 2010.

Manley, Will. “Quirkiness ‘R’ Us: Have you embraced your inner eccentricity?”

American Libraries May (2010): 56. Print.

McMorris, Robert F., and Kim Yoonok. "Humor for International Students and Their

Classmates: an empirical study and guidelines." Journal on Excellence in College

Teaching 14.1 (2003): 129-49. Print.

Saunders, Laura. "Teaching the library: best practices."Library Philosophy

and Practice 4.2 (2002): 1-9. Web. 13 July 2010.

Walker, Billie E. “Using humor in library instruction.” Reference Services Review

34.1, (2006): 117-128. Print.

= I really liked this one