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(Note: This lesson plan was originally published in LIRT News, June 1995.  I am no longer at Ohio University-Zanesville and I also no longer advocate the use of alcohol examples in teaching library skills.  However, this lesson plan may help to generate lesson ideas for others.)

The Zanesville Campus Library teaches a wide variety of patrons in a formal BI setting. The library is a shared facility on a co-located campus serving Ohio University at Zanesville and the Muskingum Area Technical College. BI is done for courses from both institutions which results in a large number of students from different programs and age groups.

One of the least interesting things to learn about, from a patron perspective, is boolean searching--yet this is one of the most important concepts that a patron will be exposed to in library instruction. We noticed that repeatedly, regardless of type of patron or time of year, students would get glazed eyes and either sleep or play with their pencils during boolean searching explanations. Neat and colorful ven diagrams and LCD projections of CD programs had little impact on the problem.

So the library decided to change the way in which boolean searching was taught. A common interest of most of our students is alcohol, so this substance was incorporated into the BI instruction. Empty gin and whiskey bottles were acquired and filled with plain or colored water. A bottle of tonic water and several glasses were also brought in.

We always start any presentation concerning a tool that requires it with an introduction to boolean searching, explaining and, or and not. We now begin this discussion with explaining how bartenders use boolean logic every day to fill their customers' mixed drink orders.

At this point, we ask for a volunteer. If no one volunteers, we ask the instructor which student is the most knowledgeable about alcohol. This query inevitably prompts a lively discussion which results in a "volunteer." The student volunteer is asked to come forward and mix gin and tonic; the and function in boolean searching is thus demonstrated. The student is then asked to serve either gin or tonic, and again the term is discussed. Finally, the student is asked to mix gin not tonic. Straight gin should be the result, if the student is paying attention.

This BI exercise seems to be working. Students exposed to it are doing better at boolean searching than are students who miss the class and must be taught later at the keyboard. Additionally, we ask students to "remember the gin and tonic" when they get confused at the terminal while trying to narrow searches. We've found that introducing humor and practicality into the BI session is very effective .