USM Libraries

Office building at night

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If InfoSavvy had a motto, that motto would probably be “Info lit is everywhere.”  Indeed information literacy is everywhere, and I saw it in some student internship presentations.

One of the students specifically mentioned the journals and magazines put out by professional organizations in her field.  We often tout the value of scholarly journals and trade publications, but this message gains resonance in a real-world setting.

Another student highlighted the importance of confidentiality in her internship setting.  She was thinking of the “economic, legal and social issues surrounding the use of information” (ACRL, 2000, p. 13).

A third student listed the sources of the images he’d used in his presentation.  Again this action modeled ethical use of information.

I don’t wish to single out particular students.   Many of the students had asked many questions of their respective internship supervisors and others.  In doing so they not only demonstrated the value of consulting subject experts (ACRL, 2000, p. 12), but also displayed curiosity, an important aspect of info lit (Hensley, 2004).

These presentations made me think about how students can build upon existing information literacies.  How can workplace information savvy transfer to the academic context?

References

Association of College & Research Libraries. (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Chicago, IL: Author.

Hensley, R. B. (2004). Curiosity and creativity as attributes of information literacy. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 44(1), 31–36. Retrieved from http://rusa.metapress.com/

Rolled-up diploma

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A few weeks ago I mentioned my latest poem, a piece based on some words from Pasteur.  This piece has called for preparation–and information.

As I described, I went to the original speech which features the quotation.  I read French, but it is not technically my first language (I learned it at a young age.).  Thus I’m also consulting an English translation (Peterson, 1954, pp. 469-474).  Doing so brings to mind ACRL (2000) outcome 1.3.b: “Considers the feasibility of acquiring a new language or skill (foreign or discipline-based) in order to gather needed information and to understand its context (p. 9).”

I imagine a hypothetical graduation and have even consulted a book of occasional poetry (O’Brien, 2004).  After all, as Pasteur said, “Chance favors only those minds which are prepared (Peterson, 1954, p.473). ”

I’ll share the resulting poem in a future post.  Once again I congratulate our graduates!

References

Association of College & Research Libraries. (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Chicago, IL: Author.

O’Brien, G. (Ed.). (2004). Bartlett’s poems for occasions. New York, NY: Little, Brown.

Pasteur, L. (1939). Installation solennelle de la Faculté des lettres de Douai et de la Faculté des sciences de Lille.  In P. Vallery-Radot (Ed.), Oeuvres de pasteur (Vol. 7, pp. 129-132).

Paris, France: Masson et Cie (Original work published 1854).

Peterson, H. (Ed.). (1954).  A treasury of the world’s great speeches.  New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Graduates and trophy

Image from Sean MacEntee: Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/5061210124/, and used according to a Creative Commons Attribution License

For the past two years at this time I have devoted a post to alumni and to their information needs.  The tradition continues.

The alumni card allows in-house borrowing and URSUS catalog (or MaineCat) requests, as well as 50 ILLiad interlibrary loan requests annually.  If alums want to use our article databases, they can still use them on campus.

Obviously campus is not an option for everyone.  What else is available?  In 2011 I mentioned Marvel! (Maine’s statewide database collection) and the web version of ERIC.  In 2012 I mentioned the Directory of Open Access Journals.  This year I’ll add government information and human contacts to the list.

The U.S. Government is a prolific publisher on many topics.  The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications is a useful tool for navigating this realm of information.

Let’s not forget people as an information source.  The USM alumni are a valuable information network.

Please share the information with your students about to graduate.  Congratulations and best wishes to our soon-to-be alumni!

Firefighters and fire engine

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The tragedies in Boston, MA and in West, TX are headline news.  As the Newtown, CT shootings are farther along the information cycle, we are beginning to hear less about them.  Still, let us keep all of these people–including the first responders– in our thoughts and prayers.

We first heard of each tragedy through online sources, radio, or television–the more immediate points on the information cycle.  Then newspapers began their coverage on the respective next days.  In the following weeks popular magazines featured articles on each event.

Eventually scholars will publish research studies in journals.  May their findings help us curb future violence.  In the meantime the call to care resounds along the entire information cycle.

Moon plaque

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World Book Night U.S. will take place on April 23.  This event is about sharing books with light readers and nonreaders.  Actually it is about sharing the love of reading–period.  In that latter spirit I’ll share the books I’m currently reading:

Professional Reading

Gibson, C. (Ed.). (2006). Student engagement and information literacy.    Chicago, IL: Association of College & Research Libraries.

Some of my current research on general education led me to this book.  The book considers different forms of student engagement: engagement with course content, engagement with the community, and integration of academics with the rest of one’s life.  This nuanced view of engagement adds value to an already useful book (including the gen ed chapter).

Poetic Inspiration

Pasteur, L. (1939). Installation solennelle de la Faculté des lettres de Douai et de la Faculté des sciences de Lille.  In P. Vallery-Radot (Ed.), Oeuvres de pasteur (Vol. 7, pp. 129-132).  Paris, France: Masson et Cie (Original work published 1854).

I’m only reading one particular lecture in this volume.  I’m writing a poem based on Pasteur’s words “Chance favors the prepared mind.”  I hope to gain ideas from reading the line in both its original context and its original language.

Tasty Recipes

Best of country slow cooker recipes. (2002). Greendale, WI: Reiman Media Group.

From all of my food-themed posts you would think I am an avid cook: I am, in truth, more of a survival cook.  That said, we can all relate to food examples.  Besides, I do want to make good use of my slow cooker.

Leisure Reading

Parker, R. B. (2011). Painted ladies. New York, NY: Berkley Books.

I enjoy the late Robert B. Parker’s novels.  I hadn’t read this particular one yet.  I read about Boston’s fictional hero Spenser as I think of the real heroes from the Boston Marathon tragedy.

We promote and celebrate reading on World Book Night.  Then again, any night is a good night to celebrate reading.

Image courtesy of the American Library Association

National Library Week begins this coming Sunday.  Since librarianship is a highly collaborative field, I salute my fellow librarians: I am honored to share ideas with you on a daily basis.  I also salute you, my non-librarian readers.  After all, we librarians are here to work with you.  How can we make our collaborations even more fruitful?

We can start by revisiting the instruction menu (Please see my 3/8/12 and 6/14/12 posts. ).     For example my class visit menu already includes the following student behaviors:

• Finding books or DVDs in URSUS (the library catalog) [10 minutes]
• Using the catalog in a more advanced way [10 minutes]
• Finding articles in Academic Search Complete [15 minutes]
• Distinguishing popular magazine articles from scholarly journal articles [20 minutes]

We could  develop a menu of alternative or complementary services as well.  On the librarian’s part these could include:

• Monitoring a dedicated online discussion board (Please specify a start date and end date.)
• Creating a course guide (Please specify the objectives.)
• Scheduling one-on-one research appointments with students

These ideas are only a sample of the possibilities.

The theme for National Library Week is “Communities Matter.”  How can our collaborations help build the academic community?

Open book

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With National Poetry Month upon us I’m thinking of the different connections between poetry and information literacy.  I’ll start with a powerful connection: close reading.

Poetry–especially when read aloud–encourages close reading.  Take the refrain ‘A terrible beauty is born’ from Yeats’s poem “Easter, 1916.”  Do we emphasize the word terrible or the word beauty?  Go over the line too quickly, and you miss this important question, one which undergirds the entire poem.

Even outside of poetry reading aloud makes us pay closer attention to what we’re reading.  Once I was leading an assignment-based session where the class instructor was also present.  I had willing students read the assignment instructions aloud.  We found potentially confusing points that we could have otherwise overlooked.

ACRL Standard Three (2000) addresses the evaluation of information sources (p. 11) .  In order to evaluate a source one needs to examine it closely.

Enjoy poetry month.  Even if you’re not a fan of poetry, enjoy the close reading that you prefer.

References

Association of College & Research Libraries. (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Chicago, IL: Author.

Yeats, W. B. (1989). The poems (R. J. Finneran, Ed.).  new York, NY: Macmillan.

Daffodils

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I am on vacation this week.  Stay tuned for a regular post next week.  In the meantime, enjoy your weekend!

The phrase "Lesson 1" displayed on a laptop screen

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As part of an information literacy tutorial I recorded a video.  Though the video concerns an aspect of information literacy, making it also involved aspects of information literacy.

Identifying an information need

The ACRL Standards (200) include defining an information need (p. 8).  Actually I had multiple information needs in this project.  For my particular module I needed information on plagiarism–particularly plagiarism prevention.  Since I had not used Camtasia screencasting software in so long, I needed technical information as well.  Let’s not forget material on tutorial design and on screencasting best practices.

Meeting the information need

How did I meet the different needs?  For the module content I looked at journal articles and library websites.  Material on best practices came from similar sources.  Technical information came from the manuals and from more experienced colleagues.  I cannot overstate te importance of the human information sources.  The ACRL Standards do mention “discource with other individuals, subject-area experts, and/or practitioners” (p. 12).

Choosing the right technology

I did not choose Camtasia on a whim.  I wanted to highlight particular resources in the module, and screencasting software was the right choice for that purpose.  Information literacy means, in part, matching the technology to the need (ACRL, 2000, p. 13).

Using information ethically

In one part of my screencast I referred to a special graphic.  I contacted the people behind the graphic to get appropriate permission.  My module concerned academic integrity: I wanted to model it.  Of course academic integrity is part of information literacy (ACRL, p. 14).

The experience also brought home information literacy lessons not covered in the ACRL Standards.  Relearning the software, for example, had its moments of frustration like those described by Kuhlthau (2004).  Most importantly information literacy requires practice.  Fortunately this project allowed me some practice.

References

Association of College & Research Libraries. (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Chicago, IL: Author.

Kuhlthau, C. C. (2004). Seeking meaning: A process approach to library and information services

(2nd ed.). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Slate with handwriting lesson

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Last week I described the creation of my latest portfolio.  Admittedly I prefer the aesthetic side of portfolios (the “play”), but a true portfolio requires reflection (the “work”).  The very act of assembling documents has made me think about what I’ve assembled.

I’ve noticed, for example, that I have documents covering the features of books, scholarly articles, popular articles, etc.  I have nothing on the functions of these genres as of yet.  What would function-based artifacts look like?  More to the point, when would I use them?  Would I use them in a one-shot session?  Would they supplement the session? Perhaps students could use them with articles they already are reading for class.

At press time I am working on a handout with more contextual questions one can ask of a given article or book:

• Who wrote it?
• Who seems to be the intended audience?
• How can you tell?
• Why are these details important?

Such questions can spark discussions about the item’s rhetorical purpose.  When we look at the item’s purpose, we can place it in the information cycle.  Then we can use it most effectively.

I’m only starting to think about these issues.  As I do more research, I hope to share additional thoughts.  Stay tuned!