Information Literacy Commons^™

A Few Thoughts On Evidence In Social Work, Gary Holden, Ellen Tuchman, Kathleen Barker, Gary Rosenberg, May, Sofie Kuppens, Katie Watson

Publications and Research

Social work practitioners must act every working day in the face of uncertainty. This uncertainty arises in part because knowledge is often difficult to locate or sometimes lacking regarding: the systems context the population being served; the particular client system; the set of problems the client system is experiencing; as well as the various interventions that could be selected. It seems reasonable to explore ways to reduce the experience of uncertainty, and narrow, if not eliminate, the knowledge gaps that arise in such situations. The generic idea of evidence based practice has been advanced for some time as an approach …

Create Your Own Cephalonian Method Adventure: An Interactive Session, Amanda Izenstark, Mary Macdonald

Public Services Faculty Publications

The Cephalonian Method has garnered much interest for its possibilities for engaging students in what could be an otherwise one-sided orientation program. This workshop will help attendees determine how and when to incorporate the Cephalonian Method into their sessions, how to discuss the technique with colleagues, and, most importantly, develop a set of Cephalonian Method questions that can be used in orientation and instruction sessions at their home libraries.

Medical E-Reference: A Benchmark For E-Reference Publishing In Other Disciplines, Terese Desimio, Ximena Chrisagis

University Libraries' Staff Publications

Electronic medical information retrieval systems and reference sources were some of the first discipline specific e-resources to be developed, due to physicians’ need to access the most current and relevant clinical information as quickly as possible. Many medical publishers and information aggregators have been incorporating the features their users demand for years. Thus, medical e-reference publishing could serve as a benchmark for e-reference publishing in other fields. Yet medical e-reference is not without its challenges. Today’s physicians and medical students expect immediate and user-friendly electronic access to media rich and value added clinical references, particularly via their mobile devices. Publishers, …

Libraries And General Education: New Strategies To Enhance Freshman Orientation, Faculty Collaboration, And Curriculum Development, Carl R. Andrews

Publications and Research

My research will attempt to re-evaluate the academic library's role in supporting a general education program. The emphasis will focus on student centeredness, faculty collaboration, outreach and curriculum support. In the short time that I have worked in academic libraries I have learned that quality customer service and reference desk work is far from the list of priorities in some settings. Coming from the public library I found this to be unacceptable. We are service providers and the way in which we communicate with students and faculty is important. As professionals we should do more in the way of making …

Addressing Academic Integrity: Perspectives From Virginia Commonwealth University In Qatar, Nancy E. Fawley

Library Faculty Research

Understanding the cultural aspects that affect a student’s ability to appropriately use resources is important in developing outreach and instruction in multicultural settings. Differences in educational philosophies, students’ previous scholastic training and cultural differences in individual motivation are all factors that may affect a freshman’s ability to understand an American university’s idea of academic integrity and can inadvertently cause problems where independent work and critical thinking are required. At Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCU Qatar), a branch campus of the American university in the Middle East, a special class on academic integrity and ethical behavior was integrated into the …

Libraries Atwitter: Trends In Academic Library Tweeting, Darcy C. Del Bosque, Sam A. Leif, Susie Skarl

Library Faculty Research

Purpose – This paper aims to present an overview of how libraries are using Twitter in an academic setting.

Design/methodology/approach – This study analyzed the current state of 296 Twitter accounts from a random sample of academic libraries. A total of 19 different criteria were explored, with an emphasis on the following three categories: layout and design, content and number of tweets, and account followers.

Findings – Only 34 per cent of libraries in the study had a Twitter account and characteristics varied widely among libraries, however it is evident that it is possible to successfully communicate with patrons via …

Important Information Literacy Standards For Life And Health Sciences, Betsy S. Hopkins

Faculty Publications

Information literacy in the life and health sciences is a dynamic field, with challenges, opportunities, and rewards for the successful practitioner. This chapter will describe the big picture of information literacy in these disciplines, list relevant performance indicators from the ALA/ACRL/STS Task Force on Information Literacy for Science and Technology [STS-TFILST] (2006) Information Literacy Standards for Science and Technology (hereafter Standards), and give some practical advice for life and health sciences librarians and librarians with instructional responsibilities in those disciplines. The focus is on undergraduates at research universities, although many principles and strategies will apply to other circumstances.

"Research Papers Have Always Seemed Very Daunting" : Information Literacy Narratives And The Student Research Experience., Robert Detmering, Anna Marie Johnson

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Taking an interdisciplinary approach that draws on narrative theory, composition scholarship, and investigations into the affective dimensions of the research process, this article discusses stories written by college students about their experiences locating, evaluating, and using information in the context of academic research. These narratives provide insight into how students conceptualize the research process and perceive their often tenuous roles as researchers. A textual analysis of a selection of student narratives is included, demonstrating how narrative not only enhances our understanding of the research experience but also enables students to raise larger questions about authenticity and power in the classroom.

Creating A Sustainable Partnership : Information Literacy Instruction For An Honors Program First-Year Orientation., Anna Marie Johnson

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The information literacy literature contains many articles highlighting new instruction initiatives but few articles documenting sustainable ones. This article examines the literature on library partnerships in general and Honors Programs specifically and reports on the evolution of an ongoing fifteen year partnership between the University of Louisville Honors Program and the Ekstrom Library. It then discusses the development of this partnership and the changes in the information literacy program engendered by this partnership. It ends by defining some of the elements that made the partnership sustainable, ones that could potentially be transferred to other such partnerships.

Notes From The Field: 10 Short Lessons On One-Shot Instruction, Megan Oakleaf, Steven Hoover, Beth S. Woodard, Jennifer Corbin, Randy Hensley, Diana K. Wakimoto, Christopher V, Hollister, Debra Gilchrist, Michelle Millet, Patricia A. Iannuzzi

Library Faculty Research

Librarians teach. It might not be what we planned to do when we entered the profession, or it may have been our secret hope all along. Either way, we teach. We teach users of all types, including students, faculty, and our co-workers. We teach in multiple venues including classrooms, reference desks, face-to-face, and online. While the variety of teaching audiences and environments are endless, one teaching scenario remains quintessential: the one-shot library instruction session. No one knows better than librarians the limitations of this format, yet it remains central to our teaching efforts.

Analyzing La Cuna: New Approaches For Mentoring In Professional Associations, Alison Hicks

Collaborative Librarianship

No abstract provided.

Review: Collaboration Is Key: Librarians And Composition Instructors Analyze Student Research And Writing, Marie-Elise Wheatwind

Collaborative Librarianship

No abstract provided.

Making Lemonade: The Potential Of Increased Peer Metadata Training Among Cultural Heritage Professionals, Ingrid Schneider

Collaborative Librarianship

This paper explores training in metadata creation for digital collections among cultural heritage communities in the context of a challenging economic and professional development climate. It is the author’s experience that many cultural heritage professionals from smaller institutions have not had the resources to obtain training in the standards and best practices necessary for building and maintaining digital collections that are robust and interoperable outside of their local context. This paper draws on theory and personal experience to propose that larger institutions should assist their smaller counterparts through localized peer training programs, and that the benefits drawn from these programs …

E-Book Workflow From Inquiry To Access: Facing The Challenges To Implementing E-Book Access At The University Of Nevada, Reno, Amalia Beisler, Lisa Kurt

Collaborative Librarianship

No abstract provided.

Holding Your Vendor’S Feet To The Fire, Lori Bowen Ayre

Collaborative Librarianship

No abstract provided.

Co-Teaching Relationships Among Librarians And Other Information Professionals, Ann Medaill, Amy W. Shannon

Collaborative Librarianship

This article uses the co-teaching experiences of workshop instructors at the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries as a basis for an in-depth exploration of the factors that lead to successful co-teaching arrangements among librarians and other information professionals. The experiences of these instructors demonstrate that co-teaching can provide numerous benefits: It can enhance the learning experience for students, it can provide a method for refining teaching skills, it can promote successful collaborations across departments, and it can bring innovative ideas into the classroom. Drawing on collaboration research from the Wilder Foundation, this study found that successful co-teaching relationships are characterized …

Team-Based Ingenuity Supporting 21st Century Learners, Sarah C. Hutton, Robert C. Davis, Carol Will

Collaborative Librarianship

Supporting the active learning process of the 21st century student is one of the main goals of the Learning Commons at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Building and maintaining effective student learning spaces and academic services requires proactive assessment of University climate, pedagogical direction, and curriculum development. Increasingly instructors are using active, group, and participatory teaching methods and are offering students opportunities to opt in to more creative assignments requiring the use of advanced technologies in support of multimedia projects. The UMass Libraries aim to anticipate the needs of instructors and students by tailoring student spaces to support teaching and …

By And For Us: The Development Of A Program For Peer Review Of Teaching By And For Pre-Tenure Librarians, Jaena Alabi, Rhonda K. Huisman, Meagan Lacy, Willie Miller, Eric Snadjr, Jessica Trinoskey, William H. Weare Jr.

Collaborative Librarianship

Seven pre-tenure librarians at the University Library at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) created a peer review of teaching (PROT) group. This article provides an overview of the library literature on PROT and identifies the commonalities and variations found in PROT programs. The development, implementation, and benefits of the PROT program at IUPUI are discussed as well as outcomes pertaining to benefits for the observed, the observer, and for the PROT group as a whole. The authors also found that the implementation of a PROT program can enhance the sense of community among colleagues.

Tribute To A Cooperative Pioneer: Bill Dejohn, Cecelia N. Boone

Collaborative Librarianship

No abstract provided.

The Golden Ratio And Community, Lori Bowen Ayre

Collaborative Librarianship

No abstract provided.