This post relates to an excellent visit to Oxford last Saturday (10 November), organised by the Egypt Exploration Society (EES). It was an early start and a full day but I met many interesting people and got to indulge my passion for Egyptology.
The first stop on my group's itinerary was the Pitt Rivers Museum. Dr Alice Stevenson, a Researcher of World Archaeology at the Museum, gave us an interesting talk about the origins of the collection and the man behind it, Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers. We then had some time to explore the Museum - I defy anyone not to be enchanted by this weird and wonderful collection of objects from every corner of the globe. You enter the Pitt Rivers through the Natural History Museum (another of my passions) and I couldn't resist spending a few minutes checking out the dinosaurs. I'm now keen to bring my niece and nephew on a trip here! Anyway, when you're next in Oxford, this place is well worth visiting. If you're not able to get to Oxford anytime soon, or fancy a sneak preview, virtual collections are available.
After the wonderful chaos of Pitt Rivers, we then visited the more ordered Ashmolean Museum. I'd been meaning to visit here ever since its refurbishment some three years ago but it was well worth the wait. Liam McNamara, the Assistant Keeper of the Ancient Egypt & Sudan collections, gave us a highly enthusiastic tour of the fascinating new galleries of Ancient Egypt & Nubia, which only opened about a year ago.
After lunch, we visited the Griffith Institute, located in the Sackler Library. Elizabeth Fleming and Cat Warsi, Assistants to the Keeper of the Archive and to the Editor of the Topographical Bibliography) showed us some treasures from their Howard Carter collection of materials. These include some magnificent drawings by Howard Carter, as well as his diaries, which include the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb.
Many thanks to everyone who was involved in making this such an excellent day!
If you're reading this and are interested in Ancient Egypt, no matter where you are in the world, I strongly encourage you to become a member of the EES (would also make an excellent Christmas present!).
Saturday, 17 November 2012
Thursday, 26 April 2012
The only way is LILAC: Friday parallel sessions and round up
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| CILIP CSG Information Literacy Group stand - we got many new members at LILAC! Find out how to join at http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/special-interest-groups/community-services/subgroups/information-literacy/about/pages/default.aspx#joining |
Student centred active learning approach in an online information literacy credit course for doctoral students
The University of Tartu Library in Estonia has been running online, credit bearing courses since 2006. For PhD level, there is an "introduction to information research" course. Information literacy is presented as a transferable skill and is a university wide elective subject. The course concentrates on effective information search and management, is conducted within Moodle, is available in both Estonian and English, and offers beginner to advanced options. It takes nine weeks to complete.
Atlas.ti http://www.atlasti.com/ was used to analyse the course.
Feedback summary:
- course was challenging and time consuming
- search tips were useful
- students thought the course should be compulsory - for lecturers too
- good for getting rid of old/bad search habits
Information Literacy through Inquiry: Using
Problem-Based Learning in Information Literacy Instruction
One shot information literacy delivered in one hour.
Students suffer from "I Already Know That" syndrome so need to challenge them. To do this, Alan used modified problem based learning in a session that was peer observed. Students had to get into groups of three - a seeker, a scribe and a spokesperson. A research trigger was provided to drive the session - this could be anything relevant to the subject area. The presentation section provided an opportunity for reflection. It was about the process rather than the product. An energised atmosphere was observed in the room. Might be more POGIL (process oriented guided enquiry learning) rather than traditional PBL.
One shot information literacy delivered in one hour.
Students suffer from "I Already Know That" syndrome so need to challenge them. To do this, Alan used modified problem based learning in a session that was peer observed. Students had to get into groups of three - a seeker, a scribe and a spokesperson. A research trigger was provided to drive the session - this could be anything relevant to the subject area. The presentation section provided an opportunity for reflection. It was about the process rather than the product. An energised atmosphere was observed in the room. Might be more POGIL (process oriented guided enquiry learning) rather than traditional PBL.
Information literacy through inquiry: using problem-based learning in information literacy instruction
View more presentations from Alan Carbery
Round up of LILAC 2012
The slides from LILAC 2012 are available at http://www.slideshare.net/infolit_group/
Round up of LILAC 2012
The slides from LILAC 2012 are available at http://www.slideshare.net/infolit_group/
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| http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirjana/10885990/ |
APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Dull roots with spring rain.
Eliot, T.S., The Waste Land, Project Gutenberg, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost, viewed 26 April 2012.
April is definitely not the cruelest month when you get to attend LILAC! By far the best conference I have ever attended. I've gained lots of inspiration for my work and my PG Cert. I also caught up with old friends and made new ones. Many thanks to the LILAC committee for all their hard work in organising this outstanding event!
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
LILAC day 3: Tara Brabazon's keynote
Tara Brabazon gave LILAC 2012 a closing keynote speech that is sure to go down in history! Entitled Time for a digital detox? Building intellectual fitness we were treated to an energetic extavaganza, complete with music (name that tune!).
Key points:
- Tara set 4th year student the task of producing an annotated bibliography. They couldn't do this and gave up. They didn't have the required information literacy skills.
- An Information Literacy course, with grades attached, should be made compulsory. The University of Wollongong do this with their programme Start Smart.
- What are students actually learning?
- Less is more?
- We need to demand more of students.
- Academically adrift, Arum & Roksa. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/01/18/study_finds_large_numbers_of_college_students_don_t_learn_much
- Learning's not convenient or efficient, it's expensive.
- Students need to be able to take notes but many no longer can.
- Start to read research from the bibliography.
- Slowing the information search process down can lead to increased marks and decreased stress.
- Fewer media options leads to greater meaning.
Do you LILAC it?: Thursday parallel sessions
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| LILAC 2012 exhibition, Saltire Centre |
Answering the employability agenda:
multi-professional collaboration in an era of multiliteracies
Kaye Towlson gave a very interesting talk about how learning developers and librarians have collaborated at De Montfort University to deliver multiliteracies and respond to the all important employability agenda.
Two key reports: CBI /UUK http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/FutureFit.PDF and LLIDA http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida/LLiDAReportJune2009.pdf
HEAT toolkit http://www.library.dmu.ac.uk/Support/Heat/
- linked with 6th form college to aid transition.
Pre-induction/assessment - students sent link to interactive induction before arriving.
Provided lunchtime and twilight workshops during key promotion weeks e.g. targeting students when their first assignment was due.
They want to encourage peer mentors to come back after graduation to explain importance of multiliteracies in the "real world" to current students.
Students often don't transfer skills, even across modules. They learn something for one area but then don't think to apply it to another area.
PITSTOP project:
http://policypit.wetpaint.com/page/PITSTOP+-+Supporting+Students+on+Placement
Graduate skills licence - idea for future.
Employability module? Would need an authentic context and be run at the right time to make it meaningful.
Benefits of working together include the development of multiliteracies, flexibility and professional trust.
Kaye Towlson gave a very interesting talk about how learning developers and librarians have collaborated at De Montfort University to deliver multiliteracies and respond to the all important employability agenda.
Two key reports: CBI /UUK http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/FutureFit.PDF and LLIDA http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida/LLiDAReportJune2009.pdf
HEAT toolkit http://www.library.dmu.ac.uk/Support/Heat/
- linked with 6th form college to aid transition.
Pre-induction/assessment - students sent link to interactive induction before arriving.
Provided lunchtime and twilight workshops during key promotion weeks e.g. targeting students when their first assignment was due.
They want to encourage peer mentors to come back after graduation to explain importance of multiliteracies in the "real world" to current students.
Students often don't transfer skills, even across modules. They learn something for one area but then don't think to apply it to another area.
PITSTOP project:
http://policypit.wetpaint.com/page/PITSTOP+-+Supporting+Students+on+Placement
Graduate skills licence - idea for future.
Employability module? Would need an authentic context and be run at the right time to make it meaningful.
Benefits of working together include the development of multiliteracies, flexibility and professional trust.
Lesson Study: Or, How We Learned to Stop Lecturing
and Let the Students Learn
Eric Jennings from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire spoke about how he and his colleagues collaborated to plan, observe and reflect on their lessons. They did this using a method called lesson study, which originated in Japan. An introduction to lesson study by Catherine Lewis, from Mills College in the US, is included in the short video below:
Eric Jennings from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire spoke about how he and his colleagues collaborated to plan, observe and reflect on their lessons. They did this using a method called lesson study, which originated in Japan. An introduction to lesson study by Catherine Lewis, from Mills College in the US, is included in the short video below:
At UWEC, the library and faculty discussed what they wanted to get out of lesson study. Nine goals were identified but this would have been impossible to achieve in a one off 50 minute session. They therefore narrowed these down to more focused goals, including determining where to go for different types of resources and recognising & demonstrating the transferability of search skills (relates back to what Kaye said in the previous session).
First year students had to arrive at the information literacy session with a certain amount of prior knowledge, gained from having watched a video and doing some background research on a particular topic. I find it hard to imagine many of my students actually doing this! However, the collaborative nature of the project meant that faculty were fully engaged with the process and so made it clear to students that they must complete the pre-session tasks.
Active learning was a key feature of the session. Students had to pair up and search for their partner's topic. As students had already conducted their own search prior to the session, they could see how someone else might approach searching for the same topic. I think this kind of peer learning can be very effective. However, in the first session, it emerged that students didn't understand why they were searching for their partner's topic. When the findings were discussed as part of the lesson study process, the session was revised - broken into more discrete parts and further explanation of the partner topic search was provided.
Positive outcomes of lesson study:
The Road Map: an information literacy planning aid
Richenda Gwilt, who I worked with in my graduate trainee year, gave a talk about a new "framework" developed at the University for the Creative Arts. Her colleague, Kristy Widdicombe, was unfortunately unwell, so Richenda had to deliver both parts of the presentation. Appropriately for UCA, all the slides included pictures of student work. This reminded me how much I loved my year at the Kent Institute of Art & Design (as it was called then!).
UCA had used an information literacy framework in the past but it was largely ignored as it wasn't useful for the subject areas. They therefore decided to create an Academic Literacy Framework (ALF), which includes all the necessary attributes to be a successful student. Employability is linked to external benchmarks, particularly for creative industry employers. They looked at where academics go to get learning outcomes. This is a framework by name but not by nature. It has changed the way that librarians think about and articulate what they do, as well as providing evidence to support that what they were doing already was good.
Positive outcomes of ALF:
First year students had to arrive at the information literacy session with a certain amount of prior knowledge, gained from having watched a video and doing some background research on a particular topic. I find it hard to imagine many of my students actually doing this! However, the collaborative nature of the project meant that faculty were fully engaged with the process and so made it clear to students that they must complete the pre-session tasks.
Active learning was a key feature of the session. Students had to pair up and search for their partner's topic. As students had already conducted their own search prior to the session, they could see how someone else might approach searching for the same topic. I think this kind of peer learning can be very effective. However, in the first session, it emerged that students didn't understand why they were searching for their partner's topic. When the findings were discussed as part of the lesson study process, the session was revised - broken into more discrete parts and further explanation of the partner topic search was provided.
Positive outcomes of lesson study:
- Some of the advantages of having someone observe your lesson is that they can see if/when students lose interest, view the lesson from the students' perspective and get a feeling of the classroom dynamics.
- Student led content leads to more relevant instruction.
- Faculty and librarian collaboration - working together as peers, increased understanding of information literacy concepts by the faculty staff.
The Road Map: an information literacy planning aid
Richenda Gwilt, who I worked with in my graduate trainee year, gave a talk about a new "framework" developed at the University for the Creative Arts. Her colleague, Kristy Widdicombe, was unfortunately unwell, so Richenda had to deliver both parts of the presentation. Appropriately for UCA, all the slides included pictures of student work. This reminded me how much I loved my year at the Kent Institute of Art & Design (as it was called then!).
UCA had used an information literacy framework in the past but it was largely ignored as it wasn't useful for the subject areas. They therefore decided to create an Academic Literacy Framework (ALF), which includes all the necessary attributes to be a successful student. Employability is linked to external benchmarks, particularly for creative industry employers. They looked at where academics go to get learning outcomes. This is a framework by name but not by nature. It has changed the way that librarians think about and articulate what they do, as well as providing evidence to support that what they were doing already was good.
Positive outcomes of ALF:
- justify librarians
- equity of skills at each campus
- allows pick & mix to suit different groups - students learn best when teaching is in context
TeachMeet
This was TeachMeet done speed dating style. There were two rounds and we chose four "meets" per round (out of seven). It was difficult to choose! I attended the folowing:
- Library Treasure Hunts at the University of Kent, Jane Alderson-RiceTo make the library less intimidating, treasure hunts were devised, which students did in groups of four. Provides a good basis for introducing journals and databases. Key benefit is that students get to know library staff, which is good for future communication.
- From e-learning to e-teaching: using real time support to maximise our reach, Michelle Schneider, University of LeedsWebinars for EndNote as face to face sessions were over-subscribed and unsuitable for distance learners. Used Adobe Connect, which allowed different layouts, polls and the ability to record the session. A facilitator was on hand to answer questions. Numbers initially limited to twenty to make it manageable but it would be possible to accommodate more. Lasted one hour.
- Sowing the seeds of IL in the mobile wilderness: using creative mobile DL tools to cultivate active learning in secondary schools, Tia Eposito & Anna Martinez, Boston College High SchoolMade everything mobile friendly - mobile friendly sites for library pages and apps for the catalogue and databases. See http://bchigh.libguides.com/mobile/1326
- 'Likeing' library instruction: reaching students using the library Facebook Challenge, Jill Barr-Walker and Beth Russell, NYU Abu DhabiSee https://www.facebook.com/nyu.abudhabi.library Students 'like' who page and answer a monthly question, get entered into a prize draw. The question encourages them to use library resources. Most students answer correctly and it attracts new students every month. Ideas given for collaborating with other university services on prizes e.g. coffee shop, bookshop, etc. They also have a 'tip of the week' on the page.
- Using current technologies to build relationships with academic staff: a series of workshops, Christina Harbour & Rachel Isaac-Menard, Writtle CollegeSeries of sessions for staff, held first thing, lunchtime and after hours.
- Be current - keeping up to date
- Search savvy - database tips
- Be noticed - online image management
- Be out there - blogging
- Just-in-time tutorials for engineering students, Bonnie Osif, Pennsylvania State UniversityEngaging with engineering students can be challenging for various reasons, such as distance and number of students. Therefore, some short, online tutorials were developed especially for these students, for them to use at the point when they need to acquire particular information literacy skills.
- Changing the focus of induction to improve the student experience, Dan Pullinger, University of LeedsThere
is a 15 minute induction talk - making the most of what the library has
to offer. There is a Library Guide available online, which includes
videos. It's had a lot of hits http://library.leeds.ac.uk/tutorials/libraryguide/
Online quiz available - librarians can choose from a pool of 40 questions.
They tell them NSS scores for the library and about the skills employers want.
Use Articulate software. - Think like a
librarian: best practices for offering open workshops, Merinda Kaye
Hensley, University of Illanois at Urbana-Champaign
"Savvy Research workshops" http://illinois.edu/calendar/month/4068?cal=20120425&skinId=1977 They see over 1000 students per semester - different levels, needs, disciplines. Mendeley is the most popular workshop offered. Online learning through video tutorials also available http://www.library.illinois.edu/learn/
END OF TEACHMEET
Embedding Information Literacy Skills as
Employability Attributes, Serengul Smith & Adam Edwards
This talk was given jointly by an academic and a librarian from Middlesex University, and so the emphasis was very much on collaboration. This is very important to gain students' trust. At Middlesex, CBI employability attributes were mapped to modules. Mentioning emplayability gives librarians a hook, which makes it easier to get your school to give you time. Shared ownership of skills reduces duplication. A menu approach was applied to sessions (smorgasbord). The sessions were interactive, not death by PowerPoint. For example, showing students a picture of a fruit stall and asking what they see. Benefits have included better marks for attendees, increased use of library resources and a better understanding of academic integrity.
This talk was given jointly by an academic and a librarian from Middlesex University, and so the emphasis was very much on collaboration. This is very important to gain students' trust. At Middlesex, CBI employability attributes were mapped to modules. Mentioning emplayability gives librarians a hook, which makes it easier to get your school to give you time. Shared ownership of skills reduces duplication. A menu approach was applied to sessions (smorgasbord). The sessions were interactive, not death by PowerPoint. For example, showing students a picture of a fruit stall and asking what they see. Benefits have included better marks for attendees, increased use of library resources and a better understanding of academic integrity.
Does it make any difference? An impact evaluation
of the libraries' educational activities at Lund University, Sweden
Last May, I was given the wonderful opportunity to visit Lund University for two weeks, through the Erasmus scheme. While I was there, I met with Lena Landgren, Anna Wiberg, Sara Akramy and Bitte Holm to discuss their impact evaluation of teaching (see my previous post at
http://thelibrarianidentity.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/breakfast-at-library-hq.html) It was great to see them again at LILAC and to hear how the impact evaluation study has progressed.
Students think that information searching is time consuming. The point was made that library user education should have the same conditions relating to learning outcomes and assessment as other education programmes. Added values of this study have included contribution, collaboration and cooperation.
They had a meeting in February to ensure the next steps. Time saving measures will be introduced, such as asking fewer questions in the focus groups. There will be one interviewer and one person taking notes. They will be increased contact with course coordinators. Targets for each faculty based on the information gained from the study need to be formulated. The next round of activities for this project need to be planned for implementation from Autumn 2012 to Spring 2013 and a reevaluation will occur in Spring 2014.
Final thought: together, we make a difference
Last May, I was given the wonderful opportunity to visit Lund University for two weeks, through the Erasmus scheme. While I was there, I met with Lena Landgren, Anna Wiberg, Sara Akramy and Bitte Holm to discuss their impact evaluation of teaching (see my previous post at
http://thelibrarianidentity.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/breakfast-at-library-hq.html) It was great to see them again at LILAC and to hear how the impact evaluation study has progressed.
Students think that information searching is time consuming. The point was made that library user education should have the same conditions relating to learning outcomes and assessment as other education programmes. Added values of this study have included contribution, collaboration and cooperation.
They had a meeting in February to ensure the next steps. Time saving measures will be introduced, such as asking fewer questions in the focus groups. There will be one interviewer and one person taking notes. They will be increased contact with course coordinators. Targets for each faculty based on the information gained from the study need to be formulated. The next round of activities for this project need to be planned for implementation from Autumn 2012 to Spring 2013 and a reevaluation will occur in Spring 2014.
Final thought: together, we make a difference
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
LILAC day 2: Lord Puttnam's keynote
As I said before, LILAC attracts only the best keynotes, and you can't get much more impressive than Lord Puttnam. I think some delegates were a little star struck!
Some key messages from Lord Puttnam's talk:
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| Lord Puttnam |
Some key messages from Lord Puttnam's talk:
- We need to be more imaginative for the future.
- Knowledge is a vital currency but there is no central bank. Libraries and schools should take on this role.
- Digital society allows us to learn from each other but requires respect.
- Learning Environments provide the settings where informed responses to challenges of digital world are fostered.
- We must prepare students for increased unpredictability.
- Average is over: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/opinion/friedman-average-is-over.html?_r=1
- 2030 is the crucial year for sustainability.
- Every UK policy needs to be robust enough to keep pace with other countries.
- Change is only certainty.
- Voice recognition technologies - available on iPad3 and others. Inevitability. Needs to be incorporated in pedagogy. Oracy must become strong feature in teaching for everyone. Fundamental to employment.
- Technology hasn't made same impact in classroom than other settings. Example used of skilled surgeon from 1912 being put into a modern operating theatre - they wouldn't know what to do. Put a talented teacher from 1912 into a modern classroom and they would be able to teach. Glacial pace of change taking place.
- We have to know much more about learning potential of students, challenges they face.
- We should adapt teaching methodologies to new technologies.
- Investment required in professionals (personal, financial). Educational world must be required to up its game on regular basis. It is the economic underpinning.
- Brand identity issue - "librarian" hung around our necks like a millstone. Public perception - lack of understanding about the breadth and importance of what we do. Achievable with concerted effort. British Library has done this well.
- Cost of technologies should not be prohibitive. Question of prioritising. Need to make it happen.
- Being articulate is a life skill.
- Students can make their own self assessment based on teacher's perception and behave accordingly.
- Distance has dissolved.
Monday, 16 April 2012
The Colour LILAC: Wednesday parallel sessions
The hardest thing about attending LILAC is having to choose between all the sessions that are offered. Often you want to go to two or three that are all taking place at the same time. Just look at this year's programme and you'll see what I mean! http://lilacconference.com/WP/programme/parallel-sessions Luckily, my colleague was also attending so we could cover two at a time.
Here's a summary of the ones I attended on the Wednesday.
E-resources and Information Literacy: A Libraries
Thriving Workshop
This was led by Jackie LaPlaca Ricords from Credo. A few useful points and links:
- http://www.librariesthriving.org/
- ACRL pre-conference on the ERIAL project http://www.erialproject.org/publications/presentations/
- ACTIONS: to explore getting code from vendors for embedding search boxes into appropriate blogs and webpages (increase usage).
Acting on PhD student feedback to create new
learning resources
The PowerPoint for this session by Angela Newton and Dan Pullinger from the University of Leeds is available below. We also did an activity (included in PowerPoint) where we got into groups and discussed how we would respond to a set of related student queries. The group I was in had questions about bibliometrics. We were tasked with devising a learning activity to help them. One of the partipants in my group did jigsaw puzzles with her students so we used this as we all thought it was such an original idea!
The PowerPoint for this session by Angela Newton and Dan Pullinger from the University of Leeds is available below. We also did an activity (included in PowerPoint) where we got into groups and discussed how we would respond to a set of related student queries. The group I was in had questions about bibliometrics. We were tasked with devising a learning activity to help them. One of the partipants in my group did jigsaw puzzles with her students so we used this as we all thought it was such an original idea!
Acting on PhD student feedback to create new learning resources
View more PowerPoint from LUL Sci-Eng Team
Remodeling information literacy core competencies
in the context of a general education curriculum
Information about this talk by Emily Frigo can be found at
http://lilacconference.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/IL-wheel-LILAC-2012-Mar-22-EF.pdf
There is a useful list of assessible objectives - after discussion with academics, the word "synthesise" will be removed from number 4. The end result of this is curricular integration. Next steps include a case study, finalising the rubric and developing the website.
There is a useful list of assessible objectives - after discussion with academics, the word "synthesise" will be removed from number 4. The end result of this is curricular integration. Next steps include a case study, finalising the rubric and developing the website.
This has similarities with some of the outcomes of the ANCIL project, which I have blogged about before http://thelibrarianidentity.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/empowering-digital-natives.html
Think before you click: steps on the road to
independent learning
This talk by Anthony Beal was about how he encouraged students to think for themselves when searching so that they were better able to make the transition to university. He used the example of the website www.martinlutherking.org What assumptions might be made based on the domain? He also asked them to type Martin Luther King into Google and look at the description for this site. They then had to evaluate the site's content, which it turns out is not what you might expect. Rather than just showing students how to use Google effectively, this exercise gets students to realise the importance of not making assumptions or believing the descriptions. A demonstration of this would not have had the same impact.
This talk by Anthony Beal was about how he encouraged students to think for themselves when searching so that they were better able to make the transition to university. He used the example of the website www.martinlutherking.org What assumptions might be made based on the domain? He also asked them to type Martin Luther King into Google and look at the description for this site. They then had to evaluate the site's content, which it turns out is not what you might expect. Rather than just showing students how to use Google effectively, this exercise gets students to realise the importance of not making assumptions or believing the descriptions. A demonstration of this would not have had the same impact.
Web Scale Discovery and Information Literacy:
Competing Visions or Mutual Support?
This was a presentation of two halves, the first by Sheila Corrall and the second by John Dove (Credo).
OCLC research shows that people find using search engines easier than using the library and just as trustworthy. Can next generation discovery services such as Primo Central help with this? These simplify searching by taking away the need to search individual databases. The emphasis of information literacy instruction therefore is more focused on evaluation and an understanding of different resource types. Higher end skills.
Where do students get stuck? According to research by the University of Washington, 84% of students found getting started to be the most difficult step of the research process. They often lack the requred vocabulary and context to do this.
Questions to consider:
This was a presentation of two halves, the first by Sheila Corrall and the second by John Dove (Credo).
OCLC research shows that people find using search engines easier than using the library and just as trustworthy. Can next generation discovery services such as Primo Central help with this? These simplify searching by taking away the need to search individual databases. The emphasis of information literacy instruction therefore is more focused on evaluation and an understanding of different resource types. Higher end skills.
Where do students get stuck? According to research by the University of Washington, 84% of students found getting started to be the most difficult step of the research process. They often lack the requred vocabulary and context to do this.
Questions to consider:
- Are web scale discovery tools a good starting point for subject searches or for exploring new topics?
- Will such tools help students become competent information users in the workplace and later life?
- Do we need to change IL education to fit the new discovery environment?
- Can we augment our discovery services to support and deliver our IL mission?
ACTION: to get topic pages from Credo to appear as first result when users do a non-specific search in Primo Central, in a similar way to Wikipedia appearing as first result when you do a general search in Google. Avoid complicated articles appearing first when they don't have a grounding in the topic.
LILAC day one: introduction and first keynote
This was my second time attending LILAC. When I went to Limerick in 2010, it was less than six months after I had reentered academic librarianship, after a 2 year stint as Librarian of CILT, the National Centre for Languages. I therefore felt a bit out of the loop and didn't really know anyone there. It's such a friendly conference though that I soon got chatting to people. I was so inspired that after attending I successfully applied for the role of marketing officer for the CILIP CSG Information Literacy Group (who organise LILAC). Unfortunately, last year's LILAC clashed with a trip to Barcelona. I was therefore really keen to attend this year and was over the moon when my manager gave me and my colleague Ida the go ahead.
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| The setting for LILAC 2012: the Saltire Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University |
LILAC has become such a prestigious event both at home and abroad that it is able to attract impressive keynote speakers. To begin the conference was Megan Oakleaf, the "Meryl Streep of the library world" (due to the number of awards she has won). You can visit Megan's website at www.meganoakleaf.info
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| Megan Oakleaf |
The title of Megan's presentation was Playing the ACE: assessing, communicating and expanding the institutional impact of IL. Megan said she came up with this concept whilst in Las Vegas. Megan talked about the ACRL 2010 report on the value of academic libraries www.acrl.org/value As she put it, it's about moving from thinking about the stuff to considering what people do with the stuff. In other words, its impact and the return on investment. We should be asking ourselves "How do we impact our institutional mission?" and we need to be collecting data and evidence to prove this. Some ideas:
- Assessing IL - define and assess Learning Outcomes in an institutional or employability context.
- Develop systems to collect data on individual library user behaviour
- Who is using presentation/study rooms? Connect to other data.
- Record and increase library impact on student enrollment.
Libraries have been show to be the 2nd most impactful facilities for student admission decisions. Why is this? We need to know!
Useful related research can be found in this post by Megan http://www.acrl.ala.org/value/?p=144 Other research at Wisconsin showed that after the 1st year, library instruction impacts Grade Point Average at graduation. However, another recent study at Minnesota highlights that data doesn't always say what you want it to, as student performance decreased after library instruction.
In order to demonstrate and develop library impact on student learning, Megan has devised an instruction impact map, first introduced in Library Quarterly, 2011, 81 (1), which you can view at http://meganoakleaf.info/libraryimpactmap.pdf
Some questions / points to consider:
- Do students transfer skills to other contexts?
- Student experience. For them it's all the same - library, finance, etc. Making connections and focusing on building relationships is therefore important so they know what we do.
- Retention - do we help students stay?
- One way to help employability is to promote obtaining company profiles for interviews from our databases.
- Tell your library's value story by highlighting things that relate to student learning, retention, etc.
- Make sure what you're doing matters. Determine what is less important.
- Assessment - need to see sample of student work. Should be central to pedagogy. See Megan's article “Writing Information Literacy Assessment Plans: A Guide to Best Practice.” Communications in Information Literacy 3, no. 2 (2010): 80-90. Also see www.railsontrack.info
- A book recommended by Megan was Understanding by design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe.
- No use just demonstrating how to ride a bike, students need to have a go themselves to learn effectively.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Library training rooms
On 28th March 2012, I posted a message to LIS-INFOLITERACY to ask for information on library training areas. I received 26 replies. Below is a summary of the responses.
Average number of library training rooms: 1 - 2
Average capacity: 24
Percentage of rooms with:
- flexible furniture: 11%
- fixed PCs: 77%
- laptops: 9%
- smartboard / interactive whiteboard: 34%
- projector: 55%
Wishlist items included smartboards, more space, better ventilation, movable furniture and a camera to record sessions.
Some pictures can be viewed at:
http://libweb.surrey.ac.uk/library/cjg/floor1.htm (click on "IT Room 1" and "IT Room 2")
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Open Access event at the British Academy
Open access is a hot topic in universities at present. Only last week, SCONUL published an impact briefing on this. At Westminster, I have been considering this issue with some colleagues. We are looking to raise awareness of the benefits of open access publishing to academics, partly to increase access to articles they write through our institutional repository, WestminsterResearch.
With this in mind, I attended a very interesting and thought-provoking debate on open access at the British Academy last Thursday. The impressive panel included Deborah Shorley (Director of Library Services at Imperial College), William St Clair (Co-founder and Chairman Board of Directors of Open Book Publishers and Senior Research Fellow at Trinity College Cambridge) and Alice Prochaska (Principal of Somerville College Oxford and former University Librarian at Yale). They covered a wide range of issues, including:
Finally, in the spirit of sharing, here are the open access sources that William St Clair highlighted on a handout:
With this in mind, I attended a very interesting and thought-provoking debate on open access at the British Academy last Thursday. The impressive panel included Deborah Shorley (Director of Library Services at Imperial College), William St Clair (Co-founder and Chairman Board of Directors of Open Book Publishers and Senior Research Fellow at Trinity College Cambridge) and Alice Prochaska (Principal of Somerville College Oxford and former University Librarian at Yale). They covered a wide range of issues, including:
- The rising and therefore increasingly prohibitive cost of monographs and journals. This is a vicious circle, as when more people stop buying these, the more expensive they become.
- University libraries have to devote the majority of their budgets to journals, meaning less is available for books. This is getting worse every year.
- In less developed/developing countries, OA provides access to far more research than has previously been available.
- If the public is funding research, there are obvious issues around that research then only being available to a select few.
- Open access does not mean free - someone is paying for this, whether that be authors, institutions, or other sources. With OA, it is the point of the process when payment occurs
- The issue of quality - if open access journals ask authors for money to publish, the danger is that articles will be accepted more readily.
- Digitisation of special collections often leads to an increased public interest in the original collections, meaning more enquiries and visits. In fact, this trend has made some to think twice about digitising!
- For Open Access articles, greater visibility means more people read and cite these papers, increasing authors' profiles and the impact of their research.
- Some disciplines, for example physics and particularly astronomy, are very good at making their research available to everyone. Others are not so generous. One attendee raised the valid point that it's sometimes not possible to make data open access.
Finally, in the spirit of sharing, here are the open access sources that William St Clair highlighted on a handout:
- UNESCO OA portal (mainly science)
- OAPEN (OA publishing in European networks)
- Creative Commons
- British Academy joint guidelines on copyright and academic research - guidelines for researchers and publishers in the humanities and social sciences
- SPARC Europe
- The Re:Enlightenment Project
- Open Book Publishers
- Open Humanities Press
- The Political Economy of Reading
- DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)
- SHERPA
- Steve Hitchcock's ongoing bibliography: The effect of open access and downloads ('hits') on citation impact: a bibliography of studies
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