Week Nine: Classes and Conference Preparation

It is clearly evident that the spring semester is in full swing, here at UD.

On Monday we went over the web content and design components for the "How Do I?" page. We narrowed down our list to emphasize simplicity and clarity when addressing frequently asked questions and hope to include a few bells and whistles too (compared to what we currently have). One thing I was keeping in mind as we examined what we currently have and other Web sites was the accessibility. Right now the main menus are hover-over/drop down menus, which work but can be difficult for those with physical disabilities to navigate. In just glancing at the code, I found many validation errors and glanced through to see if alt text was used or longdesc. There were alt text examples, but no longdesc. Indiana University's Adaptive Technology and Accessibility Centers were helpful when I was working on my Web project for Information Architecture for the Web (a class I took this past fall). They offer a wide range of services to not only support students and their technology needs, but will also review student-created (and other) content for ease of use/accessibility. The accessibility component will be taken care of by the web-gurus here on campus, but it’s something I like to keep in mind as we brainstorm.

I observed and assisted with Speech Communication (COM101). Rather than what others might think of as a “traditional informative speech,” the students will be presenting a policy speech wherein they cover the policy within a federal bill (or state bill if approved by the instructor). In this policy speech the students will present factual evidence from both sides and then encourage their audience (their classmates) to take action on that subject. GovTrack and OpenCongress help compile the necessary information into one place, making it easily accessible and understandable. I worked with two COM101 classes last week and was impressed by the level of engagement with the topics. Throughout the instruction portion of the class, students were reminded to consider bias (personal and within the language of the bill), what problem is being solved should the bill pass, and the credibility of other sources that discuss the bill.

I worked with the students in RES104 as they learned about the humanities, and searching for humanities resources and topics. Students worked in groups to answer questions about finding specific kinds of resources (one group looked for appropriate print items, another searched general databases, another looked at specialized databases, and the last looked at print and online encyclopedia articles). That was built upon in the next session, when students examined the credibility of sources, particularly websites. In the second library session, students discussed what makes a website credible, authority, whether the website is current, chose their topic, and dove into finding sources for their next paper. I enjoyed assisting with the classes, but really appreciated leading the Humanities Day 2 session.

So much of teaching is making the topic relatable to students (and not just “because you have to write this paper soon” kind of relatable). I found myself pulling from previous experience with Wikipedia, using humor, and using examples the students provided to emphasize the importance of evaluating your resources (for credibility, bias, etc.). I also really enjoyed working with students to develop the scope of their topics. They are studying the Mississippi River Watershed which lends itself to a variety of topics.

Later in the week I helped out with the CIS101 class as they learned about plagiarism and how to avoid it. On Saturday, Anne Marie and I came in to work on our LOEX presentation/paper. We have a strong start (which is good, since I'm presenting something similar at ILA/ACRL coming up on March 18th)! I'm working with Prezi, which I have used in the past, but am trying some of the newest features (the ability to choose the three fonts, modify the colors, etc.) and have created my own "background" using images that fit my gardening theme for ILA/ACRL. Also, I was excited to get a call on Tuesday from Mary Iber, librarian at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, informing me that I received the ILA/ACRL Annual Spring Conference Scholarship for 2011! I'm excited for this opportunity and look forward to learning a lot from the sessions and meetings I attend!

Week Eight: Scheduling, Implementing, LOEX Preparing, and Curriculum Library Touring

Here's an easy-to-digest list of last week's happenings:

• Info lit observation/teaching scheduling
• Reference desk manning (including an instance when a student used the library to woo a girl--we go the extra mile for our patrons!)
• LOEX presentation preparing/collaborating
• Preparing for Web Sub-committee meeting'
• Institutional repository informal discussions
• Concept map transcribing/digitization (for several classes)
• Curriculum library tour (collection policies, transitioning to a new space, what to keep/what to deselect, how it supports education program)
• CIS 101 Plagiarism assignment run through (done by Mary Anne and Jon to fill the rest of the staff in on what they have planned for the classes)
• A little bit of everything (because that's what librarians do)

 I have had several conversations about the future of education and the impact many proposed legislative changes may have on all levels of learning (from public elementary schools to college, and beyond with life-long learning being supported by public libraries).  As I am sure is the case in many areas of the country, librarians here have been following legislative news closely, particularly HF 45, HF 103, SF 163, HF 9 and the Iowa Work Force Development office closings.  There are lots of changes (or proposed) happening which would impact library users.

University of Dubuque - Charles C. Myers Library Tour

Some may find it interesting to see a few of the library spaces where I spend much of my time. I took these photos early one morning in January. (There are some important spaces I wasn't able to include as I was being careful to avoid taking pictures of students, keeping in mind photo release/consent).

Week Seven: Web Meetings, Career Week Displays, and Scheduling Reference/Instruction

The week began with a meeting that returned to an earlier discussion about the library's "How Do I?" page. Jenny, another intern, shared some examples with the committee and we discussed the features we liked and those we didn't. Quite a bit of time was spent discussing: purpose, audience(s), format(s), and the features themselves. While students are the primary audience for the FAQ/How Do I? page, we still need to keep in mind faculty and other library patrons. There is a heavy lean toward Information Literacy as the focus, but there are still elements that are straight forward Q & A. Many of us liked the clear language and the white space found on the University of Central Florida's website. We also liked the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's simple, browsable, one page format. Though fairly well hidden (those unfamiliar with the website would have to look carefully to find it), the page presents basics using headers to categorize questions (that use jargon-free language). A sub-committee (made up of Jenny, Anne Marie, Becky, and me) are going to review the websites and create an outline of the content and presentation we would like to see for the new version of the "How Do I" page. What was left of Monday was spent reviewing professional literature.

The library is almost to the implementation stages for the Library Student Worker Career Development Program, where students are paid to visit with a representative from the Career Services Office. I worked with Diana Newman, the library secretary, to finish up the brochure that will be given to students. The rest of the week was spent preparing materials for the Career Week display. I looked up various items in the catalog (general suggestions were given by Trina, our contact in the Career Services Office), printed off my list, and explored the stacks to find materials for the physical display. My cart filled with résumé writing guides, discipline-specific career guides, books geared to help students find their vocation, and popular movies about students finding their way in college and the "real world." I changed all of the items' status to "on display" should anyone be looking for them, and set them up on the reference shelves on the main floor of the library (near the main entrance). Right after I set the items up, a student came to the reference desk asking about cover letters--I was able to directly to the display and grab a book that helped her prepare her application to become a Dorm Resident Assistant!

I was also able to review my teaching with Anne Marie (who had observed me the week before). In the next few weeks I'll be assuming more solo teaching and reference desk responsibilities. We also discussed institutional repositories, library assessments, reporting library statistics to various agencies, and University accreditation (more on that in the future). Jenny and I are also going to be working together to facilitate a professional development book discussion with the librarians (happening in early April).

Week Six: Assisting, Teaching, Shadowing, and Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity

I packed a lot in to this first full week of February. On Monday I did my first solo stint at the Reference Desk because one of the librarians wasn't feeling well, so I volunteered to slide in and man the station. While I only had a couple of reference questions, it was still nice to be able to be there and help. I also observed a sociology class where students answered questions based on their readings. They considered the various types of resources needed to answer the questions (articles, books, primary, secondary, etc.) and talked about keywords for searching. After an orientation to the catalog and Academic Search Premiere, they were off to answer their questions! There are a couple of quirks to the current library catalog to keep in mind when students are searching for books. Of course, the library catalog isn't intuitive when it comes to creative student spelling and won't anticipate or offer suggestions like Google might. Another thing to keep in mind is that when the catalog finds resources that match your search terms, it bumps the most recent item to the top of the list (and the catalog recently added new e-book titles). By returning e-books as the first search results, some students were ignoring those print resources they were seeking (for those unable or unwilling to download the e-books). We showed students how to limit by material type, which helped them be more successful.

Sprinkled throughout the week was prep work and various other ongoing projects. Tuesday was a day filled with teaching (both observing and assisting). I worked with two sections of a World History class preparing for an upcoming assignment that leads them to a larger paper (due in April). We searched for relevant articles concerning a student-chosen topic within a certain time range. Students would engage with the articles, providing commentary on the viewpoints presented for their assignment, and eventually bring the information together for a longer paper. Many of the students were able to find all of the articles they needed for the rest of the semester (though for this class day, they were only required to find their first article--but we encouraged them to get as much done as they could to be ready for their upcoming article discussions).

Wednesday I observed one section and was able to teach on my own (WOO HOO!)! I worked with two World View II (WV2) classes. The first was an 8 a.m. class who, though still a little sleepy, was able to engage with information about their local organization, St. Mark's. Following the templates provided for all WV2 sessions, I began by introducing myself and what we would be doing for class that day. We discussed the "big picture" and the impact individuals can have by simply doing and being involved. The students will eventually present about their community organization at the Service Learning Fair, sharing with their peers what the organization does. After talking about various sources that may be used, and bias that goes along with sources, the students broke off into groups to answer the questions about who is involved with and benefits from the services they provide, how the organization is structured, how it is funded, and they developed additional questions to be presented to the organization representative when they met later that week.

All of the students answered questions that were provided using Moodle forums (they added threads to the posted questions). With the last 10-15 minutes of class, students reported back to the entire group a few interesting things they found as they were searching. This process was repeated for an afternoon class researching Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I enjoyed helping the students work collaboratively to find the information they were looking for. There was definitely some redirecting students away from unreliable resources toward things that would more easily help them answer their questions. At one point I used the example of a Wikipedia article I saw (and took a screenshot of) that listed a town's nickname as "The Armpit of America," and it's motto as "Too lazy to commute. Let's go on title [sic] 19." The article also notes the population as "15,579 Smiling toothless methheads." While this example is extreme, and the above mentioned information was removed that same day, it was effective in driving home the point that while Wikipedia is a fine place to start to find out basic information to steer your search in the right direction, it should not be your only source.

I returned to campus again on Friday for a shadowing session with Jon Helmke, Assistant Director for Library Systems and Technical Services. Jon teaches instruction sessions and performs liaison duties to various departments on campus (as do all of the librarians at UD), is responsible for maintaining the library systems (including Horizon and ILLiad), vendor correspondences for electronic resources, Gold Rush Electronic Resource Management System, and the Data Central Project. He supervises Meris, Sue, and Meghann (who I talked about in week five). Jon works with the University webmaster to keep a uniform look for the library's website while adding content. We discussed eventually moving from Horizon to a cloud-based system (similar to the new World Cat), or possibly even going Open Source, but at this point that just an idea they are keeping in mind but not actively pursuing.

After spending time learning more about Jon's duties, I worked on a project to learn more about the Report on the geological survey of the state of Iowa (and another from the state of Wisconsin) that had been donated. After exploring the online Library of Congress National Union Catalog, I went down to the basement archives to check out the print version (just to be sure, and to say I'd actually used the print version) and found that even though the item says it's Volume 1 (part 1 and 2 for the Iowa survey, and just one part for the Wisconsin) only one volume was ever published (we wanted to be sure it was complete before adding it to the collection).

The afternoon was filled with scholarship and creativity as the library held their annual Scholarship and Creativity Celebration which displayed scholarly works, and artistic/musical talents of those who work at UD. The reception included food (of course), music, and spoken word. It was quite the event, and wonderful to see that so many are active within their disciplines! Friday was also UD night at the Dubuque Fighting Saints game (and it was a close one too--overtime leading to a sudden death shootout, but ultimately a home team loss)!

Article 4: Promoting and Archiving Student Work through an Institutional Repository: Trinity University, LASR, and the Digital Commons

Nolan, C. W., & Costanza, J. (2006). Promoting and archiving student work through an institutional repository: Trinity University, LASR, and the Digital Commons. Serials Review, 32(2), 92-98. doi:10.1016/j.serrev.2006.03.009

Institutional repositories (IR) have typically focused on faculty scholarship. Trinity University, along with Carleton, Dickinson, and Middlebury Colleges, began an IR featuring student work in order to promote student scholarship, and help students and faculty better understand copyright issues and alternative publishing. ProQuest hosts the server, manages the accompanying software, and makes the libraries' content shared and searchable by each institution; each library independently manages it's own Digital Commons site. Traditionally, IRs have focused on faculty publications; the new idea of the student IR required education of faculty, students, and staff, though students were more receptive to the IR, noting the discoverability of their work to future employers and graduate schools. The students submit their senior papers/projects via web form to the Liberal Arts Scholarly Repository (LASR). Each institution determines collection guidelines. Some considerations for those institutions interested in beginning something similar include staffing and financial expenses, marketing the concept to the institution, collaborative work with other institutions, determining scope (which types of work are included?), pre-publication and copyright concerns in regards to future publishing, ownership and copyright, formats accepted, length of preservation commitment, metadata, migration as platforms/formats change, and departmental concerns from around campus. By developing the IR as a consortium, LASR was able to receive vendor discounts, sharing of student work throughout all participating institutions, and has the potential for sharing procedures, collection policies, and metadata creation. Authors utilizing the IR receive statistics detailing the use of their work.

Article 3: Information Literacy and First-Year Students

Orme, W. A. (2008). Information literacy and first-year students. New Directions for Teaching & Learning, 2008(114), 63-70.

The definition of Information Literacy (IL) has changed as new technologies have been incorporated into higher education. What began as recognizing, locating, evaluating, and effectively using information has changed to a relational relationship based on information need and other contextual factors (previous knowledge and experience, instructor epistemological beliefs, and student characteristics). While some think of first-year students as "empty vessels," those following a more constructivist approach believe orienting the students to their new learning environment and academic culture can (and should) be done by meeting the students where they are in terms of their previous learning experiences. By using previous experience and orienting it toward this new environment, students are given meaningful learning experiences that can be used as a foundation for future learning and inquiry. Challenging held assumptions can also expand the student's knowledge base. Supporting this constructivist approach is the practice of giving additional academic assistance to "at risk" students (typically first-year, first-generation). This practice recognizes the "probable lack of a supporting environment that can help negotiate the challenges of an academic setting." Emphasis is placed on the nature of knowledge and how it is acquired, setting a foundation for lifelong learning within the students' first year.