Library Learning

WILU is Canada's answer to the LOEX Annual Conference in the United States. The University Library is well-represented this year. Merinda Hensley is presenting on "Teaching New Librarians How to Teach: Creating a Peer Learning Environment" and Emily Love on "Reaching Out Beyond the Classroom: Partnering with Student Services on Campus." Lisa Hinchliffe is presenting a session with Karen Nicholson of McMaster University on "Fostering Reflective Practice through Coaching" as well as giving a Lightning Strike session on "The Learning Library: Building Communication for an Information Literacy Program" (yes, this is a blog posting highlighting a talk that is about this blog - how's that for coming full-circle?)."

Our next Teaching Toss is this Thursday, May 21, 12-1, in Library 428 on the topic of assessment. Susan Avery will facilitate the discussion based on her experiences as a participants in the Institute for Information Literacy Assessment Immersion program.

As a reminder .... The Teaching Toss is an open discussion on teaching and a salad-buffet potluck rolled into one! Sort of like a brown bag but instead we'll share our ingredients and ideas to create two great mixes - intellectually and culinary. The Office of Information Literacy (a.k.a. Lisa) will provide lettuce and other salad basics - you bring one salad topping (e.g., croutons, shredded cheese, cut-up veggies) and your best ideas on the theme.

Why are we doing this? Well, because you asked us too! We've had many requests for discussions and opportunities to share with each other. We thought this would be a fun alternative to the brown bag. So, bring your salad contribution and willingness to share great ideas!

Each year the University of Illinois hosts the Faculty Summer Institute (FSI) a week-long workshop for faculty, administrators, and others around the state "involved in the application of Web-based technologies to the teaching and learning process and in the planning, administration, and management of online education programs." In past years, librarians have attended and presented at the FSI.

The theme for 2009 is "Anywhere, All The Time: Transforming Learning" and the sessions include one lead by Rudy Leon, Learning Commons Librarian in the Undergraduate Library. It is great to see the University Library represented in these kinds of workshops in order to further our integration in teaching and learning on campus!

Rudy's Session:

Social Bookmarking & RSS for Teaching and Research
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 1:30pm - 2:45pm
Location: 304 English Building
Target Audience: Beginner
Session Type: Hands-on Workshop - 1 part
Track: Future Tense

Delicious, Diigo, 2collab, Connotea, CiteULike... the list could go on and on. The real question is what do these tools have to offer you beyond a certain level of buzz and savvy? Can they help your research, your teaching, and the quality of work you get from you students? How can you harness the power of social bookmarking to make the most out of your time and information?

This workshop will help you determine which bookmarking networks are right for you & your research, and for you & your students, and how you can combine social bookmarking and RSS to maximize the time you spend finding the information you need, and communicating it to others.

The Library was well-represented at this year’s LOEX Annual Conference (http://www.loexconference.org/), held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on April 30-May 2, 2009. Lisa Hinchliffe and Beth Woodard facilitated a session called “The Teaching Philosophy Framework: Learning, Leading, and Growing.” Merinda Hensley facilitated a session titled “The Savvy Researcher: Teaching Information Management Skills to Graduate Students.” Robin Miller, current graduate assistant in Reference, also presented a poster at LOEX titled, “Live and Online! Developing Drop-In Library Instruction Sessions for Distance Learners.” As presenters submit their materials, they are being posted online, and eventually the proceedings will be published.

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has honored University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign librarians, Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe and Beth S. Woodard, with a Special Presidential Recognition Award. Hinchliffe and Woodard are faculty members of ACRL's Institute for Information Literacy Immersion Program. The award was presented at the ACRL 14th National Conference in Seattle on March 13, 2009.

The Immersion Program, celebrating it's 10th anniversary, provides instruction librarians the opportunity to work intensively for four-and-a-half days on all aspects of information literacy. It currently consists of teacher, program, intentional teacher, and assessment tracks. The tracks offer a wide range of intellectual tools and practical techniques to help build or enhance instruction programs. Instruction librarians come away with the intellectual tools and practical techniques to help their institutions build or enhance their instruction programs.

See http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2009/january2009/acrlinfolitinnovators.cfm for more information.

Assignments and Exams that Promote Curiosity and Learning
Monday, April 13, 3:00-4:30 (LIS 131)

Assignments and exams are a necessary part of education that we have come to take for granted, largely because they provide the basis for a student's grade. But assignments and exams provide a more important opportunity: to promote students' curiosity and self-reflective learning. This session will examine the characteristics and appropriate sequencing of intellectually stimulating assignments/exams. Participants will view sample assignments and exams (including some of your own we hope) for analysis and discussion.

How Students Learn: Implications for Advising and Reference
Thursday, April 9, 3:00-4:30 (LIS 131)

Research in the fields of education, neurobiology and psychology informs
our understanding of how students learn. Yet there is a gap between what
we know about learning and what we do about it when we're teaching. Our
discussion will focus on practical implications of the research on
students' learning, especially on teaching techniques for one-on-one
advising. We’ll view a videoclip of students discussing their course
assignments, and consider your own examples of real students’ reference
desk questions to jump-start our conversation.

Congratulations to Jim Hahn for being accepted to lead an ACRL Instruction Section Discussion Group at Midwinter (competitive blind review process). Should be a great conversation on mobile technology and information literacy instruction! Original announcement below with time/date/place details.

I'll link to the summary of the discussion when its posted after the ALA Midwinter meeting.
Lisa

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [ili-l] IS Discussion Groups at Midwinter
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:45:56 -0800
From: Gail Gradowski
Reply-To: ili-l@ala.org
To:

The Instruction Section of the Association of College & Research Libraries will be convening two Discussion Groups at Midwinter in Denver.

On Saturday, from 4-5:30 pm, in the Sunlight Peak Room of the Grand Hyatt, Jim Hahn, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will lead a discussion titled Mobile Learning Best Practice for Information Literacy Instruction. As Mr. Hahn pointed out in his proposal, according to a 2008 Pew Internet and American Life Project report, Mobile Access to Data and Information, the cell phone ranks as the most highly valued technology in America. None of us who spends any time on a college campus is surprised by that, I’m sure. Our students appear to be glued to their phones, both texting and talking. This discussion will be an opportunity to consider the tapping of this pervasive technology for information literacy instruction.

Then, on Sunday, 1:30-3 pm, in Korbel Ballroom 2C of the Colorado Convention Center, Wendy Holliday, from Utah State University, will be facilitating a discussion on another very timely topic, Teaching 2.0: What are the Pedagogical Implications of Social Technologies. While 2.0 tools and technologies have been a hot topic recently, the specific focus of this discussion proposes to move our attention away from the specific tools and into a deeper exploration of our teaching, connecting the 2.0 technologies to real instructional practice.

Please join us for these very timely discussions. And, bring your colleagues!

Gail Gradowski
Orradre Library
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA 95053
Phone: (408) 554-5438
Email: ggradowski@scu.edu

Any review of the University Library's information literacy and library instruction programs must include highlighting the service of those who give their time and talent to the User Education Committee. Existing in some form or another since at least 1986, this is a long-standing group! We meet monthly to consider a wide range of topics, initiatives, and activities - all documented in meeting minutes, which we try and post within a week of each meeting.

Here is the group's current charge: "The User Education Committee provides guidance and advice to the Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction and the University Library by formulating and reviewing plans, goals, priorities, strategies, policies and procedures related to user education; identifying temporary and ongoing instructional issues; promoting awareness of and participation in information literacy activities within the Library and the University as a whole; gathering information and encouraging research and discussion about information literacy, information seeking, and user education; creating and assisting with instructional development programming; and responding to requests for assistance or advice about user education and information literacy issues."

We also have a number of working groups working on specific projects.

Have a topic you want the committee to consider? Contact any member!

• Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe (chair)
• Melody Allison
• Paula Carns
• Bernice Harrington
• Karen Hogenboom
• Yoo-seong Song
• Ellen Swain
• Nathan Yarasavage
• Susan Avery
• Lori Mestre
• Merinda Hensley
• Emily Love

Continuing the effort to introduce people who are involved with information literacy and instruction in the University Library, I asked the Information Literacy Services and Instruction Graduate Assistant to introduce herself on this blog. I'll only add that our information literacy programs wouldn't be nearly so robust without the great skills and enthusiasm Melissa brings to her position! Lisa

Hello! My name is Melissa Bowles-Terry and I’m the Information Literacy Services and Instruction graduate assistant. Some of projects I’m currently working on are pretty exciting. The big one that I’m spending time on these days is a usability study of library video tutorials at University of Illinois. Last year as a graduate assistant in Central Reference I created several brief video tutorials on the basics of using the library. This fall, along with other members of the Information Literacy team, I’m testing the tutorials to see if a) users can find them and b) they effectively guide users through different library and research tasks. It’s rewarding to be able to rigorously assess the tutorials that I spent so much time on last year and to identify ways to improve access and usability. As the Info Lit GA, I’ve also taught quite a few library workshops, including Tools to Stay Current in Your Research, Drowning in Data? RefWorks Can Help, How to Be A Better RA/TA, and Research Your Way Past Writer’s Block. That last workshop, Research Your Way Past Writer’s Block, is a workshop that Merinda Hensley and I developed especially for thesis and dissertation writers and we just started offering it this semester. So far, it seems like a big hit! This graduate assistantship has been a great pre-professional experience for me so far and I get to work with some fantastic librarians.