Library Learning

I'm very excited to be working on the campus Teaching & Learning with Technology Open House. Over a year ago, Leslie Hammersmith in CITES Educational Technologies and I were brainstorming ways to communicate with faculty the range of services and tools made available by a myriad of campus units to assist with teaching and learning. Leslie tells me the open house was my idea but I give her the credit for championing it with other units and ... now ... coming soon!

Teaching & Learning with Technology
An Open House Co-Sponsored by the Office of Continuing Education, CITES, and the University Library

Monday, November 17, 2008 | 10 a.m. - 3 PM
Illini Union, Rooms A, B, and C

The Open House on Teaching and Learning with Technology is intended to help educate faculty and staff on the latest tools and services available on campus to help you use technology to enhance learning. We will demonstrate various technologies and their applications to teaching; resource materials will be available for you to take away with you and you will also have a chance to meet and chat with the staff members on campus who can help you adapt technologies to your courses.

For more information: http://www.conferences.uiuc.edu/learningtech/

The User Education Committee invites you to our first of what are planned to be twice/semester gatherings: The Teaching Toss. We'll meet in Library 428 on November 18, 12n-1p. Our theme this time is active learning.

And, what is The Teaching Toss? It's 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. The User Education Committee's Active Learning Working Group has some information to share but we'll also be opening this up to everyone for ideas.

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!

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.

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