April 8, 2013 Meeting of User Education Committee

Agenda not yet available.

Members Present: Melody Allison (13), Susan Avery (ex officio), Kirstin Dougan (14), Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe (ex officio) – Chair, Carissa Phillips (13), Elizabeth Sheehan (13), Mara Thacker (14), Sandra Wolf (14)

Members Absent: Mark Wardecker (14), Merinda Hensley (ex officio)

Additional Attendees: Emma Clausen (Information Literacy GA)

1. Welcome, Introductions and Agenda Review

Lisa welcomed Kirstin Dougan who will continue the appointment vacated by Ryan Ross.

Lisa reviewed the agenda and asked committee members if there were any additional items to add. No additions were made.

2. Acclamations and Accolades

Lisa shared that she is contracted to publish a book on the one-shot session in ACRL’s Active Guide Series. Lisa was also accepted to present at an Information Literacy conference in Singapore later this year.

Mara shared that she received one of the ACRL Librarian Scholarships to attend the upcoming ACRL conference.

3. MOOCs at Illinois – Lori Mestre

Lori Mestre is the library liaison to campus MOOCs initiative. The committee discussed the Library’s involvement with MOOCs and approaches to supporting faculty and students in MOOC courses. The committee discussed the RFP process and the possibility of including subject librarians to support teaching faculty. Copyright and licensing issues were discussed relative to supporting faculty and the presence of librarians in MOOCs. The committee also discussed where the Library has already made investments in creating content about copyright and open access resources. The committee noted that it will be important to identify how libraries from other institutions support and engage the MOOC model.

Lori created a MOOC LibGuide that outlines the MOOC initiative at Illinois, general resources, and technology commonly used to create learning objects. http://uiuc.libguides.com/content.php?pid=453057

The committee discussed reviewing current implementations of MOOCs at Illinois and forecasting how they may impact services. The committee discussed the possible impact that student traffic from MOOCs may have on virtual reference service. The committee discussed the importance of being proactive instead of reactive by having guidelines for support and referral in place and communicating with those involved with the initiative to ensure that opportunities and expectations for Library support and presence are outlined.

The committee discussed the possible creation of a sequential one credit information literacy course. The committee also sees potential for this course in an on-campus setting. The committee also discussed information literacy and open web resources. Video production and creation of learning objects were discussed.

4. Connecting Users to Databases

The committee continued this conversation from last month’s meeting. The committee discussed what resources are in place that enable Library faculty, staff, and users to grasp the extent of the collection, including subscription databases. The committee discussed LibGuides and database lists on departmental library websites and processes in place to update holdings information on a regular basis.

The committee discussed the approximate Databases by Subject list created after the transition of the ORR. The committee discussed the limitations of the current list, which redirects to a non-exhaustive alphabetical list of subject databases in the catalog. Committee members tested tags in the VuFind catalog for adding descriptive information to catalog records.

The committee discussed MetaLib electronic resource management tool by ExLibris. The committee is interested in a preview of this tool. Lisa will discuss with Sue Searing. Moving forward the committee agreed it should work with the Reference Committee and the Advisory Committee to the AUL for User Services as the value is greater than just for instruction.

5. Spring/Summer Information Literacy Workshop Planning

The committee plans to schedule workshops on instruction technologies including Clickers and Blackboard Collaborate. The Social Sciences Division requested a session on Camtasia earlier in the semester. The committee will consider options for hosting a Camtasia session during the workshop series. The committee discussed Tuesday, June 11 – Wednesday, June 12 as possible dates for the workshop series.

6. August Meeting

The committee agreed to cancel the August 2013 meeting to allow everyone to focus on preparations for the start of the fall semester.

Submitted by Emma Clausen