November 13, 2006 Meeting of User Education Committee

Agenda not yet available.

Members Present: Lisa Hinchliffe (ex officio) – Chair, Melody Allison (06), Susan Avery (ex officio), Paula Carns (07), Dawn Cassady, Lori Carroll (07), Karen Hogenboom (07), Emily Love (ex officio), Lori Mestre (ex officio), Beth Woodard

Members Absent: Christopher Hamb (06), James Kelly (07)

1. Additions to the Agenda

Beth Woodard attended in place of Joe Straw who has left University of Illinois. Reference is seeking a replacement librarian for Joe but until such time as someone is named, Beth will attend the User Education Committee meetings.

2. 2006-2007 Meeting Schedule

• December 11, 10-11
• January 8, 10-11
• February 12, 10-11
• March 12, 10-11
• April 9, 10-11
• May 14, 10-11
• June 11, 10-11
• July 9, 10-11
• August 13, 10-11

All meetings are held in Library 428.

3. Working Group Updates

• Community Outreach Working Group: No news.
• Outreach Innovations Working Group: Will meet the week of Thanksgiving.
• Graduate Student Information Literacy Needs Assessment: Will meet after Thanksgiving.
• Professional Development for Teaching and Learning: Will meet in early December.
• Online Tutorials: Susan reported that the working group has begun an online discussion and will meet the week after Thanksgiving.

4. Teaching Award

Scott Walter has proposed an endowed teaching award for librarians. Lisa has begun to work up the language for the award and asked the committee members for their input on stories that will be used as narratives about how student learning is influenced by librarians. The narrative will be given to the Library Development Office for use in fundraising. Several suggestions were made including a student thank you to Lura Joseph, Paula Carns has received emails from students on learning how to use databases, and Susan has emails from TAs. Beth also suggested that librarians in the Business and Economics Library may have some stories. Lori proposed that a library-wide call be made to the subject specialist librarians and Lisa will follow-up on this with Scott.

A discussion followed regarding the details of the award. Librarians might be able to self-nominate themselves for the award. There are many ways these sorts of awards are structured. The award could include a base salary increase, a one-time financial bonus (at least $500-$1000), a plaque, book purchase with bookplate, and/or travel award for conferences. The award is meant to encourage librarians in their teaching and learning as well as to document their teaching. The award should be advertised within the larger university community, e.g. take out space in the Daily Illini or dedicate the north exhibit wall to the recipient. Considerations for the award include teaching, training, teaching involvement with other librarians, presentations and publication. Beth suggested that the recipient be involved in a larger initiative to promote teaching within the Library and/or on campus. Once the award is established, the committee expressed encouragement that the award would eventually find a way to be considered with the Campus Teaching Award.

Beth suggested that the committee might also pursue an undergraduate research award. Many research university libraries already offer this type of award. The amount of money allocated for such an award would not have to be extraordinary and could be given to students in regards to the research process.

Any further suggestions or ideas should be forwarded to Lisa.

5. Open Discussion

Paula volunteered to be a member of the Community Outreach Working Group.

Lisa suggested that a discussion take place regarding technology needs in the Library. This is something that has been discussed in the past and Lisa is hoping to have a meeting with the heads of technology in December.

Lisa asked the committee what technology would be useful for teaching and learning? (Technology should be taken as a very broad term.)

Paula suggested that more projectors be added. Currently there is a single projector available in Systems for check-out. Lisa suggested that the purchase of screens ($200-$300) would not be unreasonable if a departmental library lacked a blank wall.

Lori suggested that the link to equipment in Systems be added the instruction page for librarians.

The Main Library needs a hands-on classroom, and Beth noted that this will be part of the ongoing discussion regarding the development of the scholarly commons.

Lori suggested that 413-415 Library be used as instruction space with a projector and computer available. There are a few restrictions for the use of this room for instruction.

Beth suggested the addition of a set of laptops for instruction in the Main Library. A multimedia production room would also be highly beneficial to the work of the librarians.

Beth is currently working to purchase a high end user scanner for users in Reference.

It was agreed by the committee that librarians should not have to compete with users for the technology necessary to do work and research.

Lisa mentioned the need for a pathfinder development tool. This could be similar in scope to the University of Minnesota’s Research Quickstart.http://www.lib.umn.edu/site/subjects.phtml

Respectfully submitted,
Merinda Hensley
Project Coordinator
Office of Information Literacy