Search results

This paper aims to investigate how teaching information creation as a process in a decentralized library classroom impacts student learning and engagement.

By using mobile technologies (iPads) and a targeted lesson design, the authors explored how these devices can be incorporated into threshold pedagogy. The study took place in a second-year composition course and was taught by librarians during a class session.

The findings supported by pre- and post-test scores, textual analysis and observations show that iPads did add to the engagement and learning of some students. The discussion includes student responses to the iPads, the decentralized roles of the librarian and instructor, the use of social media as an engagement tool and possible adaptations to the lesson.

This paper provides practical ideas for using iPads in higher education to engage students, particularly in targeting learning outcomes that emphasize on the changing nature and impact of the information creation process.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of staff development committees (SDC) in the motivation, morale and education of library staff by relying on previous research and by using Utah State University's (USU), Merrill‐Cazier Library SDC as a case study.

Discussion and analysis emerge from the documented formation of USU's SDC, including its membership, goals, and evaluative practices, especially as it relates to current research in this area. Informal staff comments regarding benefits and limitations of the committee are included.

Staff development has been approached from various perspectives. Most programs form as the results of formal or informal needs assessments. Goals for the program, or for the resulting staff development committee, vary and fluctuate depending on the time‐specific needs of the library. Successful elements of USU's SDC include its emphasis on building inter‐departmental relationships and its ability to elicit feedback from every level of the library. Challenges include having clearly defined goals and meeting a variety of individual and institutional needs through the creation of related events and activities.

This paper provides ideas on forming a staff development committee, including examples for specific events and activities. It details how to structure membership and explores literature relating to designing and implementing institutional goals for staff development.

Many studies lack a comprehensive literature review that focuses on the scope and purpose of staff development committees. This paper combines a literature review with an explanation of how USU's Library created a staff development committee to fill certain library‐wide goals, including challenges and benefits that emerged as a result.

This paper aims to explore both instruction librarians' attitudes on teaching and how they identify themselves as teachers. Particular attention is to be paid to teaching librarians' views on the effectiveness of two types of instruction models: for‐credit courses and course‐integrated library instruction.

To investigate librarians' attitudes towards these two models, a survey was constructed targeting librarians who teach information literacy (IL).

The results indicate that there is an important relationship between the IL instruction model employed and feelings towards campus politics, perceived effectiveness of IL models, and librarians' self‐identification as teachers.

The survey was sent to list‐servs whose readership includes high percentages of teaching librarians and received 276 responses. This is by no means an exhaustive study. The research is intended to be exploratory and to delve more deeply than the past editorials and blog posts on the issue of comparing for‐credit and course‐integrated instruction.

This study can help librarians gain a better understanding of how information literacy models impact librarian perceptions of themselves and their role on campus.

The authors seek to transform a discussion that has occurred mostly informally (in blog posts, on list‐servs, and in conversations) into a formal investigation of librarians' attitudes towards the two models.

The purpose of this paper if to design a workshop that effectively facilitates the collaborative revision of student learning outcomes based on current research relating to competencies in information literacy (IL).

This case study describes collaborations between librarians and writing instructors throughout an eight-week workshop. The workshop focused on using the results of assessments to revise learning outcomes and restructure instruction practices to help students in the areas they struggle with the most. Three significant frameworks, including threshold concepts, backward design and decoding the disciplines, were used to facilitate effective discussion and revise learning outcomes.

The structure of the workshop based on three key frameworks stimulated innovation, fostered collegiality, prompted future collaborative opportunities and garnered buy-in for the importance and implementation of IL initiatives. This collaboration served as a pilot workshop for future plans to write and revise IL outcomes with other departments across campus.

This study can serve as a model for future collaborations with any department faculty, especially when IL learning outcomes need to be articulated or revised. The frameworks described are particularly helpful for guiding this process.

While much is written on librarian collaborations, this case study emphasizes the importance of creating even closer collaborative opportunities that place both non-library faculty and teaching librarians on equal footing, allowing everyone in the workshop to take part in the design and implementation of integrating IL into a program. It also gives concrete ways to use threshold concepts to discuss IL issues with faculty, which is a major focus of the newly drafted Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.