Self Directed Reading #3

 Please read the rules about posted assignments before reading onward. 

For the Self Directed Readings, I had to 1) read an article, 2) write a paragraph summary, and 3) write a paragraph of my reactions to the article.  A short but sweet assignment.

Julian, Suzanne and Kimball Benson. “Clicking your way to library instruction assessment: using a personal response system at Brigham Young University.” College and Research Libraries News 69.5 (May 2008): 258-60.

In order to facilitate student participation in their library instruction sessions, Brigham Young University instructors purchased a PRS, or a Personal Response System.  This involves the students using "clickers" to answer predetermined questions about the different topics covered in the session.  The instructors were quickly recognized several benefits to using the clickers, which included more student participation, checking student comprehension, and hearing more of the students' opinion because results were posted anonymously.  The authors cautioned interested clicker users to word questions wisely and not to rely on the clickers too much throughout the presentation. Instructors at Brigham Young University recommend the clicker system to anyone searching for a new way to assess their library instruction sessions.

As a former user of the clicker, I saw that there was a lot of potential in the clicker for a physics class I took several years ago.  Unfortunately, the professor never tested the clickers before class and most people would forget to bring them, which made clicker ultimately useless.  After reading this article, I am again hopeful that clicker technology will expand and be used to its fullest extent.  Instructors can easily find out what students need help with, or whether they are paying attention, and change their session accordingly.  Any data received can be examined later, to better plan future sessions.  The Personal Response System is an easy way to get quick answers.

507 Cataloging Woes and On-Campus

These were my thoughts on cataloging written during the on-campus visit....

I like organizing things.  I do, really.  Send me to an Officemax and I will reorganize your life!


But sometimes, certain cataloging practices make me confused.  I am sure there are really good reasons for why it is like this, but I am still a total "n00b" in MARC so bear with me.


I understand why you would want to transcribe information exactly as it is in the book.  In the end, the cataloger could misinterpret information and write something totally different.  But then, there are times where you don't have to write it as it is in the book, like the title.  Where does the line get drawn?  

Well, so now you know.  Cataloging makes me frustrated!  I don't want to say that I hate cataloging, but I feel like we are got off on the wrong foot  :D

OTHERWISE, the weekend was great!  Unfortunately, I just realized that my card reader for my camera is somewhere I can't get to for a long while, so no on-campus pictures yet. 

Anyone who was there could say that the weather was perfect.  Even when it rained it was perfect!  I am very ready for spring to come, my body is tired of sitting in front of the computer.  I mean, I love reading and surfing the net, but nothing beats being outside and moving around (or reading, or surfing the net). 

Before I can scamper off into the sunlight, I have a lot of projects coming up.  Digital Preservation is keeping me very busy- there was a good reason to warn me about this class!  Let us hope I can keep up with it....

In the Cornfields!

It's that time of the semester- I'm in the cornfields!  It was absolutely beautiful outside, I wish we could somehow have had class outside.  For Digital Preservation, that would've been hard.

Hopefully I'll get some photos from this weekend, hopefully the weather will stay this way through the weekend.  Cannot wait to report all of the LEEPness of the weekend....

Self Directed Reading #2

Please read the rules about posted assignments before reading onward. 

For the Self Directed Readings, I had to 1) read an article, 2) write a paragraph summary, and 3) write a paragraph of my reactions to the article.  A short but sweet assignment.

The CIBER research team at University College London conducted this study to determine how the Google Generation, those born in 1993 and later, will search for digital objects.  It also points out the many "myths" about the Google Generation being inherently different from previous generations, finding that “power browsing” and a need for immediate gratification is instead a “truism of our time” (CIBER 2008 19).  CIBER strongly recommends libraries to increase visibility in social networking sites, educate users in navigating their catalogs, and “evaluate their users” to understand their needs (CIBER 2008 32-3).  In closing, the report warns that the future is grim for a society that cannot properly navigate the all of the information available.

This study tied in very well with this past week’s readings.  It addressed library anxiety as a major problem for freshmen college students, and that library literacy should start at an earlier age for students to become proficient in it.  The study also pointed to the fact that the Google Generation is not any more competent in searching than previous generations.  In my opinion, this myth arises because as a society, we equate expertise in finding friends on Facebook to mean we are experts in all types of information technology.  People can become overconfident in their skills, and not even realize that they do not know how to use the plethora of library resources available to them.  We need to stop assuming that the Google Generation knows things that they do not.

 

“Information Behavior of the Researcher of the Future.” CIBER. University College of London. Retrieved from http://www.bl.uk/news/2008/pressrelease20080116.html.

Self Directed Reading #1

Please read the rules about posted assignments before reading onward. 

For the Self Directed Readings, I had to 1) read an article, 2) write a paragraph summary, and 3) write a paragraph of my reactions to the article.  A short but sweet assignment.

In his article “Prove Your Case: A New Approach to Teaching Research Papers,” Stephen Broskoske, an assistant professor in the College Misericordia, explains a new technique for teaching research papers. To get his freshmen students to understand the importance of a specific thesis and sound research, Broskoske now equates a research paper to a lawyer’s preparation for a trial. Lawyers must first decide how to frame their case, as students must figure out how to “define their topic.” Then, as lawyers sift through evidence to prepare their arguments, so do students with their search for sources. The act of writing their paper became their day in court, where they could “present the evidence” they collected from a variety of sources. The “closing statement” to their “case” would be their conclusion, where they would have to summarize their argument and strongly finish their paper (Broskoske 31).

To a librarian instructor in an academic library, this approach to teaching research papers could prove very effective. Broskoske, himself, wrote, that this teaching method works because students can relate to the “high-visibility court cases in the news” (31). The "lawyer arguing a case" method relies on the students’ past experiences with popular court cases to help understand a similar process – writing. Constructivist teaching methods, a topic of last Wednesday's class, relies on the past experiences of a student to help develop new ideas, which the proposed method does. Many popular television shows, such as Law and Order and and The Good Wife, show the same process as the real court cases in the news. As a librarian instructor, I can use these shows the same way Broskoske used court cases, and create a library session framed around an episode of one of these shows and have the students "defend" cases. I would highly recommend library instructors faced with similar challenges to read this article.

Broskoske, S. (2007). "Prove Your Case: A New Approach to Teaching Research Papers." College Teaching 55(1), 31-2.

You know you've been to library school when....part 1

You know when you've been to library school when you're looking at an onstage performance and thinking about the complex digital object it would become, if someone went and tried to digitize it.

Yesterday night I went to see my cousin, Pavi Proczko, play in the new Quest Ensemble play, "Evolution/Creation."  Why this show is different from your normal show takes a few lines to explain.  The play is actually two plays running at the same time on a partitioned stage: one side shows Evolution, from the big bang to the dawn of humans, while the other shows Creation, up to the story of Noah.  during intermission, the audience switches sides to see the part they did not see.  Each side has no dialogue, and run to the same score. 

So, how would I preserve a recording of this play?  I would probably have two videos, one with Evolution and the other for Creation, just so the user can chose themselves which one they want to see first.  Since this play is not supposed to be biased, why would I show any bias and put one part of the play in front of the other?

Otherwise, the play was great and I think anyone in the area should check it out.  My cousin is Adam on the creation side, and the modern Homo sapiens on the other.  The best part- the show is FREE!! 

It's February?

((looks over shoulder))

Wait, it's February?  That's crazy....I feel like I'll have 1-2 posts like this every semester until blogging finally becomes second nature to me.  Anyone can recommend blogging classes, preferably free ones? ; )