Blog 358: ARLD Day

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

The annual conference of the Minnesota Library Association was held at the Bloomington Sheraton from November 19-21, 2008. This year's theme was Explore, Evolve Excel Together. I was happy to attend on Thursday and Friday. Every session I attended was so pertinent and informative for me. I also enjoyed connecting with many people including some who I had not seen for a long time. Most of the sessions that I attended were sponsored by the Academic and Research Libraries Division of MLA. I also attended the Thursday annual business meeting. At that meeting we learned that May First has been selected for the 2009 ARLD Day at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum at Chanhassen. The keynote speaker will be Katie Clark from the University of Rochester. The MLA has a new website. Online conference registration is now available from the website so can be used for the ARLD Day. Summaries of the MLA sessions I attended follow:

BRIDGING THE DIVIDE: CONNECTING FIRST YEAR STUDENTS TO THE LIBRARY - Julie Gilbert, Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter.

Outreach project to teach research skills:

Investigate the current relationships between first year students and the library
Examine reasons why the library wanted to connect better with students
Analyze the results
Reflect on lessons learned
Discuss the results

Student comments included such questions as "Where do I check out a book?" and "Isn't everything on the Internet?" The OPAC is seen as confusing and outdated, and some students were baffled by access to full-text databases.

The mission of the library to teach information literacy was done in a first term seminar with 16 students per section. In the fall of 2007, nine sections with a total of 159 students were in a pilot program to determine the effects of multiple library sessions rather than one shot sessions to emphasize information literacy. Pre-tests and post-tests were done with control groups and experimental groups. The control group of four sections of students met only once for library instruction with a librarian. The experimental group of five sections met two or three times with the librarian for sessions of 80 minutes. The sessions included a library tour, questions and answers with the librarian, citation resources, evaluation of resources, advanced search techniques, subject headings and advanced search terms.

Pre-test results:

Almost 3/4 start research projects with Google
Almost half were not familiar with online databases
Few used public libraries

Post-test results:

Students in the experimental group were more likely to meet with a reference librarian
Students in the experimental group had more success in locating appropriate sources
Students in the experimental group were more confident in their abilities
There was a positive difference in the experimental group over the control group in citing citations

There were few non-traditional students in the groups. Gustavus has PESO students from St. Peter High School, but no relationship with the high school librarian. Gustavus does not have a distance learning program.

Tips given:

Have students put questions for the librarian on cards
A good relationship with the IT department is important
"Buy in" with faculty is important
Move from Information Literacy to Information Fluency to get students to think critically about research

Gustavus will continue to move towards a more comprehensive information literacy program. Senior thesis students are the first ones to participate. There are plans to develop a library lab.

2. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION IN THE 21st CENTURY - Kristen Clark, University of Minnesota Libraries

The session was very helpful for me as I was not aware of the grant known as "G1 21" to make government information more readily available. I thought about the Government Documents class I took during the "Pre-Internet" days, and how searching for sources for my project would be so different now.

The government information may be found at WebJunction through the following site:

http://www.webjunction.org/gi21

Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico coordinated the project. Because government information is "everywhere", attempts were made to answer the following questions:

Where is it?
How do I use it?
How can I learn more?

Over 250 Federal agencies are putting out information for us. 90 to 95 % of government information is available ONLY online. This is a transistion time with the switch to a new presidential administration. Because of a lawsuit with the Department of the Interior, there is not much on the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In creating 22 modules for government information, the most popular in order are:

Demographics
Legal
Small Business
Immigration

Kids Stuff

Modules have been recreated with information focusing on children.

Chat

There is now an online chat service available 24/7 with government depository librarians.

Future

Because the grant ended in September of 2008, there is a new grant with a potential starting date of the Fall of 2009. There are 25 states including Minnesota, to be involved with the new one. Minnesota has 21 Federal depository libraries. Potential training would focus on non-depository library staff in academic and public libraries. Topics specific to Minnesota would focus on the Somali population and water issues.

3. A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO PROMOTING CRITICAL THINKING WITH (IN) LITERACY - Barbara Cox and Jeanne Iverson, Presenters - Perpich Center for Arts Education, Golden Valley, MN

The last Thursday session that I attended followed the literacy theme. "You had to be there" to feel the impact of the experience. The handouts will be available on the MLA website.

In 1989 the Perpich Center opened at the former Golden Valley Lutheran College. The library is a considered a state agency library, an arts high school library and a special/public library. It is a member of CALCO. Resources from the library can be accessed through ILL. Those on display at the session showed the multicultural perspective promoted by the Multicultural Voices Iniatiative. An authority in the field is Dr. James Banks of the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington.

For 4 minutes and 41 seconds those at the session watched a spoken word video by Thomas King of Big Soul Productions, I'm Not the Indian You Had in Mind. After watching, the presenters went around the room to have each person there (40+) state their impressions. With such a large group, one really needed to pay attention to think of something different that had not already been stated.

Even though the presenters are from a high school, I could see that the approach would be good for critical thinking in a college setting. The reflective protocol used: