I appreciated the opportunity to attend the 2008 Minnesota Library Association Annual Conference at the Bloomington Sheraton. The view from my room on the 19th floor was great!
After seeing slick PowerPoint presentations at all the other sessions that I attended, it was a refreshing change to see political operative Sarah Janecek walk in at 9:30 when her session was scheduled to begin, ask for coffee, and apply lipstick before beginning her presentation. I had watched her on ALMANAC on Friday nights on KTCA for years and seen her in a Minneapolis restaurant one Sunday, so was happy to have another opportunity to hear her even though we do not share the same political philosophy. While not focusing on libraries specifically, her presentation could be considered to continue the literacy theme with news or journalism literacy.
Sarah began by saying that she walked past the Bloomington room of the Sheraton where she was "camped out" with the Coleman campain on the recent November fourth election night. She gave her impressions of the current Coleman-Franken recount, and said that Dean Barkely, the Independence Party candidate, is the most influential Minnesota political figure in recent years who is not given the credit for what he has done to change the Minnesota political scene. Sarah Janeck sees Minnesota becoming "the next Florida" with a recount that is "absolutely wild".
The presenter considers herself a "tiny red speck" in a big blue area in Minneapolis. She has law and journalism degrees from the University of Minnesota. In 1993, she began Politics in Minnesota, with the new edition scheduled to appear in February. She spoke of the importance of blogs in journalism and politics today. Minnesota is on the "high end" of political blogs. To know who moves and who shakes, blogs are updated daily. With the decline of political coverage in Minneapolis and St. Paul newspapers, blogs play a more critical role.
After commenting briefly on the Minnesota political scene, Sarah had plenty of time for discussion with those attending. When someone asked about the ignored role of county commissioners in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, Sarah said that the mainstream media ignores what is going on in counties. I mentioned the recent Jackson County commissioner race in my district where the incumbent lost over a current "hot issue". She asked how that was covered by the media.
Another interesting discussion was on the Minnesota climate of extremism that can elect Paul Wellstone as well as Michele Bachmann. Sarah also discussed the brilliance of Karl Rove in the Bush elections. She believes that the quality of the people serving is not as high as in the past, and that the salary should be tripled and the size of the Minnesota Legislature split. Sarah sees the current mainstream media as lazy.
Because of "selective reading", people do not see the big picture of what is happening in the world. When asked about the online MinnPost, Sarah Janecek responded that she does not see it lasting longer than six months, due to the problem with getting ads. She also does not see a good future for the StarTribune after the Senate recount.
While Sarah mentioned several times her appreciation of what librarians do, she did not seem to realize the vital role of public libraries in the current economic climate. I was glad that Bill DeJohn of MINITEX spoke several times to remind her how busy public libraries are - especially the computer use by those who do not own them at home. Sarah talked about funding for libraries and suggested that those in our group write OP-ED pieces to inform of our situation. When I watch Sarah Janecek on ALMANAC again, I will have a better understanding of her background and viewpoints.
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:Outreach project to teach research skills:
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:
Post-test results:
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:
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
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:
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:
As a literacy tool this approach to learning is used as a means to:
Website: http://www.pcae.k12.mn.us/
Blog: http://artseducation.typepad.com/
