Teaching Workplace Information Literacy

The attributes of information literacy can change related to the context in which the information need occurs including the environment in which the need will manifest itself. This presentation will focus on the attributes of the workplace and how teaching information literacy can be different as it relates to “information” literacy in particular environments. Specifically, research will be shared related to a grant due diligence, regarding skill assessment and competencies needed by community college librarians for use in instructional design for teaching workplace information literacy. This would include programs such as job training or technology based programs as seen in vocational programs within the community or technical college purview. This presentation will discuss components pulled from field literature as well as research findings available from the grant research project. In community colleges for example; information literacy is taught very similarly across all disciplines when in reality the learning outcomes need to be different as related to the students’ educational need and their expected career path. Recognizing these different needs will influence the instructional design of the course work and provide better opportunities for meeting needs beyond graduation. Teaching workforce literacy can present a unique set of challenges that librarians might encounter while working with particular clients/patrons or in environments that are not research based but are vocational in nature. Some information resources may have direct application, usually in a job related need or in technical career oriented programs, thus should be addressed differently through instruction. This presentation will include definitions that can apply or are important in making this distinction between traditional definitions of information literacy and workforce literacy.

Encoding Space: Shaping Learning Environments that Unlock Human Potential

This is a review of the book

Re-conceiving Entrepreneurship for Libraries: Collaboration and the Anatomy of a Conference

For librarians who have worked in the field and have become innovative out of necessity, developing and creating entrepreneurial activities are not unusual. Perhaps recognizing and celebrating those achievements could change common perspectives on the entrepreneurial abilities of librarians. This idea launched the collaborative efforts of two universities to demonstrate this to be so. The libraries at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, successfully collaborated on the planning and execution of a conference to celebrate entrepreneurism within the field of librarianship. In doing so, each organization was able to promote its unique talents and give signature to the notion that librarians can be, and in fact are, entrepreneurial. The collaborative value found in this project was derived from our sense of fulfillment of our social responsibility and of celebrating entrepreneurship within the profession. This conference serves as an example of embedded collaboration versus simple logistics, and the conference planning team now looks forward to future endeavors

Using Evidence for Library Space Planning.

Faced with expanding collections and a rise in student population, Jackson Library, the main library of the University Libraries at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, made the decision to hire a space consultant in order to repurpose existing library space in front of an addition still 7- 10 years away. In order to provide information useful to this project for both the consultant hired and decision- making administrators, the library developed a program and conducted an assessment of space usage. The three-part assessment program included surveys, observation studies and focus group discussions that generated evidence and data useful to influence the work of the space consultant. In addition, the assessment information gathered provided library administration with a list of service enhancements that could be implemented immediately without a large capital outlay. The final recommendations that came from the space consultant’s work is supported by evidence gained from the library’s assessment activities as well as feedback and suggestions from library faculty and staff. This process also became a first step in the development of an ongoing culture of assessment activities to improve library services and promote the learning value of the libraries as a place

Evolving Needs for Evolving Libraries

Quite a bit of literature over the last several years has served as a forum for discussion with regard to the changing role of librarians. These changes are occurring over revamped needs of library users from several different areas, such as: how data is gathered, interpreted and stored, how technology allows users to access surface layers of information, and how libraries play a different role in the physical manifestation of creating knowledge. These become considerations for the level of expertise or talent needed by library organizations of the future. This forum discusses how the impact of these evolving changes should create a need for developing a strategy for future hiring. These considerations come from a recent monograph by this author, Strategic Human Resource Planning for Academic Libraries, July 2015, Chandos Publishing, ISBN# 978-1-84334-764-4

Convergence of Skills through Theory, Practice and Strategy

This paper was presented on August 13, 2014 for the Satellite Conference by IFLA Library Theory and Research Section in Turin, Italy. This is part of the IFLA 2014 conference held in Lyon, France and was presented under the theme: "Theory and research on the convergence of professional identity in cultural heritage institutions (Libraries, Museums, and Archives) beyond technology”