Is there a social worker in your public library?

This paper reports on a survey of public library administrators in a Southeastern state in the United States concerning the employment of social workers in public libraries. This is a topic of growing interest in librarianship that has been given little attention in the research literature. The main objectives of this study are to establish baseline data on the employment of social workers in public libraries in one state and to explore the perceived benefits and drawbacks of having social workers on-site at public libraries. A short online survey using Qualtrics was employed attempting a census of public library administrators. Findings will provide important baseline data in a developing area of inquiry that will support future research. Implications for research, for the profession, and for educating information professionals will be discussed

Go Ask the Freshmen: How Millenials Define Information Literacy and Their Own Skill Levels

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The ASE Process Model: An Evidence-based Approach to Information Literacy Instruction

This presentation will describe an innovative approach to information literacy instruction developed through an IMLS National Leadership Research Grant. The instruction is driven by data gathered from first-year college students with below-proficient information literacy skills. Session participants will be introduced to the ASE Process Model. ASE is an acronym for both the process itself (Analyze, Search, Evaluate) and the means by which it was developed (Asking Students about their Experiences). Participants will also be shown how they can implement the ASE Process Model in various types of information literacy instruction in their home institutions

Bridging the Gap: Building a Community College—LIS School Partnership

Many community college students begin their studies with the intention of ultimately continuing their education at a four-year school. However, students who enter community college with non-proficient information literacy (IL) skill levels often find it difficult if not impossible to make a successful transition. This presentation will describe a collaborative research project funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services that focuses on developing effective information literacy instruction for community college students with non-proficient IL skills and involves academic librarians at two community colleges and faculty from an ALA-accredited LIS school. The presentation will briefly describe the project itself and summarize the results to date, but will focus primarily on the role of collaboration in the project. It will be argued that the collaborative nature of this project can serve as a model for collaboration between academic libraries and LIS schools, as well as between community colleges and research universities

The Information Literacy Continuum: Mapping the ACRL Framework to the AASL School Library Standards

The Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the American Association for School Libraries (AASL), two major divisions of the American Library Association (ALA), both recently released new guidelines. These documents form the basis for information literacy and library skills instruction for PK-20 education. In this study, we explored the alignment between these documents to identify the continuum of knowledge and skill expectations as well as the dispositional attributes toward information literacy that learners are presented. Our findings identified where the content of the ACRL Framework and AASL Standards Framework for Learners documents is strongly aligned as well as the gaps in the teaching and learning continuum. These findings suggest areas for ongoing development in practical application for both PK-12 school librarians and academic librarians who provide information literacy instruction in colleges and universities

Information Literacy in Transition: Self-Perceptions of Community College Students

Interviews were conducted with community college students in Florida and New York, two large, demographically diverse states, in order to determine students’ selfperceptions of their information literacy needs. Understanding students’ own perceptions of their information literacy needs can help colleges more effectively respond to those needs with instruction and support programs. The findings from this study have the potential to inform and transform the way we educate LIS students who are preparing to become instruction librarians, especially in community college settings

Teaching and its discontents

Teaching is a core role for librarians in academic contexts, although most librarians are not formally prepared to teach and encounter significant challenges in the role, including complex relationships with campus colleagues. The purpose of this research was to explore how community college librarians, an understudied population, understand their teaching role. Online interviews lasting fifteen to seventy-four minutes were conducted with thirty community college librarians who provide information literacy (IL) instruction. Participants were recruited by direct email invitation and were asked questions relating to their instructional practices. Interview transcripts were analysed qualitatively, with a specific focus on participants’ experiences of the teaching role. Participants reported positive relationships with students, and significant challenges in their relationships with disciplinary faculty and administrators. Their lack of formal preparation for the teaching role led to infrequent and informal assessment and evaluation practices. Pre-service education for the teaching role could be strengthened to provide librarians with the skill set and confidence to provide more effective instruction. Instructional quality is critical as the importance of IL is increasingly recognized as key to academic, workplace, and personal success

In the Shadow of the ACRL Framework: Current Instructional Practices of Community College Librarians

While much has been written about information literacy instruction in higher education, community colleges and community college librarians have received less attention. A survey of 163 instructional librarians at community colleges in Florida and New York was undertaken to investigate instructional practices in community colleges as college and university librarians are working to incorporate the new ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (2016) into their instruction. Findings from this survey will be of use to librarians in high school, community college, and four-year college/university environments. They will also inform pedagogy in MLS programs preparing librarians for instructional work

The Gramicidin Dimer Shows Both EX1 and EX2 Mechanisms of H/D Exchange

We describe the use of H/D amide exchange and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry to study, in organic solvents, the pentadecapeptide gramicidin as a model for protein self association. In methanol-OD, all active H's in the peptide exchange for D within 5 min, indicating a monomer/dimer equilibrium that is shifted towards the fast-exchanging monomer. H/D exchange in n-propanol-OD, however, showed a partially protected gramicidin that slowly converts to a second species that exchanges nearly all the active hydrogens, indicating EX1 kinetics for the H/D exchange. We propose that this behavior is the result of the slower rate of unfolding in n-propanol compared with that in methanol. The rate constant for the unfolding of the dimer is the rate of disappearance of the partially protected species, and it agrees within a factor of two with a value reported in literature. The rate constant of dimer refolding can be determined from the ratio of the rate constant for unfolding and the affinity constant for the dimer, which we determined in an earlier study. The unfolding activation energy is 20 kcal mol−1, determined by performing the exchange experiments as a function of temperature. To study gramicidin in an even more hydrophobic medium than n-propanol, we measured its H/D exchange kinetics in a phospholipids vesicle and found a different H/D amide exchange behavior. Gramicidin is an unusual peptide dimer that can exhibit both EX1 and EX2 mechanisms for its H/D exchange, depending on the solvent