Teaching Information Literacy Using the Short Story

Stories are powerful teaching tools because of their potential to stimulate the imagination of students and engage them with the material. The short story gives meaning to abstract concepts, aids memory, makes learning fun, and is time efficient. This article explains the approach to teaching information literacy through the use of short stories, including how to create vivid connections to the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Provides course instructors with examples of how the short story can be used as a platform to discuss information literacy standards

Learning information literacy through drawing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore drawing as an instructional method to teach information literacy. Design/methodology/approach – The authors describe their work using Collaborative Speed Drawing with students in a collection of information literacy workshops for students enrolled in English 100 (first-year composition). Examples of student drawings from the workshops are examined to demonstrate the benefits and problems of this teaching method. Findings – Drawing is an excellent low-tech teaching method that helps students demonstrate their competence (or ignorance) of information literacy concepts. This method enables librarians to clarify, reinforce, challenge or change the pictures in student’s heads that underpin their understandings of library instruction and information literacy. Practical implications – This article provides ideas on how to use drawing in information literacy sessions or credit courses. Many of the ideas shared can be copied, enhanced or tailored to meet the needs of diverse lessons and students taking face-to-face instruction sessions. Originality/value – This is the first paper in library literature that focuses on and promotes drawing as a teaching method. In doing so, it challenges the high-tech instruction imperative and invites librarians to explicitly consider the images behind the words and concepts used in information literacy and library instruction sessions

Next Slide, Please : An Analysis and Conversation on the Uses and Misuses of Microsoft PowerPoint at Library Instruction Conferences

At professional library conferences, the standard method for making a presentation is to talk about a list of points organized into Microsoft PowerPoint slides projected up on the wall. Critics of PowerPoint have argued that it induces stupidity, turns everyone into bores, wastes time, and degrades the quality and credibility of communication. Yet, PowerPoint remains the primary tool for communicating ideas among librarians specializing in instruction. Instruction librarians have an ongoing concern on understanding and using technology to enhance student learning. This presentation, however, flips that focus and concentrates on how technology is used to enhance and impede librarian learning. Drawing on a variety of academics and presentation consultants, it introduces the major ideas and discussions on the strengths and limitations of PowerPoint presentation software. Through the use of content analysis, it examines and describes the PowerPoint presentations delivered at library instruction conferences such as LOEX, LOEX-of-the-West, and WILU. Some questions raised will be: Does PowerPoint make us stupid? How and why we use PowerPoint? What do we find annoying about PowerPoint presentations? What types of information are best conveyed through PowerPoint? How can we energize our PowerPoint presentations? How can we make slides more readable and effective? What makes a good presentation and conference experience? The program invites all those who use PowerPoint and others concerned with communicating effectively to consider the question: “To what extent, if any, is PowerPoint the right tool for my presentation?” Ideally, participants will improve their skills with this useful but confounding technology and thereby improve their instructional and conference presentation skills

Tackling a Reorganization as an Interim Administrator

Chapter from the book Interim Leadership in Libraries: Building Relationships, Making Decisions, and Moving On, edited by Jennifer E. Knievel and Leslie J. Reynolds. ACRL, 202

NOTES ON THE NEST, BREEDING SEASON, AND ELEVATIONAL RANGE OF A RARE HUMMINGBIRD, THE PURPLE-BACKED SUNBEAM (AGLAEACTIS ALICIAE)

Abstract The breeding biology and phenology of the endangered hummingbird Purple-backed Sunbeam (Aglaeactis aliciae) are not well known. We report observations of nesting A. aliciae near El Molino, in La Libertad Department, Peru. On 11 March 2018, we found a female building a nest while on 10 March 2019 we found an incubating female. We describe specific characteristics of the nest and breeding behavior of nesting females. Based on our observations and that of others, the timing of nesting for this species seems to correspond to the mid-to-late rainy season, extending from at least March to May. Additionally, our sightings suggest a higher upper elevational range limit for this range-restricted Andean hummingbird than previously reported; the elevational range should be considered to be 2900–3700 m a.s.l.Resumen ∙ Notas sobre el nido, temporada reproductiva y rango elevacional del Colibrí de Alicia (Aglaeactis aliciae) La biología reproductiva y la fenología del Colibrí de Alicia (Aglaeactis aliciae) – una especie de colibrí amenazada – son poco conocidas. Aquí reportamos observaciones de nidificación de A. aliciae en El Molino, Departamento La Libertad, Perú. El 11 de marzo de 2018 encontramos una hembra construyendo un nido, mientras que el 10 de marzo de 2019 encontramos a una hembra incubando. Describimos las características del nido y el comportamiento reproductivo de las hembras. En base a nuestras observaciones e información previa sugerimos que la temporada de nidificación se desarrolla desde mediados a fines de la temporada húmeda, extendiéndose desde marzo a mayo. Nuestras observaciones también indican que la especie se encuentra a mayores altitudes que lo reportado previamente y que su rango altitudinal seria 2900–3700 m s.n.m

The Institutional Learning Objectives (ILOs) and Undergraduate Assessment

This poster presents undergraduate assessment results for critical thinking, information literacy, quantitative reasoning, and written communication based on a 2015-2016 qualitative review, led by the Assessment Office, of WASC-defined core competencies using the VALUE Rubrics and the expertise of instructional faculty from across campus. These results are presented as baseline data as well as the jumping off point for faculty and administrators regarding discussions about how to ensure all students graduate with the knowledge and skills we intend them to have. Suggestions for utilizing the findings toward improvement as well as next steps are discussed

An assessment of priority issues and capacity for conservation action of Caribbean endemic and threatened bird species

Despite decades of conservation effort, Caribbean endemic and threatened bird species continue to decline and many are Critically Endangered. In 2022, the BirdsCaribbean Endemic and Threatened Species Working Group (ETSWG) conducted a survey of the organization’s membership to assess avian conservation priorities and current capacity for conservation action in the Caribbean. Drought, climate change, fire, hurricanes, and pollution were perceived as key threats to Caribbean endemic and threatened species, while a lack of data on species or habitat, poor access to information, and a lack of collaboration were reported as barriers to effective conservation work. Species monitoring, recovery planning, data analysis, habitat management, and need for a regional database of projects were identified by respondents as key future ETSWG capacity development activities. We discuss the importance of these findings for understanding local perceptions of priorities, existing capacity development needs, and future resource allocation options

Baltic Quest for a Hungarian Path, 1965

The Soviet Union annexed the Baltic states in August 1940, an act Western democracies refused to recognize. Under somewhat different circumstances, the Baltic states could have turned, instead, into satellite 'People's Democracies' like Hungary - Communist-ruled but outside the Soviet Union. The annexed Baltic states played a major disruptive role during the demise of the Soviet Union. Might the Soviet Union have survived, had it disgorged the Baltic ferment in good time? The satellite option received mention repeatedly, from as early as June 1940 to as late as 1989. Here the focus is on 1965, when three Estonian refugees proposed a compromise: Washington might encourage Moscow to turn the Baltic states into satellites, the governments of which the USA could then recognize. For the Baltic nations, the main change would have been to curtail the influx of Russians. The reactions to this proposal are reviewed, ending with the question: what do alternate histories tell us about the actual one?. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Batch-produced, GIS-informed range maps for birds based on provenanced, crowd-sourced data inform conservation assessments.

Accurate maps of species ranges are essential to inform conservation, but time-consuming to produce and update. Given the pace of change of knowledge about species distributions and shifts in ranges under climate change and land use, a need exists for timely mapping approaches that enable batch processing employing widely available data. We develop a systematic approach of batch-processing range maps and derived Area of Habitat maps for terrestrial bird species with published ranges below 125,000 km2 in Central and South America. (Area of Habitat is the habitat available to a species within its range.) We combine existing range maps with the rapidly expanding crowd-sourced eBird data of presences and absences from frequently surveyed locations, plus readily accessible, high resolution satellite data on forest cover and elevation to map the Area of Habitat available to each species. Users can interrogate the maps produced to see details of the observations that contributed to the ranges. Previous estimates of Areas of Habitat were constrained within the published ranges and thus were, by definition, smaller-typically about 30%. This reflects how little habitat within suitable elevation ranges exists within the published ranges. Our results show that on average, Areas of Habitat are 12% larger than published ranges, reflecting the often-considerable extent that eBird records expand the known distributions of species. Interestingly, there are substantial differences between threatened and non-threatened species. Some 40% of Critically Endangered, 43% of Endangered, and 55% of Vulnerable species have Areas of Habitat larger than their published ranges, compared with 31% for Near Threatened and Least Concern species. The important finding for conservation is that threatened species are generally more widespread than previously estimated