Active Learning is the Hook: Developing Information Literacy Dispositions in First-Year Calculus

Building dispositions values, attitudes, and habits of mind is an integral part of the learning process. The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy provides suggested sets of dispositions for each information literacy concept. But what are some practical strategies we can use to develop student mindsets about information literacy? One way is to embed information literacy assignments into foundational courses that use active, student-centered teaching methods. This presentation will discuss a librarian-faculty collaboration at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo where learn by doing library assignments are integrated into Inquiry-based Learning (IBL) Mathematics courses. Attendees will see sample assignments and student work that demonstrates how information literacy dispositions fit well with assignments on effective thinking, and take away ideas for finding new footholds in the curriculum

The LibRAT Program at Cal Poly: Full Partners in Peer Learning

The LibRAT Program at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo was first piloted in 2010. Although the program has expanded in scope and depth, the key to its continued success has been a commitment to core principles discovered during its initial launch. To this day, the LibRATs (Library Reference Assistance Technicians) form a small cadre of intensively trained students who are treated with respect as adults and as undergraduates. Communication, learning, and responsibility are multidirectional, and the LibRATs are full partners in the success of the program. The original design of the program was to post students in residence halls to provide research assistance, but this model failed to generate research questions. However, we discovered the LibRATs to be an untapped resource and we were determined to find ways to repurpose them. In 2011, unforeseen librarian leaves created a staffing shortfall, and we found a solution ready at hand: LibRATs. Within one year, the LibRATs were full partners in providing research assistance and in leading lower-division information literacy sessions. As research assistants, LibRATs now staff all Research Help Desk and local chat hours at the Robert E. Kennedy Library. The LibRATs also now lead more than one hundred instructional sessions per year. The rapid and sustained growth of our instruction program made possible by the LibRATs’ participation resoundingly justified the hiring of a foundational experiences librarian, who now coordinates the instructional component of the LibRAT program

Visual literacy for libraries: A practical, standards-based guide

When we step back and think about how to situate visual literacy into a library context, the word critical keeps coming up: critical thinking, critical viewing, critical using, critical making, and the list goes on. To understand our approach, start with your own practice, add images, and see where it takes you. Do you encourage students to think critically as they research? How can you extend this experience to images? Do you embrace critical information literacy? Can you bring visual content to enrich that experience? Do you teach students to critically evaluate sources? How can you expand that practice to images? You’ll see a lot of questions in this book, because our approach is inquiry- driven. This is not to say that we don’t cover the basics of image content. Curious about color? Covered. Not sure where to find great images? We’ll show you. Wondering what makes a good presentation? We talk about that too. But what we really want you to get out of this book is a new understanding of how images fit into our critical (there it is again) practice as librarians and how we can advance student learning with our own visual literacy. This book grounds visual literacy in your everyday practice—connecting it to what you know and do as a librarian who engages in reflective practice. Heidi Jacobs put it well when she argued that, for information literacy pedagogy, “one of the best ways for us to encourage students to be engaged learners is for us to become engaged learners, delve deeply into our own problem posing, and embody the kind of engagement we want to see in our students” (Jacobs 2008). We extend this viewpoint to visual literacy pedagogy and provide many opportunities for you to embody the kind of visual literacy that you want to develop in your learners

Research Minutes: How to Identify Scholarly Articles

Research Minutes is a vodcast series for undergraduate students covering library research concepts. The series transforms Cornell University Library's web-based research guide, Research Strategy: A Tutorial, into short, 90-second vodcasts with music and images. This segment covers how to identify scholarly articles. Credits include: Michael Engle, script; Jenn Colt-Demaree, animation; Carla DeMello, dancing tower design; Studio M (studiomiami.com), music; Kaila Bussert, production.1_zgbghd5

Research Minutes: How to Identify Substantive News Articles

Research Minutes is a vodcast series for undergraduate students covering library research concepts. The series transforms Cornell University Library's web-based research guide, Research Strategy: A Tutorial, into short, 90-second vodcasts with music and images. This segment covers how to identify substantive news articles. Credits include: Michael Engle, script; Jenn Colt-Demaree, animation; Carla DeMello, dancing tower design; Studio M (studiomiami.com), music; Kaila Bussert, production.1_zgbghd5

Research Minutes: Finding Books in the Olin Stacks

Research Minutes is a vodcast series for undergraduate students covering library research concepts. This segment covers how to find books and journals shelved in Olin Library. Credits include: Kaila Bussert, production; Michael Engle, script; Jenn Colt-Demaree, animation; Carla DeMello, dancing tower design; Studio M (studiomiami.com), music; Wendy Wilcox, librarian.1_zcu64ne

Research Minutes: How to Read Citations

Research Minutes is a vodcast series for undergraduate students covering library research concepts. This segment covers how to read citations of books, book articles, and journal articles. Credits include: Kaila Bussert, production; Michael Engle, script; Jenn Colt-Demaree, animation; Carla DeMello, dancing tower design; Studio M (studiomiami.com), music; Gaby Castro, librarian; Bendi Barrett, student.1_p8d5usc

The Accidental Producer: Using Hidden Talents to Extend Reference via Podcasts

Paper presented at "Beyond the Desk," 6th Annual Reference Services Symposium, Columbia University, March 14, 2008.The Accidental Producer: Using Hidden Talents to Extend Reference via Podcasts In June 2007, librarians from Cornell University's social sciences and humanities libraries launched a program to promote reference and other library services. They turned to podcasting, a relatively new technology, as a way to distribute content over the Internet for use on computers and mobile devices. The process involves writing scripts, recording and editing audio, adding images and music, all skills honed for decades by radio and film producers, but not taught in library school. Cornell podcasters have developed several podcast series, each differing in its style, length and audience. The first series, Uris Historical Tours, comprises six audio walking tours of Cornell's first library. Designed as a form of cultural programming and outreach to alumni and friends, the audio walking tours have become popular with patrons on- and off-site. The second series, orientation walking tours, serves new students and faculty members by exposing collections and expanding reference services. For both walking tours, podcasts were made available online, using a number of free commercial podcasting distribution venues, and in person via pre-loaded, circulating MP3 players. While the historical tours were well received, the orientation tours garnered little use. After a period of assessment, the team concluded that their orientation tours were too long, the style too highbrow, and that as audio tours only, they had limited appeal for a multi-media savvy audience. With these lessons in mind, podcasters developed Research Minutes, a series for undergraduate students covering library research concepts. The series transforms a web-based research guide, Research Strategy: A Tutorial, into short, 90-second podcasts with music and images. Simulating the reference desk interview, each segment brings together a librarian and a student to discuss common research issues, such as identifying scholarly articles and substantive news articles (two segments completed thus far). The intention is to distribute and promote these podcasts to students via the library website, the university's course management system, and commercial sites like YouTube. After evaluating the effectiveness of the podcasts, further segments will be developed. The podcast creation process illustrates new ways that colleagues collaborate. Librarians learned new technologies while also bringing to the table their otherwise "extracurricular" creative talents. Several reference colleagues, for example, had relevant experience: a former children's librarian who specialized in reading aloud, three college radio DJs, and a poet. These and other previously hidden talents (such as a musical ear, especially helpful for sound editing) contributed substantively to the podcasting program. Establishing a podcasting program has involved a great deal of assessment and imagination. Varying format to meet audience needs, Cornell podcasters have learned how to incorporate music, images, and video, concluding that script writing, production value, and promotion are the keys to success in effectively reaching the library's primary audiences. Cornell librarians are learning to convey their message via a new medium, using techniques of the radio and movie trade and in the process, becoming producers almost by accident.Cornell University Library, Department of Collections, Reference, Instruction & Outreac

ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education

The importance of images and visual media in contemporary culture is changing what it means to be literate in the 21st century. Today's society is highly visual, and visual imagery is no longer supplemental to other forms of information. New digital technologies have made it possible for almost anyone to create and share visual media. Yet the pervasiveness of images and visual media does not necessarily mean that individuals are able to critically view, use, and produce visual content. Individuals must develop these essential skills in order to engage capably in a visually‐oriented society. Visual literacy empowers individuals to participate fully in a visual culture