Enlightened Hunters and Gatherers: Teaching Information Literacy Skills for Life
Please join us for the 3rd Annual Connecticut Information Literacy Conference to be held at Capital Community College in Hartford, CT on June 7, 2013 for a gathering of ideas focused on teaching information literacy skills for life.
About the Program
Keynote Speaker
Teaching Information Literacy for Life: Addressing the Issues
Speaker: Sharon Weiner, EdD, MLS
Professor of Library Science and W. Wayne Booker Chair in Information Literacy, Purdue University Libraries
Abstract: Information literacy is not only a critical competency for academic success, but also for decision-making and problem-solving in the workplace and in everyday life. This presentation will discuss what we know about finding and using information in these contexts. It will explore key issues such as:
What does information literacy mean in the workplace and in everyday life?
How does it differ from information literacy for students?
Why is it important?
Who should teach information literacy for the workplace and everyday life?
How and when should this teaching occur?
Real-life examples will illustrate information literacy in these contexts. The implications for policy will include an update on the work of the National Forum on Information Literacy.
About the Speaker: Dr. Weiner is Professor and W. Wayne Booker Chair in Information Literacy at Purdue University. She is Vice-President of the National Forum on Information Literacy. A member of the advisory boards of the journals, Practical Academic Librarianship and the Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research, she is also series editor for the new "Information Literacy Handbook Series" of Purdue University Press. She edits the column, “Information Literacy Beyond the Library” for the journal, College & Undergraduate Libraries. She has a doctorate in higher education leadership and policy studies from Vanderbilt University and a Masters in Library Science from the University at Buffalo. She is the author of numerous publications on information literacy and academic librarianship. Dr. Weiner's research interests focus on information literacy and particularly, the policy and organizational aspects.
Breakout Sessions
A Cure for Search-Box Syndrome: Empowering a Google Generation through Information Literacy
Speaker: Stacey Bleistein, Reference Librarian, Post University
Abstract: Database companies are restructuring products to have only that 6½-inch wide, empty, digital search box on the front page, as if it were a red herring to lure fishermen to their pond of information. You can’t blame database companies for catering to their Google-Generation audience. But behind that front page is what we librarians are really looking for: not just keyword searching, but browsing capabilities. It is through browsing-based information literacy instruction that the Google Generation will regain the power they have lost to the search box. Teaching information seekers how to browse for the perfect fish—instead of giving them piles of fish that need to be evaluated before consumption—librarians will help to create a new generation of enlightened hunters and gatherers: information seekers who look before they leap and learn each time they enter the water.
About the Speaker: Stacey Bleistein hails from southern New Jersey. In 2002, she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English with a Specialization Certificate in Writing from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2005, she earned a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science—and was honored with an interdisciplinary graduate fellowship with the Eagleton Institute of Politics—at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. From 2006 to 2008 she attended Widener University School of Law, and in 2013 she will be earning a Master’s Degree in English Literature from Central Connecticut State University. Over the past 11 years, Stacey has held positions ranging from Grant Research Writer/Editor and Manager of Marketing and Communications to Law Librarian and Reference Librarian. Her career has taken her from a university setting, to the New Jersey State Senate and Library, to a professional organization, to a law library in an adult correctional facility, and back to a university setting. Stacey is now settled in Connecticut and serves the Post University community as Reference Librarian.
Embedded: A Sustainability Studies Librarian Finds a New Home
Speakers: Madeleine Charney, Sustainability Studies Librarian, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Katie Campbell-Nelson, Lecturer, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract: “Sustainable Living” is a 4-credit General Education course taught through the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass Amherst. Overall, the course directs students to reflect on their values and behaviors related to economic viability, social justice and environmental responsibility. This year, an Information Literacy (IL) component was added -- a weekly online assignment and discussion called “Beyond Google.” Learn how this embedded librarian model increased understanding of course content, provided a forum for articulating values and ideas, and developed IL skills to empower students as sustainability leaders and advocates. Discussion will include brainstorming ideas for how this model might be replicated by other librarian-faculty collaborations, regardless of discipline.
About the Speakers: Madeleine Charney is the Sustainability Studies Librarian embedded in “Sustainable Living.” At the UMass Amherst Libraries, she is Liaison to the Stockbridge School of Agriculture as well as the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning. She earned an MLS from the University of Rhode Island and an MA in Sustainable Landscape Planning and Design from the Conway School. She serves on the Executive Council of the U.S. Agricultural Information Network. With a passion for growing food, Madeleine is a certified Permaculture Designer and Master Gardener. She lives in Amherst with her husband, a farmer turned lawyer, and their young son who, at the tender age of three, dug up a bed of potatoes and transported them to the shed in his own mini-wheelbarrow.
Katie Campbell-Nelson is a co-instructor for “Sustainable Living.” She teaches online and on campus with a focus on service and experiential learning. Katie has a BA in Peace and Global Studies from Earlham College where her thesis was about sustainable agriculture and a liberal arts education. She also earned an MS from the Department of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Katie serves on the Board of Directors of the Literacy Project, a western Massachusetts-based program that provides education in basic skills and GED preparation for adults. A dedicated backyard farmer, she is also a mentor for Holistic Management International which serves beginning women farmers.
Promoting Professional Resources and Research Skills in an Education Program
Speaker: Gwen Verkuilen-Chevalier, Head of Collection Development and User Services, Saint Anselm College
Abstract: Professional programs offer a unique challenge to teaching librarians. Students going through these programs need to acquire scholarly research skills but also skills that will assist them in their future careers. The challenge is how to marry these two seemingly disparate needs into one information literacy program. Using the example of a tiered information literacy curriculum for Education majors, attendees will see how professional resources and research skills are promoted throughout the lifespan of a professional program. Inspired and guided by the objectives, principles, and standards set forth in ACRL’s Information Literacy Standards for Teacher Education, the curriculum exposes students to the variety of research and evaluation skills that are specific to the requirements of a practicing K-12 educator. The program starts with the promotion of professional journals, websites, and newsletters in introductory classes, moves on to demonstrate how scholarly materials are used during a professional career in research methods classes, and culminates in an orientation of professional materials for senior student teachers. Instruction librarians will be able to use the information presented to brainstorm ways that they can promote professional resources and research skills to students in any professional program.
About the Speaker: Gwen Verkuilen-Chevalier is Head of Collection Development and User Services at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH. She has a BA in history from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and a MA in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to her collection development and user services responsibilities she serves as the Library Liaison to the Education and Sociology departments.
Midafternoon Presentation
More than Information Specialists: Librarians as Co-instructors, Literacy Educators and Mentors
Speakers: Mona Anne Niedbala, Education & Curriculum Materials Librarian, University of Rhode Island
Adam Moore, Lecturer, University of Rhode Island School of Education
Abstract: Collaboration with faculty in teaching information literacy transformed and expanded the role of academic librarians. Besides being information specialists, librarians added new roles to their profession such as co-instructors, content experts, literacy educators and mentors. This presentation describes an innovative collaboration model between a librarian, a faculty member, and a School of Library and Information Studies graduate student. The partnership uses an original reflective pedagogical model and multiple media platforms such as Inspiration, the Big Blue Button, and ScreenR in a Sakai collaborative learning environment for co-teaching about human differences, information literacy, transliteracy, and Writing Across the Curriculum in a first-year course about social justice and education.
About the Speakers: Mona Anne Niedbala is an Associate Professor, Education & Curriculum Materials Librarian with the University of Rhode Island Libraries. She is a graduate of the Master of Library Science program at Southern Connecticut State University. Her research interests focus on blended learning, instructional design, education research, designing information literacy programs, and on using curriculum materials and assistive technology for working with pre-service teachers and disadvantaged students.
Adam Moore, former Boston Public Schools and National Board Certified special education teacher, serves as a lecturer for School of Education at the University of Rhode Island. Adam received his Masters of Education at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. He is currently a doctoral student at The University of Rhode Island. His research interests include inclusive urban education, factors related to the disproportionally of students of color in special education, and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Closing Speaker
Building Community for the Future: Far Transfer and Information Literacy Instruction
Speaker: Scott Sheidlower, Assistant Professor and Head of Reference, York College of the City University of New York
Abstract: One of the major obstacles in Information Literacy instruction is memory retention and transfer of learning (i.e. far transfer). How do students remember a one-shot instruction session and transfer those skills continuously throughout their college careers? This workshop focuses on different strategies and examples to use in class in order to help students retain vital information literacy skills for college and for life. If students could retain what they have learned, this may have a positive effect on student success in college, in the work force, and in their communities. This workshop will address teaching techniques such as using humor, interaction, storytelling, and creating a concrete set of realistic teaching objectives. In addition, this workshop will also address how we can develop our teaching objectives using Bloom's taxonomy, the theory of irregular verbs and Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence, which are different techniques used to help students remember concepts long term.
About the Speaker: Scott Sheidlower is an Assistant Professor and Head of Reference in the library at York College of the City University of New York in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. He has an M.A. in Art History from NYU; an M.A. in Arts Administration, also from NYU; and an M.L.S. from Queens College/CUNY. He is co-author of Humor and Information Literacy: Practical Techniques for Library Instruction (Libraries Unlimited, 2011).
About Our Sponsors
The Council of Connecticut Academic Library Directors (CCALD) is a statewide consortium of academic library directors, working together to improve services and access to resources through cooperation.
WT Cox Information Services offers electronic and print serials and a host of additional services including an A-Z, Link Resolver, ERM solution, access to 3+ million eBooks and discovery tool. Allow WT Cox to evaluate your collection and provide the best solution for your library. The Knimbus Search & Discovery Tool allows you to improve your patrons' research productivity and locate knowledge effectively within a collaborative, user-friendly platform. Share knowledge to online content and peer groups, including classroom seminars enabling your users to find people and connect.
2013 Agenda
9:00-9:30 Registration, refreshments, and networking
9:30-10:00 Welcome and Introduction
10:00-11:00 Teaching Information Literacy for Life: Addressing the Issues
11:00-11:10 Break
11:10-12:10 Concurrent speakers (please choose one session to attend)
A. A Cure for Search-Box Syndrome: Empowering a Google Generation through Information Literacy
B. Embedded: A Sustainability Studies Librarian Finds a New Home
C. Promoting Professional Resources and Research Skills in an Education Program
12:10-1:10 Lunch and demonstration of the Knimbus Search & Discovery Tool (Sponsored by W.T. Cox)
1:10-2:10 More than Information Specialists: Librarians as Co-instructors, Literacy Educators and Mentors
2:10-2:20 Break
2:20-3:20 Building Community for the Future: Far Transfer and Information Literacy Instruction
3:20-3:30 Dessert and library door prizes
