Week 3: Choose your own adventure

This week we were tasked with choosing out own readings. The criteria we were given was to select 3 readings on or related to the subject of information literacy, in the field of librarianship that we are most interested in. What follows are summaries and commentary on the 3 articles I chose.  I should also not that all 3 of the articles I ended up choosing came from The Journal of Academic Librarianship, this wasn't intentional and I considered articles from several other journals, but these are the 3 that in the end of found to be the most interesting to me in relation to the topic we were given.

Sutten, S. &Knight, L. (2006). Beyond the reading room: integrating primary and secondary sources into the library classroom. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 32(3), 320-325.

Although this article is nearly 7 years old, it deals directly with issues that are still very present in academic libraries and special collections today. The issues of 1) student awareness of how to find and use primary and secondary sources and their relationship, 2) student awareness of special collections, and 3) finding better ways for libraries and librarians to educate students about special collections and the materials available to them there.

The article proposes that providing students with instruction on primary source materials will increase their ability to analyze and synthesize information, and grow their understanding of the structural framework of information in scholarly works.  Furthermore it can serve as a force to break down barriers and students' perceptions of special collections libraries as places where they do not belong.

The article suggests teaching about primary sources along side teaching of secondary source materials, and showing students the connection between primary and secondary sources.  The methodology for this study broke a teaching session down so that 1/3 was focused on primary sources and 2/3 to secondary sources. When learning about primary sources students were provided with a guide to using special collection and finding sources, examples of primary source documents from special collections, and a testimonial by their professor.  Emphasis is placed on items being shown that are sturdy enough for handling so that students can physically interact with the materials rather than being made to feel as though special collections materials are museum artifacts to be looked at but not touched.  Librarians also made a point to use examples of primary and secondary source materials directly related to the subject of the course that students were currently in, this helped to further connect students to the materials they were being taught about at the library.

I found this article very interesting because getting students into special collections to use primary source materials is still a huge issue for special collection libraries.  Many students do not know the their library even has a special collection library, and those that do often either do not believe they would be welcome there, or are not aware of the kind of materials held in special collection or how they would use them. 

The approaches to teaching about primary sources, secondary source, and special collections discussed in this article are great because they are simple, straightforward, and can be integrated into already existing library instruction courses.  What this means is that implementation is fairly easy, additionally providing students with access to this information does not involve asking students or professors to spend more time attending instructional sessions than they already would, which means that professors were more likely to opt for a session which included discussion of primary source materials than one that did not. 

Furthermore although corporation between instructional librarians and special collections librarians is required for this format to work, no additional technologies, or space is required for this kind of instruction, which means that little to no strain will be put on library resources to implement these instructional changes.   

Little, G. (2012). "A place of connection more than repository": using technology in special collections. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 38(3) 172-174

Initially I wasn't sure if this article was a good fit for our prompt to find article about information literacy because I was thinking along the lines of instruction of patrons. However, as I read the article it occurred to me that the concept of information literacy for libraries and librarian is a vital first step and easily taken for-granted.  Studies seem to focus on the information literacy of patrons, but libraries and librarians must themselves achieve a certain level of expertise and understanding in the subjects because they can even begin to worry about teaching others.

This article discusses the increasing move towards the use of new and innovative technologies in special collections libraries to allow users to gain better access and connections to the collections. There is a focus on the need for special collections libraries to be able to understand these technologies and identify which ones will best meet their needs and the needs of their users, while also keeping the reality of their budgets and other practical constraints in mind.

For example: some important questions that special collections libraries moving towards digitizing some of their collection need to ask themselves are:

• What kinds of processes, procedures, and workflows are you going to create to digitize material from your collection? 
• What do you need to know about copyright and other rights management or licensing issues before you start digitizing (likely a lot)?
• How concerned are you about metadata or the ability to house and curate sound files and moving images?
• What about long-term preservation? 

In addition to more traditional means of creating awareness and serving patrons, libraries are turning more and more to webinars, screencasts, and all manner of finding aids, collection guides, and exhibits that live in cyberspace and are accessible through the library website.  But while libraries seek out better ways to connect to their patrons they also need to make sure they are educating themselves about how best to utilize the technological advances available to them. 

Shiao-Feng, S. & Huo, J. (2010). Design and development of web-based information literacy tutorials.  The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36(4), 320-328. 

 This article starts out by providing a definition of information literacy as defined by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL): “a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.” This article works from the assumption that developing information literacy in university students is vital, but that due to time constraints of library staff and students, possible staffing insufficiency, etc. providing the enough educational opportunities for learning information literacy can be a challenge for libraries. In answer to this problem, this article focuses on the potential for web-based information literacy training. 

By exploring web- based information literacy tutorials in a peer-reviewed database, PRIMO. The ACRL-PRIMO this article attempts to provide suggestions on how best to provide this kind of web-based learning. 

The article ultimately concludes that "a full-scale tutorial cannot only successfully supplement a class but actually supplant a face-to-face class for off campus students or for those who prefer web-based instruction." However, most of the examples given are one off instructional web tutorials, and do not appear to be designed to serve as a supplement to a semester long course. Rather they address what the article calls "need" learning, teaching a specific skill, resource, or technology.  

What I think this article does well is to point out all of the interactive and innovative ways that libraries and educators can use web-based learning to provide students with more options and easy access to learning information literacy skills.  For example the article points out the versatility of web-based learning tools to link to additional resources, allow for re-watching and pausing as need by the student, and easy access without appointment.  

What the article doesn't really discuss is the flip-side of this coin, where web-based instruction may not be enough, or simply may not be in the best interests of the library.  For instance in the first article I discussed bringing students into the library and allowing them to handle special collections materials was a vital part of not only providing them with an understanding of those materials, but developing in them and interest in and curiosity about those materials.   To be fair this may simply be beyond the scope of the article, and the article does not directly attack face-to-face instruction.  

I am personally a fan of web-based tutorials for assisting users, especially when it comes to teaching them how to use specific technologies or databases. I only bring these potential shortcomings because I think it is very important as information professionals not to get too attached to one way of providing instruction to users.  Rather I believe we need to remain dynamic incorporating as many different instructional strategies as we can into our bag of tricks.