Learning More About How They Think: Information Literacy Instruction in a Campus-Wide Critical Thinking Project

ABSTRACT

Critical thinking and information literacy are strongly connected. At Washington State University, librarians have been involved with first-year experience programs and with a grant-funded critical thinking project that enhanced the library instruction and outreach efforts and has led to increased involvement with new initiatives on campus.     

Checking Out the Library: Partnering for Outreach to Short-Term International Students

In the academic year 2015–2016, librarians at Eastern Washington University implemented a series of outreach events for incoming cohorts of international students from Japan participating in a short-term English language program on their campus. The outcome of those outreach efforts has yielded valuable insights into the challenges associated with reaching a short-term international student population, and the particularly vital importance of a strong partnership with program faculty and staff.     

Outreach

Abstract

Academic libraries have often participated in outreach to their surrounding communities. This article focuses on independent outreach efforts of academic libraries to move beyond their walls or traditional clientele. Academic libraries determine their interaction with their communities based on three factors: whether a need is expressed from outside the academy, whether they see their mission as an invitation to pursue an action on their own accord, or whether they construct a form of outreach in response to a specific problem or crisis. Most libraries, public and private, recognize outreach as part of their mission and obligation to the community. This article examines why libraries choose to initiate outreach programs.     

Instructional Outreach Across the Curriculum

Abstract

Over the past decade, there has been a steady rise in interest among academic librarians in the idea of outreach. Outreach from the academic library can take many forms, but it is often built around a commitment to instruction. At Washington State University, a commitment to information literacy instruction across the curriculum and an organizational structure that includes both an independent Library Instruction department and a network of subject specialists has facilitated the rise of a programmatic approach to instructional outreach that allows librarians and faculty to work together to develop creative approaches to the integration of information literacy instruction across the academic curriculum. This article identifies some of the characteristics of new models for instructional outreach in the academic library and describes two instructional outreach programs at Washington State.     

Use of Special Collections as an Opportunity for Outreach in the Academic Library

ABSTRACT

Academic special collections librarians have made great strides in making their collections discoverable and accessible to a wide audience. This article examines use of special collections departments and the many kinds of outreach librarians undertake to increase access to and knowledge of their collections, including creating electronic finding aids, digitizing material, collaborating with faculty, increasing participation in instruction and reference, and using exhibits, social media, and relationships with community partners to further the mission and goals of the library and the college or university. The article uses the University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections Department as a case study.     

Resource Sharing and Social Justice: An MLIS Student Intern’s Perspective of the 2018 Great Lakes Resource Sharing Conference

This paper presents a library student intern’s experience at the Great Lakes Resource Sharing Conference 2018 (GLRSC) in Perrysburg, Ohio on June 7–8. GLRSC is a regional conference aimed at training resource sharing (RS) professionals and creating a collaborative environment for peers to discuss new ideas, best practices, and partnership opportunities, among other related topics. This paper focuses on GLRSC 2018 presenters who emphasized the inherent value of librarianship, and RS specifically, as a tool for social justice. George Needham’s discussion of the intense and unique value of RS to shape our community’s information access is presented, as well as Anna Bendo and Stephen Kaufman’s session about affordable learning options for students of higher education. The inherent relationship between RS and intellectual freedom is also discussed. These concepts of unconditional information access resonate with Myers due to her interest in outreach librarianship and commitment to her position serving marginalized patrons in her community who have severely limited access to the public library’s resources and materials.     

A health education outreach partnership between an academic medical library and public library: lessons learned before and during a pandemic

Background:Public libraries serve as community centers for accessing free, trustworthy health information. As such, they provide an ideal setting to teach the local community about health and health literacy, particularly during public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2018, an outreach partnership between an academic medical library and public library has developed, delivered, and continuously evaluated a health education program targeting public library users.Case Presentation:Health education activities were integrated into three existing public library programs: adult workshops, child and family programming, and circulating family activity kits. Prior to COVID-19, events were held at the public library, which then pivoted online during the pandemic. An interprofessional team approach combined the expertise of academic medical and public librarians, medical school faculty and staff, and medical students in developing the educational programs. Twelve in-person and five virtual programs were offered, and five circulating health education family kits were launched. Activities were assessed using program evaluation surveys of the adult and children''s programs and circulation statistics of the kits.Conclusions:This case report showcases the lessons learned from implementing a longitudinal outreach partnership between an academic medical library and public library before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interprofessional team approach and flexibility in program design and delivery in both the in-person and virtual environments proved critical to the success of the partnership. This partnership could serve as a model for other libraries interested in pursuing interprofessional collaborations in educating local communities on healthy behavior and health information–seeking practices.     

Cover Me,I’m going in: Exploring the needs of student veterans

Abstract

The number of military veterans taking advantage of post-911 educational benefits has increased significantly, and institutions of higher education have responded by creating veteran-friendly campuses. Accordingly, academic librarians have engaged in proactive, ongoing conversations about providing services to this unique student population. The authors went on reconnaissance to assess the needs of student veterans and their response to a recently created veterans lounge space in the library. The information gathered from this survey can help provide insight and possible strategies to improve library outreach and services.     

Retention of Adult and Traditional Learners: Library Strategies for Student Success

Nontraditional adult learners are often treated as separate and distinct in their needs and desires from more traditionally-aged college students. As retention continues to be a critical issue for colleges and universities, academic units and departments turn their focus to student success. This review article examines strategies that institutions have taken to increase students' self-efficacy and engagement, and compares their usefulness for both nontraditional and traditional learners. These strategies are viewed through the lens of the academic library with suggestions for how distance librarians can support the institution in its retention efforts and the students themselves in their own success.     

Library Social Media Needs to be Evaluated Ethically

Library literature about engagement has drawn from business marketing practices for years which has unsurprisingly influenced our approach towards social media communication. This article will evaluate how continuing this practice without a critical evaluation of the ethics behind marketing practices is contradictory to our institutional values. The principles discussed in this article may be useful for current library workers and administrators looking to engage in reflective practice in their outreach efforts. In response to the pervasiveness of marketing culture in library outreach our field has an obligation to support and encourage authentic interactions with our patrons without jeopardizing what makes us different from businesses. I will explain why a marketing perspective limits our efforts, initiate a discussion about this issue, and highlight some examples of effective engagement.     

Faculty Outreach

Abstract

Librarians at Northwest Vista College, a new community college, speculated that keeping faculty members informed about the library and its various resources would result in more instructors sending students to the library for library instruction and, ultimately, it would result in more students who were familiar with and comfortable using the library. This paper describes the librarians' comprehensive faculty outreach effort, which involved putting on special workshops for faculty, creating online forms, and Web links on the library Web page, and taking every opportunity to increase contact and collaboration between librarians and Other faculty and Staff.     

Senior Citizens in the Twenty-First-Century Public Library

As the popularity of public libraries continually grows, they are becoming the hub of the community. With this, each library has to constantly provide services, materials, and space catered to each category of patron. While many focus their efforts on children and teens, older adults are becoming a much more significant division with the patron population. This paper discusses the information needs of all senior citizens, specifically when paired with today’s public library, as well as many of the resources public libraries have put into place, in order to deliver the materials, accessibility, outreach, and workshops needed.     

Public library outreach as a function of staffing and metropolitan location

Library literature suggests that staffing and metropolitan status may affect a public library's provision of outreach efforts. Data from a 1999 survey of Arizona public library service outlets do not support the role of metropolitan status in outreach provision but reaffirms the role of staffing. In this dataset, Arizona public library service outlets had ongoing outreach efforts, with schools and preschools being the most popular venue for providing those services. Analyzing outlets' provision of outreach as a function of staffing revealed that there is a positive relationship between the number of librarians on staff and the odds that a library would conduct outreach. While metropolitan libraries were also associated with an increase in the odds of conducting outreach and making school visits, this was assumed to be a spurious correlation due to the lack of significance in models accounting for staff and metropolitan status.     

Library Jargon Creates Barriers for Potential Users of Health Library and Information Services

This paper is based on Helen Kiely’s Masters dissertation on MA in Library and Information Service Management, successfully completed at the University of Sheffield in 2018. The aim of the study was to explore the extent to which users of a health care library service understood common terminology used by clinical librarians/information professionals. A survey was developed based on the terminology used for common services and was distributed to staff and students at an acute NHS Foundation Trust. One hundred and eight people participated over a four week period and were asked to provide definitions to the terms. Analysis of the responses for accuracy and common themes indicates that jargon can be a barrier to user access and recommendations are made with respect to the need for outreach to users and the language used in this practice for creating better accessibility. F.J.     

Libraries and Living Learning Communities: Exploring strategies for outreach and programming

Living Learning Communities (LLCs) are first-year student residence groups based on a shared academic focus, interest, or social identity. Key to LLC success is co-curricular engagement, which can be greatly aided by library involvement. Because much of the literature on library outreach to LLCs was published two decades ago, the authors conducted a survey of academic librarians in North America to learn about the prevalence of library/LLC partnerships today. The authors learned that at many institutions with LLCs, the library is involved or is planning to be involved in offering outreach or programing to LLCs. Outreach to LLCs is primarily instruction- and library services- based, and the mechanism for delivering outreach varies widely across institutions. Survey results show that most libraries who target LLCs for outreach believe their efforts are successful and that the greatest challenge in sustaining these efforts is staffing.     

Beyond the first year: Supporting sophomores through information literacy outreach

The sophomore year is increasingly becoming a target of retention efforts, as universities and colleges realize that nearly as much attrition occurs between the sophomore and junior years as between the first and sophomore years. As a result, there is an opportunity for libraries to reach out to and target second-year students. This article presents a case study of a sophomore outreach program at the University of Puget Sound focused on citation management software. Our results suggest that libraries should pursue outreach targeting the sophomore population.     

Blogging in Support of Health Information Outreach

Social media technologies are transforming the way librarians are collaborating, creating, and disseminating information. This article discusses how librarians at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio created a blog to support their health information outreach activities. Launched in 2007, the Staying Well Connected blog was established with the goal of promoting access to biomedical and health information for consumers and health professionals in the South Texas region. Postings highlight relevant health news, conferences, funding opportunities, and outreach events.     

Outreach to Distance Learners

Summary

It is the responsibility of any institution offering distance education programs to provide library resources and services for its students. In contrast to traditional students who can find the library on a campus map and go there, distance learners need orientation in order to “find their way” to their library. Librarians must be proactive in their efforts to make the library visible and accessible to these students. Library resources and services must be made available in ways compatible with the needs of students in these programs. The processes of designing, marketing, providing and evaluating appropriate library services demand continuous outreach to the distance education community.     

Promoting digital citizenship in first-year students: Framing information literacy as a tool to help peers

This article explores the creation and implementation of a high-impact, hands-on assignment that both challenges and transforms students' perception of the power of information. The author created a web-based project in which students designed, organized, and promoted their own web portal for peers who were struggling with substance abuse addiction. In order to create buy-in from the students, the assignment's purpose centered on the concept of digital citizenship. The idea behind this concept is to encourage students to use information ethically and to help their fellow digital citizens find and use information ethically as well. In realizing the power of credible, useful information, the project aimed to encourage students to use this power to help their peers who may be struggling. Once the students demonstrated a firm understanding of information literacy, the assignment provided the challenge to put their abilities to practice in student-led small groups that were each in charge of a section of the website. The structure of the class mirrored a workplace environment where the teams set deadlines that were approved by group vote. In the end, each of the students had a hand in creating an open access website that included information that could help their peers in the “real world.”     

高校图书馆信息共享空间建设策略

信息共享空间是近年来国内图书馆争先引进的一种服务模式,它注重实体空间与虚拟空间的结合,打造自己的信息共享空间是高校图书馆提供知识服务的最佳选择。