Friday, May 31, 2013

New resource for industry research!





We are very happy to share with our academic community a new electronic resource for your use. Euromonitor International’s Passport GMID (“gee-mid” standing for: Global Market Information Database) allows users to perform industry level research across countries worldwide. With access to statistics, surveys, and expert analysis, researchers seeking out data on markets, industries, and consumers both domestically and abroad, should find tools to assist them in their process here


You may access it from any computer using your myRedlands ID and password. It is discoverable from our exhaustive list of databases, as well as the research guide for business studies. As you have time, please have a look round this resource, and do let us know what you think! 

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Read This! Barbara Fister's "Decode Academy"


The text of Barbara Fister's talk presented at the annual LOEX conference, held in Nashville, TN, on May 3, 2013.  

Fister asks some big questions and makes some provocative claims in relation to student learning, libraries, and information literacy.  It's worth a read, and not just for librarians.

A teaser:

"Since I work at a small college with an undergraduate focus, my answer to “what are libraries for” tends to focus on student learning. In what ways does my library contribute to what our graduates learn? When we talk about information literacy, what we really mean by it is preparing students to keep learning, to participate in society, and to have the skills and habits that will help them make the most of their lives and contribute something valuable to society. This means helping them not only to decode how to find and use information – that’s the easy part – but helping them discover within themselves the ability to create new knowledge; to develop the skills that will not only help them recognize authority, but to become, themselves, authors of the world they’re stepping into when they graduate. We have a tendency to respond to the needs that present themselves, and those tend to focus on helping students be successful students. But we need to keep our eye on the ultimate purpose of
information literacy: to be able to use critical skills for inquiry wherever our students land, knowing that for most of them, it will be in a very different place."

Read the full text here: "Decode Academy."