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."

5th Annual Armacost Library Undergraduate Research Award Reception

5th Annual Armacost Library Undergraduate Research Award Reception

Tuesday, April 2nd, 5-6pm

Library Conference Room

Armacost Library (3rd floor)

(refreshments served)

Alexandra Bollella with her advisor Dr. Pat Wasielewski (Sociology & Anthropology)

The 2013 recipient of the Armacost Library Undergraduate Research Award (ALURA) is Alexandra Bollella for her paper titled "Bridging the Divide: A Comparative Analysis of Feminist Movements in Turkey and the United States.”

Alexandra Bollella and her faculty sponsor, Dr. Pat Wasielewski will join us to talk about their research processes. 

Please join us to celebrate undergraduate information literacy and library research skills!  We congratulate Alexandra and all of the students who submitted their work for consideration. The Selection Committee reviewed some impressive and varied research projects. 

The Selection Committee included:
Shana Higgins, Education, Interdisciplinary & Area Studes Librarian
Janelle Julagay, Business Librarian
Sanjeet Mann, Arts Librarian
Liesder Mayea, Assistant Professor, Spanish
Scott Stevens, Seiter Endowed Chair, Director of Writing
Vanessa Wilkie, Assistant Professor, History
Amy Wilms, Assistant Dean of Academics & Student Life

Information Literacy: Faculty Showcase 2013

This year's Information Literacy Showcase highlighted several diverse methods of integrating information and library research literacy into courses and programs:  a semester-long information literacy and research lab, a two-workshop introduction to research toward clinical practice, and a quick & adaptable literature review activity. 

Dr. Michael Groher (Communicative Disorders) and Melissa Cardenas-Dow (Behavioral Sciences Librarian) discussed the learning goals of CDIS 310: Junior Seminar, a course which orients students toward research practice that will support clinical practice through:

• learning to critically read research literature
• practicing research summaries 
•  and critical analysis of research

Two library workshops attached to this methodology course enable students to begin to acquire the language of their discipline and of the research databases in their field.

Dr. Scott Randolph (Business Administration) and Janelle Julagay (Business Librarian) described their development of and the outcomes of a semester-long research lab on which they have collaborated and co-taught for Randolph's BUS 226: The Rise of American Capitalism course.  Over the past two years their collaboration has grown from two library workshops during the BUS 226 lab to a weekly collaboration for the entire semester. Students are introduced to the practices of historical research, from deciphering and following footnotes to producing bibliographies to learning to ask questions of primary sources. In the process students also learn to recognize librarians as co-teachers in the shared education mission of the university. 

Finally, Gabriela Sonntag, Library Director, walked us through a literature review activity that provides an active learning opportunity for students to understand the purpose of literature reviews; how to read an abstract to quickly determine methodology, hypotheses, results, and gaps in the research; as well as learn to effectively read database records. 

Look for the products (sample assignments, activity prompts, worksheets) of this showcase in a soon to-be-announced Information Literacy Repository.  

We'll see you at next year's showcase!

2013 Information Literacy Faculty Showcase

Information literacy is about determining one's need for, ability to locate, and to evaluate information as well as to understand how information is socially situated and produced.

Like critical thinking, information literacy encompasses a wide range of skills and thought processes that have become increasingly relevant in today's complex information landscape.

Developing these skills and ways of thinking in students "depends on collaborative pedagogy, embedding research competencies in individual courses and throughout the curriculum, and integrating skills developmentally into the entire learning process."1

Come to our 2nd annual hour-long showcase highlighting methods of integrating and developing information literacy competencies through the curriculum.

Janelle Julagay (Library) and Scott Randolph (Business) will share the development of their BUS 226 labs.

Melissa Cardenas-Dow (Library) and Michael Groher (Communicative Disorders) will discuss introducing library research methods into the Junior Seminar.

Other librarians will share easily adaptable assignments/activities that develop information literacy competencies.

1 Hutchins, Elizabeth O., Barbara Fister, and Kris MacPherson. "Changing Landscapes, Enduring Values: Making the Transition from Bibliographic Instruction to Information Literacy." Journal of Library Administration 36.1-2 (2002): 3-19. Print.

Armacost Library Undergraduate Research Award

The proliferation of data, information, knowledge, and representations of cultural artifacts in digital format has made research both a seemingly easier and a much more complex process than in the past.  In a Googlized information landscape so much is available at our fingertips. However, the sheer volume of information has made finding relevant sources of evidence and the evaluation of that evidentiary material more difficult.  Information literacy is a significant component of problem solving, decision-making, effective communication, research, and the production of new knowledge.

The Armacost Library Undergraduate Research Award honors students who demonstrate sophistication, creativity, and unusual depth and/or breadth in the use of library collections and information available elsewhere in a variety of media and who show evidence of developing an understanding of the processes of research and inquiry. The award review committee considers the product of the research, but places particular emphasis on the research process: the demonstration of research skills, adept use of information resources, and reflection upon the strategies utilized to investigate a research problem. Winners receive a cash prize and public recognition of their excellent work.

This award isn’t the exclusive domain of the research paper.  Projects might include research involved in a musical or theater production, curating an exhibit, producing a film/video, developing a community service project, or tracing the historical research leading to current lab experiments or fieldwork.  Just to name a few of the possibilities.

More information about the award can be found at this web address: http://library.redlands.edu/alura.

Or, talk with your subject librarian: http://library.redlands.edu/mylibrarian.

Information Illiteracy: A Form of Censorship

From September 1 to October 31, 2012, Armacost Library is holding an Intellectual Freedom Blogathon featuring posts on topics concerning censorship, the freedom to read, view, and express, and the connection these various freedoms have to individual life experiences and the state of society. The following essay is part of the Armacost Library Intellectual Freedom (ALIF) Blogathon. 

You may have heard the term Information Literacy (IL) and wondered what it meant. I’d like to relate this concept, and the theoretical framework it embodies, to the concepts discussed here in the Intellectual Freedom Blogathon.

The simple definition of IL states that an information literate student has “learned how to learn” (American Library Association, 1989). What does that mean? An information literate person can articulate when they need information and knows how to locate that information, how to evaluate it for reliability, and then use it to solve a problem or make a decision.  In other words, we all want to know how to teach ourselves something new when the need or desire arises.

Becoming information literate is not something that one picks up naturally; it is taught and practiced over time, just as learning to read and write. And because of the nature of our information world, it is a set of skills and an attitude of practice that, if not practiced, becomes rusty and ineffective.

But how does this relate to Banned Books? Does it not seem an extension of being information literate that we would want access to all available information when we begin the process of learning? Would we accept a system that chooses for us what information we can use and that which is off-limits to us? And is not the fact of being information illiterate, or rather the failure to teach us to be information literate, a form of censorship itself? If we are not taught to locate, evaluate and use information (to be information literate) is this not as much a violation of our rights as prohibiting our access to information?


American Library Association. Association of College and Research Libraries. This site has links to important issues which include information literacy. See http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/whitepapers/presidential and www.infolit.org

Gabriela Sonntag
Armacost Library Director
University of Redlands

October is National Information Literacy Awareness Month

The National Forum on Information Literacy (NFIL), Credo Reference, and Libraries Thriving have joined forces to raise awareness of information literacy as a core, necessary concept in today's information-rich world.

From the NFIL website:

October is National Information Literacy Awareness month. In today's digital world, people who are information literate know how to find, access, and critically evaluate information to improve their health, their environment, their education and workplace performance.... Having that skill set empowers them to interpret and make informed decisions about their lives, in essence, taking responsibility for their own welfare and that of their nation.

This year, NFIL, Credo Reference and Libraries Thriving are holding a campaign that seeks official state support and recognition of information literacy. California is among the states currently drafting a gubernatorial proclamation.

Armacost Library recognizes the need for information literacy. We are very happy to support this effort!

For more information, please explore NFIL's website and view their campaign's participation tutorial.

Introducing the Armacost Library Intellectual Freedom (ALIF) Blogathon

Image courtesy of Melanie Cardenas

From September 1, 2012 to October 31, 2012, Armacost Library will be celebrating the cornerstone concept of Intellectual Freedom. This is our way of  observing a significant theme that runs through many of our events this fall semester: Constitution Day (September 17), Banned Books Week (September 30-October 6), National Information Literacy Awareness Month (October), and International Open Access Week (October 22-28).

We are opening up our weblog space to writers from the University of Redlands community. Students, faculty, staff members, and administrators are welcome to submit posts with the general theme of "intellectual freedom." Comments are also welcome.

What do I send? What do I write about?

Overall, the topic of the post needs to be about matters concerning intellectual freedom, a wide, multi-sided subject. The writer point-of-view can be personal and subjective or academic and objective.

Some guidelines:

• Must meet the overarching topic of intellectual freedom. See the topic suggestions below.
• 200-1000 words, please.
• We prefer prose, but poetry is also welcome. For this campaign, we want to limit things to written words.
• Send along an accompanying emblematic image. Just make sure you send along a caption too. We’ll put up your text and image in the same post.
• Ensure accuracy of your factual assertions. Make references to resources (online or otherwise). If your post has been adapted from a previous work you’ve done, please let us know this too, so we can make note of it on your post.
• Have a title and tags for your post.
• Consider the venue (a blog) and your audience (who’s going to read your post). Blog posts are often written in an informal yet engaging voice, so writing in a conversational way is acceptable. If you’re more comfortable writing with a more academic, technical, or formal style, that will also be acceptable. Structure and grammar help writers convey their thoughts to their readers in a more meaningful way. Please use them!
• Do you want to submit your post anonymously? We can accommodate that. We’ll just say “a UofR student,”  “a UofR administrator,” or whatever is appropriate. Just let us know. If you do want to be identified, please include your major and your class year (i.e., 2012, 2013, 2014, etc.) with your name, if you are a student. If you are a faculty, staff or administration member, please include your department and title with your name. By default, we’ll assume you want to be identified, so please be sure to say if this is not the case.

Some topic ideas:

• Censorship of scientific research results.
• I love <insert banned book, film title here> because….
• A particular instance of censorship or intellectual freedom challenge, current or otherwise.
• I value my freedom to read and view as a <insert role here; i.e., parent, instructor, student, etc.> because….
• Value of reading literature.
• Connection of freedom to read/view with other freedoms (i.e., freedom of speech, freedom to express, freedom to congregate, freedom to demonstrate, etc.).
• Connection of freedoms (see above and below) to matters of equity, social justice, advocacy and diversity.
• This list is not comprehensive.

What do I need to do to participate?

Send a copy of your post to any of Armacost Library’s faculty, following the above guidelines. Email is the best method to send your post submission. Put ALIF in the subject line. This will help us field your submission faster. 

We will contact you about your submission to let you know when it will be posted. Be sure to return to Armacost Library News to see new comments and posts.

How has a particular work of science, literature, film, theater, or art affected you? We welcome your thoughts.

Image courtesy of Melanie Cardenas

Melissa Cardenas-Dow
Outreach/Behavioral Sciences Librarian
Armacost Library, University of Redlands
melissa_cardenasdow (a) redlands (dot) edu

909.748.8089