Braided Streams: Collections, Connections and Information Literacy in Asian Studies

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Braided StreamsCollections, Connections and
Information Literacy in Asian Studies

• Kris MacPherson and Yunshan Ye
• St. Olaf College
• 9 April 2005

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Todays Agenda

• Asian Studies and the Library at liberal arts
  colleges
• Collaboration
• Collection Development
• Information Literacy
• Curriculum development

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The Context East Asian Studies and East Asian
Librarianship

• Intellectual context
• Material context

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The Project Collaborative East Asian Studies
Collection Development at the Three College
Libraries

• Build strong English language Collections
• Build core East Asian language collections
• Provide access to resources beyond library
  collections

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Teaching Methodologies and Strategies for
Accessing this Wealth of Material
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Activity at the national level

• Cathy Chiu, UC Santa Barbara, and CEAL Librarians
• Zhijia Shen and Keith Gresham, UC Boulder
• Hua Yi, CSU San Marcos
• Alban Kojima, University of Pennsylvania
• Sharon Domier, U Mass Amherst and 4 other
  colleges
• NCC on Japanese Language Resources

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St. Olaf Context

• Reference and instruction librarian with Asian
  Studies background since 1982
• An inclusive, collaborative department
• Long tradition of assignment-specific,
  course-integrated instruction, particularly with
  first years and seniors
• Need for focus time to evaluate and revise
  program

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The Stimulus

• Our own frustrations
• Consultants confirmation
• Freeman Grant librarian focus on collection and
  services overall
• Mellon/ACM monies

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Actions

• Common readings
• Goal setting
• Our own competency standards for StO students
• Sequential approach
• Assignments coordinated

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Concepts Rubric

• Course Level
• Concept
• Resource
• Assignments in which concepts are covered

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Concepts Rubric non ACRL

• Distinguish between and understand limits and
  values of different genres (scholarly,
  journalistic, fictional literature and memoirs)
• Use digital image collections
• Send email in Chinese or Japanese
• Identify theoretical perspectives within
  materials (feminist, Marxist, etc.)

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Assignment Rubric

• Class in which covered
• Assignment Title
• Assignment Description
• Concepts Covered
• Assignment format

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Challenges

• A multitude of entry points for the major
• Students abroad for intermediate level courses
• Seniors unprepared for research
  bibliographically and disciplinarily

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How do research methods show up in the curriculum
of other undergraduate programs?
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Using a disciplinary focus

• University of Wisconsin Madison, major in Asian
  Studies
• Requires eight credits in one discipline and a
  senior thesis
• http//www.wisc.edu/pubs/ug/10lettsci/depts/asian.
  html
•  
• University of California-Berkeley Group in Asian
  Studies, Undergraduate program
• Two courses must be in the same discipline. One
  of the two must be a course whose primary purpose
  is to introduce the theories and methods of the
  discipline.
• http//ieas.berkeley.edu/gas/undergrad_program.htm
  l

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Using a disciplinary focus

• Macalester College, major in Asian Studies
• Requires six courses in a single discipline (not
  necessarily focused on Asia) plus a senior
  seminar or independent research project
• http//www.macalester.edu/academic/catalog/program
  /
• asi_m.html
•  
• Colorado College, major in Asian Studies
• Requires one advanced disciplinary methods course
  outside Asian Studies plus a senior seminar
• http//www.colorado.edu/ealc/aprg.html

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Using a research methods course

• Bryn Mawr College, major in East Asian Studies
• Requires a sophomore seminar on approaches and
  methods plus a senior thematic seminar
• http//www.brynmawr.edu/eastasian/courses.html
•  
• Victoria University (Australia), major in Asian
  Studies
• Offers a course on social science methods
  Research methods and techniques in Asian Studies
• http//www.vu.edu.au/Faculties/Arts/Undergraduate_
  Courses/Asian_Studies/
•  
• University of Albany, major in East Asian Studies
• Offers East Asian Research and Bibliographic
  Methods
• http//www.albany.edu/eas/205/syllabus202004.htm

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St. Olaf CollegeOur Course for Majors

• Interdisciplinary Approaches to Asia
• Aimed at sophomores and juniors
• 1.5 hour class once a week

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Course Goals

• To introduce majors to the interdisciplinary
  nature of the field and to provide preparation
  for the senior seminar, including research
  methods
• To provide a grounding in the approaches
  different disciplines make to a common body of
  knowledge
• To introduce the professional field of Asian
  Studies and suggest possible career paths

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Asian Studies 275 Course Content
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Introductory Issues

• Disciplinary and interdisciplinary What's all
  the fuss?
• Asian Studies as a field of study History,
  current status, future, as experienced at St.
  Olaf
• Introduction to the common topic Great Wall of
  China and Japanese anime

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The Great Wall and Anime Faculty Presentations

• Questions from the disciplines
• History, Literature, Religious Studies
• Economics, Political Science,
• Socio-linguistics
• Fine Arts
• Sciences
• Interdisciplinary Approaches

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Resources in Asian Studies

• Encyclopedias, annual reviews, statistical
  sources, bibliographies and catalogs in English
  and CJK, biographical materials
• Databases, Newspapers, Journals, Review sources
• Citation indexes
• Websites and digital image collections with a
  quick refresher on evaluating websites

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Presentation skills

• EndNote
• Web portfolios
• Advanced PowerPoint

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Joining the scholarly conversation in Asian
Studies

• AAS and the Newsletter
• H-Asia
• Asia-Network, etc.
• Grants and other opportunities for undergraduate
  and graduate work Rotary, Fulbright, Freeman,
  etc.

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Career Paths

• for Asian Studies Majors, Concentrators or
  Interested Folks
• Alumni panel

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Program Transferability

• Sharing a librarian with specialized disciplinary
  background
• Collections can be coordinated and built with the
  help of an expert
• Specialized resources for reference
• Focus time to work on IL offerings

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Accessing St. Olaf Asian Studies Info Lit
Documents www.stolaf.edu/library/instruction/inf
olit
 
To bottom of page
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Documents on Web Page

• Concepts Rubric
• Assignments Rubric
• Course Description
• Course Timeline
• This powerpoint presentation

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For more information on this project

• macphers_at_stolaf.edu
• ye_at_macalester.edu