Faculty Brown Bag Discussion

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Faculty Brown Bag Discussion

• Ripon College
• August 26, 2004
• Jill Gremmels
• College Librarian
• Wartburg College

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Expert Researcher Model(Leckie)

• In-depth knowledge of discipline
• Knows fields important scholars
• Informal scholarly communication
• Research is non-sequential and non-linear
  (ambiguity serendipity)
• Learns on own
• Has info-seeking strategies
• Content, not skills issues KNOWLEDGE over
  mechanics
• Long process of acculturation

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Assumptions About Librarians from Experts

• Experts probably wont need to use librarians
  because they already know what they want to find.
• However, librarians are helpful and are there if
  trouble develops.
• Librarians are good with technical questions
  about retrieval processes.

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Novice Researcher Model(Leckie)

• First exposure to discipline?
• Important people/names to know?
• No informal network (except professor).
• Context is textbooks, lectures, reserves.
• Cognitive development finds ambiguity and
  non-linear approaches threatening.
• Strategies for coping, not info-seeking.
• Masters one retrieval mechanism and sticks to it
  (appropriate or not).

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Assumptions About Librarians From Novices

• Novice researchers dont understand why
  librarians are there and what they can do for
  them.
• Novices will approach peers, family, or friends
  first.
• International students are more likely to ask
  librarians for help.
• Novices hesitate to ask for assistance
• OR
• They want librarians to do it all narrow topics,
  find, fetch evaluate sources, etc.

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Environmental Scan

• More information resources
• More technology to master
• Diverse student population
• (age, ethnicity, disabilities, part-time,
  distance)
• No uniform skill level
• Varied experience with libraries especially
  academic ones

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Undergrads Are Often Not Aware Of.

• Scholarly sources process and use
• Primary sources
• Why textbooks may not be an appropriate source
• Encyclopedia articles process, when to use them
• Types of authors and audiences
• How to judge a source for a given discipline
• Appropriate disciplinary databases
• Free v. fee issues that affect resources
  research
• How cognitive development affects learning
• Citation sources following bibliographic
  trails, and that doing so is not cheating
• Important scholars on a topic
• Keywords, synonyms, and Boolean searching
  techniques

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Discussion

• What manifestations of the differences between
  expert and novice information-seeking behavior do
  you see in your students?

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Do You Agree?

• The disjuncture between
• faculty expectations and the
• capabilities of undergraduates
• shows up in a required paper or
• performance that is
• research-based.

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What to do?

• Take students cognitive level and information
  experience into account
• Chunk assignments
• Collaborate with librarians at all stages
• Encourage students to take advantage of mentors
  and librarians services

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Information LiteracyDefined

• 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.
• Association of College Research Libraries
  (ACRL)

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Making the Connection

• At some point in a students educational
  experience, there must be a convergence
  of both information and disciplinary literacy if
  true learning is to be facilitated.

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An Information Literate Individual is Able to.

• ACRL Competency Standards
• http//www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/informat
  ionliteracycompetency.htm
• Ripon College Information Literacy Competency
  Guidelines
• Information Literacy the Basis
  for Lifelong Learning

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Collaboration

• Mutual goals
• Mutual respect
• Advance planning
• Substantive contributions by all parties

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Strengths

• Faculty
• expertise in their discipline
• knowledge of students
• skill in teaching
• Librarians
• information search skills
• knowledge of resources
• skill in teaching
• understanding of research process
• questioning strategies
• Mentors
• peer relationship

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What we do at Wartburg

• Information Literacy Across the Curriculum
• 5 core lessons plus major strands
• Reference consultations
• Reinforce and practice without repetition

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Bibliography

• Information Literacy Competency Standards for
  Higher Education. American Association of
  College and Research Libraries, 2000.
• Information Literacy? Seeking Clarification.
  School Libraries Worldwide. 4(1) 1998 59-72.
• Leckey, Gloria J. Desperately Seeking
  Citations Uncovering Faculty Assumptions about
  the Undergraduate Research Process. The Journal
  of Academic Librarianship. May 1996 201-208.
• Tagg, John. The Learning Paradigm College.
  Bolton, MA Anker Publishing, 2003.