scholarly journals Escape the welcome cliché

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Wise ◽  
Julie Lowe ◽  
Adam Hill ◽  
Laura Barnett ◽  
Charlotte Barton

The University of Surrey Library and Learning Support Services (LLSS) recognised an increasing need to transform its welcome, induction and orientation activities for students. Past activities have entailed delivering information to students in ways which may have led to information overload and lack of engagement by students with library services. The LLSS have been exploring innovative ways to welcome students to university, moving away from didactic approaches. This paper presents one such innovation produced among a series of activities during 2017/18, an educational escape room, informed by the work of Walsh (2017). This activity invited students to solve a series of themed puzzles in the escape room, introducing them to library services and information literacy (IL) skills to support their studies. This report provides an account of the challenges and positive outcomes encountered in designing the escape room, with a view to sharing good learning and teaching practice.

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Hannah Wise ◽  
Julie Lowe ◽  
Adam Hill ◽  
Laura Barnett ◽  
Charlotte Barton

The University of Surrey Library and Learning Support Services (LLSS) recognised an increasing need to transform its welcome, induction and orientation activities for students. Past activities have entailed delivering information to students in ways which may have led to information overload and lack of engagement by students with library services. The LLSS have been exploring innovative ways to welcome students to university, moving away from didactic approaches. This paper presents one such innovation produced among a series of activities during 2017/18, an educational escape room, informed by the work of Walsh (2017). This activity invited students to solve a series of themed puzzles in the escape room, introducing them to library services and information literacy (IL) skills to support their studies. This report provides an account of the challenges and positive outcomes encountered in designing the escape room, with a view to sharing good learning and teaching practice.


Author(s):  
Kshema Prakash

The chapter discusses library support services in a distance education system and their value and importance in the overall development of a learner in general and a distance learner in particular. The chapter also traces how emerging digital technologies allow libraries to offer efficient support services to distance learners. This case of Distance Library Services at a university in India describes the evolution, experiences and challenges of offering distance library services through the university. The chapter focuses on information literacy and use of social networking tools. Development of information literacy is critical for distance learners, and social networking tools based on Web 2.0 technologies may provide library services and impart information literacy to distance learners. The chapter concludes with some suggestions pertaining to opportunities and future propositions.


Author(s):  
Chrissi Nerantzi ◽  
Craig Scott Despard

In this paper we describe the use of LEGO® models within assessment of the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) offered at the University of Salford. Within the context of the PGCAP, we model innovative and contextualised assessment strategies for and of learning. We challenge our students, who are teachers in higher education (HE), to think and rethink the assessment they are using with their own students. We help them develop a deeper understanding and experience of good assessment and feedback practice in a wider context while they are assessed as students on the PGCAP. We report on an evaluation of how the LEGO® model activity was used with a cohort of students in the context of the professional discussion assessment. We share the impact it had on reflection and the assessment experience and make recommendations for good practice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Allie Taylor

Following the implementation of online reading list software, Library Services at the University of Worcester (UW) encouraged academic staff to consider the reading list as a learning tool. Using an interactive teaching session timetabled as part of the Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, lecturers are asked to consider how they can maximise the impact of their reading lists and increase library use. The pedagogy of reading lists and student engagement with reading are examined. Participants also discuss the type of content reading lists typically contain and question whether this accurately reflects what the students should be reading. It draws on best practice from academic colleagues at UW, examining (among other things) the effect of list length, structure and lecturer voice and presence.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Schell ◽  
Meghan Sitar

Information literacy at the graduate level can happen at the intersection of research method education and mentorship into a disciplinary community of practice with its own traditions of inquiry, communication, and knowledge creation. Funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the Library as Research Lab Project at the University of Michigan enables graduate students, academic librarians, and information science faculty to engage in a series of research activities together, illuminating tacit knowledge in information studies and librarianship, both as a discipline and as a profession. In the project, three interconnected labs pursue authentic research questions emerging from challenges faced by the Library while providing School of Information students with mentorship, new skills, and a fellowship stipend. A common curriculum across the labs includes research ethics, publishing, project management, and current issues in higher education research. Engaging with the frames of “Research as Inquiry” and “Scholarship as Conversation” from the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education​, students also learn how to effectively discuss, iterate upon, and present their research activities to different audiences. At the end of the fellowship, students enter the profession with an understanding of complex challenges facing libraries and with new strategies for responding to ambiguity and pursuing new solutions through research. As we complete the final year of the grant, the librarians from the Design Thinking for Library Services Lab will reflect on lessons learned and share student perspectives as a way of discussing how similar initiatives might facilitate positive and critically engaged research projects at other institutions. Attendees will be able to describe strategies for developing similar environments in support of authentic research experiences and will be able to apply strategies documented in a mentoring handbook from the project in their own work.


2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (62) ◽  
pp. 10-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazel Clarke

The project began as a challenge. The University of North London has a goal to facilitate access to all potential students with the academic ability to complete their chosen course. The library plays a key role in providing learning support, yet had no policy on providing for students with disabilities. The research project was formulated, and submitted to LIRG for consideration for the Daphne Clark award 1991/92. The main objective was to gain information on which to base a policy and plan of action to provide services for students with disabilities. Students at North London provided a practical base for the project.


Author(s):  
Eva Costiander-Huldén ◽  
Leena Järveläinen

In recent years, there has been a demand to include doctoral students and researchers in the curriculum for information literacy. Not only information search, but also the expertise of the librarians in scientific publishing, bibliometric analysis is demanded. As a result of the demand the two universities in Turku/Åbo have developed their research services. The libraries have also met for benchmarking and further cooperation is being discussed. 1.The implementation of three focus group interviews with 18 researchers at Åbo Akademi University The Focus Group survey methodology has its roots in social science qualitative research. It is widely used in the library world and is considered to be suitable particularly well for the evaluation and development of library services. The overall purpose with our interviews was to obtain feedback on how library users (in this case, researchers and graduate students) wish ÅAUL to develop its services to better meet their needs. Three group interviews were conducted, with 6-8 participators. The following questions were, among others, discussed in every session: How do the researchers perceive the library's role in their daily work? What is the starting point for retrieving information (e.g. The MetaLib portal, Google Scholar or other)? Is there a need for courses/more supervision in information search and reference management? Is there a need for tailored and integrated library services? As a result of the sessions and analysis of the group discussions a number of measures were proposed: Targeted teaching of subject-specific databases, more topic-specific sessions in the library portal and RefWorks. Compulsory information retrieval course for first year doctoral students. Information Weeks or "hands on" sessions on campus libraries. The library should participate more in workshops and seminars to increase their visibility and their services. The library should actively consider how to measure the impact and influence of such as the teaching of information retrieval and databases to better develop and monitor the results. More individual supervision and focus on the personal touch. The presentation will also discuss the pros and cons of the focus group method. 2.Transferable skills for researchers in Turku University Library (TUL) In Turku University Library the need for IL among doctoral students and researchers had also been recognized and when the University of Turku Graduate School (UTUGS) was established in 2011, the library immediately contacted the coordinator of UTUGS. Already in the first meeting both parties agreed that the first training of which the library would be responsible would take place in Spring 2012. The course blended well into the other transferable skills training of UTUGS. The IL course contents were then planned with the UTUGS Coordinator who had the best knowledge of what the PhD students would need from the library. E-resources, reference management, affiliation, plagiarism etc. were discussed and the first course description was written. One of the key elements was that other experts in the university were asked to lecture also. They covered subjects like ethics and plagiarism. For all three courses the library has asked for feedback and adjusted the content respectively. For the most part the feedback has been encouraging but there are still things to be done. Which are the interfaces with the other UTUGS courses? How can the course participants benefit more of the interdisciplinary groups they are studying in? Does the training have effect on the research the participants are doing? 3.Cooperation and benchmarking Since 2004, The Information Literacy Network of the Finnish Universities has coordinated further education and exchanges of experiences. Some of the members were appointed in 2012 to develop the recommendations of information literacy in universities and universities of applied sciences in Finland. The recommendations are now under consideration by the libraries and will be used in negotiations with the university administration to implement compulsory studies of information skills among doctoral students. On a local level, ÅAUL and TUL, as neighbouring libraries, have strengthen the exchange of ideas and experiences during the last years. As ÅAUL started with focus group surveys and abstracts before implementing information literacy courses, TUL started with customized courses for doctoral students last year. There have been fruitful, professional discussions and more elaborative benchmarking sessions between the libraries. Together the both libraries have also hosted the University Library of Gothenburg and arranged a two-day-long benchmarking seminar about research services.


Author(s):  
Brad Doerksen

This article considers institutional literacy as a lens through which to consider causes of library anxiety and the development of library programs. Institutional literacy is the ability to read and engage with the ways of being and doing that are -- often invisibly -- embedded into institutions of all kinds. This article posits that the ability of library users to confidently engage with library services is in part predicated on the level of institutional literacy these users have, both in the institution of the library itself and any larger host institution – such as a university. A setting such as a university requires a range of literacies, and those developing programs and services in such settings should not assume new and potential library users already have developed these literacies. While librarians are accustomed to considering information literacy as their contribution to this matrix, unfamiliar institutional literacy practices can present obstacles to new library users becoming information literate. A comparison of research on the effects of a lack of institutional literacy and research into library anxiety demonstrates parallels that suggest that low levels of institutional literacy are a contributing factor to library anxiety, creating one of the aforementioned obstacles. Acting as institutional literacy mediators is one way library workers can respond to this challenge. The article concludes with a description of how the theoretical lens thus developed was used to inform the development of a personal librarian program at the University of Regina, in part by positioning librarians as institutional literacy mediators.


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