Dutch Maritime Museum launches new facebook site

Linking in with the last Teach Meet session regarding the use of Social Media to engage with students. Here is a very innovative and humorous way the Dutch National Maritime Museum launched their new Facebook page.

LIR Tech Meet Salon Presentations Using Web2.0 / Mobile Technologies Smarter

Back in September LIR held its inaugural TechMeet salon in DIT Aungier Street, entitled" Using web 2.0 / Mobile Technologies smarter". There were five speakers in total and four of them gave presentations on the following:
Clickers in Teaching – Rachel Hynes, NUI Maynooth
QR Codes - Elaine Bean , NUI Maynooth
Video in Teaching – Orla Daly, UCD
Library Anywhere – Simon Perry, IT Carlow
It was the first time LIR ran this type of event and after some tweaking we intend to run it again sometime in December.

Update from the Second TeachMeet

The second TeachMeet met at the Limerick School of Art and Design (LSAD) on Tuesday, 6th September.
Anne Culhane very kindly organised and hosted the event which focused on 'Mobile Technologies'. Librarians from LSAD, UL, LIT and St. Patrick's College, Thurles were present.

After refreshments, Anne started off the meeting with an interesting presentation on the library's very successful use of Facebook at LSAD. This led on to a most constructive discussion about the pros and cons of Facebook and other social media for libraries; the responsibilities that social media bring for librarians; changes in how students communicate; marketing the library and library blogs.

It was decided that we will have another Teachmeet before Christmas and Pádraig Kirby (LIT) kindly offered to host it. Topics that will be discussed include copyright, plagiarism and referencing.

Sincere thanks to Anne for such an interesting meeting.

Second Teachmeet meeting

The second get-together of Teachmeet will take place in the Limerick School of Art & Design, Clare St., Limerick.  This group looks at the difficulties Library Staff face when delivering Information literacy programmes to students and staff as technologies and  expectations  are changing and  developing rapidly.

The main focus of the meeting will revolve around 'Mobile Technologies'.

If anyone would like to give a talk/demonstration on any aspect of this - can you let Ann Culhane know in advance so that she can organise a schedule and if necessary, have the appropriate technology in place! [Email ann.culhane(at)lit.ie]

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, 6th September. Coffees and teas will be available between 9.30am - 10.00am. It should finish up around 12.30pm.

Becoming Confident Teachers: A Guide for Academic Librarians

Hi All,

Claire McGuinness from UCD has written a book entitled Becoming Confident Teachers: A Guide for Academic Librarians.

I just found out about the book and thought it might be of interest to some of you.

http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/book.aspx?bookID=2267&ChandosTitle=1

Connecting the Social Web to ACRL Learning Outcomes

The article below presents an interesting discussion of the potential value of using the social web for IL instruction within the context of constructive alignment. Bobish suggests a variety of learning activities using blogs, flickr, wikis and social bookmarking sites which are direcly aligned with the learning outcomes derived from the ACRL IL standards. Some interesting ideas!

Bobish, G. (2011). Participation and Pedagogy: Connecting the Social Web to ACRL Learning Outcomes. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 37(1), 54-63.

For example, for one of the performance indicators for standard two ("Identifies keywords, synonyms and related terms for the information needed") the following is one of the TLAs suggested:

"Social bookmarking: After students have located a variety of
online resources on their topic, have them organize them in
Delicious by creating their own tags relevant to the project they
are working on. Discuss why they chose these tags rather than
pre-existing ones, or if they prefer the pre-existing ones, why
they prefer them."

I think the way this activity could encourage the individual to reflect on the 'aboutness' of the resource and what it directly means to them (in formulating their own individual tags) as well as where it fits within the broader/external context (pre-existing tags) is interesting, and could link more explicitly into a discussion on the concept of subject headings as well if desired.

The Shallows

Thanks for that, Peter, it's very interesting.
I was reading a book over the weekend that I thought might interest some of you as it's relevant to information literacy and students nowadays. The book is:

Carr, Nicholas (2010) The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember. London: Atlantic Books.

Value of becoming a committed sardine

I just wanted to bring to your attention a blog from Canada called committed sardine which is about the 21st Century Fluency Project, focusing on the use and integration of technology in High School education. It has some useful tips which can be applied to our own context.

Information Literacy-related resources

Enclosed are links to a couple of interesting articles related to Information Literacy. They explore the latest Information Literacy developments in US libraries with particular reference to the questions of integrating Library-led IL sessions within the broader University curriculum and the use of modern-day media and visual culture-related resources to better “market” Information Literacy concepts.

Micheal.

UL Library

http://crln.acrl.org/content/71/10/534.full.pdf+html

http://crln.acrl.org/content/71/9/468.full.pdf+html

http://crln.acrl.org/content/71/2/66.full.pdf+html?sid=0a5862c2-3bf4-4e6a-988b-e88f7385a9bd

http://crln.acrl.org/content/65/5/254.full.pdf+html?sid=84710b8b-6847-449b-bb87-92ca06a8a160

Full Bibliographic details for Peacock's paper

Just in case anyone was trying to source the Peacock paper mentioned by Padraig Kirby in his presentation at the inaugural Teach Meet, here are the full bibliographic details.

"Teaching skills for teaching librarians: postcards from the edge of the educational paradigm" contained in the book " Proven Strategies for Building an Information Literacy Program."
Ed. by Susan Carol Curzon and Lynn D.Lampert.
2007. 335p. illus. Neal-Schuman,
( ISBN:9781555706081)

Interesting Article

Here's an interesting article highlighting the need for information literacy education:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/11/college-students-fail-to-_n_847640.html

May 31st TeachMeet a great success - looking forward to the next one in September

The TeachMeet held at the University of Limerick on May 31st was a great success.

Librarians from the Shannon Consortium member libraries (UL, LIT, ITTralee and Mary I College) were well represented, and the librarian from St Patrick's College Thurles was a welcome addition to a group used to meeting under the Library Network Support Services banner (2008-2010).

Two of the librarians attending gave brief formal presentations - Donna O'Doibhlin (UL) presented on Peer Observation, and Pádraig Kirby (LIT) presented on Judith Peacock's strategies for building an IL programme.

Discussion was lively, and covered:

• Blended Learning
• Teaching methodologies
• Pedagogical skills
• Teaching qualifications
• Embedded IL
• One-person libraries
• Teaching students of varying technical and IL levels
• The new CONUL Information Literacy guide (to be posted here soon ...)

Agreement that the TeachMeet had been beneficial was unanimous, and the librarian from the Limerick College of Art & Design kindly agreed to host the next TeachMeet towards the end of September.

It was also agreed that each future meeting would focus on a particular theme. The theme for September will be Mobile Technologies.

Invitation to TeachMeet 10.30-13.00 May 31st, Glucksman Library, University of Limerick

Does your library deliver information literacy sessions?  Do you ever wonder how really useful these sessions are for the attendees?  Would you like to exchange ideas with your peers and perhaps find ways to improve what you do?  If so, then read on...

A TeachMeet, for those who haven’t come across them, is an informal get-together, where teachers meet to discuss ideas and share experiences. A library TeachMeet is a meeting of people who teach within the context of library and information services.

The first (lib)TeachMeet was held last year in Cambridge, England, and since then they’ve spread very quickly throughout the library world with meetings taking place in Brighton, Liverpool, London and Huddersfield.  TeachMeet is a fun and informal way for librarians and information professionals to share new ideas.  We’re looking for speakers willing to give a 5-minute or 2-minute presentation about ‘techie tools and/or teaching tips’, and for enthusiastic colleagues who are keen to learn something new and/or engage in discussion.

Everyone is welcome, librarians, information assistants, head of your organisation or a junior assistant…we’re looking forward to seeing you. If you wish to contribute, the only rule is that your presentation mustn’t be trying to sell us anything, and you must stick to the timeslot. 

You can use PowerPoint or you can just talk, and/or show something from the web.  Anything that will kick-start a discussion will be very welcome.

Please join us for the inaugural Irish version of the TeachMeet, which we are calling EDU-LIB. The first EDU-LIB meeting will be on Tuesday 31st May from 10.30 – 13.00 in the Glucksman Library, University of Limerick. See:  http://educatorlibrarian.blogspot.com/. 

Please RSVP to either:  Micheal.OhAodha@ul.ie, Sinead.Keogh@ul.ie, or Donna.odoibhlin@ul.ie before 17.00hrs on 25th May to secure your space.

Librarians' experiences of the teaching role

A Canadian national survey of library staff involved in instructional work recently found that one third of those staff see the instructional element of their work as a duty or expectation, while a small proportion view it as an imposition.The study found that

substantial barriers exist in the form of external challenges over which library staff have little control (e.g. difficult administrative environments, challenges posed by ever evolving technology, and difficult users), and the intrapersonal challenges experienced as a result of personal characteristics and a perceived lack of preparation for the teaching role.

You can read more about the findings and the recommendations at

Julien, H. and Genuis, S.K. (2011) 'Librarians' experiences of the teaching role: A national survey of librarians', Library & Information Science Research, 33(2), pp. 103-111. doi:10.1016/j.lisr.2010.09.005

First EDU-LIB meeting

The first EDU-LIB meeting will be held at 10.30am on Tuesday 31st May 2011 at the Glucksman Library, University of Limerick. This initial gathering will function as an informal opportunity for librarians who teach to get together, to share teaching tips and experiences and to discuss how teaching demands are changing the nature of their day-to-day work.
If you are interested in sharing any aspect of your teaching experience and in discussing the impact of the teaching role on library services, then please join us.

AGENDA

10.30 Welcome and Introduction

10.45 Three minute introductions from participants

11.15 Discussion: Librarian as Educator

12.30 Future EDU-LIB meetings