Recently in reflections Category

Please note: This entry was originally published on my blog.

I taught an Adobe Connect class on Blogs and Wikis for Libraries faculty & staff on May 30. All of the materials (and the session recording) can be found here.

This was an exciting class for me, becuase it allowed me to try out some new philosophies I've been forming with regard to blogs and wikis (more so blogs).

Back when Rebecca B. and I taught our first blogging class in 2003, we focused primarily on the mechanics of starting a blog: Where to publish, how to publish, what to publish, etc.... Things have changed. This class was not so much about the specifics of making a blog as it was looking at blog content and how to disseminate it to different resources via RSS.

I also experimented with making a Google Reader Mash-Up blog for this class. You can see it here.

Note:  This post was originally published on my personal blog:

I am teaching classes again, really (unless you count a few classes last semester) for the first time in about a year and a half.

Having been away from teaching that long, I can see big changes in how students are searching for and using information in classes.

One of the big changes is in the prominence and banning of Wikipedia. I somewhat understand why instructors are banning the use of Wikipedia as a source, but I don't think they are doing enough to explain to their students why they can't use it, beyond the, "It's untrustworthy" mantra.

In one of today's classes, I started off by asking my usual starting point, "Why do we require that you use library resources for your research?" In the midst of our discussion about quality, breadth and authority, one student said, "Because people of your generation don't understand the relevance of the resources we want to use." (or something like that)

The former middle school teacher in me would have normally shut him down for being, well, insolent. But I do think there is some truth in what he said, and so we went on to talk about it. I said that Wikipedia is a good example of this tension. In many respects, Wikipedia is an excellent resource. This article in the New York Times Magazine last week talks in depth about the massive, continual editing done on its pages. Yes, there are errors and untruths on there (especially on hot-button pages) but it doesn't last long.

To illustrate this point I brought up the Chris Benoit Wikipedia page, and talked about how news of the wrestler's wife's death was posted prior to the actual discovery of her body. It turns out that the person posting this, was simply by coincidence, posting a rumor, and was completely unconnected to the crime. The rumor was on the page for only up for 47 minutes before being corrected. Eventually, the actual news that Benoit's wife had, indeed been found dead was added. (and then vetted, again and again and again.)

The recency and dynamic relevance of Wikipedia (especially for breaking news) can't be ignored. How do we teach students about this and encourage them to think critically about its content in an atmosphere that outright bans the use of this resource?

Note:  This post was originally published on my personal blog:

The always amazing Roy Tennant takes apart Thomas Mann's latest screed against the modern world. Essentially, Mann wishes it were still 1993 (back when he wrote Library Research Models, which I think was the text in my Research Methods class back in library school.)

I'm not going to try to even dissect any of Mann's assertions (not even the part where he advocates positioning the library as an alternative to the Internet)---Roy does a terrific job of that. Suffice to say, Mann still wishes that the library was the place it was fourteen years ago---a place where librarians solely organized and held the key to accessing all of the knowledge within.

I especially like this quote from Roy (stated as he refutes Mann's claim that librarians should be the primary expert in guiding students' search processes.)

As much as possible we need to put the smarts of a reference librarian in the back end of the process — that is, within the systems themselves.

A good, intuitive, accessible interface can teach. And librarians can use their expertise to design such interfaces. Librarians no longer need to be at the center of the research process, we can also help build systems that provide our users with the opportunity to learn and find for themselves.

Note:  This post was originally published on my personal blog:

Despite what the Annoyed Librarian says, the library landscape, 2.0 manifesto and all, has changed, whether you're a Twopointonian (her words, not mine) or not.

Case in point: Tonight I was teaching my very favorite class, CAS 602, otherwise known as the collective of new CAS graduate students and fixed term instructors. You could not ask for more enthusiastic audience each year, and they are always willing to put up with my whims and conversational digressions.

I only teach this class once a year, and each session is a snapshot of the current state of my library instruction. I swear, I never plan it that way. I remember when I first began teaching the class, it was very traditional---sample searches in seminal databases, important library web pages for their disciplines, etc...

In 2005, I began incorporating Google Scholar and Citation Linker into the discussion. The class moved away from a focus on static resources, and more into an exploration of manipulating freely available tools to find the information that you need.

This year, when I found myself in the middle of a detailed (and unplanned) show and tell on how to pull RSS feeds out of Ebsco databases, I realized how much the landscape we work in has changed yet again. We talked about the VPN, about the footnoting features in Word 2007, and about using Google Reader to pull content out of article databases. None of this was planned, and what struck me most was how much our territory has now extended into IT-land.

This class also highlighted how much 2.0 innovations are resonating with our users. The flow of our class discussion went toward things like RSS---I didn't guide it there. Like it or not, Annoyed Librarian, the Twopointonians are not the sole cheerleaders of this revolution----our users are actively participating in it too.

Note:  This post was originally published on my personal blog:

Dan and I are working on a project to create Pageflakes for course-related subject guides. You can take a look at the once that I built for CAS 253 (Health Communication) here.

It was a lot of fun to make this, and hard to hold off on showing it to students until the end of class. I knew if I showed it to them earlier in class, they would ditch the strategies I was trying to impart, and dive into the quick links on the page. When I did show it, it was the first time I've ever unveiled a web page to Oohhss and Ahhhs! It is pretty snazzy. :)

This page combined lots of neat stuff--scripted links for individual journals, interactive page bookmarks, and the Red Plugoo! Incidentally, the launch of this page brought to light one problem with Plugoo. You can embed the same Plugoo code on multiple pages, which is great, but then you have no idea which Plugoo (on which subject-specific page) is sending you the IM message. Confusing times we live in, eh?

Note:  This post was originally published on my personal blog:

I have Lifehacker in my Reader list, but I rarely read it. Sometimes it has very interesting, useful posts, and sometimes it has posts on how to make clear vs. cloudy ice and clean your stove with ammonia. Whaa?

One of tonight's posts (along with the ice and ammonia) was on the benefits something I've been teaching a lot lately: WorldCat.org. Lifehacker refers to it as "a ginormous network of libraries, library content, and library services." OK, then.

I use WorldCat so heavily that it is easy to forget that it has only been live since August 6. 2006. I use it so heavily that I have nearly forgotten the older, clunky FirstSearch interface.

Lately, I am often teaching WorldCat over the CAT. I know that I should be emphasizing the local. I know that perhaps not all of the CAT's holdings are in WorldCat. I know. But I can't stay away from it--especially when there are grad students in the room. :)

I think this instructional change, favoring WorldCat over the CAT, is happening for a reason. When it comes to library research, a shallow pool as starting point no longer make sense. And when I say shallow pool, I mean something like the CAT, or even a subject-specialized database. Why would I start my search in something that only contains a little sliver of the resources available on a topic, when I could jump in deep (using WorldCat or Google Scholar) and more expansively see the ocean of available resources? (ok, maybe I'm taking the water metaphor too far).

And of course, perhaps WorldCat or Google Scholar will lead me back around to the more focused, more specific resources in the end. That almost always happens. But there is a definite advantage in using one of these more broadly-focused resources as a starting point.

When you think about where libraries will be in five years, do you think about things like UWashington's WorldCat Local? Do you find it conceivable that we'll be working almost solely from shared databases that consolidate content from different databases and libraries around the world? I sure do.

Until then, stop by one of my classes, and share in the WorldCat love.