Week 9

I started out this week by talking to Professor Rachel Gammons, the learning design librarian and the newest faculty librarian at Millersville University.  In the coming years, Rachel will look at ways to improve information literacy instruction, make IL instruction more consistent, ensure that all students receive IL instruction during their undergraduate education, and develop better methods of assessing students' IL skills. For anyone familiar with the difficulties that librarians face in delivering and assessing IL instruction, this is quite a tall order that Rachel must fulfill.  Talking to Rachel gave me a better understanding of the challenges academic librarians face with IL instruction, not only in their individual practices in the classroom, but also when integrating IL instruction and assessment into campus curriculum.  Getting a broader view of IL instruction from Rachel nicely complimented the instruction I observed in the classroom.

This week I also had the opportunity to attend the 2013 State System of Higher Education Library Cooperative Organization (SSHELCO) conference, where librarians from PASSHE institutions come together to discuss the issues facing their libraries today.  I attended a diverse array of sessions at SSHELCO.

First up was an Archon workshop led by Scott Schwartz, one of the Archon project team members.  I've used PastPerfect, a fairly simple program for cataloging museum and archives collections, so it was a great experience to use a more robust program for creating digital finding aids and repositories.  Scott talked about the similarities and differences between Archon and Archivists' Toolkit, and how the ArchivesSpace project has grown out of these two projects.  Getting hands-on experience with Archon was a great experience, and I hope to put my new skills to use in the special collections at Millersville by working on a collection or two.

Because I'm currently taking a technical services seminar and I wanted to see what issues are currently being discussed by tech services librarians in the PASSHE system, I decided to attend the cataloging special interest group.  The group primarily discussed what they would like to see in the new ILS the consortium will purchase later this year.  One of the hardest decisions the consortium faces is finding an ILS that meets their current needs, but that's flexible enough to meet any projected future needs, which is difficult to do with any product libraries are looking to purchase.

I also attended Greg Szczyrbak and Jessica George's presentation on flipping the classroom, a concept they have incorporated into their information literacy instruction.  The idea behind flipping the classroom is that rather than the instructor acting as the “sage on the stage”, he or she serves as the “guide on the side”.  Before coming to class, students are provided with online tutorials explaining how to use a particular resources.  Assessment of students' comprehension is built into the tutorial.  At the end of the tutorial, or even at the end of a section of the tutorial, a question appears on the screen.  The students' comprehension of the material is assessed by whether they answer these questions correctly.  If many students in the class have trouble with a particular question, that topic can be discussed more in-depth in class.  In most cases, however, students have no trouble absorbing the material presented in the tutorial and when they come to class they are ready to get guidance from the instructor in working through specific research questions.  Flipping the traditional instruction method in this way allows librarians to more effectively use students’ time in the classroom.  The new smart classroom planned for the renovated library will facilitate flipping the classroom by allowing students to easily share their work with the class and collaborate on problem solving.

I ended my time at SSHELCO by attending a discussion session on a report prepared by Global Library Consulting for the Keystone Library Network (KLN), a consortium that includes both PASSHE and non-PASSHE institutions.  KLN solicited the report for suggestions on how to improve library service in the 21st century.  Many of the issues raised in the report were clearly controversial to the librarians in attendance, but they highlight the need for libraries to think critically about how they will stay relevant in our information-rich, internet-driven world, and how to provide high quality services and resources to their communities in ways that are economically sustainable.

Overall, attending the SSHELCO conference helped me to understand how Millersville University, and the Millersville library, fit into the state system of higher education, SSHELCO and KLN, and how these collaborations create opportunities and challenges for the library.