LiliUM

The UML Information Literacy Newsletter

A digest of news and information about library instruction

Issue 6, November 21 2008

Hot off the press Mark Your Calendars

Torras, M and Saetre, T.
Carmen Kazakoff-Lane, librarian at
Information Literacy Education: A
Brandon University and a member of the
Process Approach. Professionalising the
ANTS tutorial project, will be speaking
Pedagogical Role of Academic Libraries.
about and demonstrating ANTS on:
2008
Friday Dec. 12 from 1-3pm in Room
Thanks to Ganga for the tip!
160 Dafoe

1. New Publications:
OK – it‟s not really about information literacy, but with the holiday season
approaching, I couldn‟t resist a plug for:

Food for Thought: A Cookbook for the Canadian Library Community

“For all you foodies out there both newbies and expert (seasoned) the Canadian
Association of Special Libraries and Information Services is pleased to bring you
Food for Thought, a collection of over 90 recipes submitted by members of the
Canadian library community. Order form available at:
http://www.cla.ca/docs/caslis/cookbook-order-form.pdf For more information,
please e-mail clacookbook@gmail.com

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 From the DigRef list comes the news that the latest issue of the journal
Webology is available online now. The Guest Editor of this special issue was Dr.
Louise Spiteri from the School of Information Management, Dalhousie University.
Webology: Volume 5, Number 3, 2008
http://www.webology.ir/2008/v5n3/toc.html

2. Call for papers:

Coincidentally, Webology is looking for authors. “Webology is an international peer-
reviewed journal in English devoted to the field of the World Wide Web and serves
as a forum for discussion and experimentation. It serves as a forum for new research
in information dissemination and communication processes in general, and in the
context of the World Wide Web in particular. Concerns include the production,
gathering, recording, processing, storing, representing, sharing, transmitting,
retrieving, distribution, and dissemination of information, as well as its social and
cultural impacts. There is a strong emphasis on the Web and new information
technologies. Special topic issues are also often seen.” The deadline for
contributions is December 15, 2008. For submission requirements, please go to
http://www.webology.ir/guidelines.html

3. Tips n’ Tricks:
There was a lively discussion on the ILI-L listserv this week about the best way to teach
students about subject headings and controlled vocabulary. Here are some of the
more interesting tips:
o I use the example of a shopping website. I usually use Eddie Bauer, and I show
that you can type in "coats" as a search, but that all coats are under the heading of
outerwear, and that EB chose the term Outerwear to represent that concept.
Outerwear has subheadings too, like blazers, which works pretty well into the
explanation. I have used the yellow pages example too, but I felt like students do
more online shopping than yellow page looking. Ona Lou, University of Central
Oklahoma

o I have found that students easily understand the concept of subject

headings when I compare it to "tagging." I ask the class if anybody uses
del.icio.us, Flikr, or Facebook (no-brainer) and to think about the
times they've used tagging to sort, label or describe photos or other
features. I tell them that librarians have been tagging for a long time
- we just call it subject headings! Diane Mizrachi, UCLA College Library

o I had an example that really opened my students' eyes this semester when we were
teaching/learning in-depth catalog use.
KW phrase = urban sprawl LCSH = cities and towns-growth
This is one of those classic examples of starting with the keyword
search (expressed in recognized sociological and political language) and
ending up with more comprehensive retrieval using the formal,
nonintuitive language of the subject heading. In our catalog
(disclaimer: not a research institution), retrieval was quadrupled using
LC terminology. Thanks goodness for subject heading hypertext links.
Camilla Baker, Augusta State University

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o I've adapted something I used to do as a guessing game to our hands-on classroom-
-and it seems to work. Each student has a book cover (carefully selected) in front of
them. I ask them to figure out what the book is about and search for it in the catalog
using their words. Much frustration. Then I ask them to search for it with either a title
or an author search and look at the LC subject headings assigned to the book. They
can then link through the subject heading to other books with the same subject
heading. Often an aha moment for them with much less of me in between. Jan
Sauer, University of South Alabama

o I think you've got to carefully tailor this one to the audience. I'm in a library full of
Gen X and Y librarians. We took to heart what we'd learned from forums like this
and tried to make our teaching examples relate to either the real or online world.
When we started teaching about subject terms we tried all the analogies we could
think of. For example:

The paint store: the term “off-white” also covers ecru, beige, etc.
The grocery store: "frozen novelties" can be popsicles, push-ups, and drumsticks.

Mostly people just looked confused. All of our students are non-traditional
students (average age 40), and despite years of grocery shopping and home
improvement projects, our analogies just didn't cut it. We quickly learned that best
way to reach our audience is to directly compare database subject terms to the
subject cards in the old card catalogs. We talk about there being an approved
list, and a person who actually assigns them. That's when we finally got the
widespread nods of agreement. Erin Brothen, Capella University

3. Continuing Ed:
From the Library Professional Development blog
(http://libprofdev.wordpress.com/) comes a reminder that the deadline to apply
for Immersion ’09 is rapidly approaching.
“December 8 is the deadline to apply to the Teacher and Program tracks of the
ACRL Institute for Information Literacy Immersion ‟09 Program, to be held July 26-
31, 2009 at the Eckerd College Conference Center and Lodge in St. Petersburg,
Florida. The Teacher Track focuses on individual development for those who are
interested in enhancing, refreshing, or extending their individual instruction skills.
Curriculum includes classroom techniques, learning theory, leadership, and
assessment framed in the context of information literacy. The Program Track focuses
on developing, integrating, and managing institutional and programmatic information
literacy programs. Visit www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/events/index.cfm (Click
“Immersion „09”) for complete details about the program tracks, including curriculum,
learning outcomes, Teacher Track scholarships, and to apply. Acceptance to
Immersion ‘09 is competitive to ensure an environment that fosters group
interaction and active participation.

The Libraries have several Immersion alumni on staff who can talk to you about the
experience. If you’d like to know more, or get in touch with past Immersion grads, just
send me an email or give me a call: betty_braaksma@umanitoba.ca 474-7193

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4. Thoughts from the field:
Do we honour our colleagues enough? I think that sometimes we let opportunities pass
us by, because many of the professional awards are aimed at our U.S. colleagues.
However, Canadians are not excluded from ACRL awards, and the deadline for a
couple of them is coming up soon: “The ACRL Instruction Section Awards Committee
invites nominations for the 2009 Ilene F. Rockman Instruction Publication of the Year
and the Instruction Innovation Award. We need your help identifying outstanding
contributions to information literacy and instruction. If you wish to acknowledge an
excellent article or book or recognize an innovative program, please notify the IS Awards
Committee by sending us your nomination electronically by the December 5, 2008,
deadline. A complete description of each award, including eligibility and selection
criteria, submission requirements, and past recipients, is available on the IS Web site at
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/awards/index.cfm

5. In the News:
I‟m sure this will be making headlines all over pretty soon – Google has developed a
new search ranking tool. It‟s called SearchWiki and it “lets users elevate, delete, add
and annotate search results. Google remembers the changes that a user made to
search results, so repeat searches will show the same customisations and notes.
Google has been offering SearchWiki as an experimental feature to some users for
months, but, on Thursday, it became available to anybody who's searching while logged
in with a Google account.” The full story is at ZDNet.co.uk
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39559182,00.htm or on the Google Blog
site: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/searchwiki-make-search-your-own.html

From LIBREF-L comes an announcement about Europeana, the new European online
library, which features collections from “more than 1,000 cultural organizations making
contributions to a European online library. . .Internet users will be able to access more
than two million books, maps, recordings, photographs, archive documents, paintings
and films." The European site was inaccessible as of this writing, due to “overwhelming
interest…more than 10 million hits per hour) http://www.europeana.eu/portal/

Questions, comments, contributions? Please send them to:

Betty Braaksma
betty_braaksma@umanitoba.ca
E3-362A Engineering Library
474-7193