Engineering Librarian Office Hours Finals Week

Didn't blog for a while because it was quiet over here.  Faculty were busy with course work and advising.  People came in and out, chatted, now and then promised a research question or workshop for later.

It's different today.  Already met with a senior doing a capstone project in industrial engineering and promoted a database as part of a friendly discussion with a faculty member.  And had a delicious cookie.

Engineering Office Hours Weeks 8-10

Got an actual question on week 8, a procedural one about a request for a database that I would love us to have.

Out with schedule conflicts on week 9.  I hate to be inconsistent like that, but both were very high priority items.  Normally I'm very protecive of my Engineering time.

Week 10: Not sure which was a bigger hit, the bowl of candy corn or the announcement of the George Boole exhibit.  The software engineering/computer science folks really liked having someone whose work was essential to the development of computers featured in the library.

Wednesday, got a joke to bring home and the possibility of a faculty workshop on library resources for next semester.  And all the candy corn was eaten so brought more.

Engineering Office Hours Weeks 3 - 7

It's been good to have a routine for every Tuesday and Wednesday in Engineering.  The faculty are getting accustomed to my presence and often stop by to chat.  In the beginning of the semester the faculty have been focused on getting courses started, getting labs set up, and helping students with their schedules.  I've had some interaction with Communications and FYS faculty who visit the area as well.

Today, some friendly banter led to two questions I *wish* I  could log and maybe helping find a standard.   The wish questions are, "what is the meaning of life?" and "why is it 42?" 

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The toys are popular.   I need some variety.

Engineering Librarian Office Hours Week 2

Tuesday: Put up standup signs where I'm sitting.  Brought toys.  This went over well, although the 3D printer downstairs is said to be cooler.  I believe that!  I have time to take a look on Wednesday.

Discussed environmental databases with a faculty member.  Helped with some Sustainability Committee strategizing around Farmers' Markets. 

Discovered later Tuesday afternoon that UNC-Greensboro calls this "Satellite Reference."  I could have fun with that!

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Wednesday:  I'm at a busy intersection of two low, semicircular desks, with traffic to both Engineering and Communications faculty offices, a big meeting room, and the kitchen.  A little more reaction to the toys today.  Met a few Communications faculty, and offered to help them as I can, and refer things beyond me to Bob and Matt, who are liaisons to School of Communications programs.   Fielded some directional questions - CCE is a very confusing building.  I see a big part of this as being part of the team any way I can, not just focusing on library questions.

Engineering Librarian Office Hours Week 1

Tuesday:
Already relocated thanks to a faculty member and the department secretary. Now have a round desk area like a reference desk, no more bringing the TV table!  Said hi to a few faculty, explained my presence to one, as of a half hour here.  Showed up ahead of my publicity, and got permission for posters and temporary stand-up signs.  

Just realized that this is an awesome spot.  It's between the kitchen that I just discovered yesterday & faculty offices.

Talked to a faculty member about a research project and maybe a library/resource orientation for faculty.

Wednesday:
Talked to two faculty in the first half hour.  One needs books, other will need engineering standards.

Busy here with faculty prepping for class and computers being set up.  Labs downstairs aren't ready for occupancy yet.  They were testing the fire alarm system before.

Information Fluency in my (Cecilia's) section

The more I see my own QU 101 students think and discuss and apply critical thinking, and the more Information Fluency sessions I facilitate in other instructors' sections, the more I' make the connection that Information Fluency is a necessary application of critical thinking.  I was worried that by scheduling my section's IF session ahead of doing the taxonomy, I was rushing it before they were ready.  Actually, having it follow Critical Thinking I and II, elements of thought and fallacies, made a great sequence to discussion of the purpose of and process of creating a resource (format as process), how authority of an author or a source depends on their community and the audience for the source, and the value that authors and compilers add to data to create useful information. 

Janet Valeski facilitated our session last Friday afternoon.  She has a friendly, approachable style, and states things simply (but not too simplified) and clearly.  She followed our general format, starting out with the Infowhelm video and a discussion of the sheer size, complexity, interrelatedness, and dynamic nature of the information ecosystem. The exercise listing what students wanted to know in order to choose a college and the sources they used to find the information brought out interesting discussion of sources and the different ways format, authority, and value can be considered.  When Janet and I discussed the session afterward, we had an idea to let groups of students work out the three factors themselves instead of the librarian relating how they work with the various sources.  Janet asked interesting questions about control of and access to information, and led up to the role of libraries in general and of ABL in particular, finishing with our virtual presence (getting from MyQ to the internal, research-oriented website) and a friendly invitation to visit and remember librarians as consultant and guides for students' research projects.

Feedback from the students was positive.  A few even mentioned points from the session in their Reflection Papers.  A few succumbed to the distraction of (presumably) friends texting or on social media planning the weekend, but overall attention and participation was good.

On Monday, I was able to reinforce one of Janet's points when we talked about wicked problems being complex, not merely complicated.  We're on to Design thinking and SPERM now, and will return more specifically to Information Fluency late next week, after and AAR, the PSP, and the ETS.  At that point, I'm curious to see how the students question and analyze their sources, both in the book and beyond.

QU 101 Information Fluency - 1st three classes

Today at 11 was my third time facilitating an Information Fluency session in QU 101.  These are the sessions that a group of librarians have offered to QU 101 instructors back in May.  This is where we introduce students to big ideas in information fluency, related to individuals in communities.  These sessions lay the foundation for the more detailed, step-by-step introductions to finding specific resources that we do in other courses.

The challenge in lesson planning is cutting down the large number of things we could “cover” and prioritizing as to what makes the most sense to begin with and relate to first-semester students.  Janet Valeski, Matt Flaherty and I located two short videos, “Infowhelm” and “What's the difference between academic andpublic libraries?” and chose three of the threshold concepts from the proposed Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.  Matt developed an activity asking students to list factors of interest in choosing a college and the sources, including visits and talking to people, that they consulted.  We introduce the academic library by staring with the mission of libraries in general to provide equitable access to information with a variety of viewpoints to support critical thinking, decision-making, and citizenship.  The short video describes how an academic library may be different from public libraries that some of the students re used to, and then we focus on ABL and how we are there to consult with and guide students through a huge, complex, and interacting information ecosystem.  A later addition is to close with our “virtual location” – how to find the OneSearch page, then let everyone explore from there.  A survey to assess the effects of these sessions is almost ready to distribute to the early sections.

OK, so that’s what it is, how did it go?  It went with all the variations of a fairly structured QU 101 class. I asked questions and split up the lecture parts into smaller bits.  Participation is spotty the first weeks of class, and better with a Peer Catalyst and/or instructor present.  Students take well to the choosing a College exercise, naming all kinds of sources from the official university website, to Naviance (a subscription database of college information offered by many school districts for high school students), to College Prowler for student reviews of various factors, to friends, visits and calling Admissions with questions.  These sources allow us to talk about the process that goes into creating or collecting information, the economic value of information and why some is protected by copyright and costs money, and the way different communities consider sources of information for different purposes authoritative.

Some highlights so far –

• Discussion and debate sparked by this Ray Bradbury quote: “Without the library, you have no civilization.”
• An OT student who checked up on the program’s accreditation
• A question about how public libraries are funded
• A student who asked seniors he knew about research opportunities
• PCs stepping in to expand on questions I ask and get more discussion going