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David McMillan, Caldwell College

Valerie Forrestal, Stevens Institute of Technology

VALE Annual Conference ƛ 1.8.10

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_ ^eyond traditional issues faced by

libraries instituting an information
literacy program, (lack of student
engagement, institutional buy-
buy-in,
faculty indifferenceƦ) a new breed of
student calls for innovation in
pedagogy.
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_ There is Ơa widening gap between

childrenƞs everyday Ɲlife worldsƞ outside
of school and the emphasis of many
educational systemsơ (David
^uckingham, ^eyond Technology:
Childrenƞs Learning in the Age of
Digital Culture)
Culture)
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_ This new kind of student presents a problem not only
for librarians, but for all educators
_ This presents an opportunity for us to look outside
the library world to research being done across the
fields of education, technology and communication
_ This is also a great time for librarians to seek
partnerships and cooperation with faculty and
administrators, who are also dealing with these issues
_ We can place ourselves at the core of this movement
in our communities, building library services and
resources into this new educational framework
M 


_ wanging Out, Messing around and Geeking

Out: Kids Living and Learning with New
Media (Ito, et. al., 2009)
_ wow College Students Seek Information in
the Digital Age (wead and Eisenberg, Dec.
2009)
_ The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students
and Information Technology (Smith,
Salaway and Caruso, Oct. 2009)
O
_ Students view academic research as a competency
learned by rote
_ Librarians are still tremendously under-
under-utilized by
students (80% said they rarely, if ever, consulted one)
_ Students do, however, use library resources (90%
reported having used their libraryƞs research
databases)
_ Students view their instructors, not librarians, as their
research coaches
_ weavy course-
course-loads have led students to value
efficiency over quality in their research (i.e. theyƞre not
being lazy, theyƞre capable of formulating complex
information--seeking strategies, these strategies focus
information
on efficiency though.)
O
_ We need to integrate web resources into our teaching,
not shun them
_ Vice versa, we need to place library resources (i.e.
proprietary databases) into context with studentsƞ
regular info-
info-gathering resources ƛ just add to their
Ơtoolkitơ
_ We need to spend more time training professors so
they can pass that knowledge on to the students
_ Librarians need to analyze how and why students use
library services, not just how often,
often, and focus on
developing services that reach the largest audience
_ Make self-
self-directed and student-
student-initialized help
available at their convenience (i.e. online guides and
tutorials, specialized pathfinders, videos and podcasts)

 
_ Remember, students value efficiency in research, so
if you can show them how much time it will save
them searching in a full-
full-text scholarly database, vs.
sorting through Google results, they are very likely
to use it
_ We need to keep an open mind about emerging
technologies, and how they can be integrated into
our teaching
_ Social media presents an opportunity for us to
extend our pedagogy beyond our allotted class-
class-time

 
_ Classes need to be more interactive, and provide an
opportunities for students to help each other learn
(participatory learning)
_ Allow students the opportunity to help build a
socially--constructed knowledge-
socially knowledge-base
_ Expanding online networks create an opportunity
for viral information and knowledge sharing.
Facilitate this by having online components/versions
of as much of what the library offers as possible
(enables students to revisit/share/comment on
content)
This presentation can be found online @

http://icanhaz.com/ttnl

Presenters' contact info:

Valerie Forrestal - valerie.forrestal@stevens.edu | vforrestal.info

David McMillan - DLMcMillan@caldwell.edu