What the new year shall bring - Detroit-based work

The winter/holiday break that academics and students receive is much needed, but the itch to get back to work is just as important.  As such, 2012 is shaping up to be a fantastic year.

One of the initiatives on which I'm most excited to work is at the Detroit Center.  There are many connections to make, many collaborations to develop, and many people to meet.  The UM Library is just starting work there to connect librarians to the projects at the Detroit Center.  Many of the projects are health-based, social work and leadership based, connected with urban planning, engineering, and much more.  There are many ways that librarians can assist this work; as UM is a research institution, the projects it supports need to be research-based.  UM librarians can work with the project coordinators to inform their work so that it can benefit the UM community, Detroit community, and citizens worldwide.

The University of Michigan is dedicated to working in Detroit.  Just today, as I was searching for UM-based Detroit work, I came across a very interesting website from The Office of the Vice President for Communications at UM entitled The University of Michigan and Detroit: A Parternship for Progress.  The website details UM's commitment to work in Detroit and discusses the "base of operations" (the Detroit Center) and lists projects associated with UM's work in Detroit.

The Detroit Center is the base of operations for many of U–M’s Detroit–focused programs. Established in 2005, the 10,500 square–foot facility provides space for offices, classes, meetings, exhibitions, lectures, and collaborative work while serving as a home base for students and faculty working on projects in the city. The U–M Detroit Admissions Office is also located here.

• ARTS & CULTURE

• COMMUNITY ACTION & SERVICE

• ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY

• HEALTH & SAFETY

• INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES & OUTREACH

• LEGAL RESOURCES

• PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

• SUSTAINABILITY & THE ENVIRONMENT

(Source: http://vpcomm.umich.edu/issues/detroit.html) 

UM's work in Detroit also relates to UM President Mary Sue Coleman's Third Century Initiative which I learned about through Arts of Citizenship's Associate Director, Elizabeth Werbe.  The Third Century Initiative aims to, "use $50 million in existing funds during the next five years to develop innovative, multidisciplinary teaching and scholarship approaches to such topics as climate change, poverty and malnutrition, energy storage, affordable health care and social justice challenges. It will encompass teaching, research and service efforts" (http://www.ur.umich.edu/update/archives/111005/thirdcent).

The Partnership for Progress and the Third Century Initiative are just two of the many reasons that the Library should forge forth with creating a partnership with the Detroit Center.  The possibilities for collaborations are abundant, and it will be exciting to see and be a part of what's to come.

Continual Professional Development

Professional practice means something different with each new professional development.  This week, I had the valuable opportunity to visit another academic library, talk with their instruction coordinator, observe an instructional session, and have a conversation with the library's Dean.  Having only spent time at the University of Michigan Library and one public library, this experience was both eye-opening and a great lesson learned.

Each of the pieces of my visit to the other university library was worthwhile in it's own way.  The discussion with the instruction coordinator allowed me to peer into the inner-workings of how another library structures it's staff and views instruction.  The instructional observation showed me how an actual lesson was constructed and executed at another library.  The conversation with the Dean provided me with an inside view of an administrator's priorities and vision for the changing world of academia from the perspective of libraries and higher education. 

The structure of this other academic library was very different from UM's library.  The staff there are tenure-track faculty which allows them different challenges and opportunities within their work.  The person I spoke with discussed their own goals and the goals of the instructional staff, but said that because there is no supervisor telling them what to do, that they have a lot of freedom in their positions and can focus on what they feel is important. 

Another interesting piece of our discussion focused on the instructional goals that this librarian identified.  Information literacy came up several times in the conversation which led me to believe that this was a large focus for his/her work.  Additionally, the focus for this person's work was on the research process and helping students understand that process, as well as sources, in a more embedded way meaning that they believed the focus should not be on "one-shot workshops" but rather on intentional learning that included follow up. 

The instructional observation also provided me a different view of this type of work.  The instructional session was held in a large lab and the instructor "took over" the computers because there was not a large projection screen on which to show the demonstrations.  There was time left over for students to work on their research while the instructor floated around.

The conversation with the Dean was very interesting to me, as I like to take a big picture view of situations.  Without revealing too much, the focus of her/his vision was on partnerships and collaborations.  They believe that the future success of libraries on university or college campuses depends on this.  For me, this was exciting because it's exactly what I want to do in my career. 

I probably could have written about 10 pages of reflection after my visit yesterday in conjunction with my visit today to the Detroit Center (which I'll focus on connecting next week) but for now I'll leave it at this and the overall value add to my professional development.  The greatest lesson I learned was how continually learning and expanding my view of libraries and higher education can only enhance my career.  The networking is key, yes, but especially because it's a great way to see what's going on on the ground in these fields which will continue to inform my work as I move forward.

Reflection of March 28, 2011 Class

Class last week was kind of a whirlwind - lots of topics, engagement, and interesting discussion.

First, what a treat to have Paul Courant in class.  It was too bad I was totally and utterly swamped the previous weekend through last Wednesday and sat in the back of the class for the first time all semester.  I'm just going to go on the record and say that I think that Dr. Courant is the person to look to for issues in the future of libraries.  I think his economic background, connections across UM and the world, and his realistic and optimistic views of what's happening today and what needs to happen are pretty spot on.  Not that I agree with absolutely everything, but most of it - and most of all, I respect his progressiveness.  It makes me want to be him one day!  (Look for me, circa 2035 Dean of Libraries? :)   I truly appreciated that he took time out of his incredibly busy schedule to engage with us.  However, what I took away most from his talk was his suggestion to be optimistic and don't list the reasons something is hard to accomplish.  I've actually been struggling with this idea this semester.  I've got some big, wild ideas for libraries (school, public, and academic, and communities) but every time I mention them to someone inside the institution, I'm brushed off.  People will say "well we tried that, people weren't interested," or "too many logistics involved..." stuff to that effect.  I will take his advice and keep it with me as I move around the library world and not let those things stop me!  Anything can be done if it's done right with the right people.  So, there.  :)

After Dr. Courant's informative talk (which I did enjoy - learned a lot about the Google Settlement and DPLA, and more), we discussed embedded librarianship.  This was a pretty interesting discussion, many ideas thrown around and it became clear, once again, that we all have different views of what this means.  Maybe its a good thing!  I think embedded librarianship gives people a chance to define their roles in libraries - something that is continually happening more and more and is needed for us to "stay relevant" (boy I'm getting sick of that terminology :)  Our discussion showed that the embedded librarian term can mean so many things and really opens lots of possibilities.  What's to say people won't be come entrepreneurs in this field?  Create this field?  Work from home and become consultants to people who've never thought that librarians could be useful to them (we even discussed an embedded librarian in the mall...).  Pretty exciting stuff... and lots of opportunity here.

Finally, we talked webinars and found our groups.  I'm pretty excited for this... we've got a diverse group and chose to focus on institutional repositories.  Should be fun and challenging.  As I wrote last week, I've not been a huge fan of webinars in the past, so I'm excited to make a good one.  :)

In short, a busy week (filled with sorrow for Prof Frost, overloaded grad students, and interesting topics) that is leading up to the end of my first year of grad school.  Already can't believe it and am excited to move into continuing to use the skills I've learned in this class in my professional practice.

How People Learn Chapter 7; Montgomery; Matos, Motley, Mayer; Webinar

How People Learn, Chapter 7 - Effective Teaching: Examples in History, Mathematics, and Science

It was useful to read this chapter about effective teaching across disciplines (plus I just love this book!).  Digging back into How People Learn and being reminded of  that good learning is dependent on pedagogical and well organized knowledge is always a helpful framework when thinking about teaching and learning.  I also love how the authors incessantly remind us that solid learning begins with what student's already know and their questions about the material.

At first I wondered why we were reading this chapter - why do I need to know how to teach history, math and science?  And, well, I probably won't need to know how to teach each of these individually, but I do need to know what helps people learn in different disciplines and different ways.  What I took from this chapter was that different ways of teaching, connecting students to previous knowledge, activities that promote real knowledge growth, and creating communities of learning and practice are cross disciplinary techniques that depend on an expert instructor.  It's not that any teacher couldn't use these with practice and expert knowledge of subjects, but more that most instructors don't use these methods continuously.  I thought that the discussion of history dates and facts vs. research and evidence was particularly interesting.  The idea that "the history" is really just "a history" and that the dates and facts are just a basis (as is computation in math) for the larger picture.  Remembering that people learn differently was also a major point in all of the disciplines.

Keeping these things in mind is helpful when thinking about library instruction because all of those broader concepts apply - prior knowledge, different types of learners, being an expert, and creating community are things that librarians can and should consider while they plan their instructional sessions.


Montgomery 2010 - Online Webinars! Interactive Learning Where Our Users Are: The Future
of Embedded Librarianship

This article was interesting because it simply makes sense.  Librarians can and must become embedded in instruction (be it an academic library with academic departments, a public library with information about public school curricula, or a school librarian with individual class material).  The points made in here that librarians can be active in students learning through technology, can connect directly with faculty, and can have a way to connect beyond a "one-shot workshop" are critical to making embedded librarianship work.  Librarians can prove, once again, that they are integral parts of deep learning and can become embedded beyond the library into departments, courses, and assignments.  Interactive webinars are one way of doing this and they reach far beyond even virtual reference.  They provide a space for people to interact via technology and help the face-to-face happen without needing to be in the same place.  I see this as a potential area where librarians can really excel and be engaged.  A librarian could do a webinar for a course before it starts - "here is what will be helpful to you as you work through this class," "I'll be holding office hours via chat every week at this time," "look for my short webinar before you do this assignment, I'll be online when it's over so you can ask any questions."  Ideas like that are completely doable and exciting to consider :)


Matos, Motley, Mayer 2010 - The Embedded Librarian Online or Face-to-Face: American University's
Experiences

This article provided concrete examples of how embedded and hybrid librarianship works.  It seems interesting that the question remains - "would virtual embedded librarians remain relevant if they still had office space" because to me, the answer is clearly "yes."  I see librarians needed in EVERY space: online for those who don't want to or can't talk face-to-face, via webinar for those who can't make it to a session, in person for those who want to sit down and talk with someone one-on-one.   If a problem is coordination of this, a library could appoint a coordinator for these or develop policy on how to manage time, space, and technologies.  I appreciated this article because it gave me other ways to consider librarianship and best practices for engaging with users.


View a Webinar from a list to be provided - Webinar page on wiki, including link to Webinar Strategies page
I viewed a webinar sponsored by Library Journal and EBSCO/NoveList called "Libraries are Essential: Connecting to Youth in Your Community."  I must warn readers... I spent over an hour trying to download RealPlayer and figuring out how to make this thing work, (also the reason this is posted just at 9pm), so I might be a bit bitter in my overall evaluation.  I have to say that this webinar exemplifies the reason I am not a fan of webinars.  I used to watch them ALL THE TIME in one of my previous jobs, and never felt connected to the presenters.  I have to say, participating in class a couple of weeks ago with Bobbi was the best webinar I'd seen even though we couldn't see anything.  The slides during this webinar were not engaging, I couldn't find a chat transcript so I couldn't see questions or comments (not sure if they were submitted anonymously during the webinar) and I wasn't sure how to contact the presenters to get the materials they discussed during their webinar.  Plus, the presenters didn't seem quite as energetic or prepared as I would have thought.  The first woman who spoke seemed very nervous (maybe she was?) but then maybe webinars are not her best option for presenting information.  I get the point of webinars, I've just yet to see one that's really been engaging and interesting (outside of our time with Bobbi).  Otherwise, it's hard to sit for an hour and not be distracted... 

I must say, though, that this excites me to see my classmates and my own webinars.  Hopefully they (and my group) can change my slightly negative attitude toward this awesome tool.