Happy Blog Day 2008

I barely made it this year. What between the holiday weekend and the fact that I have been busy as heck. But I could not disappoint, so here are my five choices this year for Blog Day 2008. This is now my third year participating. To readers and bloggers here and around the world, a happy Blog Day!

• In the librarianship realm, Director Who is one I just recently discovered. Get some library insights from a library director.
  
• Also in the librarianship front, the Academic Librarian is a thoughtful, well, academic librarian in one of those larger research universities. When he write, I know I can count on something substantial, thoughtful, and well written.
  
• When it comes to books, Paulo Coehlo is one of my favorite writers. I recently added his blog to my reader. There is always a little something interesting. I also follow Neil Gaiman's Journal among the authors I like.
• Finally one from the world of science. Dr. P.Z. Myers writes a popular blog, Pharyngula. When he is not explaining how biology and evolution works, he is busy railing against those who would pretty much replace science with religion (disguised as something called "creationism"). Worth a look.
  

(Crossposted to The Itinerant Librarian).

BlogDay2008
(the Technorati tag)

On looking for a feed reader again

Let's be direct: I am sick and tired of Bloglines' consistent poor performance. I would say now that for the last two months or so, the site has been slow, sluggish, and just plain dysfunctional. One of these things usually happens:

• The site does not log the user in: When you go the log in page, the site simply freezes up and does not move forward. Refreshing the page or closing and opening the browser again does not fix it either.
  
• The site will log you in, but then the feeds do not load up: Basically what it says: you get logged in, but the feeds drag in loading, if they ever do.
  
• If you manage to get the feed lists loaded, feeds do not load into the reading pane. This is another annoyance. Click on the feed for any blog, then Bloglines simply sits there chugging along, failing to load any new feeds.
  

I have tried the beta version as well as the classic version. In fact, the beta, which initially seemed a good improvement, has simply gotten to the point where it is painful trying to load it. I don't know if it is just that the company put too many bells and whistles on the thing, but the fact is I had to simply give up on it. I went back to the classic version, and that is the one now that is not working either. Since a lot of my work does depend on keeping up with various feeds, this meant it is time for me, with regret, to move on and try to find something else. The only regret is because I had a few folders of clippings in Bloglines that I can't seem to export, but hey, you have to break an egg or two to make the omelet. I will just lose them and start again. Think of it as spring cleaning (only in the fall).

So, I am starting to use Google Reader. I had, whether in a smart move or not I leave to my two readers to decide, exported all my feeds over to Google Reader. I did it mostly as an experiment when people started talking about Google's feed reader. I wanted to take a look at the tool. I looked at it briefly, thought it was ok, but went back to Bloglines. However, now I am glad that I did do the exporting because I can move over with some ease; it's on the same account that this blog is on, so it could make some things more convenient. We'll see on that. I am going to be spending some time learning what the Google Reader can do. I hear some people talk about sharing feeds and so on. I am not that big on that aspect, to be honest, but I will look at it. As long as I can find a way to put some items aside (clips), and I can read my feeds in a timely fashion, that is all I care about. As you two readers of mine can see, I am a fairly simple guy. I don't need much, just enough to do what I need to do.

One thing I do wonder about this Friday morning as I am typing this between patrons while at the reference desk is what to recommend to people. I have been wanting to put together a little workshop or maybe a guide on feeds and using a reader to keep up. A lot of people out there I have seen often recommend Bloglines as a nice tool for a beginner. Hey, at the time I started out, it worked for me. But given the consistently poor performance I have been experiencing (and it does not matter what browser you use. I am Firefox guy, but even in IE does Bloglines fail), I would not recommend anyone use Bloglines. But I can't recommend Google's tool just yet. I feel like I have a bit of a learning curve on it, so I will let you two know when I learn a bit more.

On an aside, I do have a Newsgator account. It's the one I use for newspapers and magazines mostly (i.e. stuff I don't have to read right away). I don't use it often enough, but it has a feature or two I like. For example, right-clicking on a feed's name to mark it as all read without having to open the feed itself in the reading pane is very nice in my humble estimation.

So, in the end, I am going to do what we librarians do best: I am going to learn and do some research. I am going to give Google Reader a good shake and learn some of the other features it offers. That would not only be good for me, but it may help me help others down the road. And two, I am going to research and see about other feed readers out there. You got any recommendations (web based preferable, since I read feeds at work and at home), feel free to leave it in the comments.

Article Note: On blending IL and English Composition

Citation for the article:

Sult, Leslie and Vicki Mills. "A Blended Method for Integrating Information Literacy Instruction into Composition Classes." Reference Services Review 34.3 (2006): 368-388.

Read via Emerald.


This article discusses how information literacy instruction was incorporated into composition classes at the University of Arizona. This is a large scale operation, and thus it is unlike the smaller settings I have experienced in my work; my library school's campus would probably be closer to Arizona. The need for this program arises mostly from the fact that librarians cannot do everything on their own, and that they are often overstretched and understaffed (sounds like the story of our lives). The basic idea is that the composition instructors do the primary information literacy instruction, with support and facilitation from the librarians. While some librarians may wonder if they are relinquishing too much in such a situation, the article does address the concern.

For me, this is another article that highlights the similarities between writing and research. To reinforce that point the authors compare the Council of Writing Program Administrators outcomes for first year writing with the ACRL standards for information literacy. In reading the table provided in the article, one can see the similarities. I think this can certainly be useful as a bargaining chip when instruction librarians go out to promote their programs in composition units.

The article then goes on to describe the program and how it was implemented. It includes a table with learning outcomes and who (librarian or teacher or both) is responsible for an outcome or another. The librarians also work on training the teachers, and they provide other forms of support such as online guides. I think all this works when you have a large scale program, but it does take the librarian away from direct student contact. Well, at least to the high level of student contact I have been used to, which I actually like. On a smaller scale, some of the ideas in the article can be applicable. I was thinking that, in my case, I could use some of the elements from the online guide list of topics provided as ideas for enhancements to our LibGuides or for some library blog posts along with our usual instruction. Food for thought.

In essence, this article is an example of a "how we did it" LIS article. Another article looking at some of the ideas discussed is Holliday and Fagerheim from 2007. See my note on that one here. I found the 2007 one more useful for me as an individual practitioner.

Booknote: The Teaching Library

The Teaching Library: Approaches to Assessing Information Literacy Instruction is a collection of essays on assessment of library instruction and information literacy programs. It is basically a collection of case studies, which have been published as well in the journal Public Services Quarterly. The main idea is to promote ways of building and making the case for the teaching library and to do so with solid assessment. According to the book's introduction, a teaching library is "characterized by its commitment to instruction as a core library service and by a robust instructional service program that reflects not only the teaching and learning that goes on in the classroom, but also that which goes on in the co-curriculum, the extra-curriculum, and the surrounding community" (2). That for me is an ideal definition of the type of place I would like to work in. It was something I strived for in my previous job, and it is something I think we should aspire where I work at now. In fact, I think given the growth that my current campus is undergoing, we just may be at a crossing where we could seize an opportunity to position the library as a teaching library. It is just a thought as I am not the instructional leader, and my ability to promote such a move is fairly low. But one can always dream. But I am digressing; let us get back to the book.

Assessment is basically the evidence, the ammunition you would use to make your case for the teaching library. As the editor of the book writes, "assessment is the tool by which the story of the teaching library is assembled and the process through which we demonstrate our direct contribution to student learning, faculty development, and the instructional mission of the college campus" (3). The book then goes on to present how other campuses have implemented assessment of their programs. Experienced instruction and information literacy librarians will likely recognize a lot of the material here. The literature reviews for each article pretty much go over similar terrain; certain names just keep coming up over and over. So the book is more of a review for the experienced. However, for readers still striving to learn about assessment, and for those interested in finding ways to build a teaching library and to better assess their programs, this book can serve as blueprint.

I did photocopy the essay Schroeder and Mashek. I particularly found interesting their school's mission statement, which clearly emphasizes the teaching role of the library in relation to the campus. The library's mission statement is then tied to their information literacy initiative and even to the mission of the library's reference service. This was the essay I found particularly useful. Most of the others ones you can scan and find what you need.

Article Note: On Information Literacy as a Sociopolitical Skill

Citation for the article:

Andersen, Jack. "The Public Sphere and Discursive Activities: Information Literacy as Sociopolitical Skills." Journal of Documentation 62.2 (2006): 213-228.

Read via ABI/Inform


The article provides a theoretical look at the concept of information literacy, drawing on the work of Habermas as well as looking at some composition scholars like Bizzell. What I found myself thinking about as I read it is how some of the ideas of public space might be applicable to social software and the spaces created in such online settings.

Some notes from the article:

• "We cannot proceed and claiming to be devising information literacy frameworks if we do not have adequate analytical understandings of information literacy. Analytical understandings provide the means to reflection and seeing and interpreting information literacy issues in light of cultural, historical, political, and social perspectives" (215).
  
• Standards only go so far: "Becoming an information literate person is not a matter of following a standard or to be evaluated by one but to be able to discursively act upon a society configured and mediated by discourse" (215). It's not just the basic outline of knowing you have an information need, knowing how to set up the search, finding the right tool and using it, and then evaluating the information and using it ethically. You have to be able to use your information literacy skills to participate broadly in society and its discussions. This is something that is sorely missing these days.
• Definition of genre knowledge: ". . .knowledge about how to communicate strategically within a discourse community. That is, what the norms are concerning vocabulary, writing style, epistemology, ideology, text composition, etc., and what legitimize these norms" (218). This is leading to application of information literacy. Made sense to me. I've always speculated on how close composition and rhetoric theory could be to information literacy as we define it in our profession.
  
• This may be part of the reason why good instruction librarians tailor their lessons to specific classes: "This [referring to Habermas's theory of the public] implies that knowledge about information sources and seeking and using them is predetermined by an insight into how knowledge is socially organized in society" (218).
  
• "Consequently, the theory of public sphere can also be looked upon as a theory of the social organization of documents and knowledge in society" (219). Now, what if we looked at 2.0 spaces as a public sphere with its social organizations, genres, etc.? I am sure this has been explained better, or explored better by others such as Stutzman and boyd.
  
• "This public sphere is constituted by private persons and characterized by different means and modes of public communication, this in particular being the press, periodicals, literature, coffee houses, reading societies, and the clubs" (220). Today this would be blogs, Facebook, and similar things.
  
• Danger of removing context or teaching information literacy as something isolated: "Treating informational genres as mainly technical devices with no history, no context or no authorship stands in danger of removing attention away from technology as a human construction and from the kinds of labour put into informational genres (Warner, 2002)" (qtd. in 221).
  
• Significance: "Information seeking in this respect is therefore involved in the discursive struggles taking place in society because of its social and ideological organization. This turns the information seeking activity into a sociopolitical activity as to search for information is to search in various spheres that are made up of a variety of historical origins, each giving birth to the way spheres are discursively constituted. Hence, information literacy covers the degree to which an information seeker is able to look through who produces and tries to naturalize and make transparent information and documents in society and for what purpose and with what means" (222). There is the key, in the last part of that line: asking when it comes to information for what purpose and with what means.
  
• Solution: "The solution to these is not primarily databases with better user interfaces and the like. Information seeking skills are not solely a technical matter. Basically, information literacy must be grounded in an understanding of how the documents stored in the information system one uses are produced as a result of some generic communicative activities in society" (225).