My First Commencement at Berea College

I made it to the end of my first academic year at Berea College, and many things have been going on for me. It was a good, challenging academic year where I learned much and even had some good professional growth opportunities such as attending my first ACRL conference (2013 in Indianapolis). At some point soon I want to reflect further on my first year here, but for now I want to write a bit about this year's commencement.

On Sunday, May 5th, 2013, Berea College held its 141st Commencement Ceremony. It was significant not only for our students but also because it was the first ceremony for our new president. I will say upfront that this is the nicest thing anyone has required me to do. I am a faculty member here (yes, officially, I am an Assistant Professor of Library Science, but nobody really calls me that, which is fine by me not being one for fancy titles). Faculty are required, unless they have an excused reason, to attend the commencement ceremonies and to do so in regalia. So I dug out my masters regalia so I could participate and march in the procession with the rest of the faculty. There is a certain sense of belonging you get from marching with the faculty in a moment of celebration. We came together to celebrate the achievements and successes of our students who now will go out into the world to do some good. This is a celebration that feels big, yet it is very intimate.

Before the ceremony, the faculty line up in the hallway along the old gymnasium, in preparation to march into the new gymnasium where the event will take place. The students are lining up in the old gym. The music starts, and the students begin to march, and they walk along the hallway where we are lined up, and we cheer for them. We smile; we cheer; we high five some of our students who were in our classrooms, including the library classrooms, not too long ago. You can see the joy and pride in their faces as they walk past us. And then we march in, followed by the rest of the academic procession.

Naturally, we had some speeches, but there was also music by our student ensembles and choirs. The college also conferred an honorary doctor of laws degree on Peter J. O'Connor (college press release about Mr. O'Connor; biographical page about him from Fair Share Housing Development). Mr. O'Connor was one of the lawyers who argued cases that would shape the Mount Laurel Doctrine for fair housing (link from the New Jersey Digital Library, which I found a bit better than using Wikipedia's article, which seems a bit biased). Mr. O'Connor was to give the charge to the Class of 2013. I managed to take some quick notes on my program from his speech.

• He begins by highlighting Berea College's social justice mission. 
• His speech topic is the meaning of social justice. It is a simple concept: treat others with respect and fairness as we would be treated. 
• Live a life of service with the goal of ensuring a dignified life for all. 
• Equal opportunity for all. 
• Live a life guided by Berea College's motto (God has made of one blood, all the peoples of the Earth). We are all brothers and sisters. 
• Social justice starts in the home with values taught by our parents. 
• Forgiveness is an integral part of social justice. 
• Sometimes in life you have to do tough things. 
• Life is an opportunity to help others. 
• Has the belief that the U.S. has a moral obligation to help alleviate poverty in the world, but it lacks the stomach and commitment to do so. At least not until the problems of poverty, education, racism, are solved here. 
• Social reforms are not 100 yard dashes. They are marathons. 
• And now it is time for our graduate to go out and solve some problems. 

From there, we would go to the presentation of the degrees. Unlike much larger institutions, with 232 graduates this time, the ceremony feels small and very personal. Our president shook every graduate's hand, and he hugged many of them, as they received their diplomas. Most moving to me is that many of them who had either very young siblings or children of their own marched up the stage with the children. I had never seen that before in any commencement (and I have been to a few), and it is indeed a moving and joyous thing to see. And in one case at least, an overseas student clutched the photo of his mother as he went to get his diploma.  Such small details are what I will remember and take with me from that day.

After the event, I had time to mingle with faculty and greet some of the student with their families, families proud and happy for their sons and daughters who will now go into the world to, as Mr. O'Connor said, go solve some problems.

To see some more highlights of the event, including photos, see this post from the BC Now campus news site. 

ACRL 2013 Conference Notes: Closing Keynote with Maria Hinojosa

ACRL Closing Keynote
Speaker: Maria Hinojosa.
Date: Saturday, April 13, 2013, 11:00am

• (With this post, I conclude the series of notes from the ACRL 2013 Conference. Will I make it to Portland in two years? Maybe. In the meantime, thanks to my four readers for stopping by, and read on)
• The American Dream does not exist anymore. (Ok, that's it, we are done. That is all folks. On a serious note, actually, I do agree with this idea. All we have to do is look around). 
• What happens when stories that are baseless are repeated? 
• The narrative is changing. Latinos do not see ourselves as a minority anymore, nor whites see us that way. Conversation and change are happening to change the narrative. Changing the narrative is the first step to owning the voice and transforming democracy. 
• Democracy matters to us all. 
• We librarians are the first line of defense. (Another thing I have often said, and I hope I am not alone in believing that)
• We need to build bridges of trust. Salvation lays in the binding of America. 
• Librarians are role models, so we are responsible to be accessible to those who need us. 
• "Eat your fear, put honey in your tongue, then swallow." In asking questions, take control. How do the questions you ask get others to tell their stories?
•  New immigrants are the America waking up, feeling out of place, so we need to care. 
• Hinojosa recommends reading Sonia Sotomayor's new book. (She did not specify which one, so I am guessing it is Sotomayor's memoir My Beloved World.) 
• Hinojosa strives to create safe spaces, in her classrooms and in her work, so people can tell their stories. This is about seeing beyond what we usually see. 
• If you see injustice, say something. If you see injustice, say and do something. 
• Understand that what we do and our stories have power. 
• For Latinos, stuck in the "US Mambo = 3 steps forward, 2 steps back." We are a big market, yet we get our books banned; we get discriminated against. In Arizona, librotraficante comes as a democratic reply, the book smuggler.
• Latinos in the front line of democratic excesses, of a challenge to democracy. We need access to information, knowing our rights and engaging in democracy and society. We librarians serve as an example to Latinos and others. 
• Latino youths need us to see them, and to see we fight for them. They need us librarians. 
• There can be happiness in seeing each other, in seeing ourselves in others' eyes. This is the work we do. 

ACRL 2013 Conference Notes: Panel on Having an Instruction Arsenal

ACRL Panel Session
Topic: ""Building an Instruction Arsenal: Using Standardized Elements to Streamline Class Planning and Ease Student Learning Assessment Across the Curriculum."
Date: Saturday, April 13, 2013, 9:45am

• (This was definitely another panel I was very interested in, so worth it to be up and about on Saturday morning. This is an idea that I talked to my director about, and it has possibilities for us). 
• The question: How to deliver classes that are good with minimal planning? And then, how do you assess them?
• Three elements of planning: 
• Student Learning Outcomes (SLO). 
• Active Learning Exercises. 
• Tailored Assessments.
•  Start by thinking critically what is it students do. Map activities to SLO's. 
• SLO's become common denominators across all library instruction. 
• Guiding principles. Think strategically what students need to know and when. Use "in order to" statements. 
• Build assessment around SLO's. Measure effectiveness of instruction and use it to inform reevaluation of exercises. 
• Create a Prezi/PowerPoint repository. Each presentation aligned for SLO's. (I think we can do this for our lower level General Studies classes). Share these with other instructors. 
• Create an assessment menu for each SLO. Dozens of questions and rubrics. 
• Online activities all combined on a course LibGuide. 
• Idea is to assess the same information literacy skills in a variety of ways. 
• Another set of ideas: 
• SLO mapping of curriculum (again, something we can do for our General Studies initially, for other courses down the road). 
• Keep a set of Active Learning Exercises, customizable to assignments. 
• Assessment to be authentic, formative. Pre/post testing. Note that every class is not assessed. Do more in-class formative assessment. 
• Maximize librarian time. Scaffold learning outcomes. 
• The model is adaptable; it allows for catered instruction without much planning. It allows us to be effective and efficient. 
•  Unique but uniform. Sessions can be created quickly to meet the needs of individual classes. 
• Note the slides are available online in the conference planner as a PDF. (May want to grab them, as I noted before of the planner, who knows how long ACRL will keep it there).

ACRL 2013 Conference Notes: Panel Session on Queering the Library

ACRL Panel Session
Topic: "Queering the Library: What are YOU Doing to Serve Your LGBTQ Community?"
Date: Saturday, April 13, 2013, 8:30am

• (I was interested in this panel because I do have an interest in the topic, both as a librarian, and as an ally. I do have to note that this was an interest I could not always express, certainly not "too much" in my previous workplace, but let us leave that behind. In addition, since I have done some reading on the topic-- see here, here, and over here--, I figured this would be a good follow-up. It definitely was worth it getting up early on the last day of the conference for this panel.)
• See http://librarylea.com/queerlib for the presentation slides. 
• LGBTQ issues and needs of students is a good research topic; case studies can be meaningful. There is a lack in the LIS Literature (I know. I have not seen a lot of this neither). 
• Look at the LGBT Campus Climate Index (I did check. Curiously, neither my previous place nor my current place are listed. Though if I go by experience, my current place is lot more friendly, so to speak). 
• From cited survey by Rankin (it refers to this. Note, it is not a free product. However, I did check WorldCat, and a few libraries have it, so ILL may be possible): 
• 31% of LGBTQ students identify their campus as phobic. 
• 21% experience harassment. 
• Many students consider leaving campus as a result. This has an impact on retention (and I would guess it may have some impact on reputation as well, at least among LGBTQ people). Campus responses have been less than adequate.
• This is a library issue. 
• We are about equality. 
• Show that the library supports all students with materials and access. The challenge is the line between visibility and privacy. 
• Safe spaces to access materials are necessary. Also, work with any LGBTQ campus center, if it exists. Such places often have their own libraries as well. 
• Overall, LGBTQ centers are still rare on campuses. 
•  From the Q&A: I am one voice. What can I do? 
• Put yourself out. Still, let others know you are a resource. Start by making your office a safe space. You being visible is an act of subversion. 
• From the Q&A: Could this get me in trouble? (The basic answer is yes. Sort of implied in the discussion is that you have to measure your own risk tolerance and act accordingly, but act.)
• Embrace discomfort and trouble. 
• In hostile environments, maybe keep the faith as change is coming (this seemed a bit on the idealistic side to me. In some cases, change may be extremely slow to come, if at all. Still, try to remain positive). 
• In hostile environments, do be aware of yourself and others. Gather your thoughts and support base. At the end of the day, do take the time to decompress. 
• In an extreme case, getting fired may be worth it (though here I would say, again, measure your risk tolerance. If you are single with nothing to lose, you can probably do this with ease. If others depend on you, like family, maybe instead of getting fired you bide your time and move the hell out of Dodge. Don't burn bridges unnecessarily, but when you do move and secure a new position, make sure the old place knows exactly why you are leaving). 

ACRL 2013 Conference Notes: Contributed Papers on librarians, faculty, and assessment

ACRL Contributed Papers Group 2
Topics: Faculty and IL Rubrics, Assessment Leadership, and Instruction/Assessment
Date: Friday, April 12, 2013, 4:00pm

Again, reminder that the proceedings with the papers are at this link. I will be also linking the individual titles below, which lead to PDFs.

I. "'How is this different from critical thinking?': The Risks and Rewards of Deepening Faculty Involvement in an Information Literacy Rubric."

• While working with faculty, reinforce that librarians are educational experts and researchers (I will admit this is not always easy since often librarians can be their own worst enemies in this regard whether by just being shy or, as I have been subjected to, taking down other librarians and saying things such as "you are not a real teacher." By the way, I will put my teaching credentials up against any librarian or faculty out there any day, any time). We then gain benefit from faculty strengths.
• The paper reports on a study comparing how faculty and librarians score items on a rubric, their common elements and differences. 
• Difficulty in assessing how students evaluate sources. Librarians go across disciplines where faculty go deep in their discipline. (See, we are strong in different things, and that is good)
• Overall though, the study found few differences between the librarians and the faculty. 
• Risk of credibility and expertise. 
• Gains: librarians identified as peers. Advancing information literacy. 

II. "Becoming a Campus Assessment Leader: Collaborating for Campus Wide IL Assessment."

•  (I was interested in this paper to go along with what I learned in the preconference I did earlier in the week)
• A common problem on campuses is a lack of information literacy in campus curricular assessment.
• Note that the paper includes the survey instrument. 
• Survey distribution:
• Target specific departments. Start with the ones you have connections with. 
• End of semester distribution. 
• Stress that the assessment will not be used to judge faculty. 

III. "Just-in-time Instruction, Regular Reflection, and Integrated Assessment: A Sustainable Model for Student Growth."

• (I did not get a whole lot out of this presentation. We got referred to go online to find the handouts. This is one I need to read in full soon. By the way, the handout is in the conference schedule part as a PDF, which is not link-friendly. So here is the link to the program, hoping ACRL will not muck it up down the road. Way I see it, it should have been included with the paper's link to have it all in one place). 
• Paper reports on a collaboration between a faculty member and a librarian. 
• Embarking on parallel, non-communicated work does not really help our students.