Your friendly neighborhood librarians and archivists are world travelers. Since Fall 2018, several of our library staff members ventured to exciting places in partnership with classes. Enjoy the footage of their excursions! https://vimeo.com/324298834 Part One We welcome you to share your journeys—both past and future—on our world map. https://vimeo.com/324983915 Ready to embark on your next adventure? We will have even more inspiration on the shelves. Students selected materials … [Read more...]
Information Literacy Beyond the Classroom
Davidson’s librarians often experience a tension in our information literacy instruction: we want to prepare students to do well on a particular assignment (for example, finding sources for a research paper), but we also want to teach them to think critically about their information use generally (for instance, considering the political, social, and ethical impacts of information). This tension is reflected in our Information Literacy Vision Statement: “We recognize the importance of … [Read more...]
Davidson College’s New Open Education Initiative
Last week, the E.H. Little Library, in partnership with the Center for Teaching and Learning and Digital Learning Research & Design (DRLD), announced five new $500 stipends for faculty interested in integrating Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Pedagogy into their Fall 2016 courses. Each faculty member that receives a stipend will be required to integrate free and open course materials into their course. Librarians will play a vital role in this process by helping faculty find, … [Read more...]
Browsing as Problem
I have long been fond of a 2010 article in American Libraries by Donald Barclay entitled “The Myth of Browsing.” Writing in reaction to faculty opposition to offsite storage of books and journals, Barclay pointed out that open stacks date back only to about 1940. He reminded readers that browsers are perusing whatever small segment of the information universe is owned by their library, that books can be shelved in only one place even if they cover many topics or perspectives, and that the most … [Read more...]
I’ll Resist the Seinfeld Reference
I'm currently participating in Davidson’s first cohort of faculty, students and staff experimenting with Davidson Domains. Davidson Domains is a program spearheaded by ITS and the Digital Studies program at Davidson: “which will provide every Davidson student a unique domain name and access to an open source platform like WordPress. The Web domain will serve as a foundation students’ online presence at Davidson and beyond. As students progress through the Davidson curriculum, they will learn … [Read more...]