ILA/ACRL Newsletter, vol. 15, no. 1, March 2005

Spotlight on…Instruction!

Contents


President's Piece

Well, I must be President now as I am writing the first of three presidential communiqués. I am honored to your President of the Iowa Chapter of the Association of Colleges and Research Libraries. I hope that you will find that this year’s plans and activities will inform, inspire, and be enjoyable for you.

Speaking of informative…Did you know that there will be 11 different contributed papers, panel sessions, poster sessions, and discussion roundtables by Iowans at the National ACRL Conference in Minneapolis in April? Later in the newsletter you will find a listing highlighting our colleagues’ endeavors. Congratulations to all presenters as I understand from the ACRL Chapters Council meeting in Boston that the selection process was quite competitive this year. If you are going to the conference, let’s show support for our fellow Iowans by attending their presentations. By the way, an evening at a baseball game for Friday night is being planned by Stephen Dew at the University of Iowa. It is the season opener for the Twins and how often can one attend the first game of the season!! If you are interested, contact him at stephen-dew@uiowa.edu.

In May, Iowa State University is hosting our Spring Conference at the Hotel at Gateway Center in Ames. The Spring Committee, chaired by Ed Goedeken, has been busy planning the conference. From the updates I get, I think you will find something to peak your interest. The committee is still seeking paper proposals so if you are thinking that you have something to share with us, please consider applying to present your idea. The traditional Thursday pre-conference dinner will be held at the Hunziker House in the Reiman Gardens on the ISU campus. It is located just a mile from the hotel. There will be plenty of opportunities for wandering through the gardens before and after dinner. Here are a couple of photos from the 2000 conference dinner which was also held here. If you attended the dinner that year, you will have a hard time recognizing the gardens as it has grown by leaps and bounds.

The Fall Program Committee is busy planning our activities for the ILA Conference in Dubuque in October. We are sponsoring a pre-conference on digitalization on the Wednesday before the conference begins. We are planning to have three sessions geared towards academic libraries—two on Thursday and one on Friday. Stay tune for further developments for this conference.

This year we will be conducting a survey of academic librarians to gauge the changes we have seen in our profession since 1989. In 1989, the Chapter surveyed the librarians in the state and use the data collected to help guide us during the last 15 years. I hope this new survey will again help us shape the future of our Chapter. Thank you in advance for you participation in this survey. I will keep you posted on the progress of this activity.

I am wishing you a wonderful spring.

Kathy A. Parsons
Iowa State University Library
2005 ILA/ACRL President

Return to Top


Executive Board 2005


Back Row: Steve Ostrem, Ryan Gjerde, Michelle Holschuh Simmons, Ed Goedeken, Arron Wings, Betsy Gardner, Amy Paulus
Front Row: Kathy Parsons, Rebecca Stuhr, Ellen Neuhaus, Becky Lutkenhaus
Not Pictured: Susan Knippel, Jane Campagna, Kathy Magarrell, John Goodin, Kris Stacy-Bates


Spring Conference 2005 Information

Academic Libraries: Cornerstones for Communities is the theme for the ILA/ACRL Spring Conference. Dr. David Carr, author of "The Promise of Cultural Institutions" and professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, will be the keynote speaker for the Spring ILA/ACRL Conference to be held in Ames, Iowa on Friday, May 20th at the Gateway Center. Dr. Carr's presentation is titled "An Academic Library Beyond an Academic Community." Information on David Carr can be found at: http://ils.unc.edu/sils/people/faculty.html#carr. More information on this conference will be available online at: http://www.iowaacrl.org/conference/2005/index.html so be sure to check this site often for further details.

The pre-conference dinner is scheduled to be at the Reiman Gardens on May 19th and the Butterfly Wing will be open for an additional fee.

Accomodations for this event include the Gateway Center and also some rooms at the Baymont Inn. Please book rooms at the Gateway Center first, since using their rooms will reduce our overall conference costs. The Gateway Center can be contacted at 1-800-367-2637 and be sure to mention that you are a part of the ILA/ACRL when making the reservation. The Baymont Inn is reserved only in case additional rooms are needed.


Spring Conference 2005 Registration Form

ILA/ACRL Spring Conference
”Academic Libraries: Cornerstones for Communities”

Friday, May 20, 2005 - Gateway Center, Ames

Conference Registration Form

Name: _____________________________________________________________

Library: ___________________________________________________________

Institution: ________________________________________________________

Address for receipt:_________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

E-Mail Address: ___________________________________________________

Conference registration fee , includes lunch and refreshments during breaks:

_____$50.00 ILA/ACRL Member _____$65.00 Non-Member _____$20.00 Student

Pre-Conference Social (Dinner at Reiman Gardens) Fee: _____ $20

Upon receipt of your registration, an acknowledgement will be e-mailed to you. You will receive a printed receipt at the conference. PLEASE NOTE: Registrations will be accepted as late as the day of the conference, (checks only) but lunch will not be guaranteed for those registering after the deadline. No refunds will be issued for cancellations after Monday, May 16, 2005.

Make check payable to ILA/ACRL and mail completed registration form and check to:

Leanne Alexander
ILA/ACRL Conference Registration
111 College of Design
Ames, IA 50011-3091
Phone: 515-294-0418 --- Fax: 515-294-5525
Email:  mlalex@iastate.edu

 

Return to Top


Spring Conference 2005 Call for Papers

Call for Presentations

ILA/ACRL Spring Conference 2005:
"Academic Libraries: Cornerstones for Communities"

May 20, 2005 - Gateway Center, Ames, Iowa

Deadline for Receipt: March 15, 2005

Do you have ideas you would like to share with your colleagues? Would you like an opportunity to present a conference paper? Do you have any partnering ventures you would like to share? Morning and afternoon sessions for presentations have been scheduled for the 2005 ILA/ACRL Spring Conference. Individuals are invited to submit proposals for presentations. Sessions will last 45 minutes, and individuals are encouraged to hold a question-and-answer discussion period for the last 15 minutes of this time.

Please see http://www.iowaacrl.org/conference/2005/call.html for further information and for the presentation summary form.

Return to Top


Scholarship to Spring Conference Available

The Awards Committee of ILA/ACRL announces the availability of a scholarship to attend the ILA/ACRL Spring Conference, May 20, 2005 at the Gateway Center in Ames, Iowa. The scholarship will cover the $50 registration fee and up to $100 in travel, hotel, and meal expenses (including the Thursday dinner planned the night before the conference on May 19).

Applicants must be paid members of ILA/ACRL, working full-time in an Iowa academic or research library, and either:

  1. be attending their first ILA/ACRL Spring Conference or
  2. have worked in an Iowa library for fewer than three years.

Library science students may also apply for the scholarship. Previous scholarship recipients are not eligible.

April 15, 2005 is the deadline for scholarship applications. The winner will be announced May 2.

To apply, complete the application form available on the ILA/ACRL Web site, http://www.iowaacrl.org/conference/2005/sp2005scholarship.html, and send by mail, e-mail, or fax to:

Ellen Neuhaus
Rod Library
University of Northern Iowa
1227 West 27 th Street
Cedar Falls, IA 50613-3675
FAX: (319) 273-2913
E-mail: ellen.neuhaus@uni.edu

-- Submitted by Ellen Neuhaus

Return to Top


Special Volunteer Opportunity during ILA/ACRL Spring Conference

Every year the Iowa State University Library Staff Association as one of its service projects assists with the Iowa Special Olympics by providing “live-in volunteers” for the dorms that are being used for the Special Olympians. This year our conference is scheduled for the same days. Brilliant planning on my part as I have been one of the volunteers for the past four years. But then I thought “Well, some of us do volunteer work and maybe some conference attendees might be interested since there are some perks.”

What perks? Well, you get to re-live dorm life by spending either Thursday or Friday night (or both) in Willow/Maple/Larch complex for free. You receive a parking pass and all linens are provided. In the morning you would get free breakfast in the dining hall. Your main tasks would be assisting with questions, concerns, directions, emergency evacuations, etc. Training for the questions asked by the Olympians will be provided by experienced ISU staff volunteers. The individuals’ coaches are responsible for keeping residents under control, but you may need to alert them if a situation arises. Volunteers are expected to be in their room at 8:30 p.m. and throughout the night until 7:00 a.m. the next morning. Most Special Olympics athletes will be at their activities until 9:00 p.m.

If this sounds like an interesting activity to you and you need more information, please contact either Fred Gulden (gulden@iastate.edu) or Kathy A. Parsons (kap@iastate.edu) at ISU.

-- Submitted by Kathy A. Parsons

Return to Top


Iowans at National ACRL Conference in Minneapolis

Contributed Papers

 Panel Sessions

Poster Sessions

Discussion Roundtables

-- Submitted by Kathy Parsons

Return to Top


A Message from the Nominating Committee

Looking for ways to meet other academic librarians in Iowa? Consider volunteering for one of the several committees or even ponder a leadership role in the chapter.

 The Nominating Committee is seeking interested individuals for several committees and for vice-president/president-elect, secretary/treasurer, and member-at-large for the calendar year 2006. To learn more about the committees and leadership roles, go to the ILA/ACRL Web site at http://www.iowaacrl.org/ and click on "ILA/ACRL Organization."

 If you find something that piques your interest, volunteer by completing the ILA/ACRL Volunteer Form located on our Web site at http://www.iowaacrl.org/organization/volunteer.html.

 For further information, please contact Rebecca Stuhr (641-269-3674). stuhrr@grinnell.edu

 — Submitted by Rebecca Stuhr

Return to Top


ILA/ACRL Reports

Treasurer's Report

Balance in account as of 12/31/04 $4,038.86
Expenses for December were $328.70. No activity thus far in 2005.
ACRL National Account: Balance in account $ 24.00

-- Submitted by Steve Ostrem

Ad Hoc Advocacy Committee Report

 Charge: The charge of the ILA/ACRL Advocacy Committee is to disseminate information about academic libraries as a way to promote them within their host institutions and throughout the state; to develop and encourage methods of resource-sharing among academic libraries; to raise awareness of and advocate for rights to intellectual freedom and access to information; and to demonstrate leadership in librarian professional development across the state.

Subcommittees (with leaders of each group marked with asterisks) (Pat Coffie has decided not to continue her participation in this committee.)

Public Relations/Marketing

Intellectual Freedom/Equity of Access

Professional Development/Faculty Status/Mentoring/Recruitment

Serials—Open access and scholarly communication

Each subcommittee will be creating a concrete plan of action within the next two months, so by the next meeting, I should be able to report progress from each group.

-- Submitted by Michelle Holschuh Simmons

ACRL Chapters Council Representative Report

ACRL is proposing to increase the membership dues from $35 to $45 in 2006 and then to $55 in 2007. ACRL members will be able to vote on this proposal in the Spring. For more information and a list of Frequently Asked Questions, please see: http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/acrlmembership/duesfaq.htm.

April 7-10 is the date for the ACRL 12th National Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "Currents and Convergence: Navigating the Rivers of Change" is the theme of the conference and there is already a record number of people registered to attend. You can still register on site to attend this conference but if you are unable to travel to Minneapolis, consider attending virtually! You can register to attend virtually at http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlevents/12thnatconf/acrlregistration/registration.htm. Live webcasts of select speakers, blogs, speaker materials, meeting room discussions and other material will be available through the Internet!

-- Submitted by Amy Paulus

Return to Top


Spotlight on …. Instruction!

Community College Instruction

Des Moines Area Community College

DMACC currently offers a 1 credit Library Skills class. Plans are under way to develop an additional 2 credit advanced course. To further advance our goal of Information Literacy Education, DMACC once again will be hosting the Information Literacy Forum.

Call for Proposals. The 2 nd Annual DMACC Information Literacy Forum – Faculty Collaborations: Refocusing the Research Assignment will be held Friday, June 17 at the DMACC Urban Campus ( 1100 7 th Street, Des Moines). We will be joined by Debra Gilchrist, a nationally recognized leader in developing library/faculty collaborations and program assessment.

We are currently looking for individuals wishing to share and highlight their Information Literacy “Best Practices.” Proposals are due April 15 and should include a program title and summary (150 word maximum) of your program and what makes it unique. In keeping with this year’s focus, we will be particularly interested in initiatives that emphasize successful collaborations with teaching faculty. Presentations will be 20-30 minutes in length. Applicants will be notified of their status by May 2.

Details on the Forum will be available at http://www.dmacc.edu/instructors/psmumma/ Registration will be available April 1 through June 3. Due to space considerations, registration will be limited to no more than 100 participants.

Questions? You may contact Polly Mumma (psmumma@dmacc.edu) at the DMACC Urban Campus (515) 697-7739, Lisa Stock (lastock@dmacc.edu) at the DMACC Ankeny Campus (515) 964-6328, or Rebecca Funke (rsfunke@dmacc.edu) at the DMACC Boone Campus (515) 433-5040.

-- Submitted by Lisa Stock

Hawkeye Community College

Many of the instructors at HCC realize how important it is for their students to become familiar with the library, its resources, and its staff. During the Fall 2004 semester, the (two) librarians at HCC conducted 82 formal bibliographic instruction sessions in the library’s computer classroom. Many of these were composition and speech classes, but others included Children’s Literature, Environmental Issues, Introduction to Nursing, Western Civilization, and more. The sessions focused on using our online resources such as the OPAC and various online databases. Presentations were adapted to individual classes depending on the nature of the class and/or specific assignments.

A number of the classes also had staff led tours of the library facility. An additional thirteen classes were given a tour, but did not have the computer classroom component. Several other faculty members require their students to complete individual “library scavenger hunts” outside of the normal class time. The students are encouraged to find out as much information about the library and library resources as they can, but are encouraged to ask for help from a librarian, if needed. We appreciate these (and other) one-on-one opportunities to instruct and to build a rapport with students.

Often day-to-day instructional encounters have something to do with technology. For example, online document delivery of interlibrary loan articles was implemented at the beginning of the Fall Semester. Besides the ILL request forms in the EBSCO databases, we also have online forms on the library’s home page. Some students who encounter the online document delivery system for the first time require our help (instruction) to become familiar with this great resource.

--Submitted by Judy Mitchell

North Iowa Area Community College

Along with the general library orientations and classroom presentations I do as part of our library instruction at NIACC, I am asked to participate in our Orientation to College, a five-week extended orientation program required for most freshmen. For my five-minute presentation, I wanted something that would (hopefully) catch students’ attention, be fun, and leave them with a little information about what the library has to offer. I developed a PowerPoint presentation, “The Top Ten Reasons to Use the Library”, borrowing from David Letterman’s “Top 10”. Some reasons are rather silly (#10 – so your roommate doesn’t have to lie when your mom calls and wants to know where you are; #9 – it’s a great place to meet a smart date), and others remind them of how important we are (#7 – because the library has lots of books, journals, videos, and other resources to help you get good grades; #1 - the information and research skills you learn will last you for a lifetime). In between, we highlight some of the resources and services we offer, including the library staff – the “ultimate search engine”.

-- Submitted by Karen Dole

Western Iowa Tech Community College

Library instruction has sure changed since 1988 when I began at WITCC in Sioux City Iowa. Flipping overheads and watching the little slits in their eyes with a bunch of bobble heads from people falling asleep was somewhat frustrating.

Now all library instruction is done in computer classrooms or a mobile cart of wireless laptops is pulled into a classroom. The difference in learning styles makes the computers with hands on, visual and auditory learning all at one time, a much better mode of teaching.

The digital divide in age groups is very apparent in the classrooms. It is great to involve the younger computer savvy students in teaching by getting them to help the others, when they have questions. The younger ones love to beat me to the punch. I have created a separate account that shows I have $5000 in fines and overdue books that they can go in and renew for me.

We personalize much of the instruction. The legal database can be used to check on the skeletons in your family’s closet or check on the lawsuits filed against a company that they want to do business with or as simple as Roe v. Wade. They have a real desire to find that personalized information. Taking one subject like Roe v. Wade and abortion and finding all the different kinds of information from multiple databases helps them see the differences in each database and what they can use it for. They become more active learners and then they at least know how to use the database when they go back to do their assignments.

This year we have finally hit the age of students that feel extremely comfortable with the electronic books. They are excited and are testing all the capabilities. I feel like I am with a large group of “googleites”. Their computer savvy also makes them prime candidates for plagiarism with the cut and paste capabilities. Plagiarism remarks are a part of every database discussion.

If I had one thing that makes a class the most successful it is creating the desire to find that information. Personalizing the information and letting them take the opportunity to search what they need for another class right now builds the excitement. While we used to wake people up to leave the instruction, now we stay and answer questions on how to find other sites on the Internet and how to be critical thinkers about the Internet sites they use.

--Submitted by Sharon Dykshoorn


Private Academic Libraries Instruction

Buena Vista University

Librarians at Buena Vista University provide a number of library instruction opportunities to all types of library users and we see this as an important part of our mission. One of the eleven BVU Academic Objectives is to produce graduates who can “efficiently locate, critically evaluate, and effectively utilize information .” In order to reach this goal, we meet with between 30 and 40 classes each semester to get students started with library research projects that are unique to the objectives of their course.

The Storm Lake campus students get their introduction to the library in First Year Seminar or Written Communications during their first semester on campus. Because we are a laptop campus, we focus our instruction on our electronic services as well as on our traditional print collections. Part of what we stress to students is that you don’t need to BE in the library to USE the library. Granted, the library is a very pleasant place to be, and we strive to make the library inviting, but a student can accomplish a lot from their residence hall in the middle of the night!

From those beginnings we build on basic skills in more specialized courses. One of the more challenging Organic Chemistry labs asks a series of questions in which students find the answers using the chemistry journals, databases and references sources. The Media Studies students spend time analyzing how media shapes and reports on culture by using our journal collection. We also work in groups or individually with other upper-level students as they undertake challenging research projects in their areas of expertise, including our graduate education students who must propose, design and implement a research project to complete their Master’s degree.

What makes instruction unique at BV is that we regularly take our show on the road! More than half of BVU’s student body is made up of students who complete the final two years of their Bachelor’s degree at off-campus sites throughout the state. Providing library services and a presence to these geographically-bound students is a constant focus for us. Our Reference Librarian/Centers Liaison, Jackie AlSaffar visits the BVU Center sites throughout the state to provide face-to-face library instruction to our center students and faculty. We think of this as a “high tech/high touch” service that we are providing. Currently, we are exploring offering library instruction in an online environment to students who are taking classes at a distance or who maybe just prefer learning that way.

An important outreach service we offer is to open up the library to visiting high school and middle school students and invite them to use our collections and resources. These are often my favorite days because of the “gee whiz” factor we get from visitors who must suddenly navigate (what seems to them) a large library. We have been honored in the last two years by the National History Day of Iowa for providing outstanding service to young researchers. In the past academic year, we have also provided instruction to local community college students and have held workshops on such topics as plagiarism and designing effective library assignments for our Storm Lake and center faculty.

-- Submitted by Jodie Morin

Dordt College

Dordt College has had a comprehensive Information Literacy program in place for the past 10 years. While “bibliographic instruction” sessions had been a part of the library’s function for many years, beginning in 1995 a formal program was developed that sought to cultivate Information Literacy in students on several levels. IL sessions are currently taught by Reference and User Services Librarians Gwen Vos and Jan Versluis in a kind of 3-tiered system:

Tier One targets mainly freshmen students and serves as an introduction to library resources and research strategies. Through collaboration between Dordt’s English department and the library reference staff, this orientation level of IL has been integrated into the English 101 curriculum and accounts for the bulk of our instruction sessions.  The students generally come to the library for 2 or 3 class sessions (depending on the professor), where the usual instruction occurs: introduction to specialized references, LC classification, use of controlled vocabulary, searching WebCat (the online catalog), searching online journal and newspaper databases (EbscoHost, Lexis Nexis, etc.) and locating quality Internet resources. The first session usually is held at tables in the reference section where the students are encouraged to actually “crack open” a book or two; the second and third sessions follow soon after in our downstairs computer lab, equipped with 18 computers and a portable laptop/projector. During this current academic year alone, over 300 freshman ENGL 101 students have come into the library for 31 sessions.

Tier Two sessions are designed to build on the basic proficiency gained in Tier One and introduce students to the literature within their major discipline.  Instruction at this level focuses on discipline-specific reference works, journal literature in their discipline (where we usually incorporate a “Scholarly vs. Popular” exercise), and how to access specialized databases and indexes. Tier Three is an advanced level of discipline-specific research.  At this upper level, students receive further training on how to conduct more complex searches, using specialized databases and other indexing and abstracting resources. This year we have seen about 160 students in 11 Tier One and Two sessions (primarily students in Education, History, Social Work, and Health, PhysEd, & Recreation).

In addition to IL sessions conducted in the library, in 2002 the SearchPath online tutorial was added to our library’s homepage, further reinforcing the information students are given in the library sessions. Developed by staff members at Western Michigan University, SearchPath was customized for our use by Gwen Vos to give it a look and feel of compatibility with Dordt’s WebCat and other online tools. Mainly intended for use in the Tier One level of instruction (or freshman ENGL 101), the six interactive modules in SearchPath give students some added expertise in the research process which we don’t always have time to cover in the 2 or 3 library sessions.

Gwen also added three specialized tutorials for use by upperclassmen in the Tier Two and Three levels of instruction: a PsycInfo tutorial for students in Psychology and Sociology, an ERIC tutorial for Education students, and a Health Source tutorial for students in the Nursing program. These, too have proven useful in giving students access to a certain level of instruction not always available in library sessions, and students and faculty alike have expressed appreciation for these helpful resources.

Interest in the Information Literacy program at Dordt College continues to be high (although never as high as it could be!), and we feel that we’re part of an important process, one that equips students with critical skills needed to help them succeed during their college years and well-beyond, as lifelong learners.

-- Submitted by Janis Versluis
Graceland College

One important component of the library instruction program at Graceland University is what we call the Modern Rhetoric Library Resource Skills assignment. The assignment is designed to give students experience working with a wide variety of reference resources. In this program, a librarian spends one 50 minute period with a Modern Rhetoric class to explain the assignment and give some specific instruction on it.   

In the class, each student is assigned a different book. The student is told that this book is available on reserve at the library. They also are given a sheet of twenty questions. The questions ask questions about the book, or about subjects covered in the book.  For example, students need to find a review of the book, biographical information about the author, or a journal article covering one of the topics covered in the book. Help for each of the questions is provided to the students on the library web site.  You can see the questions for this assignment at http://personal.graceland.edu/~acland/Rhetoric/Index.htm

When a student completes the assignment, it is submitted to the library and is graded by a librarian.  The assignment counts as one of the regular class assignments in the Rhetoric class.

-- Submitted by Francis Acland

Luther College
Library instruction @ Preus has traditionally integrated instruction into individual courses. We have focused on first year students by teaching them how to use information resources during Paideia’s research paper unit (our common 1 st year experience course). Additionally, we have often met with students working on their senior projects. With the addition of a new Instructional Services Librarian this year, we are examining our instruction program to incorporate information literacy into our classes. Our librarians are focused on individual teaching as a responsibility to the library and college community. This includes library –based instruction, course-integrated instruction, continued reference services instruction, and a renewed commitment to providing library faculty to teach credit courses in the general curriculum. We have also committed to adding additional classroom space in the library, which would be devoted to library instruction, in addition to the other instructional spaces currently available within the library.

-- Submitted by Elly Lensch and Kate Rattenborg

Morningside College

Morningside has a long and healthy history of bibliographic instruction dating back to the mid-1980’s when our first “bibliographic instruction” reference librarian was hired. Since the early 1990’s, our library provided a three-tiered bibliographic instruction program. The first tier was a typical orientation tour for all new and transfer students. The second tier was instruction given by a librarian (over two or three class sessions) in the college writing course in connection with a research paper. The final or third-tier involved assisting professors at their invitation with specific, upper level course projects. Some departments created and/or redesigned specific courses where discipline specific “research skills” were addressed but other departments had no provision for research or information literacy instruction. While our bibliographic instruction program worked fairly well and was ahead of its time, it was not without its shortcomings. There were no formal assessment instruments in place and it was not well connected with the curriculum. It had for the most part stood alone and apart from the curriculum with no clear curricular or institutional mandate.And despite the faculty and librarians’ early adaptation of the philosophy that an academic library is a “learning laboratory” and not just a “warehouse” of materials, bibliographic instruction was nevertheless after two decades notconsistently understood or sufficiently established within the fabric of our institution’s academic culture.

In the summer of 2001 the Morningside faculty began serious work on the formation of a new curriculum. I saw my opportunity and enthusiastically offered my services. I was already an ex officio member of the curriculum committee. After the creation of a new mission/vision statement we wrestled with the creation of eight campus-wide outcomes from which we later created specific “KSDs” (knowledge, skills and dispositions). As the librarian I kept an “eye” out for areas where information literacy skills could be woven into the fabric of our college’s new outcomes and “KSDs”. Once the foundation of a new curriculum was in place, I set out to create an “information literacy across the curriculum” (ILAC) proposal which would fit seamlessly into the curriculum and be approved and endorsed by the faculty as a whole. Three of our college’s eight outcomes were descriptive of various aspects of the 2000 ACRL Information Literacy CompetencyStandards for Higher Education. Information literacy was embedded within the institution’s outcomes without using perceived library terminology thereby demystifying the concept and saving it from being marginalized. I also sought to identify “information literacy” components already written within our college’s “Five-Year Plan” as well as other institutional documents including our college’s new mission and vision statements highlighting phrasing which tied into information literacy outcomes. In my initial proposal I stated, “ Morningside College ’s Five-Year Plan is replete with an emphasis on ‘a passion for learning’ and for ‘life-long learning.’ ”

From the Morningside College Mission statement: “The Morningside experience cultivates a passion for life-long learning and a dedication to ethical leadership and civic responsibility.”

 Morningside College’s Vision statement: The College is a student-oriented participatory community, offering liberal arts curriculum combined with a diverse array of practical experiences. The goal is the development of the whole person through an emphasis on critical thinking, effective communication, cultural understanding, practical wisdom and ethical action. The Morningside graduate is equipped for both personal and professional success.

In the fall of 2003 the following proposal was submitted to the Curriculum Committee:
Proposal: An “Information Literacy Across the Curriculum” plan be formally adopted and implemented within our curriculum to include for all students the following components:

We are still working to fully implement this program. We have intentionally sought to integrate our information literacy program infusing it into the curriculum in a natural sequence. At the same time we have intentionally sought faculty involvement making it relevant to students as well as faculty and easily adaptable to various disciplines.

The selection and administration of appropriate assessment instruments and working with the departments as they develop and write subject and discipline specific information/research literacy objectives are still major issues for further work. However, we are confident that we are on the right track. We trust that our program is creating a stronger, more effective information literacy program which will have a lasting affect on the lives of our students and graduates creating more confident information literate researchers, information consumers and life-long learners.

-- Submitted by Daria Bossman

Mount Mercy College

The Busse Library approach to information instruction is at point of need as perceived by instructors and/or students. We prepare general and department specific short tutorial handouts that are assigned or recommended by faculty and librarians. The college Partnership Program for first semester freshman has a specific tutorial used by most faculty who teach these sections. Much of our face-to-face instruction is to individual courses teaching specific skills and providing guidance for projects and assignments. Facilitating information access through the college course management system is another vehicle of instruction.

--Submitted by Linda L. Scarth

Palmer College of Chiropractic

Information literacy at Palmer College of Chiropractic takes many forms, but mainly that of a one-credit course required of all first-year doctor of chiropractic students. The course was developed after much discussion by the curriculum management team, focus groups, and consideration of the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and the Council on Chiropractic Education standards. The course began the Fall term 2002 with 258 students in two sections meeting once a week for the 15-week trimester. Unfortunately, with such large classes and only two librarians team-teaching the class, we were limited to a demonstration and lecture-type format. We concentrated on health science databases and resources, print and electronic, as well as evaluation of sources. The course still averages 150 – 200 students each trimester, and the class content retains much of the features I just mentioned, but I have modified the content and delivery over the last two years in response to student needs. I also developed a coursepak of notes and tutorials that I hope the students will keep for future reference.

The class is currently being transitioned from the second trimester to the first trimester, and going to a twice-a-week meeting time for half a trimester, so content and delivery is morphing again. The difficult part is to strike a balance between the material we in the library feel the students should know, and the reality of what the students actually need to know and will be able to recall. I will still be concentrating on health science and chiropractic resources and databases, and stress evaluation and critical thinking. Since I am the only instructor, the class will retain the demonstration and lecture format with outside assignments for the students to complete in the campus computer labs.

In addition to the required course, I also do one-shot workshops for the Chiropractic Technologist classes for basic resources on campus and resources freely available for when they are associated with a chiropractic office. Recently I have been invited to do advanced searching workshops for fellows in the Masters of Research program. All these efforts help keep information literacy to the forefront here at Palmer.

-- Submitted by Karen Goodell

Simpson College

From training first year students on how to be comfortable using library resources to fun interactive workshops with our staff and faculty, the instruction at Dunn library takes many different forms.

First Year and Transfer classes
A First Year orientation program in the fall semester introduces the students to library services and resources. Each section of the LAS (Liberal Arts Seminar) orientation is held in conjunction with a 100 level class. The library meets with the students in each section twice—once to do an interactive tour of the library and once to showcase our electronic resources. The faculty and librarian work together to create an assignment that reflects both the class content and learning library skills.

A similar orientation program is planned for transfer students. Since transfer students have varied needs in library research, these library sessions are geared towards helping transfer students become aware of library resources. Sessions will include library tours, exploring subject databases and researching specific topics.

DAL visits and classes
The library is working with our DAL (Division of Adult Learning) to bring awareness of the library to returning adult learners. There is a wide variety of library experience among the adult learners, with some students very comfortable with database searching and others never having used the Internet. There is also a Transitions class for adult students that highlights areas of the college and includes a library component. This short informational session with the library allows students to become aware of library services, and to feel free to call for additional help, even if they are not taking classes at the main campus.

Workshops
The library holds workshops aimed at the Simpson community. We have held workshops on health resources and web evaluation. Future planned workshops include an introduction to the college archives and plagiarism.

-- Submitted by Mary Peterson

University of Dubuque

The information literacy program at the University of Dubuque this year has included the following:

The librarians have begun the fifth semester of RES 104, Introduction to Research Writing, a required class in which librarians and faculty work as a team to teach students how to write research papers in the humanities, social sciences, and science. Each semester, students write on a single geographic area. Last semester, it was China, Japan, and Korea. This semester, they are writing on India and Southeast Asia.

In addition, the librarians see every Basic Speech class to help them with research for two of their speeches. In their second speech, called a policy speech, the students have to choose a current piece of legislation and argue in support or against the pending bill. We show them CQ Weekly, and review Academic Search Premier with an eye towards understanding the political biases of current events periodicals. In their third speech, they find a recent Supreme Court case, analyze the social issues involved, and state their where they stand on the issue.

In addition, the librarians have taught Web-page evaluation in World View Seminar II, in which students have to research a charity (Habitat for Humanity, for example) as the beginning of a service project.

Last semester, Mary Anne Knefel taught two for-credit classes, Theological Research Methods and Research and Writing in Communication.

-- Submitted by Mary Anne Knefel

Waldorf College

This year and next year are new years for the library at Waldorf. We are continuing to build out new library which will be done by the fall of 2005 and this will change dramatically our instruction program. We will have 2 new classrooms that will be wireless and we will have full instructor computer station in each classroom. Technology aside I have currently restructured our instruction program. We have 2 librarians who give instruction and they are fully integrated with the classroom. Classes either come into the library or we go to the classroom. We are starting to create classroom portals for every class that requests a session: posting assignments, key databases, periodicals, and web sites to search. Hints and tips on formulating a research paper and writing one. Primarily we see the English Comp classes, a majority of business classes, wellness, and religion classes. Since we are smaller we also can provide one on one consultation with students in the whole process of creating, writing, and proofing their projects. One other aspect of our new library project is that the college writing center (a student-professor help center for writing) will be located in the library and will open up new possibilities for our instruction program.

-- Submitted by Jim Kapoun

Wartburg College

Information Literacy as currently taught at Wartburg College’s Vogel Library is directly tied to the implementation of the Wartburg Plan of Essential Education. Essential Education is the new general education plan and includes Information Literacy Across the Curriculum (ILAC) as one required strand. As a result of faculty committee work in 2000, five core courses have mandated, discrete information literacy experiences, and each major has an EPC-approved ILAC plan. The high priority on information literacy at Wartburg is evidenced by 1) a specific place in the curriculum, 2) explicit library mission statement and information literacy mission statements, and 3) two librarians, soon to be three, who are expert at information literacy and dedicated to it, both in title and temperament, aided by a library director who is equally passionate about it.

Goals: Lessons and concepts are based on the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, approved by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) in 2000, as well as the Council on Independent Colleges (CIC) in 2004. The next step was to determine what information needs could be met in which classes. A detailed analysis of the 87 outcomes in the national standards and where they are being introduced and reinforced is available in the library’s information literacy curriculum map (http://public.wartburg.edu/library/infolit/currmap.html).

Assessment: A further step was to create a rigorous assessment plan to discern whether ILAC was accomplishing its goals and discover how it could be improved. The assessment plan was created as the first cohort of Wartburg students moved through the Essential Education plan.

Currently, assessment points include:

  1. A pretest administered on the first day of class for the Fall Term EN 111 and EN112 sections
  2. A follow-up test on the first day of class for the Fall Term IS201 sections
  3. Questions added to departmental post-tests in the majors where possible
  4. Customizable Primary Trait Analysis for bibliographies produced in capstone class projects in the majors
  5. Evaluation of information-seeking logs in appropriate classes
  6. Evaluation of information literacy lessons by students and faculty in appropriate classes
  7. Evaluation of individual learning situations such as consultations and reference desk encounters

Assessment data has led to a reworking of several lessons, most notably the IS 101 lesson, which is on its third iteration. Other smaller adjustments have also come about based on what assessment has taught us. Assessment has shown that ILAC does make a difference in the quality of research and work of Wartburg students, especially between their first and second years in the Essential Education program. Capstone class evaluation continues to be a work in progress. Much needs to be done to get a more accurate picture of how information literate Wartburg student are at graduation.

-- Submitted by Randall Schroeder

Wartburg Theological Seminary

This year, Susan Ebertz, Director of Reu Memorial Library at Wartburg Theological Seminary, offered a course on theological research that was required of all Master of Arts students.

-- Submitted by Mary Anne Knefel

William Penn University

This semester at William Penn we are introducing a new product, RefWorks, to our Composition II students. Last year our student survey indicated that students want more help citing sources. Our Humanities faculty was also concerned with the lack of proficiency in this area. Purchasing a tool to help students with citing sources seemed to be the perfect solution. However, I admit that I was unsure about how students would react to RefWorks. Would this be just one more library product that seems difficult to use in comparison to Google? One day I presented a quick demonstration of RefWorks to an upper-division psychology class and offered some brochures. The brochures were quickly snapped up and the students wanted to know more.

We quickly decided to teach RefWorks to all Composition II students. In Composition I we focus on finding articles using Ebsco. Now we are showing Composition II classes how to export citations from Ebsco into RefWorks. One of the most interesting things that we discovered is that RefWorks seems to provide students with an incentive to use Ebsco. Previously we seemed to spend a lot of time persuading students to use databases instead of the Internet. The combination of these two products really seems to make the concept of searching for information and citing sources "click" for these students. Every time I demonstrate RefWorks several students comment, "This is so useful". It is such a pleasure to teach students a skill that they find so pertinent!

-- Submitted by Jennifer Stewart

Return to Top


Public Academic Libraries Instruction

Iowa State University

The Instruction Commons
The Instruction Commons is a course-related information literacy program designed to integrate electronic resources, library research instruction, and subject-specific information literacy competencies into ISU classes. Many courses in the Instruction Commons also include an in class library instruction component.

Originally, the Instruction Commons program was a four-year grant project known as the Undergrad Commons. It was co-funded by the ISU Library and the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust. As the Instruction Commons, the scope of this program now included all levels of the ISU curricula, including undergraduate, graduate, and special classes with a library research instruction component.

From its modest beginnings in Spring 1999 as an 11-page website with three participating classes, the Commons website alone has grown to almost 4,000 files, and has reached thousands of undergraduate and graduate-level students from across the ISU curriculum over the years. During Fall 2004-Spring 2005, 86 courses collaborated with the Commons. The Commons currently reaches approximately 6,000 students enrolled in collaborating courses each academic year.

I have had the opportunity to work with several Instruction Commons courses. I am working with Biology 394A this spring. Professor Warren Dolphin has included librarian involvement for the past 4 years. He believes student research papers have improved as a result of librarian participation. I visited the class in early February to provide a broad overview about life science resources. As a follow-up, Professor Dolphin has required that all of the students (20) schedule an appointment with me. During this time, I can provide more specific advice related to the student’s topic. The individual appointments give me the opportunity to gage how the student is coping with the research process. Student comments have included, “I’m excited about my topic.”; “I feel a lot better about my topic since I talked to you.” and “I did not think about consulting an author’s webpage to locate more information about my topic.” The meetings also give me the opportunity to demonstrate the usefulness of various resources which were not covered in class (e.g. Web of Science).

For more information and a list of participating courses: http://www.lib.iastate.edu/commons/index.html

-- Submitted by Andrea Dinkelman, Science & Technology Librarian

University of Iowa Main Library

Writing and Research Help Center at the UI Libraries, a new pilot project!   The UI Libraries is partnering with the UI Writing Center, the oldest writing center in the United States, to provide writing and research help for any and all students in the UI community.  Beginning Feb. 6, 2005, the UI Libraries became the third “satellite” for the Writing Center.  Sunday evenings from 5:00-9:00, students are encouraged to drop by the library Writing Center satellite to get help with their academic or personal writing styles, and to get research help at the same time. 

 We hope that the writing satellite will attract students who might not ordinarily come to the library – just getting people in the building is half the battle!  Hopefully, some of the students who come for writing help will be directed to, or otherwise discover the research help available to them at the Libraries.  By having a writing center within the library we hope to meet student needs and foster cross-curricular collaboration among librarians and faculty members.

 -- Submitted by Kathy Magarrell

University of Iowa Hardin Library
Currently the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences’ education team is actively promoting two education services: EndNote workshops and Hardin House Calls. The promotional campaigns have increased the visibility of the services and have led to new opportunities.

For the past two years, the Hardin Library has offered an introductory EndNote workshop. Based on user input the education team decided to offer Extreme EndNote for the advanced user. To promote the new workshop, posters were designed and featured in key areas of the library. The EndNote workshops are also advertised on the main page of the Hardin Library web site. As a result of the promotion, the workshops have proven to be popular with enrollment at capacity.

In collaboration with the University of Iowa libraries’ public relations coordinator, the education team developed a marketing campaign for Hardin House Calls. Hardin House Calls are tailored individual or group instructional sessions led by Hardin Librarians. Users choose the content and the location. Marketing strategies include: brainstorming with external relations people from the health science campus; distributing a user survey; meeting with faculty members; designing a new logo and featuring the logo prominently on the library web site. In addition, posters continue to be distributed to departments and are currently displayed in key areas of the library. Future plans include Hardin House Call bookmarks and magnets.

Both promotional campaigns increased the visibility and use of Hardin’s education services. The campaigns also produced unexpected results, such a series of faculty development sessions, education collaborations with smaller health science departments, and collection development opportunities.

For more information about Hardin Library for the Health Sciences education services contact Kim Bloedel at kimberly-bloedel@uiowa.edu or Kathy Skhal at kathryn-skhal@uiowa.edu.

-- Submitted by Kim Bloedel and Kathy Skhal

University of Iowa Marvin A. Pomerantz Business Library

Instruction is one of the primary services provided by Dave Martin, Head Business Librarian, and Laura Leavitt, Business Reference Librarian, to the students and faculty in the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa. In addition to providing one-on-one instruction to students and faculty at the reference desk as the occasion arises, Dave and Laura provide course-integrated instruction for various undergraduate and graduate level classes throughout the semester. Individualized research guides are prepared in tandem with these instruction sessions and placed on the library’s website for everyone to use. Some of the courses to which this type of instruction has been provided in the past include: Introduction to Marketing, International Finance and Competitive Strategy. The faculty have all provided positive feedback about this service, and there are many that request it every semester.

General business library orientation sessions for targeted groups such as faculty, Ph.D. students, Teaching Assistants, MBA students, international students and Adjunct Lecturers are also held throughout the school year. These sessions are tailored to each group and are conducted with an eye to promoting the unique services the library can provide them. Further outreach is conducted with other constituent groups such as the University’s Labor Center and Career Centers. In this vein, an instruction session on basic company research was conducted earlier this year for labor union representatives attending a workshop on collective bargaining sponsored by the Labor Center.

Finally, the Business Librarians at the University of Iowa teach several sections of a six-week, one-credit course on Business Research to pre-business and business undergraduate students. This course has proven very popular over the last six years that it has been taught. It is always full and very often has a waiting list. In an effort to reach more students, the Business Library is currently in the process of developing an online version of the course, and has received a $10,000 Innovation in Information Technology grant from the Academic Technologies group at the University of Iowa to do just that.

Websites referenced:

Marvin A. Pomerantz Business Library: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/biz/

Pomerantz Business Library Research Guides: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/biz/researchguides.html

-- Submitted by Laura Leavitt

University of Northern Iowa

University of Northern Iowa students in librarian-led, course-related instructional sessions are now more likely to have hands-on use of their own library-networked workstations due to the generosity of the Carver Charitable Trust.  In 2004 the UNI Rod Library was awarded a matching grant of $70,440 from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust to create a new 32-workstation library instruction room with a new LCD projector, and an ACS LINK system to allow for instructor control of all student workstations. Money from this grant is also being used to redesign and upgrade another existing library instruction room, with a resulting increase in student workstations from 12 to 22.   With this expansion of student workstations in our instructional facilities, each student in classes of typical size at UNI (25 to 30 students) will be able to practice during instructional sessions. 

Faculty continue to ask librarians to present course-specific library instruction for undergraduate and graduate courses.  Although the total number of instruction requests has decreased in the past two years, in large part due to an academic department's restructuring of a required General Education course, UNI librarians are still busy teaching an average about 240 classes per year with a total attendance of 5,300 students per year. This is down from the all time peak of 380 classes with a total attendance of 7,886 students recorded during the 2000-2001 instruction year.

A significant number of online instructional materials including Library User’s Guides, resources for classroom activities, tutorials, and customized web pages were produced or updated during 2004/2005 and can be viewed at either:

The Rod Library Instruction Home Page - http://www.library.uni.edu/instruction/

The Rod Library Master File for Course/Discipline Resources - http://www.library.uni.edu/instruction/coursedirectory.shtml

The Rod Library continues its year-round ongoing training for Student Assistants – four page training sets are assigned every two weeks. Students receive training and reinforcement on policies, referring questions to reference librarians, locating materials within the print reference and print government documents collections, locating articles and books using partial and incomplete citations, techniques for searching UNISTAR (UNI OPAC), and techniques for searching high-use databases.

-- Submitted by Chris Neuhaus

Return to Top


Next Spotlight issue - your suggestions needed!

If you liked reading about the different instruction actitivities happening throughout the state of Iowa and have an idea that you would like to see featured - please send your suggestion to Amy Paulus (amy-fuls@uiowa.edu). The July issue of the ILA/ACRL Newsletter will contain another Spotlight item and we need your help to determine the topic! Some ideas could be remote storage, virtual reference, e-reserve but feel free to suggest your own!


Community College News

Scott Community College

SCC Library Hosts Local Author D.D. Dunn
In celebration of the “One System, One Book, “ program of The Prairie Area Library System, the SCC Library hosted a visiting author, D.D. Dunn of Davenport on Wednesday, February 2nd at 2:00pm. Dunn is the author of "Binder Twine & Barbwire" which is a collection of humorous stories from her childhood on a western Illinois farm in the 1960's. Ms. Dunn gave a presentation of her book and answered questions regarding her family and her plans for future publications.

New Library Staff
Sarah Carlin became the newest member of the Scott Community College Library team in August of 2004. Among many general duties, Sarah specializes in library reserves, telecourses and using her extremely talented and creative side designing library displays.

Sarah graduated from North Scott High School in 2000 and St. Ambrose University in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. Sarah plans to continue her education in the fall of 2005, when she will begin study for her Master’s Degree in Library Science.

Iowa Stories 2000
The Scott Community College Library joined the Davenport Public Library and a committee of local librarians and educators to develop an Iowa Stories 2000 project in the Quad Cities. Iowa Stories 2000 is a literacy initiative that Christie Vilsack started as the wife of Iowa’s governor. Our project was developed partly as a continuation of a book being written by Scott Community College English faculty member, Craig Klein, on African-Americans in Davenport from 1850-1920. The project involved junior high students who read a book about the Civil Rights Movement and then interviewed African American seniors concerning their early lives in Davenport. Some of these interviews were audio taped and some were video taped and will be a part of the Sloan Richardson Collection at the Davenport Public Library. The students and interviewees were honored at a reception at the Davenport Public Library on February 22 nd. Mrs. Vilsack presented certificates of recognition to the students and the seniors. The Davenport Community School District teachers that were involved with the project were quite excited about it and hope that something like this is done again next year. The committee will meet soon to evaluate the project and determine the future direction.

-- Submitted by Linda Nelson and Jane Campagna

Return to Top


News of the Iowa Private Academic Libraries

Central College

The Central College Library received a $5000 grant from Humanities Iowa, a state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, to fund its spring 2005 Writers Reading Series. The project was deemed particularly meritorious by the select Humanities Iowa committee of Iowans, who are charged with the responsibility of promoting and enhancing an understanding of culture throughout the state. Writers appearing this season include critically acclaimed poet James Galvin, PEN/Faulkner Award winner Sabina Murray, and former U. S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. The Library's Writers Reading series was established in 1987 to promote an appreciation of books and their authors. The series features locally, nationally and internationally known writers reading and discussing their works whether fiction or nonfiction. In cooperation with the Central College Bookstore, copies of authors' works are made available for purchase. For more information, see www.central.edu/library/writers.htm.

-- Submitted by Robin Martin

Grand View College

Grand View College Library made the switch to the Endeavor Voyager system at the end of January. Circulation is up and other modules are coming on board. It is taking time but progress is happening and we are very pleased with the changes. We have a new look and new buttons so at this point our classes are in a state of change. We will continue to introduce students to the library by collaborating with the English 101 instrutors. This freshman English class requires students to write an initial research paper so it is timely to have an introduction to library resources. One of the new features we can demonstrate is simultanious searching with our catalog and other select databases. We look forward to changes in our teaching lab over the summer as it is no longer adequate.

-- Submitted by Sandra H. Keist

Des Moines University

The Medical Library at Des Moines University - Osteopathic Medical Center will be moving to a new location over Spring Break, March 21st - 25th. The Library will be located on the second floor of the new Student Education Center. The new Library will contain over 35,000 square feet of space on one floor and will include an Archive/Rare Book Room and many small group study rooms.

An Open House/Ribbon Cutting ceremony for the Student Education Center, including the Medical Library, is scheduled from 4:00 - 6:00 PM on April 19th, 2005.

-- Submitted by Larry D. Marquardt, Library Director

Luther College

Luther College welcomes Kate Rattenborg into the position of Instructional Services Librarian this year. Kate comes to us most recently from Gethsemane Lutheran School (K-8) in Minnesota and the University of Minnesota’s Distance Learning development project. Prior to her work in Minnesota, Kate was a librarian at the University of Iowa and Coe College’s Stewart Memorial Library. Kate brings a unique perspective to Preus, having worked in university, private academic and school libraries. We anticipate this perspective will enhance our changing 1 st year library instruction program and shape our existing course-integrated bibliographic instruction program. Welcome Kate!

-- Submitted by Elly Lensch

Waldorf College

The Voss Memorial Library at Waldorf College would like to introduce Jim Kapoun as the new Library Director.

Return to Top


News of the Iowa Public Academic Libraries

Iowa State University
Approximately 500 titles of the most important literature on the history of Iowa agriculture, rural society, and rural economy, have been preserved though a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. As part of the U.S. Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) Project, the ISU Library joined a national collaborative effort to preserve agricultural and rural life literature published between 1820 and 1945. In the recently completed microfilming phase of the project, the ISU library preserved weather reports, farm handbooks, soil surveys, reports of the Iowa State Fair, and other publications that depict the history of Iowa’s settlement and agricultural development. --From the ISU Library, January 21, 2005, Inform newsletter.

The ISU Library’s new Digital Initiatives Steering Group will involve faculty, staff, and students to support and foster digital projects that enable easy dissemination and access of scholarly assets and knowledge to the University community.

A new Library Public Relations Committee has been formed to provide a coordination role over the Library’s public relations efforts. The committee will develop a marketing plan, assist with the Library newsletter, and investigate the creation of a logo to represent the Library.

The Library’s Special Collections Department has reopened after the renovation of its reading room.

People in the News
Dr. Edward Goedeken, Collections Coordinator, has been appointed Editor for North American history for the upcoming 4 th edition of Books for College Libraries, published by the American Library Association.

Jessica Oftelie, Anne Marie Hansen, and Tim Kovacic have been at Parks Library since June 2004. These three individuals are working towards their MLS via the University of Iowa's distance education program. They are part of the University of Iowa Libraries and the University of Iowa School of Library and Information Science Institute of Museum and Library Services grant. There are also three students at Hardin Library for the Health Science in Iowa City and three students at Love Library at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Jessica has a BA in Math/Computer Science and an MS in Math from Iowa State University. Anne Marie has a BA in Communicative Disorders from the University of Northern Iowa. Tim has a BS in Biochemistry from Iowa State University and a PhD in Biochemistry from Oregon State University. All three will graduate in December 2005. They have been involved in a variety of projects at Parks Library.

The following librarians were presented service awards in January:
35 years-Diana Shonrock, Reference & Instruction
20 years-Jim Cole, Serials Cataloging
15 years-Kris Gerhard, Associate Dean, Collections & Technical Services
10 years-Jeff Kushkowski, Reference & Instruction
5 years – Joyce Lindstrom and Richard Llewellyn, Reference & Instruction; David Fowler, Electronic Resources Coordinator

University of Iowa

Achievements and Awards
Congratulations to Kären Mason and the Iowa Woman’s Archive, who received word in December 2004 from the State Historical Society of Iowa that their grant proposal to the REAP/Historical Resource Development Program received full funding ($ 25,182). The grant, entitled “Mujeres Latinas: Preserving the History of Iowa Latinas and their Families” will enable the archives to hire a Spanish-speaking staff person half time for one year to conduct oral histories of Latinas in Iowa. The staff person will conduct interviews across Iowa, in either Spanish or English, with 30 women ranging from 2nd and 3rd generation Iowans to recent immigrants. Ten of the interviews will be transcribed as part of this project. Additional funding will be sought to transcribe the remaining 20 interviews.

UI Libraries Acquire Huge Collection of Science Fiction Fanzines
Thanks to an eBay-shopping English professor, the University of Iowa has acquired more than 250,000 science fiction fanzines and almost overnight has increased its stature as a prominent science fiction research center.

The collection was assembled by Martin M. (Mike) Horvat of Stayton, Ore., a longtime science fiction fan and collector of fanzines, or zines. Rob Latham, a UI professor of English and American Studies who researches science fiction literature and its fan base, said the collection is one of the most impressive he's ever seen, with titles from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia.

UI Libraries host National Exhibit
The UI Libraries is one of 60 libraries selected to participate in the upcoming tour of "Changing the Face of Medicine" exhibition that celebrates the lives and achievements of women in medicine since they first gained admission to American medical schools 150 years ago. The University of Iowa has a long and rich tradition of opening doors to women who wish to pursue careers in medicine. The UI Carver College of Medicine was the first co-educational medical school in the country, with eight women in the first class. The exhibit will be presented on the lower level of the Hardin Library for a six-week period in October and November of 2007. In conjunction with this exhibition, the UI Libraries will host programs for university and community members that feature lectures/discussions by scholars on exhibition themes. All showings of the exhibition will be free and open to the public.

New Professional Staff
Janalyn Moss, Reference Librarian II, RLI, effective January 3, 2005
Mark Anderson, Temporary Librarian I, Preservation, effective December 20, 2004

University of Northern Iowa

Two librarians, Natela Kuznetsova and Svetlana Morosova, from Herzen State Pedagogical University Library in St. Petersburg, Russia will visit Rod Library and the University of Northern Iowa for the month of April 2005 as part of UNI's ongoing exchange with Herzen. Their visit will begin with attendance at the ACRL National Conference in Minneapolis and is expected to include visits to other Iowa libraries throughout the month of April.

Return to Top


Newsletter Committee

Amy Paulus, (Chair), University of Iowa, 2006
Sandra Ballasch, University of Iowa, 2005
Andrea Dinkelman, Iowa State University, 2006
Mary Anne Knefel, University of Dubuque, 2005
Elly S. Lensch, Luther College, 2006
Veronica McAsey, Briar Cliff University, 2006
Lisa Stock, Des Moines Area Community College, 2005
Barb Weeg, University of Northern Iowa, 2006

Return to Top

 
https://iowaacrl.org/newsletter/0305.html
iowaacrl.org
crawl=CC-MAIN-2021-10
91136
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:U6LO25CHGNAEPCVTH5S7JFGE3W3XLQAN
<urn:uuid:cdd65415-6804-4889-be44-9d54d9e52d63>
2021-02-27T10:31:47Z
66.33.211.138
text/html
sha1:KC5FWYB26C3FG2A5F6ISJ5UZ54KB2SAV
<urn:uuid:9677fe9b-edd5-4c92-a600-ce9a1b07d365>
https://iowaacrl.org/newsletter/0305.html
response
<urn:uuid:9b19a57e-f552-47e6-b852-f321db384332>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2021-10
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for February/March 2021
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-210.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.18 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.2-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/