It's Academic

I’ve danced around writing about this topic for a while now since it’s still so new to me (and maybe to many of us!), but I’d love to talk about the new ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. I learned about perspectives on the Framework at the ACRL conference in March and heard some ways in which librarians are using the new frames to work with their faculty and students. Some choose to map the new frames to the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, while others prefer to take the Framework as a brand-new, separate entity. Many map the new frames to previously existing curricula, assignments, lessons, and other materials, which were sometimes built on the old standards but can now be interpreted with the new frames as well. In short, we all seem to be working with it in many different ways, and hearing directly from other librarians about how they are interpreting and using the Framework seems to be one of the most useful steps in this process. The ACRL even includes in its Appendix 1 to the Framework the first two suggested steps: (1) Read and reflect on the entire Framework document. and (2) Convene or join a group of librarians to discuss the implications of this approach to information literacy for your institution.

As Adam Balcziunas discussed in his May 22nd post about the Framework, at the Northeast Chapter’s workshop on June 5th, we had an unconference session about the Framework. If you haven’t been to an unconference, they are sessions in which the participants generally determine the topics that will be discussed, and they are driven by discussion and conversation. In this session, our 21 participants formed three groups, each group addressing a specific topic related to the Framework. The two facilitators rotated around to all of the groups to hear and contribute to the conversations, and the large group came back together to report to everyone on their main discussion points. We had a fantastic group of librarians and support staff who were eager to share their thoughts and experiences regarding the Framework with each other and with our group as a whole.

Here are the three topics the groups focused on:

1. How does the Framework describe the work we are already doing and help us to talk about it in a different way (or redesign it)?
2. How do we introduce faculty to the new Framework, and how do we discuss it with them?
3. How do we use the frames to develop instructional sessions or activities?

In a few brief descriptions, here are just a few of the main points that came of the discussions:

1. Applying the Framework does not necessarily require a complete overhaul of established work. Frequently, the learning objectives of an established lesson, course, or assignment can be connected with the new frames, and sometimes with more than one Framework concept. Similarly, the frames can also be mapped to the syllabus of a class or to the overall curriculum and/or institutional goals.
2. Introduce the Framework to faculty as a tool that explains what they already want their students to achieve, but the language of the Framework offers a chance to re-emphasize, refocus, and clearly define their goals. Successful work with at least one faculty member regarding the use of the Framework can lead to more faculty involvement; use your faculty success stories in outreach.
3. As the Framework itself describes a process of creation, exploration, and conversation, more hands-on opportunities in the classroom seem necessary. Projects can include ideas such as having students create and comment on a portfolio of their own scholarship over the course of a semester. The Framework intentionally does not describe a sequence of steps, so the frames can be applied in any way that is best for the intentions of the instructor or lesson.

Are you working with groups of librarians, faculty, and/or other staff to discuss the Framework and how it can be implemented at your institution? What are some of your favorite ways to think about and implement the Framework?

A few months ago, I posted an article to this blog (“How to archive a digital file: Print it”) that some readers may have interpreted as a pessimistic screed concerning our futile attempts to archive digital materials for future generations [at least, I interpreted it that way].

Although my post was the product of considerable rumination (it hurt my brain and left me disheartened), I really hate to be that the kind of person who relishes in reporting what we can’t do. So I’m here to describe what we can do for better digital archiving [And for those souls who like DIY projects, I have included some notes so that you can do-it-yourself].

Besides the issues that I outlined in my last post, the main long-term problem with digital storage is “data degradation”. Things break down. Stuff rots. Entropy eats away at all order. In other words, your data decays and files won’t open.

How does this manifest? Bits of data disappear. This is sometime referred to as “bit rot” [this term is used for other phenomena, so for disambiguation purposes, see this Wikipedia page], but I’ll just call it “data degradation”.

Data degradation occurs in all media (hard drives, floppy discs, compact discs, tapes, etc.), and it ‘s hard to detect. You usually don’t know it has happened until you find a file that doesn’t open. By then it may be too late to recover it, or you may have to spend a small fortune employing a data forensics expert to extract as much data as she can from the damaged file.

The solution is to have utilities that constantly check for “data integrity” on archival media. These data integrity verification systems employ, among other things, checksums and/or cyclic redundancy checks (crc). When they discover that a bit of data has been lost, they generate a report concerning which hard drive has been effected.

But it’s not enough to know that a bit of data has disappeared. That lost bit of data has to be reinserted into the original file. That requires a backup copy.

In order to secure files from data degradation, digital archives require at least three components: 1) Multiple storage media; 2) Data integrity verification utilities; and 3) Backup systems. And all three must work in tandem. When a system detects that a bit of data has been lost, the archive must then retrieve the lost information from the backup system and reinsert it. But it must also advise the user whether the affected hard drive may be failing and that it needs to be replaced.

What if a hard drive fails completely? What if two hard drives fail completely at the same time? A good digital archive system will have enough redundant hard drives to survive such a calamity. Depending on the amount of storage needed, a user can configure a digital archive so that it survives even three or more hard drives failing at one time.

FreeNAS (http://www.freenas.org/about/features.html) is an open-source operating system built for this type of need. It has the following components:

1) A FreeNAS machine contains multiple hard drives for storage and replication;

2) It employs the ZFS file system (https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/zfs.html) which provides data integrity tools;

3) It employs a RAID Z backup/replication structure for redundancy and restoration.

You can build your own FreeNAS machine. It isn’t any more complicated than building a regular computer. So for a fun DIY project:

1- Here is a guide for building your own FreeNAS machine: http://blog.brianmoses.net/2015/01/diy-nas-2015-edition.html

2- Here is a guide for configuring the operating system on a FreeNAS machine: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzHapVfrocfwbXYxcGgycEIzNG8/edit

Before you begin to build a FreeNAS machine, be sure to read the configuration guide first. The configuration of the operating system is critical to protecting your data, especially if you plan to use the machine “at work”. The author of the configuration guide, someone who goes by the name of “Cyberjock”, is very good at enumerating all the pitfalls of poor configuration that will mitigate all the advantages of FreeNAS. In other words, if you don’t do it right, you may lose everything: Everything. All your data. Gone.

For those of you looking for solutions “at work” and who are too frightened to configure their own systems after reading Mr. Cyber Jock’s guide, the FreeNAS website does advertise FreeNAS machines from a vendor. I have never used such a system; nor do I endorse them here. But they appear to exist.

I have read some literature from another vendor that sounds like its machines run FreeNAS, but the language is so vague that it was unclear whether the machines were “digital ARCHIVE” ready as described above. Data degradation is slow enough that most vendors aren’t concerned with providing tools to detect it. Most commercial storage systems are not created to store data for twenty, fifty, or a hundred years.

An alternative to FreeNAS is the software from the Data Conservancy Project begun at Johns Hopkins University: https://dataconservancy.org/. Its software runs on three Linux servers using Fedora and Solr, both open-source applications.

Last summer I attempted to create my own system using the DataConservancy software. I was not successful. I made it pretty far into the process, but in the end, there was a file from the DataConservancy that created the library structure (or some such thing) in SOLR that I just could not get to work.

For those interested in pursuing this as a DIY project, I have attached my step-by-step notes on the entire installation process that I completed successfully [I include my original document, an -.odt file made using OpenOffice, which offers working hyperlinks that move you around to different portions of the process. Also attached will be a -.doc version, but the hyperlinks don’t work in the Word version.] This includes many commands [for the dreaded Linux “command line”] as well as notes on discrepancies and other problems. If you follow the process and fail at the same spot I did, you still should have a working CentOS Linux machine running the Fedora archive application and SOLR.

Recapitulation: Digital archiving can work if the system has multiple hard drives configured to take advantage of data integrity and of backup/restoration tools. Such systems are within the reach of even the most budget-beleaguered organizations, because you can do-it-yourself. With a little help from a Mr. Cyber Jock.

Notes on DataConservancy Project-OpenOffice version– with working hyperlinks

Notes on DataConservancy Project-Word version

The 2015 PA Forward Information Literacy Summit Planning Committee is pleased to announce that registration for our July 29, 2015 Summit – “Framing the Value of Information Literacy” – is still open at http://www.palibraries.org/event/2015PAFILS.

You do not need to be a member of PaLA to register and attend!
ACT 48 credits will be available for those who need them.

The event will be held at the Paterno Library, Penn State University, State College, PA and our two keynote presentations are:

ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education:
“Understanding the ACRL Framework for Student Learning”
presented by Merinda Kaye Hensley
Chair, ACRL Student Learning and Information Literacy Committee
Instructional Services Librarian, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

AND

PA Model Curriculum:
“Making the Model Curriculum Work for You: It’s Not Just for the Runway Models,”
presented by Allison Burrell
Vice President, PA School Librarians Association
District Librarian and Media Specialist, Southern Columbia Area School District

and Cathi Fuhrman
Hempfield School District Library Department Supervisor
Our thirteen breakout sessions have also been finalized, and you can find full details on the registration site under Keynotes, Breakout Sessions, & Presenter Information.

If you would like to book a room at the Nittany Lion Inn, we have secured a discounted Summit rate. Reservations must be made by June 28, 2015. More information about the program, hotel discount code, and parking at Penn State are available on the reservation website under Program Details, Description, Parking, & Hotel Information.

Registration will remain open through July 29, or until capacity is reached. Please visit http://www.palibraries.org/event/2015PAFILS for more information!
This project is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, Governor, through the College and Research Division (https://crdpala.org/) of PaLA. Show your appreciation by becoming a member of PaLA! And if you are a member – thank you!

College is not a commodity. Stop treating it like one.

This article is one of the best I have seen about the true purpose of attending college.  I am sure I will use some of these ideas to inform my own interactions with students.