It's Academic

I would like to share the following information from Susan J. Nenstiel, librarian with Kreutz Creek Library of York County Libraries. I believe that defining credibility in the resources which we ultimately disseminate to our patrons is crucial, whether we are working in a public or academic library:

Please join WITF and York County Libraries for an exciting informational program:  Trusting News: Defining Credibility & Trustworthiness in Journalism

With information and misinformation overwhelming social media users, it’s important for media organizations to ensure their listeners/viewers/readers can trust their reporting, especially during the times we are living in with a global pandemic, civil unrest and an upcoming election. Questions like, “How do people decide what news is trustworthy?” or “How can journalists influence what users consume and share?” are popping up in communities across the region. 

To help answer those questions and more, WITF, in partnership with York County Libraries, presents a panel discussion and audience Q&A Wednesday, October 14 at 7pm LIVE on WITF’s YouTube Channel.   

Join a lively conversation, hosted by WITF’s news director, Tim Lambert, as we define disinformation and present practical everyday tips to help you think critically about the news you consume. Are today’s newsrooms balanced, accessible and responsive as possible? Plus we’ll highlight the importance of ethics and funding. 

Panelists include:

• Lynn Walsh – Assistant Director, Trusting News
• Randy Parker – Central Pennsylvania Executive Editor, USA Today Network, overseeing York Daily Record/Sunday News, Lebanon Daily News, The (Hanover) Evening Sun, Chambersburg Public Opinion, The (Waynesboro) Record Herald and (Greencastle) Echo-Pilo
• Brad Bumsted – Bureau chief of The Caucus, veteran state government reporter and the author of two books on political corruption in Pennsylvania.

Have a question you’d like us to address during the conversation? Email us at discuss@witf.org.

Sign up to attend this program here:

https://www.witf.org/2020/09/22/trusting-news-defining-credibility-trustworthiness-in-journalism/

Has something exciting happened at your library that you want to share? Share it with Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice (PaLRaP), the peer-reviewed, open access journal of PaLA’s College & Research Division. Click here to submit information such as staff changes, awards/recognitions, events, initiatives, etc. happening in PA libraries that may be of interest to other libraries. News item submissions are welcome at any time; however, for full consideration for the fall issue, please submit your news items by October 1, 2020.

For more information about PaLRaP, visit http://www.palrap.org.

PaLRaP is a peer-reviewed, online, open access publication of the Pennsylvania Library Association’s College & Research Division. This journal provides an opportunity for librarians in Pennsylvania to share their knowledge and experience with practicing librarians across the Commonwealth and beyond. It includes articles from all areas of librarianship, with a special focus on activities at or of interest to Pennsylvania’s academic libraries.

Published biannually: May and November

Co-Editors: Bryan McGeary & Danielle Skaggs

Peer reviewers: Members of the Pennsylvania library community

#palrap

In this time of limited in-person professional development opportunities, the Pennsylvania Library Association’s College and Research Division Connect and Communicate Series looks forward to providing another year of excellent programming that is relevant to and useful for academic librarians.

Information about previous year’s programs, including session recordings can be found here: https://crdpala.org/connect-communicate/

If you have a session you would like to share with our academic library community, we invite you to submit a proposal. If there is a speaker you would like to hear from, you are also welcome to include that information in our proposal form.

Submit your ideas here: 

https://forms.gle/LAjB7DBqudTgHfKF7

Stay well!
CRD Connect and Communicate Team

Covid-19 has caused untold disruption and libraries have not been immune. Rethinking almost everything we do to accommodate for social distancing and remote learning has not been easy, but alongside hardship, disruption can also bring new growth and revitalization. In my work, I see this more clearly in the area of IL instruction. Being pushed almost exclusively online has brought many challenges, but also unexpectedly, new freedoms and opportunities for creativity. Covid-19 has changed how I’m teaching this semester, and I believe many of these changes are ultimately for the better.

Typically, this time of year we have our “regular fall programming”, the classes my colleagues and I are reliably asked to teach year after year, and for which, to be honest, it can be easy to get into a bit of a rut. Show up to first year orientation and writing classes, introduce the databases, take a spin through source evaluation and credible sources, hype up reference and chat services, give students a chance to do some searching on their own, and then wrap it up. Over the years I’ve tried different approaches to presenting this material, such as incorporating Kahoot quizzes, but I could never quite break free from the constraints of the “one-shot.” In particular, one modality that always felt just out of reach was the oft discussed “flipped classroom” that was very in vogue a few years back. Although eager to give this format a try, I failed at finding a workable mechanism for getting students to complete work prior to IL sessions.  

But this semester, as I partnered with instructors to shift IL sessions online, suddenly the status quo, lecture-based approach I previously employed became untenable. Having me speak for all or most of the class period through a screen seemed like a pretty miserable scenario for everyone involved, myself included. Which led me to an uncomfortable moment of self-reflection: if students don’t want to sit through this style of teaching online, is it that much better when it’s live? Thankfully, I didn’t have much time to stew in this question, but instead, had to get to work on forging a new plan. What I landed on was one where I finally had the chance to “flip” my classes and put students in the driver’s seat. 

 For the most part, the majority of the IL sessions I have planned for this semester involve some version of students watching a video (created by me) and completing a task (either alone or in a group) prior or to our class meeting. Then during synchronous class time, we debrief and I answer questions. I also walk students through some examples of work completed by their peers. In a few instances, we go one step further and require groups to set up a zoom “consultation” with me or another librarian after they have selected sources for their project.

I can’t promise that all, or even any, of these classes will be a smashing success, but I can identify some specific benefits of our new format, including:

• More targeted, assignment and skill specific instruction
• Increased opportunity for assessment owing to the completion and collection of artifacts
• Higher level of peer to peer interaction
• Higher level of active learning and greater ownership on the part of students

Below are 2 examples of the “pre-work” students are being asked to complete before our class sessions:  

Activity for Keyword searching and source selection

Video and activity for Paraphrasing

(this relies heavily on APA Instructional Aids . I find these instruction aids to be quite helpful, particularly for the difficult task of teaching students how to paraphrase effectively)  

I would love to hear examples from other libraries about how you have adapted your instructional methods to adapt to the Covid environment, and/or the “silver linings” you’ve discovered in these hard times. Your comments are welcome!