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Support for Information Literacy

Support for Information Literacy

, , Matt Dilworth 1 Comments
The 2016 American Library Association’s annual conference recently concluded, and a troubling issue came out of it. The Association of College and Research Libraries voted to rescind a previous resolution passed in 2000, the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. And while the ACRL plans to continue to support information literacy in some way going forward – such as networking librarians to share their experiences, lesson plans, rubrics, and assessment tools – there is now no longer a universal policy supporting the inclusion of information literacy components in college courses. And that has caused concern among academic librarians. You might wonder where that leaves you – will IU East still offer in-class library instruction in the same way? Do … Continued
Mergers

Mergers

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
In late June, ProQuest, one of our largest suppliers of scholarly databases, purchased Alexander Street Press, which is particularly strong on primary sources, music, and video. Some of the many ASP databases IU East uses include VAST, a multidisciplinary video collection, Black Thought and Culture, North American Immigrant Letters and Diaries, Women and Social Movements, Underground and Independent Comics, American Film Scripts, Oral History Online, and Twentieth Century North American Drama. So, there is a lot that we use that will probably look a bit different by next year. In fact, the vast majority of academic library resources at IU East come from one of two vendors – the EBSCO corporation or ProQuest. In many ways, this is great news. … Continued
Join the Revolution

Join the Revolution

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
As we approach Independence Day, it seems like the American Revolution is on people’s minds more than any time in recent history. It is in the news and our entertainment through television shows like Turn: Washington’s Spies and archeological finds like the artifacts recently unearthed at Sandy Hook. But nothing has brought the people who fought the Revolutionary War into popular focus like Lin-Manuel Miranda’s revolutionary – in all senses of the word – Broadway musical Hamilton, which recently won 11 Tony awards. Based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington, Hamilton is sung in rap music, with all of the principle cast (save King George) played by people of color. Miranda’s … Continued
Summer Research

Summer Research

, , Matt Dilworth, Research
The summer is a great time to catch up or experience an interesting course that can otherwise be hard to fit into your schedule. The compressed time frame allows you to make a lot of progress quickly, whether you’re in the full twelve week session, or one of the intensive six week sessions. But it’s no walk in the park! Summer courses are every bit as rigorous as their equivalents in the fall and spring, with just as much work to do. The first summer session ends on June 27th. So if you’re taking a Summer I class, this is like the last three whole weeks of classes for a normal semester. And what that means is, now is the … Continued
Open for learning!

Open for learning!

, books, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Research
There are all types of databases – some for books, some for articles, some for newspapers, some for videos, and some for references. Some focus on controversies, and some specialize in a contiguous historical record. Many of these databases are expensive, costing many hundreds or thousands of dollars to license and use. That content does have a tremendous amount of value and authors need to be compensated for it. However, many authors are willing to forgo any type of compensation, because they believe everyone should have access to this type of intellectual inquiry. So, a lot of writers make their work available for free on the internet. These are generally posted with an open access license, such as Creative Commons. … Continued