Encore 4, Research Pro, and Encore Synergy

I was at the Innovative users group last week. One session of interest was an overview of
the next Encore Release.

Innovative is coming out with a kind of new product called Encore Synergy. This combines Research Pro article database integration with Encore. It is designed for libraries that do not currently have Research Pro and will include new databases that use the new web services connector technology. This is sometime called the XML connectors because it uses web services to send searches and retrieve results, which is much quicker than traditional federated searching.

Currently database from Gale, Ebsco, and Jstor use these connectors and you will see search results in our currrent encore and research pro return results much faster for these databases.
This is, I believe, there response to discovery services such as Summon and the Ebsco Discovery System. Whether its as fast as their approach to preindexing data or not I am not sure, but should be pretty close and has the advantage of being somewhat more current since data does not have to be pre-indexed for those services. They say they are working hard to establish more xml connectors with new services, with Elsevier and Pubmed coming soon they say. But it will also be possible to include non-xml databases, they will just be slower.

For sites (like WSU) that already have Encore and Research Pro we should see this coming with the installation of Encore 4.o, or soon after. This should be available for us to install within 3-4
weeks.

Encore searches will return results for a given search with some catalog records returned first usually, with selected article results and the option to view more. There will also be new media type limiters of Article. According to studies they say they have conducted, users seem to gravitate toward the media/format type limiters more often than others.

They also mentioned that they will be introducing Peer-Reviewed limiters in Encore 4.0/Research Pro.

I have a powerpoint of this presentation. If anyone is interested please let me know and I will send it.

Crafting Messages That Grab Faculty Attention (ACRL Pre-Conference Workshop)

Crafting Messages for Faculty

I attended a pre-conference workshop at ACRL in March 2009 entitled “Crafting Messages that Grab Faculty Attention.” The first speaker, Jon Wergin, is a Professor of Education Studies at Antioch University. Dr. Wergin focused on techniques for having conversations with faculty. In particular, Dr. Wergin drew an interesting comparison between have a conversation and conducting an interview. Thus, he emphasized trying to have “conversations with a purpose,” which was defined as talking with faculty rather than talking to faculty. As such, this requires developing and employing strong listening skills during interactions. Furthermore, this includes developing an awareness of how you are reacting to what you are hearing. I thought this distinction was intriguing and particularly relevant to ongoing relationships with WSU faculty that we work hard to cultivate.

The second speaker addressed marketing and communication aspects. Alane Wilson, Executive Director of the British Columbia Library Association, talked about creating and communicating messages. With regards to crafting messages, I learned that messages should include several components. Components of effective messages include three key parts: the problem statement, the solution, and the action you would like the audience to take. Again, I found this insight to be very useful and applicable to a range of library initiatives. In particular, I found that some of these techniques for crafting messages could be beneficial whenever framing and communicating issues, library services, etc. with faculty.

Submitted by: Deborah Charbonneau

Gaming and Information Literacy (ACRL 2009)

Contributed Papers

We're not playing around: Gaming literate librarians = information literate students (Nicholas Schiller , Washington State University Vancouver, Serin Anderson, University of Washington Tacoma, Carole Svensson, Assistant Director, UW Tacoma Library)

A look at MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Play Games) and what is happening in gaming environments that can be applied in a pedagogical manner in the library instruction classroom.

The presenters noted that "games are text". Used statistics from latest Pew survey Generations Online in 2009, they noted "teen internet users’ favorite online activity is game playing; 78% of 12-17 year-old internet users play games online".

Can we incorporate the environments and activities in games into the classroom? Yes, by remembering that in gaming environments:

players do not work alone. They work together in gaming
players can get and give help
there is no central authority
there are tools that help scaffold learning new things
the games only gives you the information you need at that particular time

One suggestion they had was to have students create their own user guide in their words where did they go what did they do in the library instruction session. Web 2.0 tools make this easy to do.

Take a look at Koster http://www.theoryoffun.com/

Percolating the Power of Play (Sarah Faye Cohen, Information Literacy Librarian, Champlain College Lauren Nishikawa Champlain College Timothy Miner Champlain College)

Champlain has an Emergent Media Center as part of its animation and gaming program, that does work for campus clients. Students develop the games.

Many games have a "hero's journey". One of the games developed by the center's student used this as a theme, and used metaphor to describe the information seeking process. The other game is more linear and has a "detective" theme.

Game development took 2 years, and still is in beta.

Games were developed using Kuhlthau's information seeking process model as a basis for design.

MLA Poster Session: Liston, McGinnis, Wilmes

Location! Location! Location!: Reference Service in non-Library Settings
Karen Liston, Liaison for Near Eastern & Asian Studies, German & Slavic, Philosophy, and Interlibrary Loan, Rhonda McGinnis, Liaison for Economics, Industrial Relations, Labor Studies, & the School of Business Administration, and Nancy Wilmes, Nancy Wilmes, Liaison for College of Nursing and Biological Sciences Department presented a poster session at 2008 MLA Annual in Kalamazoo. Here's a synopsis of their Poster Session:

The decline in the number of face-to-face reference transactions has implications that are of concern to librarians, as well as the faculty and students we serve. A strategy to address this is to take reference to locations that are “more convenient” for users – locations where they already work, study and gather.

Three reference librarians will share their experiences with offering services in non-library settings, such as a faculty office building, a computer lab in a classroom, a student lounge, and a departmental library room. The objectives and experiences of these librarians vary, as do their specialized subject disciplines. This presentation will detail the spaces, scheduling, advertising, faculty/student relationships, evaluation/assessment strategy, and future plans unique to each locale. Handouts will include a checklist of considerations for those planning mobile reference service, and a list of benefits and disadvantages from offering these services.

LOEX 2008 Report from Annette Healy

I would like to share some highlights from the LOEX 2008 Conference, which was held May 1-3 in Oak Brook, IL. This is really a great conference for those interested in library instruction. Next year’s conference will be held in Albuquerque, NM from April 30-May 2.

There were seven breakout sessions and seven workshops to choose from during each session. It was really tough choosing just one workshop per session. Here is a quick look at the many workshops available. Some highlights:

Research 2.0: Blogs as windows of opportunity for teaching research writing.

In this session, a librarian and an instructor from the University of Richmond described their efforts to teach the research process using blogs in addition to a one-shot session. As many of us know, students do not understand the research process and do not realize that it is not a straightforward process. By responding to student blog entries, the librarian and instructor were able to reassure students that their research experiences were normal and give them guidance throughout the semester. The blogs also provided for just-in-time learning because the instructor and librarian could respond to blog entries as problems were encountered.

You can learn more about this presentation at http://loex.wikispaces.com/

Planning and Producing Videos: A two-part workshop on writing scripts and making videos @your library

This was a two-part workshop by librarians from Indiana University South Bend. In the workshop, we learned about planning a video, writing a script, shooting and editing a video and placing it on the Web. In the second hour, the class participated in shooting a video, watched it being edited and then viewed the final product. All the class materials and the video made in class are available here: http://www.iusb.edu/~libg/loex/2008/index.shtml

When the world grows smaller: Renewing your instruction methods for international students

This workshop by Merinda Hensley from the University of Illinois (UIUC) was my favorite of the conference. This session discussed characteristics of international students and methods for making library instruction sessions more interesting for all students. The session introduced the Cephalonian Method, which is a learner-centered technique designed to facilitate learning through capturing the attention of the audience using a combination of audience participation, visuals and music. You can read more about this method here.

Another interesting idea from the session: At the end of a one-shot session, ask the students to open their email and send the instructor any questions they still have about the library. This allows the instructor to assess the effectiveness of the session and offers the opportunity to provide the students with follow-up answers.

There is a lot of additional information about the Cephalonian Method and ideas for class activities here: http://uiuc.libguides.com/loex/

UIUC has put together a YouTube channel featuring a collection of library videos

Engage your students: How to increase class participation with a student response system.

This session, by librarians from American University, highlighted another method for increasing student participation, a student response system. Using this tool, the instructor asks questions and students submit their responses using wireless handheld remote controls. The results can be immediately displayed using PowerPoint. These systems encourage student participation, provide anonymity and give instant feedback to both students and instructors. At American University, the librarians submitted a grant proposal to the university to fund the purchase of the student response system.

ARL Assessment Forum

Paul Beavers suggests the following slides may be of interest. They are from a PowerPoint display Steve used in his presentation to the ARL Assessment Forum that he attended.

Slides 7 and 10 report on the relative importance of various resource types in conducting research. Even with the faculty ahead of the library catalog and library article indexes. Current journals, as you can imagine, are overwhelmingly seen as the most important resource with bibliographic databases second and books third. There is also a slide on “Sources Consulted for Information on Research Topics,” which makes it clear that faculty, graduates, and undergraduates alike most typically perform “open internet searches” as part of their research. But also shows that faculty and graduate students make much less use of “open internet reference sources” than the library catalog and library article indexes

Slides 3 through 6 relate what the UW Libraries learned about the modes of library use by the faculty, undergraduates, and graduates and compares the data from 2007 to the data from 1998. It even breaks down the data by various categories of faculty and graduate students. Weekly use of only the virtual library was the most reported mode for the faculty and graduate students while weekly use of both the virtual and physical libraries was most reported by undergraduates.

Slide 15 addresses the faculties views on the importance of six information literacy skills to undergraduate success and their perceptions of undergraduate performance with those skills.

ALA Annual 2007, Steve Abram at the PR Forum

"10 Cool Technologies That Can Impact thePublic Relations Plan @ your library®"
Mr. Abram covered way more than 10 new technologies -- and talked about how we need to think about--changes in language regarding information retrieval, how we can stop being "invisible" in a world of accessible resources, methods to exploit the library's "human touch"--our product is our relationship with our clients, patrons, customers or whatever we choose to call them. He suggested we need to stop giving them lists of tools, and figure out a way to convey how we want them to "feel"

Here is a link to his PowerPoint http://www.sirsidynix.com/Resources/Pdfs/Company/Abram/200707_ALA_PR_Final.pdf

He provided a massive list of resources, which you can find on this PowerPoint above and on his handout.

Here is a follow-up article he wrote: http://www.imakenews.com/sirsi/e_article000862006.cfm?x=bb1LCGK,b5PTDpv0,w

Gaming & Social Networking, A New Direction for Libraries

Submitted by Cindy McGee
MLibrary 2.0 on July 31, 2007: 9-noon

Eli Neiburger shared how libraries, including Ann Arbor District Library, are transforming library interactions with users through the use of gaming technologies. Jane Blumenthal demonstrated how medical libraries are using Second Life to extend their services. Lisa Hinchliffe wrapped-up the morning with a discussion about strategies for leadership and implementation of these innovative technologies in the library environment.

Report from Workshop:

Eli discussed how gaming provides motivation and how games could be used within the curriculum: simulations such as Sim City or Civilization can be used for examining alternate histories (what if the Nazis won the war), civil service and urban planning concepts, architecture, and political science. These all highlight complex decision-making skills.

He also discussed the opportunities provided by libraries playing “host” to gaming, gamers, and gaming events as ways of appealing to users and enhancing the library’s role as the “third place” (home, work, other). Detroit Mercy provides their card playing students a specific card table area within the library; Georgia Tech sponsors gaming tournaments—most students bring their own equipment and games so cost for library is low.

Links:
· presentation slides: http://www.aadl.org/files/umforumgaming.pdf
· http://www.aadl.org/aadlgt


Jane discussed the efforts of the Medical School and the Health Sciences Libraries within Second Life. The Medical School has purchased an island in Second Life and has offered some space to the libraries. There is also a Health Info Island which includes the Second Life Medical Library. The ideas they have for using Second Life include recreating things that you can’t do in real life, for example, creating standard patient profiles that you can’t do in real life (children, etc.) for medical students to practice with as part of their training and education.

Some of the HS Libraries current ideas for using Second Life include: representing the libraries to the public, taking advantage of the uniqueness of the environment, creating “amulets” and a “roller coaster”. They are also partnering with the Medical School in testing the virtual reality environment for medical education, and collaborating in looking at new tools for teaching and meeting information competencies.

Links:
· http://del.icio.us/janeblum/secondlife
· presentation at Med Lib Assoc 2007 http://mla2007.pbwiki.com/

Lisa talked about leadership in the library 2.0 world. She discussed that libraries have a disconnect in communication with students and that we need to discover new ways to share information with students, to engage them in conversation, and to speak a new language with them (Cluetrain Manifesto). “We need to take hundreds of students as seriously as we take one faculty member.” She mentioned Smith’s 7 Levels of Change and suggested an eighth: the Audacity Principle—doing things that “just aren’t done”, and that at UIUC they work on saying yes to good ideas with the realization that they might fail, but fail early and fail often in order to be ultimately successful. “Leaders create conditions for people to succeed.” They discuss and try new things quickly—if it doesn’t work, then they change it (i.e., put up a search within Facebook in just a couple of days). Discussed leveraging the social networking tools: created a UIUC browser toolbar and took out a $50 Facebook ad on it—only a 100+ clickthroughs from the ad, but then discovered they had 600+ downloads of the toolbar afterwards.

They also sponsor gaming nights and have actually started a gaming collection (games, consoles, etc.) for both circulation and in an attempt to preserve and archive this area of materials.

Other useful links:
· A blog for posting ideas about 2.0 types of projects to see who else might be interested in working on them or who has the expertise in that area-- http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/lib20projects/
· More on Web 2.0 at UM and some good posts on Second Life uses: http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/web20/