9 research outputs found

    Added Value or Essential Instruction?: Librarians in the Twenty-First-Century Classroom

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    In recent years, we have seen a proliferation of the amounts of information that we’re exposed to, and our ability to critically navigate that information hasn’t kept pace with the speed at which it’s coming at us. As information professionals we must ask ourselves—what is our role in helping students and patrons navigate information? What value can we add in a world where information is increasingly complex, contradictory, and competitive? Are our traditional methods of delivering information literacy enough? This paper looks at the evolution of information literacy instruction from the skills in the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (2000) through the newly adopted Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (2016), using examples from my own experience as a reference and teaching librarian. I will focus on how the ways in which we reach students has changed—from one-shot information literacy sessions to more in-depth interactions with students under the new Framework. I will argue, ultimately, that to truly serve students in our current information age, librarians must consider moving even deeper into the classroom, developing and teaching information literacy and critical thinking skills for credit in the college and university setting, and I will highlight a course I developed at my own institution.How will this change what we do in the classroom?</jats:p

    Spousal Politics and the Bipartisan Positioning of Hillary Rodham Clinton

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    Towards the end of the first Republican Presidential debate, moderator Chris Matthews asked the candidates the following question, "Seriously, would it be good for America to have Bill Clinton back living in the White House?" The question, which drew laughter from the men standing at the podiums, is neither as ridiculous nor as innocuous as it may at first appear. The former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, responded with a question of his own, an incredulous "You\u27ve got to be kidding?". By way of elaboration Matthews, who had asked the question with a straight face, replied "No, I\u27m not. His wife\u27s running — have you heard?" It can be argued that such a question, and Matthews\u27s subsequent point of clarification, set the tone for the ways in which the complex issue of gender will be handled in the 2008 Presidential Election. With that single inquiry into the candidates\u27 thoughts on Bill Clinton, Matthews at once evoked the most powerful Democratic candidate, and the party frontrunner, without mentioning her name or asking the Republicans to engage with her as a political rival. Instead, Hillary Rodham Clinton was relegated to that role which has been for years her greatest source of political and personal trouble — Bill Clinton\u27s wife

    Diversity Plans for Academic Libraries: An Example from the University of Montana

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    In 2009 the University of Montana (UM) began revising the university’s diversity plan. The plan immediately established that diversity efforts at UM would be the responsibility of both the central administration and the various subunits of the institution. Colleges and schools, including the Mansfield Library, were committed under the new plan to create diversity plans of their own. This paper details the process the library undertook to draft that plan, including forming a work group; creating action items, goals, and strategic choices; and building consensus. It also highlights progress made towards implementing the plan since its inception

    Developing and Implementing a Diversity Plan at Your Academic Library

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    Many articles deal with diversity in academic libraries. Some include information on diversity initiatives and plans, or incorporating diversity into the structure of an academic library. This article outlines the steps that librarians can take to develop and implement diversity plans in academic libraries. In general and adaptable language, the article focuses on information gathering, communication, committee formation, contextualization, endorsement and implementation. Deliberately broad in scope, the intent is to provide a basic roadmap for libraries undertaking the development of a diversity specific plan for the first time

    Frontmatter and Editorial

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    In lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the frontmatter and editorial:  The progressively heated events surrounding the election of the of the US Democratic Party presidential candidate have led to a discursive explosion sparked and fueled by questions of gender and political power. All the more reason to update our special issue of 2006 by including Julie Biando Edwards\u27 analysis of the gendering of the 2008 presidential race. While both Merkel\u27s and Rodham Clinton\u27s election campaigns have to be considered in their respective historical and discursive contexts, a transcultural cross-reading elucidates the strategies of (non-)gendered campaigning employed by Rodham Clinton, Merkel, and their male competitors respectively
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