A university-wide collaborative effort to designing a makerspace at an academic health sciences library

Herron, J., & Kaneshiro, K. (2017). A university-wide collaborative effort to designing a makerspace at an academic health sciences library. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 36(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2017.1259878

Summary:

Herron and Kaneshiro’s article presents the process taken by the Ruth Lilly Medical Library’s new Tech Team at the Indiana University School of Medicine in designing and creating a makerspace. A heavy emphasis is made on the collaboration between the Tech Team and a variety of campus groups and departments. The paper is structured in a way that parallels the steps in which the Tech Team took in their process. First, conducting an environmental scan consisted of accumulating resources, meeting with other staff members with 3D printing expertise, and identifying who would be potential user groups. This collaborative step of speaking with students, staff, and faculty informed the Tech Team’s proposed focus for the makerspace to provide a gateway to 3D printing and prototyping. The team promoted the new service through word of mouth, sample prints, and an opportunity fair while the physical space was renovated to better serve as a makerspace. This paper offers a comprehensive synthesis of the collaborative process taken by the Tech Team in designing and building a successful makerspace within an academic library. 

Evaluation:

The relevance of Herron and Kaneshiro’s article lies in its value to academic libraries who are at the beginning of their journey to design and build their own makerspaces. The emphasis on collaboration between library staff and other university members provides valuable insight for library staff unfamiliar with makerspaces as they can gain a network of connections in their own campus community. Another significant takeaway from this article is how the Tech Team strategized to differentiate their new space from other similar 3D printing labs in the university. This resource can help library staff to position their own makerspaces in relation to specialized academic libraries, such as medical academic libraries in this case.

Curation Situations: Let us count the ways

Stefani, Anne

Valenza, J. (2017, July 5). Curation situations: Let us count the ways. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2017/07/05/curation-situations-let-us-count-the-ways


In “Curation situations, let us count the ways” Joyce Valenza discusses not only the many definitions of curation, but also the critical importance of creating collections to support student learning, especially in a digital format. She and her co-authors conducted several surveys which ultimately led them to the “curator’s taxonomy” which consists of four parts: collecting, connecting, curating, and contributing (Valenza, 2017). She goes on to argue that librarians are critical members of instructional leadership on campus because they possess a holistic view of the learning needs at their site and/or context:

Digital curation is a translation and amplification of our traditional practice. We study the                specific needs and interests of our communities. We have always been around to tame the information flow, to facilitate discovery and knowledge building. Curation is a direct translation of collection building, critical evaluation, instructional partnership, sense making, meeting community needs, knowledge building and instruction. With a school wide perspective spanning disciplines, grade levels and learners’ abilities, we build collections based on decisions relating to quality, diversity and local relevance. We organize resources for intellectual and physical access and equity and our efforts are portable, collaborative, embeddable, easy to access, customized for their audience and optimized for all platforms.

This article really resonated with me because it captures the important role that librarians play in finding resources for everyone on their campus and/or district. Whether it is a video for a teacher, a language tutorial site for a student, or even an article for administration, librarians have the power to create connections and take some of the heavy-lifting off of the shoulders of students and teachers. However, like the article points out, those resources and collections need to be easily accessible for all so that those resources do not just exist in individual silos, but rather are available for all. Digital collections housed on learning commons websites are an excellent way to ensure equal access for all.

ALA's Web Resources and Wiki

ALA. (2019, June 26). Resources for Library Collections. Retrieved May 10, 2020, from http://www.ala.org/alcts/resources/collect

§  ALA’s collection development resources published on their website

o   Dated but useful

§  Most recent articles appear to be 2015

o   Challenging librarians to assume more risk

§ http://www.ala.org/alcts/sites/ala.org.alcts/files/content/resources/papers/risk_ogburn.pdf

§  Challenges libraries to assume more risk to keep up with tech and connect with patrons

ALA. (2014, August 6). Collection Development Wiki. Retrieved May 10, 2020, from https://wikis.ala.org/professionaltips/index.php?title=Collection_Development

§  ALA wiki with resources on collection development

§  Once again dated, but a great web 2.0 idea

§  Useful resources and links still here

o   General Guidelines

o   Collection Development Policy Examples

o   Tips on collaboration with community

o   Tips on ciriculum development

o   Guideline for reference collections

I wanted to share these resources as I found it very interesting the way that ALA is handling sharing information on this subject. The first thing of note, is there are a plethora of useful resources here for all level of collection development. The second thing I like about these resources is the choice to hare these online, and create a Web2.0 functional wiki page to encourage collaboration from librarians in sharing what they know about the subject. This is where the good aspects of this service end, as both of these resources have not been updated for the last five years or so. Something I see too often in every industry, an overzealous attempt to create social media accounts, websites, or Web2.0 features, and then let them die from some combination of a lack of regular updates and content, a lack of marketing, or someone leaving and having he account go dark. I wanted to share these resources as there is good stuff here, but also as a warning on how not to handle collaborative content like this.

Collaborative Resource Sharing between Public and School Libraries

Perez, Rosa

Reference: Smith, D., Shea, M., & Wu, W.N. (2014). Collaborative resource sharing between public and school libraries. Interlending & Document Supply, 42(4), 159–164. https://doi-org.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/10.1108/ILDS-09-2014-0045

In this article, the authors explore the importance of collaborative resource sharing between public and school libraries. The study focused on collaborative collection development and interlibrary loans between public libraries and school libraries. The methodology used to conduct the study was a survey sent to 265 youth service librarians across the USA. The results show that the majority of the libraries involved in the study believe it is important to collaborate with their neighboring school libraries. They believe in collaboration because it helps both institutions save money and shelf space. By sharing resources the libraries can stretch their limited funding and purchase more materials and programs for patrons. Furthermore, this collaboration is a good promotional tool for public libraries. Students already use the school library but may not use the public library during school breaks because they are unaware of the programs and resources available. But through this collaboration, they are made aware of the resources they have access to during those breaks. This increased awareness increases foot traffic and usage in the public library. The school library benefits from the additional resources they can provide to their students. The collaboration is beneficial to both the public library and the school library but the ultimate beneficiaries are the patrons being supported by both institutions. 

This article reminds me of the current collaboration my school district (Anaheim Union High School District) has with the Anaheim Public Library. This connection called ACES (A Card for Every Student) allows all AUHSD students to access the Anaheim Public Library’s online resources by using their student ID card. This resource is helpful because it helps fill the digital gaps that the AUHSD libraries face. ACES allows students to access ebooks, audiobooks, databases, and homework help platforms among other resources. 

School Library Research From Around the World

Brenna Smith

Gavigan, K. (2018). School library research from around the world: Where it's been and where it's headed. Knowledge Quest, 46(5), 32-39.

Summary: In this article, repeated keywords from issues of School Libraries Worldwide from 2010 to 2016 are studied. The recurring topics are advocacy, collaboration, impact studies, reading and reading promotion, and technology. They found that staff who advocate for the library are recognized as being leaders and indispensable members of the school community. In 2011, Ewbank published a study where half of 381 school librarians around the U.S. did not engage in advocacy activities due to lack of time and awareness. They found that collaboration between librarians and teachers help development of programs, improve instructional planning, and decreases plagiarism. Canadian-based study in 2011 found that school libraries that were more accessible, better funded, professionally staffed, and had more resources resulted in higher standardized test scores. Findings in several studies show that partnerships between school libraries and public libraries helped develop students’ reading skills. It was also discussed that school librarians need to develop and use their technology skills to become technology leaders. Two important factors to becoming school technology leaders is having support from principals and being proactive about how librarians approach their technology role. Overall, as for many studies, additional research is needed to find what effects school library programs have on student achievement.

Evaluation: I thought that this article was very informative, and reiterates what we have been learning throughout library school. It was interesting to find out that the same topics are being discussed and studied across the world, and that despite the populations, we all want to focus on the same ideas in the library.

Collaboration: Finding the teacher, finding the topic, finding the time.

Kolling, Kathleen

Citation

Gess, Angela. (2009). Collaboration: Finding the teacher, finding the topic, finding the time. LMC, 27(4), 24-25.

Summary

Many classroom teachers view the library as either a waste of time or chance for them to have planning time. Good collaboration between the classroom teacher and library media specialist can help increase language arts test scores, as shown in studies done in Colorado and Oregon, where they have strong collaborative library media teachers. The first step is to find the right teacher who values your work and is excited and willing to work together. The second step is to choose a topic that meets the AASL standards and utilizes technology, such as webquests . The third step is deciding if it should go as an introduction to a unit, in the middle, or as a conclusion/review. It’s always important to make it accessible to students with different learning and language needs. Always finish a unit by evaluating the success of it with the classroom teacher. Through successful collaboration, teachers will stop viewing library time as a break or waste.

Evaluation

At my library placement last year in a middle school, teachers hardly ever brought their classes to the library, so I found myself doing a lot of collection weeding and other tasks that didn’t involve working with students. I met with the Language Arts department every week and always offered to collaborate with whoever wanted to, but no one ever took me up on it. In my experience, most teachers don’t want to collaborate because they think that there may be extra planning and preparation. I’m at an elementary school this year, and most of the teachers drop their kids off at the library so they can do planning, which makes it difficult for collaboration. Recently, the administrators started requiring all the teachers meet in the library for grade level planning, so I’ve been able to join in the conversations they are already having about their current units of study. I work on tying that into my read-aloud with the younger grades, and with the older grades, I’ve been showing them primary sources that connect to their units. Ideally, teachers would stay during library time to support learning goals, but at my school, teachers are not required to stay, so I think my more successful units will happen with the teachers who do stay.

Collaboration: ILL and Resource Sharing Between Public and School Libraries

Chapman, Sherry

Smith, D., Shea, M., & Wu, W. (2014). Collaborative resource sharing between public and school libraries. Interlending & Document Supply, 42(4), 159-164. Retrieved from https://www-emeraldinsight-com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/ILDS-09-2014-0045



Summary: This study proposes that school librarians invite public librarians to school events to sign students up for public library cards. They should also work at collaborating on developing interlibrary loans. This collaboration and resource sharing may increase overall impact on learning in the community. It is noted that this study focuses on the perspective of public librarians but does not include the perspectives of school librarians.

Response: This is an interesting study that proposes a non-traditional layer of collaboration between schools and public libraries. The findings suggest that there are possibilities that need further study to benefit youth and develop lifelong learning.

Threshold Concepts and Curriculum Mapping by Char Booth and Brian Matthews.

     

Booth, C. & Matthews, B. (2012). Understanding the Learner 

          Experience: Threshold Concepts and Curriculum Mapping.
          CARL Conference 2012, San Diego, CA.

Char Booth 

Description: This video filmed at the Carl Conference with speakers Char Booth and Brian Matthews addresses threshold concepts, curriculum mapping, and collaborative mapping.  Booth and Matthews start by addressing instructional literacy and how we as librarians can reach out to our community in order to understand their needs.  

Evaluation: Excellent video explaining how they began to collaborate with 5 libraries using mind maps or specifically Mindomo. 

Brian Matthews         

Posted by Sandy Bielinski-Rice

School and Public Librarians & Common Core

Wilson, Shibrie

Lindsey, N., Nesi, O., & Grabarek, D. (2013). A School and Public Librarian Find Common Ground on the Common Core. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2013/10/standards/common-core/a-school-and-public-librarian-find-common-ground-on-the-common-core/

Public librarian Nina Lindsay explained that  implementing Common Core is not responsibility of public librarians. Though it is not responsibility public librarians are accountable to their communities. Olga Nesi discusses that it is important that public librarians are aware of Common Core State Standards being that students make up a large portion of their patrons. It is also important considering that Common Core is national. Public Librarians are learning more about materials and educators specifically for students to use.

Opinion:

This interview is impressive and enjoyed seeing perspective of different types of librarians. It seems as though both school librarians and public librarians are both learning more about CCSS. Public librarians will learn more by reaching out to fellow school librarian counterparts. 

10,000 Zines and Counting: A library's quest to save the history of Fandom!

          

       Ward, Tyler

         Robertson, A. (2015, September 4). 10,000 zines and counting: a library’s quest to save the history of fandom | The Verge.  from http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/4/9257455/university-iowa-fanzine-fan-culture-preservation-project  Retrieved September 13, 2015,

      Summary: This blog posts details the Special Collection of the University of Iowa and their current project: saving fanzines. First question, what is a fanzine? A fanzine is a magazine usually for a specific fandom (Superman, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, you get the picture), but a fanzine is done usually by the community, and by amateurs. A modern online example would be TORN (TheOneRing.net) a fandom website that is 100% dedicated to keeping the Tolkien fandom updated on goings on in publishing, cinema, or other related Tolkien news. This tracks some of the earliest cases of "fandom" and how the communities developed

     Evaluation: Fanzines are important and show the different ways that users of information can collaborate on a single project. It's certainly interesting historically because we can see how fandoms have changed through the century and how communities developed and interacted with information. It's also interesting because it shows how the average user can be a creator! 

Meta-Collaboration: Thinking with another

Bliss, Jennifer

Desautlets, L. (2015). Edutopia. Meta-collaboration: Thinking with another. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/meta-collaboration-thinking-with-another-lori-desautels

This article focuses on changing the way we approach student learning by working with students and teachers to become co-teachers. The idea to get students to think and share about they way their brains work, they process and evaluation information, and how they problem solve. By becoming a co-teacher (a student will be the other teacher) students will gain the perspectives of others and think hopefully adopt some of the strategies and ideas shared with their classmates.

Although the article is small, and I am not sure how you would use the students as co-teachers, it is an interesting way to approach a new subject. If students can begin to think in steps about how they problem solve and process information, they can approach any learning subject with a new understanding.

Promoting a Juvenile Awards Approval Plan: Using Collaboration and Selected Projects for Improved Visibility and Findability to Promote Juvenile Collections in Academic Libraries.

Bailey, Rachel

Shipman, T. (2014). Promoting a juvenile awards approval plan: Using collaboration and selected projects for improved visibility and findability to promote juvenile collections in academic libraries. Behavioral and Social Sciences Librarian, 33, 176-187. doi: 10.1080/01639269.2014.964592.

Summary: This article showcases a plan the University of Auburn underwent to promote awareness and use of the juvenile books collection.  Books, in particular, that had won special medals or awards were the main focus of the plan. In collaboration with professors from the education and teacher librarian departments, collections staff raised awareness of the books by creatively displaying the books, having an open house and instruction about the books, creating subject guides and adding “award winner” notes to the library catalog. Assessment of the plan showed that usage of the books had increased.

Evaluation: This perspective of this article was interesting. Being a former elementary and middle school teacher, I come from a K-12 background. It was interesting to see the process and strategies academic librarians use to promote juvenile books to the college crowd. Typically, when I think of juvenile books, I think of books that are in schools, not college libraries. The marketing of these books is what intrigued me the most. In some ways, the approach was the same for what you would use for a school age child. For example, book displays are one way to get a child to check out a book.