Post on 18-Jul-2015
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LINSCHEID LIBRARYLINSCHEID LIBRARYLibrarians as Research
FacilitatorsKatherine Sleyko, MLISEast Central University
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…students who have hit on a novel and interesting way of looking at an issue tell me they have to change their topic because they can’t find sources that say exactly what they plan to say. I try to persuade them otherwise, but they believe that original ideas are not allowed in “research.”
—Barbara Fister, Why the "Research Paper" Isn't Working
Most college hires were prone to deliver the quickest answer they could find using a search engine, entering a few keywords, and scanning the first couple of pages of results, employers said, even though they needed newcomers to apply patience and persistence when solving information problems in the workplace.
—Learning Curve: How College Graduates Solve Information Problems Once They Join the Workplace
Construction of Knowledge
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Construction of Knowledge
LINSCHEID LIBRARYLibraries and Anxiety
• Academic libraries designed to both support curriculum and student/faculty research
• Students feel intimidated by library research, which can even have negative cognitive effects (http://crl.acrl.org/content/69/2/117.short)
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RESEARCH AS SOLUTIONLIBRARY AS PARTNER
LINSCHEID LIBRARYInstructor:
Taryn Chubb, PhDClass:
Multicultural ArtAssignment:
Research newly-purchased sculptures (left) to establish provenance
Example 1: Patchwork
LINSCHEID LIBRARYInstruction Challenges
• Find out if it is possible for students • Create list of resources to steer students
towards• Distribute list of useful sources to reference
librarians
LINSCHEID LIBRARYInstruction Outcomes
Student Challenges• Only given stone type,
approximate date of creation, and name of each sculpture
• Had to figure out where their sculpture was from, what people(s) made them, their purpose, and the methods used to make them
• No definitive work on subject
• Database searches give only tangentially-related articles
Learning Outcomes• Forced confrontation of
library anxiety• Tied abstract concepts to
physical objects • Pulled data from different
sources to answer questions
• Familiarization of original research
• Builds confidence on expertise on subject
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Example 2: Primary Sources
Instructor: Rebecca Nicholson-Weir, PhD
Class: Modernist List
Assignment: Visit the University of Tulsa archives to read papers of Modernist writers
LINSCHEID LIBRARYInstruction Challenges
• Familiarize students with archival processes– Finding aids– Appropriate behavior– Requesting specific folders & boxes
• Express why archives or primary sources are important
LINSCHEID LIBRARYInstruction Outcomes
Student Challenges• Navigate the University of
Tulsa library system• Correct instructors’
inappropriate behavior• Survive 5-hour-long bus
trip• Handle rare materials
carefully
Learning Outcomes• De-mystification of
archives• Comfort with different /
archival organization systems
• Awareness of papers as research tools
• Introduction to seeing archival materials as insight into people
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Katherine Sleyko, MLISksleyko@ecok.edu
580-559-5308