From The Chronicle: Brainstorm

This morning, from The Chronicle of Higher Education blog Brainstorm, an article from Gina Barreca.

"Hello class. Hello former students who are willing to go another round in this ring, and welcome to the new folks—the ones who have no idea what this course will be like.

Let me tell you who’ve never taken a class with me before a little about what to expect. And please understand that while I’m delighted that you're here, I will also understand if you decide that you can’t work within the boundaries I’ve set up.

The points I’m talking about today are non-negotiable. That’s why I mention them up front. On a number of other issues, I can be flexible. Concerning the following, however, you will find me intractable:"

You really need to read more @ On the First Day ...

Live Discussions: The Chronicle

The Chronicle of Higher Education is hosting a Live Discussion this afternoon, 2 pm eastern, titled "Why Johnny Can't Search (Intelligently)." From the discussion page:

"No matter how tech-savvy today's students are, many of them doing research online cannot distinguish infomercials from facts. A movement led by librarians to teach information literacy has caught on across the country, but some faculty members say such efforts are nothing new. What is the best way to teach students how to find and evaluate online information? Is information literacy best incorporated into the curriculum or taught as a separate subject? What is the best way to measure students' skills in this area?" (Chronicle, 3/7/07)

The guides speaker is Diana G. Oblinger; a vice president of Educause. Transcripts are to be availble after the discussion.

The New Library Professional

"What does the growing generation gap among their employees mean for academic research libraries and for the profession?" This question is posed by Stanley Wilder in his recent article for the Chronicle of Higher Education, The New Library Professional (2/23/07).

No longer under 35, like many this is my second (or is it third?) career, I do have the dubious distinction of being the youngest faculty librarian here at AU. I also find myself immersed more in the hands-on technology (scanners, software, cameras) and Web 2.0 technologies (web pages, blogs)than some of my co-workers; some because of my job itself, more often because I am interested in the technology. However, I do find myself to be one of the more mature members of the audience when attending sessions on technology at various conferences. Issues of age aside, Wilder makes several interesting points in his essay, among them:

"The generation gap in research libraries begins with the large proportion of young people who work at jobs that either did not exist for their older colleagues, or weren't associated years ago with librarianship." (Wilder, 2/23/07)

I definitely agree with the observation that the nontraditional jobs existing in any library are changing as libraries must adapt to new technologies. Information Commons are a prime example of merging technology and library information. Add to that the changes made to library information science curriculum's in recent years, new library professionals are graduating with a different set of skills as well.

Is the new library professional really all that different? The more things change ...

Tags: Chronicle of Higher Education, Academic Librarians, Library Profession, The New Library Professional

Brown Bag, lunch?

Brown Bag is a new feature offered by The Chronicle Wired Campus Blog:

"Join Chronicle editors every Thursday at noon, starting this week, for The Brown Bag, a new live chat on higher education’s hot topics. Every week we will be joined by an expert from the world of higher-education finance and technology to answer your questions about recent news and to share ideas on how you can run
your institution more effectively." - The Chronicle Wired, 9/6/06

This announcement falls into the "it's a small world" category because the featured speaker is from Case Western Reserve University, Lev S. Gonick, vice president for information-technology services and chief information officer and Rebecca works at CWRU.

Tags: Library Cloud, Chronicle of Higher Education, Chronicle Wired, Academics, Education