Transcript History of Electronic Resources at UofS Libraries

Librarian-Scholars and the Boyer Model
David Fox & Linda Fritz
November 10, 2001
Librarians and the Scholarship of
Integration/Application
David Fox
November 10, 2001
The discipline of librarianship
A distinct body of knowledge:
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classification of information
collection management
guidance and instruction of users
The role of librarians
“The role of librarians is to add value to
information resources by selecting, organizing,
and assisting patrons in their use. This
continues to be true regardless of the format
or location of the information. Hence, the role
of librarians in the future will not change,
although the tools and technologies are
constantly evolving.”
D. Fox, 1997
Education for librarians
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practitioners degree is MLS
PhD – not normally required to practice
many academic library positions require a
second advanced degree
- subject masters
- professional degree
Workload for librarians
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40 hour week; 52 weeks/year
like clinicians, extension specialists,
administrators
Considerable variation in assigned duties
Some librarians have little time for scholarly
work during normal work week
The Living Job Description
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would be a big benefit to librarians!
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Acknowledge the heavy component of assigned
duties
Allow for wide variations in assigned duties
facilitate assessment for permanent status,
promotion, merit
Scholarly communication in
librarianship
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120+ peer reviewed journals
300+ listservs and discussion forums
local, regional, national, international associations
annual conferences provide continuing education
Expectations of scholarly work for
librarians at the UofS
1992 Standards:
 3) “Practice of Professional Skills”
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3(b) scholarship exemplified by publications, presentations
at meetings, etc.
One of 13 factors
4) “Research and Scholarly Work”
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requirement for promotion/perm status for Librarian IV
Scholarly Expectations,
continued
2001 Revised Draft Standards:
5.2 Scholarly Work
Scholarly work is expected of all librarians. Unlike traditional
faculty research, a librarian’s scholarly work usually derives
from professional practice. Candidates for permanent status
or promotion will engage in scholarly work appropriate to
academic librarianship with the fundamental expectation that
the results of scholarly work will be shared with other
members of the profession and the academic community. A
librarian’s scholarly work may be in one or more but not
necessarily all of the following areas:
Forms of scholarship
a) applied scholarship: investigations of the practice
within the library environment. Covers such areas
as library organization and management practices,
application of new technology, development of
information delivery methods and services,
application of teaching methods, development of
standards for cataloguing and classification
practices.
Forms of scholarship,
continued
b) subject scholarship: research in the literature of
specific disciplines resulting in the publication of
bibliographies, resource lists, internet site
evaluations, translations, books, articles, etc.
Forms of scholarship,
continued
c) theoretical/policy scholarship: exploration of issues
leading to the development of theory, policy and
standards of practice for the library community.
For example: copyright for digital resources,
electronic licensing agreements, equity and
sustainability of information access.
Forms of scholarship,
continued
For the purposes of this document scholarly work
means work which has been subjected to external
peer review. This is the primary evidence in this
category.
The Boyer model of scholarship
Discovery
Integration
Teaching
Application
Ernest Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered , 1990
Academic librarians and the Boyer
model
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no mention of librarians in Scholarship
Reconsidered !
can we imagine scholarship without libraries and
librarians?
academic librarianship provides an excellent
example of the scholarship of application:
– the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge through
practice.
Academic librarians and the Boyer
model, continued
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Academic Librarianship and the Redefining
Scholarship Project, ACRL, 1998
Scholarship of application: a case
study
UofS Library EJournal Management System:
 Integration of the EJournal Database and the
Catalogue
 Over 5000 full text titles
 Developed over a six month period
 Active collaboration by a team of librarians, library
staff, computer programmer
 expertise required: license administration,
cataloguing, user education, system design,
programming
Ejournal management system: features
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Ejournals approachable through the Catalogue, EJDB
Searchable via title, subject, collection, vendor,
publisher
Alternate sources listed
Online linking
Link validation
Status messages
Scholarship of application: a case
study, continued
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Described in two presentations at national
conferences in 2001
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CLA presentation , June 2001 (D. Fox)
Access 2001 presentation, Sept 2001 (D. Friesen)
Peer reviewed
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Mary Curran, U. of Ottawa
Todd Mundle, SFU
Conference presentations vs. publication as
a method of scholarly communication
Conference presentation:
 reaches desired audience quickly
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M. Jordan, Netspeed 2001 presentation
presentations are archived on conference website
no copyright issues
can be peer reviewed!
Ejournal management system: features
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Intuitive, user friendly
Enormous amount of thought, design, technical
expertise, license administration, ongoing
maintenance involved in making ejournal access easy
and transparent
Many faculty may be enjoying online access to
ejournals without realizing the Library’s role in
making those ejournals available.
Ejournal management system:
Is it scholarship?
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a comprehensive resource discovery tool
integrates and applies knowledge of several subdisciplines of librarianship and computer science
shared with other members of the profession and
the library community
subjected to external peer review
Ejournal management system:
Is it scholarship?
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Meets the test of the Boyer model
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Meets the test of the revised draft UofS Library
Standards
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scholarship of application
scholarship of integration
derived from professional practice
shared with colleagues and the academic community
subjected to external peer review
Meets the OSU “litmus test”
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creative intellectual work, validated by peers and
communicated
Thank You !
Librarians and the Scholarship of
Integration: The Catalogue
Linda Fritz
Introduction
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“The library is a neglected resource little
used by faculty and teachers alike.”
Ernest M. Boyer. College: the undergraduate experience in
America. New York: Harper and Row, 1987.
Introduction
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“The library is of central importance to the
institution. It is an organic combination of
people, collections and buildings, whose
purpose is to assist users in the process of
transforming information into knowledge.”
Introduction
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“Information and knowledge are central to
the attainment of any university’s goals.
The ways in which information is collected,
stored, and distributed within the
institution, will, in large measure, determine
the level of success of scholarship and
research.”
Association of College and Research Libraries. “Standards for
university libraries: evaluation of performance.” College and
Research Library News, v. 30, September 1989.
Introduction
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Question:
If libraries are central to the university’s
mission, why are they so little used?
Introduction
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Answer:
The transparency of librarians’ work
History
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In the beginning was the book
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Focus of the work of early librarians
Later came housing for the book
Even later came the provision of access to
the books in the collection
History
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1980s
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Libraries and librarians began to bridge the gap
between electronic information and the user.
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Movement from role of custodian to role of
translator
History
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1990s
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Library user moves from seeking knowledge to
seeking information
History
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2000 – 2001
“Academic librarians coordinate the
evaluation and selection of intellectual
resources for programs and services;
organize and maintain collections and many
points of access to information; and provide
instruction to students and faculty who seek
information”.
History
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ACRL Task Force on Information Literacy
Competency Standards, “Information Literacy
Competency Standards for Higher Education”
available at
http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilintro.html
The Catalogue
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Question:
Who is the author of those classic American
books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
The Catalogue
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Answer:
Samuel Clemens
or
Mark Twain
The Catalogue
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The library catalogue lets you use either
name, with appropriate cross references.
Cataloguers also research authors birth and
death dates
The Catalogue
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They establish uniform titles
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Bible. O.T.
They establish series
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New Canadian Library
The Catalogue
Question:
Where would you find The Toronto Stock
Exchange in the telephone directory?
The Catalogue
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Answer:
Until recently: under “The”
In the catalogue, it will be under “Toronto”
What makes more sense?
The Catalogue
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The taxonomy of a call number
PR
- English literature
4034 - Jane Austen
.E54 – Emma
1908 – Published in 1908
Librarians and the
Scholarship of engagement
Scholarship of teaching
Information Literacy
AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
1989
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To be information literate, a person must be
able to recognize when information is
needed and have the ability to locate,
evaluate and use effectively the needed
information. Ultimately, information literate
people are those who have learned how to
learn.
American Library Association
Information literate people know
 how knowledge is organized
 how to find information
 how to use information in such a way that others can
learn from them
Information literate people are prepared for lifelong
learning because they can always find the
information needed for any task or decision at hand.
Information Literacy
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Scholarship of Engagement
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Reference desk
Information Literacy
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Question:
Where are the books about Shakespeare?
Information Literacy
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Quick answer:
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In the stacks in the north wing
Information Literacy
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More likely:
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Are you studying a play or a poem?
Which one?
Are you going to write an essay?
How long is it?
When is it due?
Did your professor ask you to use peer reviewed
journals?
Information Literacy
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Do you know what s/he means?
Have you used an index?
Result: student goes away with a search
strategy, but doesn’t really understand the
role the librarian has played.
Information Literacy
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Note: librarians bemoan the fact that they
have a “correct” answer rate of
approximately 55%.
These numbers often don’t account for the
fact that the original question can change
quite dramatically during the reference
interview.
Information Literacy
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Scholarship of Teaching
Information Literacy
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“It is not enough that the books are cared
for properly, are well arranged, are never
lost. It is not enough if the librarian can
readily produce any book asked for. It is
not enough that he can, when asked, give
advice as to the best books in his collection
on any given subject…He must put every
facility in the way of the readers, so that
they shall be led on from good to better.
Information Literacy
University of Saskatchewan Library Standards
for promotion and permanent status, June
2001:
A librarian’s teaching responsibilities and duties
may be in one or more but not necessarily all of
the following areas:
Information Literacy
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a) Individual instruction: Teaching that occurs at
point of need for students/faculty; offered in
support of course assignments and/or research
needs; may involve face-to-face instruction,
instruction to learners via phone/email/web.
Information Literacy
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b) Single session class instruction: teaching that
occurs in response to faculty or student request;
usually offered in a classroom or computer lab
setting; may be “generic” instruction in information
research methods or may involve instruction
tailored to specific curricular areas or specific
classes; offered both on and off campus.
Information Literacy
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c) Library instruction: teaching that is provided
through a library program of instruction; involves
teaching a number of sequenced sessions to develop
the information literacy skills of students; sessions
may be taught as stand alone sessions or as part of
a total program delivery; the librarian is responsible
for the design, development,content, delivery and
evaluation of program sessions.
Information Literacy
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d) Integrated course instruction: teaching that
occurs as a library component of a course; the
librarian is responsible for content and delivery of
the library component; number of class sessions and
time allocation may vary subject to consultation
between faculty and librarians involved.
Information Literacy
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e) Course instruction: teaching a course for which
the librarian has full responsibility for course
design and development, content, delivery, marking
and assessment; may be a required course to
complete degree requirements.
Information Literacy
But…
1998-2001 Collective Agreement between the
University of Saskatchewan and the
University of Saskatchewan Faculty
Association
Information Literacy
18.4.6 Information on Candidates for Promotion.
(i) teaching shall not normally be a criterion for
promotion of librarians
Information Literacy
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He must teach them how, after studying
their own wants, they may themselves select
their reading wisely.”
Melvil Dewey, a librarian with an interest in simplified
spelling
Melvil Dewey. “The profession”. American Library Journal, v. 1,
September 30, 1876.
Conclusion
Perhaps we are too transparent!