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BACK ISSUES
The meeting began with a discussion of a bibliography of pertinent web sites that will be posted to the Web and updated every six months. The committee added new subject areas and assigned members to do revisions. The intention is to include only the most useful sites. Criteria for inclusion:
The meeting continued with information sharing from regional interest groups and a discussion of the problems of integrating curriculum materials into cooperative collection development arrangements and sharing in statewide systems. The Committee will suggest that the Problems of Access to Educational Materials Committee be disbanded because the needs it was created to address are being met by the Curriculum Materials Committee. The Committee discussed the possibility of a project to develop guidelines for curriculum centers. Approximately 12 people attended.
Reported by Jennalyn W. Tellman, University of Arizona, email: jennalyn@library.arizona.edu
Approximately 70 people attended this meeting that began with a panel discussion about staff development issues. Points made in the discussion included: the importance of training the staff so they will be comfortable on the net, persuading teachers to use the net, training new and existing teachers, and the phenomenon of students teaching teachers to use the Internet. The panelists and audience seemed to feel that most success occurred with one-on-one relationships.
A general discussion covered the topic of successes that librarians have had in partnerships with teachers. Suggestions include making the computer seem easier by keeping a light touch. One contributor reminded the group of Piaget's observation that a period of playful interaction is a prerequisite for understanding.
Others noted the importance of librarians maintaining their place in computer learning and not letting it all be done by the computer department. Librarians should work with the computer people in order to get their technical expertise, but librarians and teachers should develop the content.
Further discussion centered on getting support to create home pages for curriculum areas. One suggestion was to get students to help maintain the pages through their computer clubs.
Reported by Jennalyn W. Tellman, University of Arizona, email: jennalyn@library.arizona.edu
This committee has focused its energies in recent years on the ACRL/CNI Internet Education Project web site. Having completed the tasks it set for itself at Midwinter (arranging publicity for the site, preparing a checklist for reviewers, and eliminating a backlog of sites awaiting evaluation), the committee considered how to administer the project for the long term. The committee decided to retain publicity and editorial review subcommittees on a permanent basis to assure that the site remained current. The chair will post complete minutes of the meeting to the committee's web site. Approximately 17 people attended.
Reported by David G. Sherwood, Creighton University, email: davids@creighton.edu
The Teaching Methods Committee held their business meeting directly after an hour-long brainstorming session they sponsored on "Active Learning Techniques for the One-Shot Library Instruction Session."
One focus of the well-attended session, which deviated from the topic of active learning strategies for the classroom, was getting faculty involved in library instruction. "Building Faculty/Librarian Instructional Partnerships" was the title of the committee's Poster Session, which was also on June 28th. This session showcased several successful approaches that academic Librarians have taken to form instructional partnerships with teaching faculty.
The second draft of "Recipes for Active Learning: A Sourcebook of Classroom Strategies for Libraries" is under consideration. This work, initiated by the committee, may be available by the end of the year.
Topics discussed for future endeavors included distance learning, evaluation, and developing partnerships with teaching faculty for library instruction. Ten committee members and two guests attended the meeting.
Reported by Elaine Gass, Texas A&M University, email: elaineg@tamu.edu
The committee continues to work on a variety of projects. Members discussed developing a survey to assess how effective instruction sessions are for different groups. Members suggested asking students what new knowledge they acquired during sessions, how they will be using it, and how comfortable they are with it. Different populations considered were ESL students, Latin American students, non-traditional students, etc. Members discussed how to ask students about their backgrounds including age, native language, and country of origin. This survey will need to go through various stages to reach completion and receive ACRL approval.
Work continues on the glossary project, which lists library terms in several languages. However, it is probable that the special task force working on the project will return it to the Instruction for Diverse Populations committee. While the committee still needs to clarify copyright issues and adopt a method of updating, research based on the glossary has been submitted to appropriate journals.
The committee also briefly discussed several other topics: the challenge of finding recent material on library instruction with some groups, including Native American students; and a video project that will illustrate instruction interactions with diverse populations. Twelve attended -- including guests, ACRL observer, and incoming chair Kristin Ramsdell.
Reported by Ellen Kessler, Queens Borough Public Library, Email: ellenk@queens.lib.ny.us
Presented by Nolo Press publishers,
this program highlighted the growing demand on libraries and librarians
to help customers gain access to legal information. While librarians are
not in a position to give legal advice, they are in a position to make
certain tools available to customers. Speakers illustrated how the Internet
now provides access to many cases and statutes. Self-help legal books help
customers to make use of these resources.
With the advent of Internet
resources, public libraries in particular are increasingly important places
for both situation-based and academic legal research. Web sites suggested
include http://www.nolo.com for legal
background information for non-lawyers, http://www.piperinfo.com/state/states.html
for local and state laws and recent cases, and http://www.law.cornell.edu/
for a general legal resource catalog (including Supreme Court Cases).
Speakers encouraged a positive attitude for librarians in the face of customer demand, and suggested that much legal information can be found and understood by non-lawyers with the help of Nolo books. Speakers stressed that they are interested in feedback from librarians on their materials. They are also interested in suggestions for future materials. Thirty people attended the meeting.
Reported by Ellen Kessler, Queens Borough Public Library, Email: ellenk@queens.lib.ny.us
Approximately 6 people attended. The committee discussed the pathfinder compiled for the program sponsored by LPSS, "The Politics of the Information Future."
Discussion then moved to 1998 Midwinter and Annual program plans. LPSS proposes a program of 3 speakers that will focus on the exchange of information between the U.S. and the Middle East. The committee will prepare a pathfinder for the program, and the speakers will include representatives from the Middle East Institute, The Islamic Center, and the U.S. Information Agency. For Midwinter, the committee will propose a discussion forum on some aspect of the Middle East.
LPSS and the LPSS Instruction Committee have listservs: LPSS-L (lpss-l@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu) and LPSSBI-L (lpssbi-l@listserv.kent.edu). Laura Bartolo of Kent State University manages the latter, and it is not moderated.
Reported by Michael Poma, Creighton University, Email: mapoma@creighton.edu