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My Frustration with CCSSE, Student Engagement and Libraries (by TTW contributor Troy Swanson)

Today, my blood started to boil as I sat through a presentation on my campus. The speaker actually did a good job. He was detailing information about a nation-wide survey called CCSSE (the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, http://www.ccsse.org/) in which our campus has participated for many years.

Engagement is much more than a [...]

The Book I am no Longer Reading (by TTW Contributor Troy Swanson)

I am no longer reading the book 1493 by Charles Mann (see my previous post about Mann’s earlier book, 1491, here). I was reading it but it just disappeared from my iPad. I had downloaded it via Overdrive from my local public library. My two-week loan period is over, the book vanished, and I am [...]

Teaching & Learning Community Event (by TTW contributor Troy Swanson)

Following the inspiration of TED (actually, copying TED), our library partnered with our campus’ Center for Teaching & Learning to create a special event that highlights our campus’ faculty and staff. This event which we affectionately called TLC: Teaching & Learning Community event, featured five faculty and staff members who gave mini-lectures on a range [...]

An Opportunity for Library Advocacy (by TTW contributor Troy Swanson)

Each month, our college has a show on one of the local public access television station (PHTV 4 in Palos Heights, Illinois). I was invited to participate to discuss libraries and librarians as well as help spread the word about services we offer to our local community. I saw this as a chance to do some local [...]

Eat Your Heart Out, Hollywood, I’m a Librarian! (by TTW Contributor Dr. Troy Swanson)

Last week, a poet was in my office. We had planned a poetry reading, but she was pitching me a new idea focusing on a book she was writing about her birth father. Before that, a geography faculty member was describing a lecture about how hedgehogs can be used to explain key concepts in geography. [...]

Do You Know A Librarian Who Could be a Pritzker Fellow?

The Pritzker Fellowship from Chicago Public Media is designed to cultivate a “new generation” of journalists. The fellows are nominated by community organizations, cannot have a degree in journalism, must not be in an academic program, and must be interested in community reporting. This would be perfect for a librarian. In fact, I wish that I could [...]

Help Me Write a Job Description: Publisher of Community

For the past year, I have had a foggy notion for a new librarian position, but I can’t quite get my mind wrapped around it. So, I am turning to you, TTW community, to help.

Today, I am once again skimming through R. David Lankes’ amazing book The Atlas of New Librarianship. I am looking [...]

Think Like an Activist

At several points in my life I have had the opportunity to work closely with activists. I have seen political, social, and union activists up close and in action. The true activist is a special breed who is in touch with a different reality that is just outside the reach of the present. They have [...]

The Machine that is Replacing Me is Getting Cheaper Every Day – A TTW Guest Post by Dr. Troy Swanson

Two years ago, I had the painful pleasure of coauthoring a textbook with three other colleagues. This textbook was written for first-year writing students, and I wrote the sections of the book that focused on research and information literacy.

As we wrote the book, my thoughts went back to one of my former high school [...]

Young Whipper Snapper No More – A TTW Guest Post by Dr. Troy Swanson

A few weeks ago, I was doing one of my weekly reference shifts. I went to our lower level to see if students using computers down there needed any help. As I was walking along, I thought to myself that it was great that we had these computers. They were added to help ease the [...]