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King Middle School Expedition Learning TV

At the request of the students, our class embarked on a geography themed expedition this year to study the beauty and mystery of this huge country. All the students in our class are new to the US. After researching they have became experts on one of the US Census regions. In addition, they developed a practical understanding of how the world is categorized into the 5 themes of geography.  –Catherine Paul  I wanted to share this awesome project some of the teens who use my library just did at their school.  They came into the library today and were really […]

SJSU SLIS Faculty Institute Presentation Slides

After two days of faculty retreat, we are finishing the week with the SJSU SLIS Faculty Institute. Our faculty and adjuncts have gathered here in San Jose from all over for workshops and discussion about teaching. I’m doing a talk this afternoon on using social media in teaching. The slides are here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/239835/SLISStephensSocialMedia.pdf Learning Everywhere: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/04/opinion/michael-stephens/learning-everywhere-office-hours/

Office Hours May 2012: Professionalism Matters

By Michael Stephens As the school year wanes, I’ve spent the last few days grading electronic portfolios for a cadre of SLIS students. The portfolio is part of their culminating experience at San José and serves as a lexicon of learning, detailing experiences and evidence of their mastery of our competencies. It promotes a high degree of self-evaluation by articulating a statement of professional philosophy. Truth be told, both students and practitioners can benefit from careful consideration of what it means to be a professional in libraries in 2012. A crowded field In a market where one library job may […]

Transformative Learning 2.0 – And Some Thank Yous

In Library Journal this past month, I explored the concept of “learning everywhere.”  Here’s a snip: This semester, I’m teaching a new class based on Mezirow’s concepts of transformative learning, the work of Char Booth in the arena of user instruction, and the Learning 2.0 model…. We’re working with consultant Polly-Alida Farrington, who teamed up three groups of my students with two libraries and a school library consortium in New York State. Over the course of our 15-week semester, each group is adapting, designing, and running a “mini-23 Things” for its assigned organization. It’s been a fun, chaotic, and messy experience. […]

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 nominate a librarian for this! Do you know a librarian who might qualify? Check out the curriculum from their website: Program Curriculum Throughout the training period, the Pritzker Fellows will work on many projects and develop skills within their chosen arena.  The training will be extremely targeted […]

Exchanging business cards for library cards at the Portland Business Expo

The Portland Regional Chamber held its annual business expo on Wednesday, and booths included the usual: credit unions, hotels, sign shops, telecom companies, the Portland Public Library. Attendance was light in the early afternoon, but began to pick up as …. — “Wait!” I know you’re all saying, astonished: “The Portland Public Library???!!” Sonya Durney, who is the Business and Government Librarian at my library just recently did something super awesome.  She took her show on the road the Portland Business Expo and talked to local small businesses about the benefits of using their local library. Durney explained: “If we can […]

Thanks IU Libraries

This morning I presented at the IU Libraries staff institute day. It was very cool to visit the IU Campus in Bloomington after being away for so long. The talk was in the Whittenberger Auditorium, the same location where Union Board Films showed movies in the 80s. I served with the film group throughout my undergrad experience. Thanks to all who attended. I was especially glad to meet some recent IU SLIS graduates. The slides are here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/239835/IUBloomington.pdf

Call for Papers: Internet Reference Services Quarterly

Internet Reference Services Quarterly (http://goo.gl/Q0np0) is now accepting manuscripts for the 2012/13 volume year. Internet Reference Services Quarterly is a refereed journal that presents research and practical information about reference librarianship in the digital age. The journal offers studies and articles on technology and innovations related to the delivery of library user services, including reference, research consultation, instruction, information literacy, user design and usability, and electronic reference materials and sources. Internet Reference Services Quarterly welcomes articles covering topics on the online, electronic and digital aspects and nature of library reference and information services, including reference practices, research consultations, reference sources […]