shinylib

Meme: Passion Quilt

I had been ignoring the passion quilt meme for the most part, but Ellie <3 libraries prompted me to think about how to use this meme to sum up some of my thoughts on my IL instruction process. Maybe this will get me off my rump and moving forward on that article I should be writing…

When I taught my first “library instruction” (BI, IL, whatever you want to call them) classes I really struggled with how to connect with the students. They arrive in the classroom certain that they’re going to hear what they’ve already heard, which they didn’t find especially useful the first time. Many of them are pretty sure they rank amongst the best Googlin’ experts and, while they may not know what one is, many are certain they don’t need an article database. Some students groan, “Dude! I’ve had this EBSCO class 4 times this year,” and I don’t doubt it. I don’t blame them and I’m not offended—after all, Google and the like haven’t let them down when it comes to finding playoff scores, movie times, and sometimes their next date.

Despite all of that, community college students coming to a 50 minute one-shot in the library are surrounded by things they don’t know—unfortunately many haven’t been exposed to that concept in a way that doesn’t insult, bore, or intimidate. Even more baffling is the idea that there are things they don’t know about Google!

In library school we learn about sensemaking and “the gap”. The principle issues here are that there are things we don’t know, gaps in our knowledge. In order to acquire the knowledge we need we have to somehow figure out what it is that we don’t know, acquire the language to search for information on what we don’t know, and then absorb and interpret information to help us fill in those gaps in our knowledge. Like a great many theoretical pieces of library school, I don’t always think about these ideas while I am teaching.

With that and an assignment brought to me by a writing instructor I started developing a research exercise I think of as Mind the Gap (although the handout just says Research Exercise, heh), where I shove the students into various resources and then discuss the tips n’ tricks after. It seems to work fairly well, the students are more interested in my schpiel about Google advanced search, page rank, or other facets of the popular search engine once they realize they can’t readily identify three scholarly sources from the first page of a Google results list.

Interested in seeing what the other two people who read this have to share.

The rules are simple:

1. Think about what you are passionate about teaching your students.
2. Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.
3. Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
4. Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.

Whistleblowers, Midwinter

Session: “Inside the FBI: A Whistleblower Speaks Out” – Sat. Jan. 12, 8:00-10:00 a.m.

ALA Midwinter attendees crowded the room Saturday morning, expecting to hear Mr. Youssef speak about his experiences as an FBI Whistleblower. Youssef, Unit Chief of the FBI Counterterrorism Division’s Communications Analysis Unit and the highest ranking Arab-American agent, had been prohibited to speak to the American Library Association (or anyone else) about his experiences.

The weekend prior to the ALA Midwinter conference Mr. Youssef received a 12-page directive from the FBI which made no claims to relate to classified information, yet prohibited presenting or giving rehearsed speeches about the topic. Instead, attorney Stephen M. Kohn indicated that his client would be allowed to answer “spontaneous” questions, as allowed by constitutional law.

What followed was an illuminating question-and-answer period, during which Mr. Kohn was frequently required to instruct his client about answering questions and in fact had to answer many questions himself as he is under no FBI directive (“gag order” in the common parlance). Mr. Youssef was very clear that he could only speak on his own behalf as Bassem Youssef, American citizen, and not in any professional capacity.

Youssef was able to provide a better understanding of how National Security Letters work (think of the 4 John Doe librarians); how they can, in the abstract, be abused by intelligence agencies; his work on the first world trade center bombing; and his work as liaison to the Saudi government (which was particularly effective, although he is now banned from speaking any . Frustration, sadness, and even hope were apparent on the faces of both Youssef and Kohn throughout the morning.

For more (and better) coverage of this event, see the following:

Library Journal
American Libraries
Letter to Emily Sheketoff, Executive Director of the ALA Washington office, from Steve Kohn, attorney for Bassem Youssef