The Ubiquitous Librarian - The Chronicle of Higher Education - The Diigo Meta page

• 31 Aug 11
  

  Todd Suomela

  "But… I am not interested in applying this to “library instruction” (aka instruction we do about using library resources and developing research skills) but rather, to the enterprise level of learning across campus. Let’s frame it this way: how can the library help students cross through the difficult thresholds and learn critical concepts that will enable them to succeed with their chosen major?"

  libraries library instruction learning education teaching information-literacy academic integration discipline

  • If I’m a physics librarian (or engineering librarian for that matter) what can I do to support an instructor teaching heat transfer? This is difficult and perhaps different. It expands our focus beyond  assignments and gets into the heart of learning. What can we do in terms of learning objects, collections, instructional support, etc to help with this threshold / keystone concept.

     

    Obviously faculty are the experts here and we cannot presume to be able to do a better job with these big ideas. But we can play a support role and demonstrate some knowledge and proficiency regarding the related threshold concepts for the subjects we are responsible for. This could greatly aid the impact and reputation of the library and librarian in the eyes of the academics.

     

    For example, if I’m the English Librarian I should be conversant on deconstruction theory and other major forms of literary criticism. It’s one thing to know how to use keywords and subject headings to identify and locate information, but to be able to have an off-the-cuff discussion with some students or faculty about Derrida and Heidegger as it applies to literary criticism could strengthen my role or how I am perceived.

     

    I’m not saying we need to be experts, but if we call ourselves subject specialists or something to that effect, then we should at least have a basic understanding of the “difficult” concepts within the discipline that we are supporting.
• 27 Aug 11
  

  Katie Day

  threshold_concepts libraries

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