Reference and Instruction
Reference Question:
Art and Science. In the UW iSchool Special Collections/ Art Librarianship course, I gained valuable reference experience with a specific topic that the reference librarian at the Kohler Art Library had fielded at one time in the past (each student in the course got a different question). My topic: Italian Renaissance and Middle Eastern Automata. The assignment required that we search the array of art history reference sources and select multiple formats, including books, articles, a PhD dissertation, print and online images, and an archival source. We also had to reflect on the experience of assessing user information needs and searching for appropriate sources. This assignment earned me an A, with the comment that I had been very thorough. This was one of my favorite assignments in the course. In addition to connecting me to a vast store of knowledge on a topic I did not know about beforehand, it also pushed me to fully consider the researcher/user needs, where they might be in their research when they first approach me, problems they may have encountered thus far, and how I might guide them to further pertinent resources. Here I narrowed down relevant print resources and electronic subject databases and then used a combination of targeted keyword and subject searching, I perused bibliographies in sources I decided to include, and I searched for further works by authors writing in this area. Please visit my write-up on this project (link is to the right). |
LILI Practicum.
In the fall of 2013, I completed a 120-hour library and information literacy instruction practicum at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For this practicum, I opted for placement at College Library, the undergraduate library, with services, instruction, and collections designed for that population of students. I worked with diverse student groups in this setting: undergraduates taking required, across-the-curriculum writing and research classes, First Year Experience (FYE) seminar students, ESL students, as well as high school students in advanced placement English classes. I was the lead instructor for the FYE and ESL classes, and I co-instructed the high school classes with the instruction coordinator at College Library. In all other classes I assisted the lead instructor. Please visit my Statement of Teaching Philosophy for more information on my vision of teaching in this context (link is to the right). University of Illinois, MATESOL Degree. A previous Master's Degree in Teaching to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and applied linguistics, and subsequent extensive work with international adult learners of academic English, enabled me to approach the UW-Madison library instruction classes with a broad understanding of pedagogy and learning theory. |