Poster Sessions: March 26 and 27

There were about 200 posters in the poster sessions. This was a very crowded scene on both days, with hundreds of librarians perusing the posters, chatting with presenters, and taking photos, all while balancing small plates of food and various beverages.  I was able to get photos of several that looked interesting, but only chatted briefly with a couple of the presenters. 

Probably the most interesting to me were those that dealt in some way with either instruction or assessment. However, the two that I spent the most time studying were from Gustavus Adolphus College and University of Florida, respectively. 

At Gustavus Adolphus College, the library received a grant from the Mansergh-Stuessy Fund for College Innovation to explore threshold concepts in undergraduate research. This was of great interest to me, as the threshold concepts are so central to the new Framework for Information Literacy. Two librarians at Gustavus Adolphus held discussions and workshops with faculty from various disciplines to identify threshold concepts common to all disciplines, and the best ways to prompt students to engage with those concepts as part of their undergraduate research experience. They were particularly inspired by the theoretical work of Townsend, Brunetti & Hoffer. Interestingly, when asked to articulate their conception of the most important threshold concepts, their faculty identified the following definitions, which map closely to the final Information Literacy Framework: 

• Research is a recursive process.
• Information needs to be organized - how it is organized makes a difference.
• Knowledge is social, collaborative, and influenced by economic and social contexts. 
• Students need to realize that they have something to say when they do research.

They report that the faculty found the cross-disciplinary discussions helpful both in terms of understanding disciplinary perspectives, and approaches to undergraduate education more broadly.

At UF, the library is utilizing a grant from University Student Technology Fee funds to transform three different learning spaces to create new environments that are more flexible and engaging. They wanted to reconceptualize these learning spaces to have mobile and interactive technology and learning, while utilizing existing space. They looked at technologies and configurations at various other universities - especially those utilizing iPads, portable Smartboard projectors, Smart tables, networked interactive whiteboards, etc, 

They envisage learning space transformed to create an untethered classroom environment incorporating mobile educational technologies that will emphasize student-centered, more informal and collaborative venues. They are currently in the process of implementing these changes, which will culminate with installation, pilot testing, and assessment in the fall 2015.