This morning I attended Karen Williams’ talk entitled “Subject Librarian 2.0: Preparing Liaison Librarians for 21st Century Academic Environments” put on by the BC Research Libraries Group Lecture Series. Williams’ basic thesis that the contemporary research library is undergoing a fundamental paradigm shift provides us with a useful framework through which to understand the changing role of academic librarians. She traced various changes that are currently occurring in academic libraries: for example, from a collection-centric environment to a expertise-focused one, from a publication-focused environment to a process-focused one. In light of these changes, Williams suggests that the role of the academic librarian should also be re-imagined. Among Williams’ suggestions, I found the focus on scholarly communications and integrated information literacy initiatives to be the most useful. By identifying these areas of growth for academic libraries, the library community can respond proactively to a changing environment.
Karen Williams on the Re-imagined Research Library
Conference Proceedings are out!
I am happy to announce that the conference proceedings of the Housing Memory conference are now up. The Faculty of Information Quarterly’s third issue presents the work of some of the best papers presented at the conference. Fellow organizer, Monica Rettig and I were very pleased to see the project of organizing this conference culminate in this issue of the FI/Q. Our guest editorial delineates our vision for the conference and expresses our thanks to all those that helped make the event a great success. A special tip of the hat to all those at the Faculty of Information Quarterly that helped make the publication of the conference proceedings a reality!
Reflections on TRY
Ania Dymarz, Monica Rettig, Meghan Ecclestone, & Bruce Harpham present their poster entitled “Defining the Movement: Student Initiatives at the Faculty of Information” at the TRY conference, May 5th, 2009.
A week after the TRY conference at the University of Toronto, many of the themes brought up by the various conference sessions are still resonating for me. Dean Seamus Ross opened the conference with a plenary session that addressed a range of issues from digital preservation to interoperability to advocacy and outreach. Of the sessions I attended I was particularly impressed by the work of a handful of librarians at the University of Toronto who are developing customizable and interactive tutorials cleverly titled “RE:search” library tutorials. While the session I participated in focused on redeploying information literacy content in a number of different formats, the purpose of the RE:search library tutorials was to redeploy the format while accommodating for diverse content. Designing information literacy programs with this kind of flexibility in mind is, I think, central to successful library initatives. The conference wrapped up with an engaging roundtable event that brought together the Chief Librarians from Ryerson, University of Toronto, and York University. Now into its sixth year, the TRY conference continues to be a highly relevant forum through which librarians can learn from each other’s projects and insights.
TRY Conference
I have the privilege of participating in the TRY Conference at the University of Toronto and I am looking forward to it! I appreciate the opportunity to learn from the many programs and initiatives being carried out by academic librarians in Toronto. I will be participating in a poster session entitled: “Defining the Movement: Student Initiatives at the Faculty of Information” along with my iSchool colleagues, and I will be participating in a session, ”Reaching and Teaching Faculty: The Citation Searching Case Study @ Gerstein” along with librarian, Gail Nichol. To my mind, the TRY conference characterizes the kind of collaboration and knowledge sharing that is fundamental to successful and engaged library communities. Come and check out the many interesting sessions being presented throughout the day.
Welcome!
Welcome to my blog! This space is for reflections on the the field of information and sometimes something more. Having just finished up my MISt degree at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto I am feeling particularly reflective. I have met a number of inspiring people along the way whom I have learned with an learned from.
Without a doubt the highlight of this degree was the Housing Memory graduate student conference. Organizing the conference along with my good friend and colleague Monica I was able to connect with both the ischool community and more broadly with the professional community at large. Thanks to everyone who has made these past two years at the Faculty a memorable time.