Library Research 2.0 (part 2)

I heard back from the librarian whose information I found and referred to in a previous post about Library Research 2.0. Here is a copy of her letter, followed by my initial query and my follow up response.

On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 9:03 AM, Accardi, Maria Teresa  wrote:

Dear Gideon,
Thank you for your message and for using my presentation materials.  I prepared that presentation for a one-off session open to the whole campus as a part of the University’s Common Experience theme for the academic year—living in a digital age.  I do not regularly refer to these tools in my regular instruction sessions unless it seems relevant—for example, if there’s a question about formatting and saving citations, I’ll mention Zotero.  In my experience, and from the research I’ve read, most students are not really interested in using Web 2.0 tools for academic purposes.  In fact, the Project Information Literacy report finds that “few respondents reported using Web 2.0 applications for collaborating on assignments.”  This report is a fascinating read for anyone interested in how students seek, locate, and use information:  http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_Fall2010_Survey_FullReport1.pdf. 

I’ll have a look at your blog and leave a comment there as well.  Thanks again for your message!

Maria

Maria T. Accardi

Assistant Librarian

Coordinator of Instruction

maccardi@ius.edu

From: Gideon Burton [mailto:wakingtiger@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 12:00 AM
To: Accardi, Maria Teresa
Subject: Your thoughts on library research 2.0

Maria:

A web search for "Library Research 2.0" took me to your presentation on the topic posted on your library's website. I wanted to thank you for putting this up where it would be publicly available. I ended up referring to your presentation (and your Delicious bookmarks) in an instructional post for my Writing About Literature in the Digital Age course at Brigham Young University this term. I would love any feedback you might care to leave on the blog.

I might also ask you, since you are coordinator of instruction in your library, about how you are trying to integrate the four resources you mention in your presentation into library instruction for undergraduates. I'm helping your counterpart at our institution, Suzanne Julian, think through teaching such methods to our undergraduates. Any thoughts beyond your presentation?

Thanks again.

Gideon Burton

Asst. Professor of English

4155 JFSB

Brigham Young University

Provo, UT 84602

Maria:

Thanks for taking time to respond. Yes, I read that report (which I found through your bookmarks, thanks!) and I was both unsurprised and disappointed by the reality that students are so disconnected from Web 2.0 tools in the research process. I've used Zotero and sometimes recommend this to our students. Our own library encourages the use of RefWorks, though I think that has some limitations.  I guess what I am looking for is where librarians or others are promoting successfully the use of emerging tools for traditional research. It's more than using a web browser to look up things on Google Scholar; it's really a shift in mentality about what research is -- that it can be a creatively social process and not just mastery over databases and bibliography. I have long wished that library catalogues were socially optimized. Every time I check out a book, I ought to be able to opt in for others to know that I checked that book out. How many conversations I would have loved to have with people who had checked out the books I have been researching in. 

Anyway, I hope you don't mind me posting our back-and-forth on my blog. I'm hoping this will be of value to my students as they see me trying to model to them what I'm encouraging them to do.

Gideon Burton