In my work here - developing courses to be more flexible in learning opportunities etc - I’ve been trying to strengthen the relationship between lecturer and librarian services. Where lecturers really need assistance is in locating reusable learning resources. By reusable, I mean artifacts with Creative Commons, GPL or GNU licensing.
A typical scenario might be:
Course wants to make its content available online. First we need to check the content for currency and copyright clearances. Almost always this is where we get caught. While a teacher is usually pretty diligent with referencing text quotes and the like, they almost never reference the imagery they use in their resources. So we have to find supplementary images, or find whole new resources that are free for reuse and remix.
As you can imagine, this can create a large amount of work, but I see it as a very important capability building exercise. We need teachers to be more careful with their resource creation, we need them to be intimately aware of all the free and open content that is available, and we need resources created today that can be reusable tomorrow.
Obviously a lecturer can not do this alone, and they are not the only ones that need to develop new practices that compliment this effort. Enter the librarian. Traditonal role is to support the lecturer in gathering information and teaching resources, and sometimes to support the learners in their efforts with the subject.
So I’ve been trying to get a librarian involved with every development project I get started. They attend all the meetings and workshops and become intimately aware of the emerging needs of the course. But most importantly, they develop a new awareness, skill set, capability and awareness for their role in this new era for the education sector.
In a nut shell, here’s what they are to me. Comments welcome.
Sourcing reusable and copyright less restricted resources in close consultation with the lectures who are developing their courses.
Awareness
- What is a Creative Commons license?
- What is a GPL and GNU license?
- What databases exists that store resources licensed in this way?
- Emerging librarian and educational uses of 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life
Skills
- Advanced searching for CC, GPL, GNU and open courseware
- Social bookmarking/tagging and RSS technology relevant to traditional librarian roles
- Being able to use and control to a profitient user level a 3D virtual world
- Formats, reformatting, open digital formats, digital archiving and reusablity
Capabilities
- Being able to combine the awareness and skills and apply them to support lecturers in their needs to source, supplement and remix reusable content.
- Being able to keep abreast of new developments in this area
- Being able to relate these new practices with older practices
Experience
- In time management with these new practices
- In explaining the benefits of the new practices to colleagues and clientele
- Working to an independent level the interpretation of copyright legislation and being able to advise lectures on the best course of action when it is an issue relating to teaching resources.
4 comments
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February 20, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Julianna
If you are seeking comments from librarians you may want to contact the group: http://groups.google.com/group/NEXGENLIB?hl=en
An article in Library Journal may also interest you: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6407750.html
To some librarians, your suggested skills and capabilities will not be exactly new.
February 26, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Jacob
Hi, you’re probably already aware, but just in case, the Creative Commons team built an integrated search function into their site (which I note has recently undergone a redesign) some time ago:
http://www.creative-commons.org/
At the top of their homepage, click on the “Find” button located on the green page banner. From here you can search for CC licensed work across several sites/engines/Dbs including: Google, Flickr, Yahoo.
(PS: Sorry about the lack of a hyperlink but I’m unsure of what coding is used in this Blog engine and not all use standard HTML tags. Figure you can just cut’n'paste…)
February 26, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Jacob
Ahhh, it’s automatically tagged. Nice…
February 28, 2007 at 1:36 am
Wendy Ritson-Jones
Hi Leigh,
As one of the librarians involved in some of your projects I thought you might like my ‘take’ on things.
For myself working in the tertiary environment I believe it is very important to be part of what is going on in my institution. It is so easy to feel out of touch and adrift from what is going on in the teaching environment. Being involved in some of the flexible learning projects (albeit in a small way) has introduced me to all sorts of new stuff-wikipedia, wikiverstiy, blogs, podcasting, creative commons licensing, social bookmarking, online delivery, the pro’s and con’s of finding suitable content to use online, copyright restrictions, online delivery environments etc etc.
It also gave me the opportunity to use some of my traditional librarian skills. For instance- I’ve known where and how to find certain information, put into action searching techniques, wrestled with copyright issues, and most importantly evaluated what I’ve found, to see if it was useful.
I’m also in touch with the learning needs of the staff and students that come into the library. These can vary from being highly proficient with new technology (and me learning from them), to never used a computer before. I’m also aware that some students who feel confident using computers are not as skilled at finding information and haven’t developed their skills to their full potential. Being aware that there are these differences is really important.
There have been many great spin-offs from being involved with the projects. These include getting to know staff, networking with them, learning about the new technology, seeing the technology being applied in their teaching, seeing how the new technologies could work for us in the library, seeing the potential for students to access a diverse range of information I could go on…but the one thing that has hit me square in the face, like a wet blanket, is that as a professional librarian I need to keep abreast of new developments, and it’s hard! I have felt completely daunted by this. However, everyday I worked on the projects I learned a bit more, and now feel a bit less like a flailing fish. The actual getting stuck in and using the technology, has for me, has been the one way of getting to understand it. I consider myself lucky that I’ve been given this opportunity. I’ve also come to realise that I need to be pro-active in asking for professional development opportunities.
We probably only have a few librarians who are comfortable with the new technology (and actually use it). I’ve chatted to several colleagues and most feel daunted with the new technology. We agree that we need much more professional development in this area, otherwise how can we keep up with the students? How can we support staff and students if we don’t have the skills ourselves?
I would like to see more opportunities for librarians and lecturing staff to collaborate and learn together. There’s a lot we can offer each other, and at the end of the day I think the institution and the students are the winners.
Wendy