Delighted to find out that my paper on the axiologies of the anti-collection was chosen for presentation at the Library Research Seminar V in Maryland this October. This one isn’t about theories or practice theories, for a change! But it’s ironic to think that I presented at Library Research Seminar I way back in 1996 and never even tried to publish the resulting paper, though it was actually a fairly novel look at how websites about the Civil War “competed,” congregated,” and “cooperated.” Interestingly, I’m still working on another aspect of the same problem, though I’ve contextualized it much better since then, as I have much more theory at my fingertips these days! Ah, the opportunities that students let slip through their fingers (as I like to scold my own students now when they do something exceptional and then just put it away in a drawer!)
In any case, this should be another very interesting seminar: certainly the one in Tallahassee was well worth attending, as presenters there included Elfreda Chatman, Corinne Jorgensen, and Gary Radford, to name a few that I recall.
It’s mildly embarrassing to admit that I’ve just submitted a paper to the 2010 iSchool conference in February primarily for a chance to get to hear keynote speaker Stephen Wolfram. I am such a theory groupie!
Hooray, my revised theory model paper has just been accepted by the “Education in the Professions” division of the American Educational Research Association for their annual conference in Denver this coming spring. This is very nice indeed, as AERA is a much bigger tent than ALISE, for example, so it’s the ideal venue for the “general” model that I’ve been developing, since the practice theories I studied span a fairly broad range of professions (which is why this has taken so long to do, lol!) I suspect that I’m the only LIS researcher who’s presented at AERA in a while, judging from the comments on my methodology, which is a fairly normal one for LIS, but perhaps a bit unusual for the educational research community.
One of the reviewers noted that it was “deeply researched and analyzed.” (Yes, it’s like a second dissertation, foolish me!) This should be a fascinating experience, though: the letter of acceptance indicated that there were 10,000 submissions for the conference. I’m not used to such mind-boggling numbers— even with only 1,000 submissions accepted (which would include the roundtables and posters, I presume), this is going to be huge. No wonder they need the Denver Convention Center!
Just back from ALISE in Denver, where Susan Burke and I had the pleasure of meeting and moderating the panels for our two Research SIG sessions. Really, really happy with what was presented… happy enough that we’ve volunteered to be the Research SIG co-conveners for ALISE in Boston next year. Thanks to all our wonderful panelists from UT-Austin, UNC-Chapel Hill, Drexel, Emporia, North Carolina Central, and University of Washington!
Also talked to a number of folks about the opening we have on our faculty here in Oklahoma. Note to self: you know that you’ve really moved to the other side of the professorial fence when the first thing that you think of when you hear someone describe their fascinating dissertation topic is not “Cool— I wish I’d thought of that!” but, rather, “Ah— that person would be a great way to increase our strengths as a faculty!”
In sharp distinction to Thomas Mann’s “perfect brainstorm” reference transaction model I blogged about earlier, George Needham of OCLC compares initiating reference transactions in academic libraries to making the stations of the cross. So apparently today’s students view the steps of the reference interview as “question genuflection” instead of “question negotiation” in libraries as originally described by Bob Taylor? Read more…
Terrific piece by Thomas Mann of LOC describing his ideal reference world, which incorporates expert mediated guidance, extensive use of both physical and digital finding aids, outstanding collection resources, and a healthy dose of scholarly curiosity. However, I suspect that, unless you are Thomas Mann, this convergence of experienced librarian, emerging scholar, and engaging topic given by his Athenian tribute example doesn’t happen too often. (And, when it does, should we call it a “perfect brainstorm”?) Read more…
Well, I don’t teach the Research Methods class or the Evaluation Methods class now in development here at SLIS, but if I did I probably would throw this in as a teaser about the importance of knowing how to interpret research findings and also how to go behind the media soundbite (or blog post!) for more detail, critical thinking, and further implications. Read more…
