Library Research in the Digital Age: Expanding Beyond Information Literacy Donna Ziegenfuss, Ed.D. Associate Librarian Graduate & Undergraduate Services has-failed-and-how-to-fix-it

Session Objectives By the end of this session, you will have: Reflected on your own information and research behaviors or those of your students Developed awareness of what the literature claims about how students “do” library research Compiled some new ideas, strategies, resources, and models for empowering your students to conduct more effective library research

Think about your own experiences doing library research or if you have already taught, what you have observed about how your students do library research. 1.What are the ‘bottlenecks’ where students (or you) get stuck as they do research? 2.Talk to your neighbor and then we will have a report back on your top bottleneck areas. Let’s Start Off with a Question -find-loupe-search /

Why is Research Difficult for Students? This is what the current research claims students experience when doing research : A daunting and frustrating process Involving information overload Taking too much time and too difficult Requiring the use of difficult and confusing tools Not as easy as using Google Not clear about the recursive nature of the research process Not clear about how the electronic information is organized McClure & Purdy, Eds., 2013

Other Findings in the Research Literature Student Strategies for Searching Bad Heavy use of the internet, not scholarly resources Students value scholarly resources but don’t always recognize them Most common strategy – The Hub and Spoke Method – back and forth to search page Good Evidence of “Power Browsing” Skills – quick scanning of sources for information and a strategic searching plan Information Mining – focusing on deep analysis of good articles – Find treasures in the article reference list – Journaling of words found, authors, common journals

How Can We Help Students be Better Researchers Emphasize the importance of uncovering good search keywords Help student understand the limitations and benefits of library databases (some are general; some discipline specific) Teach them to use good criteria for evaluating sources Nurture their “scholarliness” or curiosity to become “active participants in research” Get beyond focusing on basic digital database skills, to how searching connects to other useful academic skills (ex. reflection, exploration, discovery, team work)

Think about the Types of Searching Content Driven Searching – Knowledge Reporting – Less time and effort – Method used by more inexperienced researchers Issue Driven Searching – Knowledge Creating – Use an angle to uncover information and report on that through synthesis, used by more experienced researchers – Harder for students to just use the search once and done approach

The Research Process

Library Research Process ProcessWritingProcessWritingProcess Information Seeking Behaviors/ Process

ResearchProcessResearchProcessWritingProcessWritingProcess Information Behaviors/ Process Digital Tools (Technology)

Why is it important to help developing scholars acquire digital skills for research? To prepare students for 21 st century research – Engage students in the process of research – Improve information organizational skills – Develop skills needed to collect, and understand data that can be transferable to other problems – Improve informational analytical skills To prepare students for changing research models, strategies, and tools – Adjust to new emerging research models – Tools are continually changing and students need to understand how tools work so they can transfer skills

Broad Strategies/Concepts for Integrating Digital Skills Research ProcessInformation BehaviorsWriting Process Articulate and encourage a recursive research process (McClure & Purdy, eds. 2013) Think of research as conversation around topics (McMillian & Hill, 2005) Help to develop a culture of research (undergraduate/research) and share what researchers do Build on students’ prior experiences with the research process (meet them where they are) Develop collaborative relationships around the process of research/writing Ask your students how they work with information to leverage prior experience Use Google, Wikipedia, blogs and wikis as pre- search tools (McClure, 2011) Focus teaching on the why of scholarly research not just how to use the scholarly resources Incorporate web 2.0 strategies to build on digital behaviors they already have Use collaborative digital technologies to engage discussion and sharing Intervene early – the topics and sources students use impact the final product Consider other projects such as primary research projects, I-Search papers, research logsI-Search papers Think about creating knowledge not just demonstrating acquired knowledge Look for ways to exploit digital technologies to make explicit connections between research and writing Writing can include collaboration and learning to critique is an important aspect of writing

Specific Ideas for Using Digital Strategies and Tools Research ProcessInformation BehaviorsWriting Process Use “googlepedia sources” to find out about the conversation around topicsgooglepedia Use concept mapping and other visual strategies for brainstorming research topicsconcept mapping Teach students how to “mine references” for clues to keywords, other subtopics, other authorsmine references Use citation sharing tools for collaborative writing projects (zotero, endnote web, delicious) Set up Google Scholar settings - “Get it t the U” Teach how to organize the research process using bookmarks and collaborative tools like zotero or endnote web or box.utah.eduendnote web Teach the special database features that will make finding resources easier (faceted searching, filters, subject indexes, folders) Use “find” features to search for keywords in articles Mine keywords in articles Check out Youtube for possible lectures on topics (esp. TED talks) Use Google Docs for collaborative writing Include multi- media/multi-genre options for researchmulti- media/multi-genre Use the Dragon speaking app on phone or tablet to talk out your paper ideas Plan out writing sessions (set time limits, write a plan for writing) Discuss and acknowledge the anxiety about writing, talk about how you write – personal tipsanxiety about writing Participate in peer review activities

Writing Program Administration WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year CompositionOutcomes Statement Specific Section on using digital tools for writing: By the end of first-year composition, students should be able to: – Use electronic environments for drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, and sharing texts – Locate, evaluate, organize, and use research material collected from electronic sources, including scholarly library databases; other official databases (e.g., federal government databases); and informal electronic networks and internet sources – Understand and exploit the differences in the rhetorical strategies and in the affordances available for both print and electronic composing processes and texts – Engage in the electronic research and composing processes common in their fields – Disseminate texts in both print and electronic forms in their fields

FrameworkFramework for Success in Postsecondary Writing 8 Habits of Mind Curiosity Openness Engagement Creativity Persistence Responsibility Flexibility Metacognition Endorsed by the Council of Writing Program Administrators, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the National Writing Project.

Some Other Recommendations Pedagogy first – then Technology Consider context and student motivation issues when designing any research/writing learning activity Clear communicated expectations of learning activities Ensure learning activities are aligned with assessment and learning outcomes for the module and/or course Skype for research consultations and writing, use audio comment feature in Canvas

Ask for Help!!!! Online (chat or ) OR Face-to-Face

How We Can Help You Why recreate the wheel for finding research resources … we already have them and we can help you and your students find resources more efficiently? There are library staff that can help in your courses – we do workshops, guest lectures, help faculty find research for their teaching and research. – We can create a Canvas page to import into your course – Use our Library/Subject Guides as starting points – Just enroll us as a TA in your and we can field questions in a discussion forum

Available Library Resources Library Guides by discipline (online library research help guide Library Guides guide Library liaisons for each discipline Library liaisons Allyson Mower, librarian who is a copy right expertlibrarian who is a copy right expert Course Reserves request to connect library resources to Canvas courses Course Reserves request Steaming video to link to courses Steaming video

We now have library learning outcomes Canvas Page of Teaching Resources Library Instruction Outcomes Planning for Library Teaching Guidelines based on the QCF phases and library values Handouts on Research Strategies Coming Soon!!! OER Library Guide with disciplinary OER links

Other Resources: OERs Open Education Resources (OER) – objects, textbooks, courses, videos, modules, etc. created with an open license and in the public domain Created with the purpose of sharing Freely available to use and link to Aggregated in searchable repositories: – – – – – –

Advantages of OERs Cost and time saving Variety and flexibility Easy to incorporate Different media formats for teaching diverse student population Fast to incorporate – no development time Disadvantages of OERs Discoverability - lack of awareness Time consuming to find No commitment to sustain or update materials you find Inconsistent evaluation of materials Ownership issues

About OERs Open Washington Workshop on how to use OERs – explains different licensing options Open Washington Workshop Why OERs have not taken off (Educause)Educause Campus Technology Mag 16 sites for OERs and whole issue on OERs Campus Technology Mag whole issue on OERs JISC UK OER wiki sitewiki site National Science Digital LibraryDigital Library Digital Library of America (DPLA)DPLA

Open Textbooks Searching OER textbooks by topic

Donna Ziegenfuss s/148453/wiki/ats2013