Education for Information - Volume 34, issue 2

Authors: Latham, Kiersten F.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: In this paper, I describe an interactive thought experiment and workshop that I conducted at a recent European LAM conference. In this experiment, I asked participants to imagine that we are at the very cusp of creating the next-generation curriculum for a libraries, archives, museum (LAM) program, and that we have a blank slate . I offered a way to think about determining this curriculum, a way to think about it at the level of designing, by starting fresh, erasing, as best we could, the idiosyncratic aspects of each field in order to determine the shared foundational core. Central to …this process were systems thinking, complexity thinking, and the notion of the integrated curriculum. This paper outlines the reasoning behind this process and provides a glimpse at the actual steps. I position current LAM curriculum in the context of convergence trends, or more accurately, re-convergence trends, and ask what exactly is converging. Next I outline a framework derived from a systems-thinking-oriented approach to creating curriculum, suggesting that this approach is helpful in describing and defining the state of LAM in Library and Information Science (LIS) from the perspective of each department creating an integrated curriculum. Finally, I provide a brief overview of the process I used to conduct a workshop around the notion of starting over, or from a blank slate. Show more

Keywords: Systems-Thinking, LAM, convergence, integrated curriculum

DOI: 10.3233/EFI-180188

Citation: Education for Information, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 97-111, 2018

Authors: Thogersen, Jane | Simpson, Andrew | Hammond, Gina | Janiszewski, Leonard | Guerry, Eve

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: This case study describes a project designed by university museum curators, managers and educators working in collaboration with curriculum designers to elicit new uses for university museum collection objects in the delivery of tertiary, secondary and primary education programs. It involves an object-based learning community of practice experimenting with the inclusion of objects to expand pedagogy and content engagement in established programs. Specific, new cross-disciplinary pedagogic applications for collection items are being established. The paper gives a brief introduction to object-based learning, describes the institutional setting and timing of the project, outlines some initial results and argues that the project …methodology, as an example of advocacy for material collections in higher education, is transferable to other tertiary education institutions. Show more

Keywords: University museums, university collections, object-based learning, curriculum mapping, curriculum design

DOI: 10.3233/EFI-180190

Citation: Education for Information, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 113-120, 2018

Authors: Villa-Nicholas, Melissa

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Recently there have been calls to study and apply critical theory and tools around social justice, and intersectional approaches of race, anti-racism, gender, sexuality, disability and accessibility, and class in Library and Information Studies (LIS). But applying lasting techniques in the LIS classroom require pedagogies that are intersectional, assessable, and apply lasting change for the student. This article argues for impactful approaches to intersectionality – the inclusion of multiple identities and subjectivities such as race, gender, sexuality, and class – to LIS in three parts: (1) Teaching critical theories alongside traditional LIS texts, (2) using systems of assessment for cultural …competencies and analysis, and (3) classroom activities that implement metacognitive change. These approaches in the LIS classroom can demonstrably move LIS students into a deeper critical analysis of power in libraries that will be applied throughout their careers. Show more

Keywords: Critical pedagogies, intersectionality, social justice

DOI: 10.3233/EFI-180191

Citation: Education for Information, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 121-133, 2018

Authors: Hider, Philip

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The intellectual origins of information organization (IO) as a field of study are examined by tracing the use of the terms, “information organization”, “knowledge organization”, “bibliographic control”, and their variants, and by surveying the educational texts dealing with the various component activities of IO, along with reports and discussions of corresponding curricula, across the twentieth century. Analysis reveals that the notion of a single, composite field covering cataloguing, classification, indexing and the other IO activities, only became established in the late twentieth century, mirroring the broadening of the Library and Information Science curriculum toward that advocated by the “iSchool” movement. …Prior to this, three phases of curriculum development are identified: the teaching of cataloguing and classification as distinct fields in the initial decades of Library Science education; these two activities then being taught as the combined field of “cat and class”; and, a growing coverage of other activities of “bibliographic control” from the 1960s onwards, such as those emphasizing the “subject approach” to IO. This last phase can be seen as a precursor to the establishment of IO as a generic field of study. The validity and prospects of the field are discussed in light of the historical account. Show more

Keywords: Information organization, knowledge organization, bibliographic control, educational history, etymology, curriculum, textbooks, cataloguing, classification

DOI: 10.3233/EFI-180165

Citation: Education for Information, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 135-161, 2018

Authors: Kahn, Michelle | Underwood, Peter G.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: This paper presents aspects of a space planning project assigned to Library and Information Studies postgraduate students and reflects on six themes that cropped up repeatedly in their design of a 24/7 postgraduate library space, namely: lighting, space and colour; tools and technology; defined zones; re-bootable spaces; furnishings; and respite. The projects are shown to present students’ needs for a varied library space, but one that is primarily for work and study. Disappointingly, the projects did not reflect the needs of disadvantaged or differently-abled students, nor did they display a uniquely South African flavour. Despite the students being members of …both the postgraduate user group and the LIS discipline, project omissions led the authors to conclude that, while this group had a lot of value to add, ultimately the library should cast its net as wide as possible when assessing user needs. Show more

Keywords: Academic library, library design, space planning, learning space, library as place

DOI: 10.3233/EFI-180177

Citation: Education for Information, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 163-174, 2018