ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 2 1 0 /C&RL News ■ A p r il2004 PARTNERSHIPS AND CONNECTIONS Campus partnerships building on success A look at San Jose State University by P atricia Sen n Bre¡v¡k an d R o b ert M cD e rm an d T h e C a lifo rn ia State U n iv ersity (C SU ) System ’s h istory o f c ollab o ratio n am ong library and classroom faculty to develop informa­ tion com petency dates b ack to 1993.1 Activities have included system-wide conferences, a com ­ m on set o f standards (which precede but closely p a r a lle l ACRL s ta n d a r d s ), c o l l a b o r a t iv e benchmarking endeavors, and a small grant pro­ gram to foster librarian/classroom faculty collabo­ ration to incorporate information literacy into the curriculum. Building on the success o f this system-wide collaboration, librarians at the individual CSU campuses have developed their own institutional- specific collaborations. At San Jo s e State Univer­ sity (SJSU), guaranteed one-hour library instruc­ tion sessions in the basic writing course and in a junior-level writing course have been in place since the late 1980s. Librarians share responsibility for the general education writing courses and each librarian handles all information literacy requests for his or her designated academic programs; for years individual librarians labored alone to fulfill these responsibilities. In August 2003, SJSU and the City o f San Jo se op en ed the Dr. Martin Luther King Library, the first in the United States to integrate m ajor uni­ versity and city libraries in one place. W hen major changes were being studied during the planning for the proposed university/city library, w e de­ cided to create an outreach librarian position. This librarian w ould help facilitate opportunities to build collaborations across the campus— especially with faculty. This n ew position w ould help to alleviate the con cern that the new com bined li­ brary might diminish emphasis on academic pri­ orities. The outreach librarian is a member o f the SJSU library dean’s management group. In addition, the librarian is responsible for coordinating the plan­ ning and integration o f activities that prom ote effective use o f library resources and services and is working to achieve better understanding and use o f the library. O ne o f the primary goals o f the outreach librarian is the further incorporation o f information literacy into student outcomes in each discipline. T he outreach librarian teams with the library liaisons on this goal becau se an essential ingredient in successfully integrating information com petence into the curriculum is the quality of the relationships among the librarians and the class­ room faculty. L ib r a r y lia is o n s SJSU librarians w o rk w ith a m inim um o f two academic departments, and they have collection management and information literacy responsi­ bilities for their departm ents. T o support their efforts and to avoid a scenario where each librar­ ian individually develops all initiatives and corre­ spondences with faculty, the outreach librarian has developed a series o f templates. So far, these templates provide examples o f lower- and upper- division classroom assignments that meet CSU in A b o u t th e a u th o r s Patricia Senn Breivik is dean o f the university library, e-mail: patricia.breivik@sjsu.edu, and Robert McDermand is outreach librarian at San Jose State University, e-mail: robert.mcdermand@sjsu.edu © 2004 Patricia Senn Breivik and Robert McDermand mailto:patricia.breivik@sjsu.edu mailto:robert.mcdermand@sjsu.edu C&RL News ■ A p ril 2004 / 211 formation competence goals, they explain the back­ ground o f and the process for a journal cut, and they foster faculty involvement in library-related activities for specific needs. Librarians tailor the templates to meet the requirements o f their spe­ cific departments. Many partnerships with academic departments illustrate o u r efforts in the collaborative area. Following are som e o f the most successful librar­ ian/faculty collaborations to date. • Art D epartm ent—K partnership to redesign the B.A. and M.A courses to ensure that students develop visual, verbal, and information com pe­ tency skills. • B iology D epartm ent—h partnership to inte­ grate information competency outcomes through­ out the curriculum by assessing current practices, then developing information competency objec­ tives, and creating departmental support for these objectives by sharing successful information com­ petence strategies and assignments. • Business D epartm ent - A partnership that has resulted in a W eb-based tutorial entitled “Tips and Practice for Finding and Using Tax Informa­ tion on the Internet.” The five-part tutorial famil­ iarizes students w ith tech n iqu es for effective Internet searching. • English Department—An. ongoing partnership resulting in an Information Competence Proposal funded with a $5,000 grant and accepted by the department in 2001 that allowed the department to revise its courses to incorporate information com petence goals. T he resulting Web page2 is a model for other departments seeking to integrate information com p eten ce activities into the cur­ riculum. Since the program ’s inception, several areas have been identified to provide ongoing opportu­ nities for shaping student-learning experiences. All b ut o n e o f the illustrations b e lo w involves partnering with instructors. • Library tour-—Since the opening o f our new university/city library in August 2003, many stu­ dents’ first introduction to the new King Library is through a volunteer docent-led tour. These tours are not designed to b e in-depth encounters, but serve as a departure point for further study and exploration in the library. T h e o u treach librar­ ian, in p artn ersh ip w ith a v o lu n teer coch air, developed the d ocent program and to date they have trained tw o groups o f volunteers. • English 1B —The online InfoPower program, used with the English I B required librarian ses­ sion, is b a sed o n the TILT (T exas Inform ation Literacy Tutorial)3 program and was adapted for use at SJSU under the leadership o f one librarian. E ach English I B student com pletes the library’s three-m od u le In foP ow er program b efo re the librarian’s classroom visit. Using these modules, students learn to select, search for, and evaluate information for their papers. Using InfoPow er’s online modules, the student picks a topic, drafts a thesis statement, and with the help o f the librar­ ian/faculty member team, carries out the required onlin e research . Students can m ove qu ickly through content that they have encountered b e ­ fore and can spend more time on unfamiliar con­ cepts. E a c h m o d u le in c lu d e s a fin al qu iz an d a re q u es t for stu d en ts’ o p in io n s o n w h at th ey have learned . Student sco re s are available to th e c la s sro o m facu lty, th e librarian , an d th e student. T h ese scores allow librarians to tailor classroom presentations to areas identified by the m odules as the students’ w eakest. Librarians’ classroom visits usually coincide w ith th e in tro d u ctio n o f a m u ltistep a s sig n ­ m ent that requires students to research a topic and w rite a pap er using library resources. Stu­ dents com plete the assignment in steps and the classroom faculty and librarians provide indi­ vidual responses to the students at the com ple­ tio n o f e a c h s tep . F o r e x a m p le , s tep tw o is often an annotated bibliography. • 100W — Building on the research skills ac­ quired in English IB , students in English 100W, a required junior-level writing course, continue to d evelop writing and research skills b ut they are n o w tailored to their majors. Several inter­ active W eb -b a sed tutorials fo r s p e cific d isci­ plin es have b e e n d ev elo p ed and m ore are in process. T h e tutorials, w hich generally follow the In foP ow er m od ule form at, are directed at stu d en ts to “h e lp y o u fin d th e m aterial y o u n e e d to b e s u c c e s s fu l in 1 00W and o th e r cou rses.” T h e em phasis on student success in­ tends to build u p o n th e sim ilar em p h asis o n th e ir a c a d e m ic s u c c e s s in tro d u c e d b y th e InfoPow er m odules. • MUSE (M etrop olitan U niversity Stu den ts Experi en ce) —More recently, the appointment of a new provost resulted in a new priority for estab­ lishing freshmen-level research courses— and the outreach librarian was involved from the outset. Now SJSU annually offers 100 MUSE sem inar courses; and, in each, a librarian w orks closely with the instructor and the students to improve research skills. 2 1 2 / C&RL News ■ A p r il 2004 B u ild in g f a c u lt y c o n n e c t io n s Another beneficial activity accom plished by the outreach librarian has been to secure appointment as o n e o f several faculty fellows in the Center for Faculty D evelopm ent. T h e center exists to pro­ vide a context for comprehensive professional de­ velopment for faculty. Facilitated by the outreach librarian, SJSU librarians regularly offer workshops at the center on topics such as plagiarism, creating successful library experiences, incorporating in­ formation competence into course work, and dem­ onstrations o f Web-based library research. Librar­ ian activities and presentations at the center are particularly important as they reinforce librarian/ faculty collegiality and offer a forum for librarians to illustrate directly to classroom faculty the spe­ cifics o f King Library resources. Many faculty members do not take fu l l advan­ tage o f the D evelopm ent Center, so other ways are n eed ed to prom ote the intrinsic value o f li­ brarians beyond collection management and pro­ vision o f research overviews for the faculty’s stu­ dents. For example, through a series o f initiatives under the leadership o f the outreach librarian, more faculty members are coming to view librar­ ians as important to achieving their personal goals through the following activities. • New facu lty orientation—To assist new faculty who face the pressures of teaching and the promo­ tion and tenure process, a half-day library orienta­ tion session is offered as part o f the new faculty orientation. New faculty members are introduced to library resources and their library liaisons. Fol­ lowing the orientation, the librarians follow up with phone calls and visits to make sure faculty have the information they need, understand how to inte­ grate information com p eten ce goals into their courses, and can gain access to research materials they will use in the publication process as they begin to build their promotion and tenure dossiers. • The University S cholars Series—This series, managed and promoted by the outreach librarian, creates an informal scholarly forum for faculty to present their research to students and faculty. It is cosponsored by the university provost and the university b o o k sto re. A tten dan ce for th ese monthly presentations ranges from 40 to 120, and the series is broadcast o n the cam pus radio sta­ tion. The series offers many benefits. It provides the library with a visible link to scholarly activity on cam pu s and p ro m o tes th e library as a p a­ tron o f scholarly activities. More faculty m em ­ bers are asking to participate in the series than can b e accommodated. • The Annual Faculty Publications Reception—Co­ sponsored by the library and the campus bookstore, now to b e held in the new King Library, features faculty who have published books in the previous year. T h e facu lty p rov id e c o p ie s o f th eir monograph(s) for display and sale. This social gath­ ering showcases the library as a supporter o f schol­ arly endeavors and helps to strengthen the connec­ tion between the library and classroom faculty. •F aculty Publication D atabase- This searchable database contains all SJSU faculty publications, journal articles, conference proceedings, and mono­ graphs published since 1992. W hen faculty mem­ bers introduce students to the scholarly literature o f a discipline, they can use the database for e x ­ amples. Students also like knowing m ore about the scholarship o f their faculty members. W h a t c o m e s n e x t T h e partnership b e tw e e n SJSU librarians and c la s sro o m facu lty to attain th e goal o f in fo r­ m ation c om p eten t graduates is a constant. At King Library, w e have developed new ways o f w orking togeth er to ach iev e this goal. In fact, the library’s outreach program has capitalized o n the interest generated by this beautiful new fa c ility to e s ta b lis h n e w in itia tiv es a n d to strengthen current programs. For exam p le, o n e o f the n ew collaborative efforts m ade possible by the King Library is an initiative to en h an ce p re -K -1 2 learning in San Jose. The Educational Resource Center (ERC) pro­ vides information and resources for anyone inter­ ested in enhancing pre-K-12 education in the Sili­ con Valley. ERC is a collaborative effort among SJSU librarians, the College o f Education, School o f Library and Information Science, San Jose public librarians, school personnel, community members, and concerned groups. An advisory board over­ sees the center’s programming and outreach ac­ tivities. In addition, selected collections are housed together on the m ezzan in e o v er the children’s room to promote better-informed pre-K-12 deci­ sion makers. The collections include California- adopted textbooks and learning materials, award- winning children’s literature, and the best in cur­ riculum and professional development materials. New collaborations must b e balanced by con­ tinuing to build on old successes. For example, as this article is being written, m em bers o f the Aca­ demic Senate University Library Board, including the university library dean, the vice chair o f the Senate, several librarians, and one faculty member (c o n tin u e d o n p a g e 2 1 5 ) C&RL News ■ A p ril 2 0 0 4 / 215 discussed how Yale University libraries have mar­ keted the expanding role o f the library o n cam ­ pus— from cultural icon and sacred space to an evolved, technologically sophisticated p lace o f study and new learning commons. Mary Reichel o f Appalachian State University discussed h ow her library used marketing to gain support (finan­ cial and otherwise) for a new library building and information com m ons. Virginia Cherry o f Rich­ ard Bland College presented ideas for using the @ your library campaign to promote library events, activities, exhibits, and services to the larger cam­ pus community, and related specific campaigns that her library has used to gain greater visibility and support on campus. Finally, Kenneth Marks spoke about the history and development o f the @ your library campaign. T h e Campus Administration and Leadership D iscussion Group presented “First, Y ou ’ve Got to G et Their Attention! A Discussion About Bud­ get-Reduction Strategies That Wake Up Campus A dm inistrators (And T h o se T h at Put T h e m to Sleep ).” David Gleim o f the University o f C olo­ rado-Denver led a lively discussion about budget- ( “Campusp artnerships, ” continuedf rom p ag e 212) from each college is working on a Senate resolu­ tion. Its intent will b e to encourage information literacy learning opportunities to b e expanded across the curriculum o f the general education requirem ents and within each major. This is not to say that ea ch course will have an information literacy stand-alone component, but that care will b e given to ensuring that by graduation, students will have mastered all o f the agreed upon infor­ mation literacy standards. Finally, just as other librarian/faculty collabo­ rations have evolved out o f n ew cam pus initia­ tives, planning is now underway for collaboration among students, faculty, and librarians to provide a library-based learning experience within a resi­ dential experience. SJSU is currently constructing a residential housing facility for more than 6,000 students and faculty. The library’s Residential Life Proposal will go beyond the classroom to enrich students’ sen se o f community and nurture their intellectual and leadership interests by integrating library-related learning activities as a natural part o f their residential experience. C o n c lu s io n W hat have w e learned so far at SJSU from our collaborations w ith faculty? First and forem ost, cutting tactics designed to restore financial strength in libraries and absorb cuts w id e protecting user services and resources. The Public Services Directors of Large Research Libraries Discussion Group presented several top­ ics for discussion. Diane Strauss o f the University o f North Carolina-Chapel Hill facilitated a discus­ sion on consolidating libraries, service points, and branch libraries. Members o f the group provided examples o f what works and doesn’t work; the impacts on space, staffing, and financial resources; and how to m ake the transitions easier on library an d d ep a rtm e n ta l fa c u lty a n d staff. P aul Constantine o f the University o f Washington then led a discussion on staffing at reference and other service desks. Members discussed staffing mod­ els using professional and paraprofessional staff; how changes in numbers and length o f refer­ ence questions and digital reference are affecting staffing on desks; and training issues. A discus­ sion o f virtual reference services will b e contin­ ued until the Annual Conference in Orlando.— Leslie M adden, G eorgia Institute o f Technology, leslie.m ad den @ libraiy.gatech .edu ■ w e have experienced the pow er o f good library and classroom faculty relationships and the im­ portance o f supporting these relationships in prac­ tical ways, and second, that fostering such rela­ tionships is too important to leave to chance. With the appointment o f an outreach librarian, som e­ o n e is responsible for continuously monitoring emerging opportunities for collaboration, taking the lead in laying the groundw ork for th e new initiatives, and providing support for the ongoing outreach efforts o f the librarians. T h e ultimate winners are our SJSU students. N otes 1. Charge to the Work Group o n Information Competence, CLRIT Task 6.1. Information Com­ petence in the CSUA: Report Submitted to Com­ mission on Learning Resources and Instructional Technology, Work Group on Information Compe­ ten ce, CLRIT Task 6.1. Susan C. Curzon, Chair. D e c e m b e r 1995 Retrieved February 24, 2004, fro m www.calstate.edu/LS/Arcliive/info_comp_ report.shtm# Appendices. 2. Seewww2.sjsu.edu/depts/english/Infocomp. htm for the Information Competence "We b site. 3. Visit the University o f Texas System Digital L ib r a ry a t tilt.lib .u ts y s te m .e d u / y o u r tilt/ agreement.html. ■ mailto:leslie.madden@libraiy.gatech.edu http://www.calstate.edu/LS/Arcliive/info_comp_