ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ September 2000 / 707 CONFERENCE CIRCUIT L O E X - o f - t h e - W e s t 2 0 0 0 C reativity and the a rt o f lib r a r y in s tru c tio n by BethAnn Zambella I t took me almost as long to get from Bos­ ton to Bozeman as it will to explain what “LOEX-of-the-West” means. LOEX, for those uninitiated in arcane li­ brary acronyms, is the Library Orientation/ Instruction Exchange Clearinghouse at East­ ern Michigan University, which runs an inti­ mate annual conference that’s always sold out.1 Six years ago, our brethren in the Pacific Northwest started a biannual program mod­ eled on LOEX that they dubbed LOEX-of-the- West. Like LOEX-goers, its 200 participants are drawn by the varied con-0 ference themes; this year’s was “Creativity and the Art of Library Instruc­ tion.”2 We gathered at Mon­ tana State University (MSU) at Bozeman from June 7-10, 2000, to “stimu­ late and refresh our creative rhythms,” remarked Ken Kempcke, MSU reference librarian and con­ ference chair. Kempcke introduced the ex­ tended metaphor that had given birth to the conference theme: former-MSU faculty mem­ ber Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motor­ cycle Maintenance. Since metaphor is one of the most effec­ tive right-brained teaching and learning strat­ egies, he crafted an excellent lens from which to view the ensuing proceedings, setting up the tensions.between life and technology, rea­ son and creativity, and the quest for whole­ ness. Connecting cre a tiv ity research to teaching and learning Keynoter Mary Jane Petrowski, head of Li­ brary Instruction at Colgate Univer­ sity, packed her presentation, “Cre­ ativity! Connecting Research to Teaching and Learning,” with a cornucopia of ideas, delving into at least two dozen areas of research around the con­ cept of creativity itself, such as psychometric measures, biographical profiles, IQ vs. creativ­ ity, and ways to foster c reative thinking in the classroom. Petrowski showed a video clip from television’s Nightline, which explored how a company called IDEO develops new prod­ ucts, in this case a better shopping cart.3 The lesson I took from the clip: creative re­ sponses that don’t address actual needs are irrelevant. BethAnn Zambella is research and instruction librariarohtua t tuobAehn and group manager at Wellesley College, e-mail: bzambell@wellesley.edu mailto:bzambell@wellesley.edu 708 / C &RL N e w s ■ S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 0 B e fo r e a n d a fte r th e te a m s ’ in -la b d e s ig n s es sio n s , th e y in te r v ie w e d re a l s h o p p e r s at a c tu a l s to re s t o s e e w h a t p r o b le m s th e c o n ­ s u m e rs s a w a n d t o h a v e th e m e v a lu a te th e fin a l p ro d u c t. T h is p e r s o n -o n -th e -s tr e e t as­ s e s s m e n t is o ft e n th e m is s in g p ie c e in lib ra r­ ie s ’ c r e a tiv e a tte m p ts t o r e a c h users. A s f o r c la s s r o o m tip s, P e t r o w s k i’s s u g g e s ­ tio n s r a n g e d fr o m e s ta b lis h in g in te n t t o r e ­ w a r d in g c u rio s ity a n d ris k -ta k in g, t o m e ta ­ tasks, su c h as “ p r o m o t in g s u p p o r ta b le b e ­ lie fs a b o u t c re a tiv ity ” b y le ttin g stu d ents k n o w w h a t c re a tiv ity re q u ire s (t im e ) a n d w h a t s u p ­ p re s s e s it (v e r b a liz a t io n , t o o m u c h stress). M y fa v o rite th eo retica l s n ip p et fro m h e r talk lo o k e d at “re c e n tly a c tiv a te d k n o w le d g e . ” She g a v e a n e x a m p le fr o m th e m o v ie Topsy T u n y , w h e r e a s w o r d falls o n S u lliv a n ’s h e a d ( o f G ilb e rt a n d S u lliv a n ), thus in sp irin g The M i­ kado. L ik e th e p ro tag on is t, w e a re all in fo rm e d b y o u r m o s t r e c e n t e x p o s u re s t o in cid e n ts a n d id ea s— r e in fo rc in g th e n o tio n that c o n fe r e n c e s lik e this o n e r e a lly d o in s p ire us. P e t r o w s k i a ls o g a v e th e a u d ie n c e o p p o r ­ tu n itie s t o p a r tic ip a te , a d m in is te r in g s h o rt v e r s io n s o f c re a tiv ity tests, s u c h as “ g e n e r a te a list o f th in g s th at a re w h it e a n d e d ib le ” a n d “ b ra in s to rm th e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f h a v in g s ix fin g e r s [o n o n e h a n d ] in s te a d o f f i v e . ” O v e r th e c o u r s e o f t w o d a y s , e x a m p le s o f h o w - w e - d o n e - it - g o o d c re a tiv ity t o o k m a n y f o r m s : o n e l a r g e r i n s t i t u t i o n c h o s e a c o u n te r in tu itiv e ly lo w - t e c h w a y t o re a c h stu­ d e n ts ( o l d - f a s h i o n e d t e r m - p a p e r c lin ic s ) w h ile a s m a lle r s c h o o l to o k a h ig h -te c h ro u te (a p o r ta b le w ir e le s s e le c tr o n ic c la s s r o o m ).4 Resources f o r c re a tiv ity O f th e d o z e n p o s t e r s e s s io n s — a ll r e v e la ­ to r y — m y f a v o r ite w a s M S U R e fe r e n c e L ib rar­ ian Jan Z a u h a ’s “T h in k in g B a c k w a rd : S e le c te d R e s o u rc e s f o r C re a tiv ity ,” w h ic h in c lu d e d n o t o n ly b o o k s , b u t g a m e s , card s, m a g n e tic p o ­ e try , a n d m in ia tu re c a n d y b ars s tu d d e d w ith c r e a tiv ity fo r tu n e s .5 A c o p y o f Z a u h a ’s fu ll b ib lio g r a p h y w ill a p p e a r in th e R e fe ren ce Ser­ vices R eview c o n fe r e n c e p r o c e e d in g s . In c o rp o ra tin g com edy in to lib ra ry in s tru c tio n T h e b e s t p r e s e n ta tio n I a tte n d e d w a s Sarah B la k e s le e a n d K ristin T r e fts ’ “ D id y o u H e a r th e O n e a b o u t th e B o o le a n O p e ra to rs ? In ­ c o r p o r a tin g C o m e d y in to L ib ra ry In s tru ctio n .” B e c a u s e th e re is a p o s it iv e re la tio n s h ip b e ­ t w e e n th e u s e o f h u m o r a n d s tu d e n t le a rn ­ in g , th e C a lifo r n ia S tate U n iv e r s ity at C h ic o p re s e n te r s w e n t o n a q u e s t t o b e c o m e “fu n ­ n ie r ” in th e c la s s ro o m . T h e y r e g a le d us, in ta g -te a m fo rm a t, w ith th e ir a d v e n tu re s , in c lu d in g a tte n d in g stan d - u p c o m e d y c la s s e s . T h e y s p i k e d t h e i r P o w e r P o in t s lid e s w it h c a rto o n s , m u sic , a n d v i d e o c lip s a n d g a v e us a ll h u m o r jou rn a ls. T h e a u d ie n c e a ls o c o m p e t e d t o s u b m it th e b e s t p u n c h lin e f o r th e ta lk ’s title. T h e w in ­ ner? C o lle e n B e ll fr o m th e U n iv e r s ity o f O r ­ e g o n , w h o s a id , “A n d a n d O r w e n t to V e g a s t o tie th e N o t . ” T h e l o w p o in t o f th e session s, f o r m e , w a s th e d ea rth o f c re a tiv ity e x h ib ite d in m a n y p r e ­ sen tation s. It w a s n ’t s o m u c h th e u b iq u ito u s P o w e r P o in t s lid e s as it w a s p re s e n te rs w h o in sis te d o n re a d in g th e m w o r d - fo r - w o r d . It’s o n e th in g to a p p e a l to d iffe r e n t le a rn in g styles; it’s a n o th e r to g iv e th e s a m e in fo rm a tio n au­ rally, v is u a lly , a n d as a p rin te d h an d ou t. F o r e x a m p le , in a s e s s io n th a t p r o m is e d to e x p lo r e “te a c h in g w it h th e r ig h t h a lf o f y o u r b r a in ,” th e le c tu r e r (a n d I m e a n th at p e jo r a t iv e ly ) d id n ’t u s e a s in g le te c h n iq u e h e w a s p r o m o tin g , n o t e v e n a t o k e n g r a p h ic o r m e ta p h o r. I y e a r n e d t o ask, “ A r e n ’t we a d u lt le a r n ­ ers, to o ? ” I h o p e fu tu re c o n fe r e n c e p r e s e n t­ e rs w i l l b e m o r e r e fle x iv e , r e ly o n th e ir o w n . e x p e r t is e , r e v e a l s u c c in c tly w h a t w o r k e d , s h a re s u b s ta n tiv e tip s, a n d in v ite th e a u d i­ e n c e in to th e d isc u s sio n . T h e fifth b ie n n ia l L O E X -o f-th e -W e s t w ill ta k e p la c e at th e U n iv e r s ity o f O r e g o n , J u n e 2 7 -2 9 , 2002. N otes 1. S e e h t t p : / / w w w . e m ic h .e d u / p u b lic / lo e x / C O N F E R E N / h o m e .h tm f o r m o r e in fo r ­ m a tio n . 2. F o r th e fu ll p r o g r a m , c h e c k th e W e b s ite at h ttp :/ / w w w .lib .m o n ta n a .e d u / lo e x / . 3. N ig h tlin e . “T h e D e e p D iv e , ” F e b r u a r y 9, 1999. 4. F o r a fu ll r e p o r t o n th e c o n fe r e n c e , k e e p a n e y e o n fo r th c o m in g issu es o f R e fe re n ce Services R eview , w h e r e th e p r o c e e d in g s w ill b e p u b lis h e d . 5. F o r q u ic k in s p ira tio n , s ig n u p f o r a w e e k l y b ra in w a k e - u p at w w w .th in k s m a r t. c o m / w a k e u p b ra in .h tm l. ■ http://www.emich.edu/public/ http://www.lib.montana.edu/loex/ http://www.thinksmart