"Wow-I Can Touch That?" Using Special Collections to Expand

Information Literacy

Catherine Rod and Phil Jones Grinnell College Libraries

LOEX Annual Conference 2010Dearborn, Michigan

This morning’s session

• Context: Grinnell College Libraries and information literacy

• Library 100 and exploring primary sources• Primary source sessions across the curriculum• Primary source “experience”• Your turn: discussing and planning

information literacy sessions highlighting your own primary source collections

About Grinnell College

• Residential liberal arts college in Grinnell, IA• About 1,600 students• Individually mentored curriculum (no core

curriculum requirements after Tutorial)• 26 majors, 11 concentrations• 9:1 student/faculty ratio

About Grinnell College Libraries

• Burling Library and Kistle Science Library• 8 Librarians, 2 administrative staff, 14 support

staff, 70+ student staff members • 775,000 volumes (includes government

documents)• Special Collections: 8,000 volumes plus

Manuscripts and College Archives.

Information Literacy:A Definition for Grinnell College

Information literacy may be defined as “critical reflection on the nature of information itself, its technical infra-structure and its social, cultural, and even philosophical context andImpact.”

"Information Literacy," Critical Inquiry, and the Mission of Grinnell College: A Proposal (2008)

Library 100 Background• Semester-length elective class, 50 minutes, 2-days/week

• 1st - 4th year students from College’s three academic divisions

• Offered 20+ years, lead teacher, team taught

Library 100Library Research Techniques

Course description: A practical introduction for students wishing to develop their understanding of library resources and become more effective researchers in college and afterward. Students will discover strategies for finding and evaluating sources of information in a variety of formats, including the World Wide Web, and compare these sources in terms of reliability and usefulness for their research. Burling Library's interactive classroom provides the opportunity for hands-on experience, and assignments are structured to provide for both individual and group work.

Library 100 Learning Objectives

1) To complete a research progression by…

• Forming a research question • Identifying terms and tools • Accessing useful sources • Evaluating sources • Using research findings

Library 100 Learning Objectives

2) To develop and reflect upon their own research process.

3) To read and discuss research-related topics such as scholarly communication, socially responsible use of information, and citation style.

4) Explore a variety of information sources useful for academic and professional work: government documents, statistics, and special collections, e.g.

Library 100 Primary Sources Sessions• Two-session sequence in second half of semester

• Initially: overview of special collections-- College archive, rare books and manuscripts

• Revised sessions’ focus to primary sources

Primary Source WorkshopEach student will work with one primary source and considers these questions:

i) What is the item?

ii) Why would a library keep this item?

iii) What did you learn from reviewing this source?

Primary Source Workshop

Students will work in groups to compare print and digital versions of eighteenth-century materials (from Eighteenth Century Collections Online [ECCO]).

Adaptation 2009-2010

•Tutorial first- year seminar; only general requirement for graduation

•History 100 introductory course

•Education 210 history of education

•English 230 historical linguistics

•History 234 Renaissance and Reformation

•French 312 literary history

•History/Environmental Studies 395 environmental history of the Midwest

Tutorial: Why Manners Matter

• Student Handbooks (1890s, 1920s, 1960s, current handbook)

• Cyclone (college yearbooks)

• Scrapbooks

History 234: Renaissance and Reformation

• Undated manuscript codex• Sermones discipuli de tempore (1477)• De consolatione philosophiae (1489)• Ovid. Metamorphosis (1518)• As You Like It (1623)• Workes of Geffrey Chaucer, (ca. 1560-1600)• Works of the Famous Nicholas Machiavel (1680)

Environmental History of the Midwest

• Railroad maps (1880s-1930s)• Highway maps (1920s – 1950s)• Census reports(1850-1915)• Galland’s Iowa Immigrant (1840) •Iowa as It is in 1855• Examples of early nature writing

French Literature: From Knights to Libertines

“My main idea is to get students thinking about how different textual media (i.e. manuscripts, printed books) have very definite effects on things like dissemination of knowledge, status of authorship, fame, etc. etc.”

David Harrison

French Literature: from Knights to Libertines

• Undated manuscript codex• Sermones… (1477)• Le stile et maniere de composer (1579)• Cicero. Epistles. (1592)• Memoires de la cour d’Angleterre (1695)• Sterne. Sentimental Journey (1768) also ECCO online copy• Dickens. David Copperfield (1849)

Student Comments

“That was my first experience with archival research at Grinnell.…I thought it was a unique and very interesting learning experience.”

Student Comments

“I think the library day was really engaging and interesting. The documents were exciting to see and being able to see physical documents of texts that we are studying [in class] was helpful and rewarding…really concretized the things we talked about [in class].”

Instructor Comments

“My students found the session on Friday very useful.…The only complaint was that students would have liked another 50-minute session to explore the documents more thoroughly: a complaint that is further confirmation of their engagement with the materials. “

David Harrison

Instructor Comments

“I had no idea our library had stuff like this!”

Primary Source Experience

• Examine each item carefully. • Can you determine when it was created and

who created it? • How do you think it was intended to be used

and by whom?• What evidence do you have for your

assumptions?• How might it be used today and what could you

learn from it?

Your Turn

• What collections does your institution have that would lend themselves to this kind of instruction?

• What information literacy concepts would you like to address through primary sources?

• What courses are most likely to benefit from direct experience with primary sources?

• Who are your collaborators?

Thank You!

Phil Jonesjonesphi@grinnell.edu641-269-3355

Catherine Rodrod@grinnell.edu641-269-3364