MLIS Social Hours - Jan. 6-8th

Mingle with fellow MLIS students!
Catch up with old friends!
Meet people in your new classes!

Presenting…
the MLIS Social Hour

January 6, 7 & 8th
(Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday)
5 – 6pm in the MLIS Hallway


Come for cookies, soda, coffee
and a great chance to mingle with fellow students right before class starts.

Don’t have a weeknight class? Choose any of the Social Hours that fit your schedule. All MLIS students are welcome every night!


Hosted by the Student Governance Organization (SGO) and the MLIS Program.

Professional Development Funds Available!

For more information go to: http://www.stkate.edu/~mlisweb/current/scholarships.php

Next SGO Meeting - 11/17

All St Kate's MLIS students are invited to attend the next SGO (Student Governance Organization) general meeting:

Date: MONDAY, Nov. 17
Time: 6:45-7:45pm
Location: CdC Room 17b

We will discuss the proposed SGO Constitution, the Professional Development Fund, attending the Chicago ALA meeting and more!

We hope to see you there!
Get involved! Meet new people!

NEW - MLIS Fridge in the student lounge!

Are you looking for a way to keep your food cold while you are in class? Yay! Now MLIS-SGO has bought a fridge for the student lounge for our food.

Feel free to bring food in containers and store it in the fridge during class. A note of warning: the fridge will be cleaned regularly, so make sure your food is marked and dated to avoid disposal! (Pens available next to fridge.)

Check it out!
Here is a picture of the fridge we bought. The picture may not be exciting - but the real thing is better!

MLIS Advisory Council Meeting - Minutes

Thanks to Laura Morlock for sending me the minutes from the meeting. The Executive Summary of the MLIS Program Presentation is on the department's homepage (in the list of links right in the center). Anyone interested in what the program has said about itself as we apply for ALA accreditation should read this summary.
--Liz


MLIS Advisory Council
25 September 2008
8:30-10:30am
CdC 495

AGENDA

I. Welcome and Introductions – Mary

II. Accreditation Update
a. Handout Program Presentation/Executive Summary -- Marilyn
b. External Review Panel Site Visit October 20 & 21, 2008 – Mary
c. Questions

III. MLIS Program Updates
a. University Status -- Mary
b. Faculty -- Mary
c. Curriculum -- Susan


MINUTES

Present: Marilyn Cathcart, Liz Cavert-Scheibel, Margaret Gillespie, Karen Harwood, Bob Horton, Peggy Johnson, Laura Morlock, Patricia Post, Susan Shoemaker, and Mary Wagner.

Laura Morlock took the minutes.

I. Welcome and Introductions
a. Welcome to Marilyn Cathcart and Susan Shoemaker who will serve as the MLIS Faculty Advisory Council members for 2008-09. Liz Cavert-Scheibel will continue to serve as a representative from the MLIS Student Governance Organization. Patricia Post attended via conference phone.

b. News from Advisory members included: Karen Harwood enjoyed an elder hostel in Farmington, New Mexico; Peggy Johnson just finished teaching a new, popular, four-week on-line technical services course with ambivalence toward the on-line format; Bob Horton mentioned the new Vatican Splendors exhibit at the Minnesota Historical Society; Marilyn Cathcart shared that the there is a fabulous group of entering MLIS students who are very engaged and intelligent; Liz Cavert-Scheibel works part-time at the Legislative Reference Library and volunteered at the Guthrie Library this summer; Margaret Gillespie brought up the Hennepin County and Minneapolis Public Library merger and the current intricacies of job hiring; Patricia Post shared that the St. Cloud Public Library had its ribbon cutting and grand opening. Circulation from the first five days exceeded the month of September from last year.

II. Accreditation Update
a. A Program Presentation was given to each Advisory Council member. Those who could not attend today’s meeting will be mailed a copy. Marilyn Cathcart, as author, walked through the Executive Summary handout (also sent to those who could not attend today). She outlined highlights from the executive summary which share the history of the program at St. Kate’s, future directions, strengths of the program and an encapsulation of each of the Standard chapters. The MLIS Mission, Guiding Principles, Goals, and Student Learning Objectives were attached at the end. We will find out about our Accreditation status in February from the Committee on Accreditation following the ALA conference.

b. The External Review Panel Site Visit takes place on October 19, 20, & 21, 2008. A detailed schedule will be posted on the MLIS website once it has been confirmed by the ERP Chair. Please mark those dates in your calendar especially with a tentative spot reserved on Sunday evening. The ERP may alternatively request Advisory Council email addresses and contact members in that fashion.

c. Questions and comments about Accreditation were addressed. Like Dominican University, St. Kate’s does see itself as preparing practitioners; the change in curriculum is so that St. Kate’s can create themes which reflect values that are different from DU. Positioning the MLIS Program in the national area for prospective students is a goal and future challenge. We will focus once again on what the hopes and dreams of the MLIS Program are. Some stories from Advisory Council members mentioned MLIS graduates as “rising star interns” within their organizations; that we have many people outside the program who are engaged in the program—as partnering institutions; that students also connect with the local library community through field trips from classes or student groups such as SLA.

III. MLIS Program Updates
a. The College of St. Catherine will become St. Catherine University as of June 1, 2009. Mary shared an advertisement from the Star Tribune announcing the new name. This change reflects what the college has become in the last 10-12 years. The MLIS Program/Information Management Department will reside in a School with the Social Work and Education Departments. That School name has yet to be decided. The INFM undergraduate program for which the IM Department is responsible will be phased out.

b. Faculty news includes the retirement of Helen Humeston as of the end of the winter 2008 semester. Two new faculty were hired. Sheri Ross comes from Florida State University. During the 2008-09 academic year she’ll teach the Organization of Knowledge, Information Policy, and Management of Libraries and Information Centers courses for MLIS as well as the Organization of Information Sources for the INFM Program. Sarah Park of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign will start in winter 2009 by teaching Library Materials for Young Adults and Internet Fundamentals & Design.

c. Susan Shoemaker conveyed that MLIS faculty have continued a Curriculum discussion during the whole Accreditation process. Following the scholar practitioner model the MLIS Program is working on incorporating five main threads into the future Curriculum: Ethics, Diversity, Leadership, Research/Critical Thinking and Technology. Brainstorming sessions, meetings of the MLIS faculty as a whole, and small group discussions have occurred; in particular there have been many small group meetings among the faculty who teach the core courses. Case studies have been a topic of interest. Introducing them into the core courses and revisiting them in subsequent advanced courses is a possibility. Other topics of interest have included offering one-credit courses on subjects that don’t seem to fit into the current curriculum but which merit value for students; one example could be a course on the role of libraries in an election year. These courses would be offered in a J-term. The Ethics, Diversity, Leadership, Research/Critical Thinking and Technology threads would be integrated into all courses. Assessment continues to be an ongoing discussion component. Faculty have contemplated a capstone course, a portfolio requirement, continuing education courses (such as brand new Leadership Certificate offered in conjunction with the MAOL Program). Summed up, the faculty are taking the Curriculum apart and putting it back together in a way that best supports the students and the library communities which they will serve.

Comments from Advisory Council members: Peggy Johnson shared that the U of M has offers a leadership workshop Minnesota Institute for Early Career Librarians From Traditionally Underrepresented Groups http://www.lib.umn.edu/sed/institute/Registration.html for the past ten years. It could serve as a possible template for a one-credit course. Bob Horton proposed offering 1-2 day workshops instead of one-credit courses. Topics for these courses included: grant writing (and evaluation) and advocacy.

Reminder: the next MLIS Advisory Council Meeting date is February 16, 2009 from 5-6pm in CdC 495 followed by an Accreditation announcement and celebration in Rauenhorst Hall (CdC third floor Ballroom ) from 6-8pm.

MLIS Advisory Council Meeting

This meeting took place on Thursday, September 25, 2008. Below are my notes/my summary from the meeting. I'll try to get the minutes from the meeting and post those as well.
-Liz M.C. Scheibel, student representative to the Advisory Council

Meeting attendees:
6 librarians/information professionals from various libraries (including one via speakerphone)
Liz Scheibel, student
Mary Wagner, MLIS program director
Susan Shoemaker, faculty
Marilyn Cathcart, faculty

This meeting mostly went over the ALA Accreditation process. We went through the executive summary (I'll see if I can get an electronic copy to post) so that everyone knew what the highlights of our program presentation are. The coming visit from the committee for our accreditation was the topic of almost all of the meeting. Mary asked Council members to be prepared to talk to people from the committee (in response, there was a request that they could come and visit classes so that they knew more about the program - so you may see some professional librarians in your classes in coming weeks).

Another topic that came up regularly was continuing education and professional development. This is an area the program will be getting more involved in in the coming years. There is a program for a Certificate of Library Leadership that is being launched next fall.

Some updates: St. Kate's is becoming St. Catherine University. The MLIS program will be in a college/school with Education... and I didn't write down what else, but this group doesn't lend itself easily to a name, so it doesn't have an official name yet! We have one new faculty, Sherri Ross, and another coming in January, Sarah Park.

Mary Wagner mentioned that after getting accreditation, the department will be able to think about other things in ways they haven't been able to, since the accreditation has been taking up everyone's time and energy. She said we'll be able to think about the future in a way we haven't in a while (and as a future with ALA accreditation!), and she was really excited about that opportunity. Mary cited this as the challenge: how can we position this program in the national arena? I think that's a great question and a great direction - our St. Kate's degree has a lot of local respect, but it would be great if it was more widely known. This made me want to be involved in continuing to support our program after I finish - because my degree will get more valuable!

We also got an update on the curriculum development from Susan, who said it's still a lot of brainstorming and talking. Some of the questions that are big:
-What to do about research? Even those librarians who don't research themselves are consumers about research. How should this be in the curriculum?
-Incorporating how to use case studies in the curriculum.
-The capstone question: is it required? What about for those who already have lots of experience? How can it be formed so everyone has a capstone experience or project that is actually valuable to them, and not just a requirement? This issue has come up over and over again.
-Continuing education.

That's all I have. The meeting was really a prep for the accreditation visit, but I found it was also kind of a pep rally - in a good way! People were genuinely excited for this big event to come, because it's something we've been planning for and hoping for. And, we've reason to be pretty confident of success.

The session to prep students for the visit is October 6, I believe, so please come take part!

Accreditation Review Approaching

Hello St Kate LIS students,

I'm sure you all know that St Kates is in the candidacy process for ALA Accreditation and the final site review by the External Review Board is fast-approaching! There will be an opportunity on Monday, October 6th, for all students to learn more about our application and the process and what may be asked of us as current students of the program. Please save this date if possible and support our program through the accreditation process! There will be more information from the department as the date approaches.

Hope to see you all there!

opportunities to meet with prospective faculty

Meet Sheri Ross, prospective LIS faculty member:

• Monday, July 14 (8-9pm) Presentation on Electronic Resources Management in CdC 019.
• Tuesday, July 15 (9:45am) Attend the Interview as an Observer in CdC 005.
• Tuesday, July 15 (11:45am) Informal Brown Bag Lunch in the west end of the CdC Cafeteria.

Faculty discussion of Monday Night Events and Advisors

Here are my notes from the MLIS department meeting where we discussed Monday Night Events and Mid-point Advising:

MLIS Department Meeting Minutes
April 7, 2008

Monday Night discussion
• The faculty discussed the survey on Monday night events; lots of feedback was received even though events have been sparsely attended.
• Thoughts for improving the events include having fewer, but more elaborate events or offering a one-credit course that would meet on four consecutive Mondays.
• Marilyn Cathcart, David Lesniaski, and Joyce Yukawa have formed a committee to plan for next year and invite a student to join them. Those who want to serve or have any ideas or suggestions should contact Marilyn.
• The possibility of pod-casts was discussed because that was something people showed interest in on the survey. However, it was determined that pod-casts might be a disincentive for people to physically show up to the events, resulting in even fewer people and the potential for more presenters than attendees. There is also a question of copyright when taping people’s presentations.
• Tanya has the stats from survey responses if you are interested in seeing details.
Mid-point advising
• The faculty has established a mandatory mid-point advisory meeting (@15-18 credits) for students in the program.
• Registration holds will be used to insure compliance with the requirement. The mid-term advisory meeting will also allow for a change of advisor if necessary.

Public Library Association Conference

DATE: March, 2008

TO: MLIS Students

FROM: The Graduate Student Advisory Board (GSAB) Finance Committee

RE: The Public Library Association Conference March 25 -March 29, 2008 in Minneapolis

As a reminder to all students attending the PLA Conference, if you are planning on submitting an application for reimbursement funds, make sure you have read through all of the information to know what has to be submitted for approval.

GSAB Funding Opportunities
The link to the Graduate Student Advisory Board (GSAB) Funding Opportunities Request Form: http://www.stkate.edu/~mlisweb/files/GSAB_Funding.pdf

MLIS Scholarships and Awards Web Page:
http://www.stkate.edu/~mlisweb/current/scholarships.php

"Funding opportunities are available for current College of St. Catherine graduate students for leadership development, academic enrichment related to their educational experience at the College, and to support groups as well as individual endeavors that will better graduate students and/or the CSC community. These opportunities exist through the activity fee. Any graduate student who pays the activity fee can request funds as long as they are used to benefit graduate students and enhance the student experience." (This information is from the GSAB Web site).

Meeting with Tracie Hall, DU assistant dean

Acting as the SGO representative, I met with Tracie Hall on Monday, February 11. Some of the things we talked about:

• DU will stop offering classes at St. Kate's in December 2008. However, they will offer courses in the Twin Cities area (possibly at locations in the St. Paul Public Library) in the Winter term of 2009 to help students finish the four required courses.
  
• DU will try to improve communication with their students taking courses at St. Kates, possibly through increased e-mail correspondence.
• Tracie encourages students to contact her with any suggestions for courses, improvements to the program, or problems which arise for them.
  
• Deborah Mitts-Smith, a DU faculty member who lives in St. Paul, will serve as a liaison/advisor for St. Kate's students in the DU program. Students can also contact Deb with questions or concerns.
  
• Tracie encouraged students to consider doing a practicum supervised by a DU faculty person. Lenora Berendt in the placement office at DU is the first contact for setting up a practicum.

Renee Dougherty

Minutes from February 7, 2008 Advisory Council Committee Meeting

Laura Morlock has provided the minutes from the meeting and they are much more complete and clear than my notes. Thanks Laura!
-Liz

MINUTES

Present: Jerry Baldwin, Liz Cavert-Scheibel, Margaret Gillespie, Karen Harwood, Kathrine Hayes, Bob Horton, Laura Morlock, Erin Perry, Peter Sidney, Deb Torres, Mary Wagner, and Joyce Yukawa.

Laura Morlock took the minutes.

1. Welcome and Introductions.

2. MLIS Program Updates
a. The MLIS new student enrollment was 46 for fall 2007 and 43 for winter 2008. There were 56 fall 2007 MLIS graduates. There are approximately 89 students left in the Dominican University track program.

b. See handout of the External Review Panel from COA. We have been in communication with James Benson, the Panel Chair. He will receive the Program Presentation draft in June; the MLIS Program will then revise it and submit the final version by September 8, 2008 to all COA Panel Members. The ERP onsite visit is scheduled for October 20-21, 2008. Currently the MLIS department has the draft form of each standard. Marilyn Cathcart will edit all drafts beginning in April. At the MLIS Summit on April 28, 2008 (5:30-8pm, Derham Hall room 409) the Advisory Council will have a chance to review the Program Presentation.

c. A new faculty position is available in the MLIS department. Marilyn Cathcart is the head of that search committee; MLIS faculty members David Lesniaski and Deb Torres as well as Library Director, Carol Johnson also serve on the faculty search committee. They are looking for 1-2 students to also serve. See handout of faculty position description.

3. Refer to The Braided Curriculum handout for details on the Curriculum Revision; discussion led by David Lesniaski, principal investigator for the ELITE (Ethical Leadership Intertwining with Technological Literacy) Curriculum Grant, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), under the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program.

a. Concerning the overall process of the ELITE grant, there is a need to integrate “threads” (the “key competencies, attributes, behaviors, and skills”) into the MLIS Program. Ethics is one of the “threads; integration is preferred to simply offering an Ethics course. There are at present six main threads: ethics, leadership, critical inquiry, technological fluency, research methods and diversity. Currently, MLIS faculty are each working in two separate focus groups on this; one group is looking at the threads, the other on the MLIS core courses. Each full-time faculty member has a one point taught one or more of the core courses. Faculty who have taught the same core courses have begun to meet together; adjuncts who have also taught core courses were invited to the discussion. At this point faculty are data gathering; the analysis will come later.

b. The MLIS Advisory Council was asked to Brainstorm on Management and Leadership. How do we prepare people for management supervisory experiences as part of the core program requirement? Practitioners ask: where are our leaders going to come from? How should leadership be woven into the program? Discussion points are listed below.

i. Management. Recent graduates may not be in managerial positions. Managerial skills learned in the MLIS Program may be outdated by the time they get into those managerial positions. Teach students how to be “managed”; how to fit into their institutions; how to change and adapt into an organizational framework; support their organizational goals; know the culture of their organization. Teach students how to dedicate themselves to the work that is before them. The MLIS Program could offer more Practicum situations, have more budgeting and planning aspects; more project management and process development improvement. Manage with “m” versus “M”. Graduates are capable of managing a project and learning how to get others to buy into the project. Know outcomes and evaluation; offer 1-2 day workshops on assessment: help students figure out their collaboration style or management style. Have modules in which students can learn how to manage a project using timelines, with meeting schedules, and actions are recorded. Offer a “skills” course using Microsoft Project. In a class, have students evaluate a project: learn the skill; do it; reflect on it; and problem solve it for the next time. Teach students how to give constructive criticism and be able to accept it in return.

ii. Leadership. Position students to become leaders versus training them to be leaders. Employers will look for people who can behave as a leader with some leadership abilities such as: taking accountability & initiative, being able to work on teams, being able to influence others. Learn collaboration. Have flexibility.

iii. Other discussions included how to discern if a job applicant has these management or leadership qualities? Have them write an essay; give examples; interview them using situational-based questions. The MLIS program doesn’t screen for this—just for subject expertise. There was also a discussion on what students already bring to the program from their own work experiences; there is great diversity amongst student experience. Margaret Gillespie mentioned trying the “Bridges to Poverty Workshops” as an idea. Mary Wagner shared a handout with a citation on it for an article on “a survey of MLIS graduates that addressed the managerial and leadership skills they needed on the job, with a section on whether these skills were addressed in their MLIS curriculum.” Arns, J.W., et. al., To Market, to Market: The Supervisory Skills and Managerial Competencies Most Valued by New Library Supervisors. Library Administration & Management v. 21 no. 1 (Winter 2007) p. 13-19.

4. Other News
a. On Sunday, March 2, 2008 an MLIS Mini-Conference will be held. It will take place in the Coeur de Catherine building, Rauenhorst Hall, 3rd Floor, from 12:30-5pm. Its theme is Diversifying for the Future of Librarianship. This conference is an opportunity for students to understand more about research and presenting. They can present a poster, paper, or group/individual project. A keynote presentation will replicate an MLA Panel from last fall. Marcella Sanchez, outreach worker for the Latino community, will work on recreating a panel to talk about “Serving Diverse Populations”. The Urban Library Program students will present posters. There were also three MLIS students who presented at BOBCATSSS this past January in Zadar, Croatia. They will have a Monday night session on “Presenting at a Conference” on February 18 from 6:30-8pm, room CdC 362. Refer to the flyer for more information or contact Marilyn Cathcart. All MLIS Advisory Council members are invited to attend the conference.

b. Mary Wagner briefly discussed the MLIS Program Goals for 2008-09. Faculty will work on decisions regarding grading standards; acceptable standards for measuring Student Outcomes; an MLIS calendar compatible with the college; admissions reviewal, among others. The College itself is still discussing the College versus University decision. The Board will most likely decide at their May meeting.

c. An updated MLIS Advisory Council contact list was distributed. Refer to handout. Email imdept@stkate.edu with any corrections.

Department Meeting Feb. 4th

• Revisited 2007-2008 MLIS Goals
• Most topics on track
• Many goals revolve around Accreditation work
• Other discussions:
• Academic Calendar (do we want to remain on our schedule or switch to match the rest of CSC; J-term?) This will be discussed at March General Meeting
• Admission process and candidate screening (Evaluation of current system; Do we want to include interviews?) This will be discussed at April General Meeting
• CSC still discussing whether they want to remain a "college" or change name to "university"; all grad school discussions are on hold until college/university decision is made; if CSC becomes a university - what does that mean for the formation of a grad school?
• 2nd Annual Summit - April 28th
• focus on faculty activities, particularly scholarship.
• MLIS Academic Conference - March 2nd
• Every one is encouraged to submit a proposal for paper and poster presentations!! Proposals due Feb. 15th to Marilyn Cathcart.
• This will be Sister Marjorie's last year teaching in the MLIS program
• She has taught 710-713 for many years (archives, manuscripts, special collections)
• How do we want to modify curriculum?
• Distinguish or combine classes on special collections and special libraries?
• Scholarship criteria development committee
• Joyce, Susan, Mary
• Education department - Sister Marie Award
• Curriculum
• Marilyn has been comparing our program requirements to the other ALA accredited programs
• We could have more tech requirements
• Require the research methods class?
• All other programs have some sort of final project for the MLIS degree; there are many options
• Capstone project
• Comprehensive exams
• Action project
• Action research project
• Thesis
• Should these be part of a 1- or 3-credit class?
  
• Please let me know your ideas on this!! The faculty would like to have our input.

Respectfully submitted,
Tanya Cothran

Curriculum Meeting

*I attended the Curriculum discussion on Monday (Feb. 4th) with 2 other students and 3 faculty. It was a small discussion and we got TONS of great ideas out there.

We are planning to have another discussion soon with hopefully MORE PARTICIPATION! I know you have opinions about the program - here is your chance to really share them and create REAL CHANGE!

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

• How to create the feeling of a "cohort" in our program?
• Cohorts create lasting relationships that can be a great help in our future professional careers
• Cohorts can create support groups for our class work and scholarship/research
  
• Social events on other nights of the week?
• Social events during weeknight class breaks
• In the past they have had small socials during breaks in evening classes so that people get a chance to see their friends who are not in the same classes
• Each class responsible for food & each shares about their class
• Require weekend retreat before starting first class?
  
• Some programs require cohorts to continue meeting once or twice a year to develop lasting relationships
• Could be fun community event; Habitat for Humanity? Other volunteer/cohort-building activities?
• Curriculum grant is 3 year grant to revamp curriculum now that we are no longer following Dominican's schedule
• 1st phase: reviewing CORE classes (701, 703, 704, 770)
  
• How to prevent overlap?
• Should these be required before taking advanced courses?
• Should these be taken with the same group of people (to create cohort feeling?)
• Introduce THREADS then build on those more as student progresses through program
• Introduce THREADS
• Threads include:
• Ethics
• Leadership
• Critical Inquiry
• Technological Fluency
• Research Methods
• Diversity
• These will be introduced in modules in the beginning of program;
  
• first: basic, background knowledge of subject
  
• second: practical application of threads, specifically as it relates to the class topic (ie diversity in children's literature)
• third: develop own understanding of topic; own vocabulary; refine understanding (ie ethical analysis)
• More class topics we want?
• There was a lot of discussion on other classes we want and other focuses for classes
• If we switch our academic calender to include a J-term we could possibly have classes that look at more specific topics, more in depth discussions
• Some other classes we wanted:
• Grant writing
• Non-profit management (not specifically related to libraries)
• Advocacy (public policy)
• Consulting
• More corporate library classes
• Technology (J-term internet basics, rather than entire semester)
• Library theory (reading and analyzing classic library theorists)
  
• OTHERS??
• I will let you know when the next meeting will be and I hope to see you all there. Otherwise, let me know your thoughts, ideas, etc and I can bring them to the larger group.

THANK YOU!

Advisory Council Committee Meeting

The Advisory Council Committee consists of 25 working librarians, library directors, alumni, and faculty to advise the MLIS department about its future development.

Notes from February 7, 2008 MLIS Advisory Council Committee Meeting
Liz Cavert

Mary Wagner conducted the meeting and Laura Morlock took notes.
The following attended:
Jerry Baldwin
Margaret Gillespie
Karen Harwood
Katherine Hayes
Bob Horton
Peter Sidney
Deb Torres (faculty)
Joyce Yukawa (faculty)
Liz Cavert (student)
Erin Perry (student)

Update on program:
-86 new students for this term (Winter 2008)
-50 students graduated in Summer and Fall 2007 terms
-85 students left who will graduate as Dominican Students

Accreditation Update:
-we have the names of the members of the panel for the external review.
-the chair of the panel will receive the program presentation, send it back for clarifications, etc., then it will go to others.
-the standards for the accreditation are in draft form. Next steps are looking at the revised draft (through March). Then Marilyn Cathcart will edit the drafts and feedback into the program presentation.
-the April 28 Summit will have the program presentation available for public review.
-Summit is in Derham Hall, room 409, in the evening.

Open faculty position:
-2 students are needed on the panel to look at candidates
-meeting at the end of February about applications; possibly bringing someone here in March.
-new faculty will start next fall.

Mini-conference on March 2, 2008: Diversifying for the Future of Librarianship
-conference is an idea from input gathered at last year’s Summit: students need opportunities to develop skills for presenting and conferences.
-using a broad theme to encourage lots of interest.
-will start with a panel that was at MLA, talking about serving diverse populations.

Update on goals of the program:
-we are continuing on the path to accreditation and doing well.
-we wanted to develop a diversity plan. We are making progress on this and it will also figure into the program presentation.
-we will be needing to make some decisions about grading standards.
-we will be needing to make some decisions about student learning outcomes.

Calendar for the 2009-2010 year:
-once we are not DU anymore, we can make our own calendar.
-St. Kate’s would like the program to fit with an already operating calendar.
-do we want a January term with short, intense classes? Summer term? Summer terms?

Admissions:
-have been talking about how to screen candidates.
-have been participating in planning for “School of…” ideas at the college, but this has been put on hold by the College vs. University discussion.

Update on curriculum development and grant from David Lesniaski:
-we have a grant to revise the curriculum.
-the feeling is not to just add classes for big themes, like ethics.
-the current working idea is to have these 6 themes (ethics, leadership, critical inquiry, technological fluency, research methods, and diversity) run throughout the program, but be consciously developed as a student moves through. The learning would happen in a sequential manner; the basics of, for example, ethics, ethical theory/philosophy and how those relate to libraries would be covered in an introductory course, then other courses build on that and students work through ethical issues (“I think…”), and then later courses ask for more advanced ethical work (“I think this because of all I have learned and experience in these areas…”).
-the idea is to focus on how to teach, develop, and measure the qualities, skills and knowledge a professional should have.

The curriculum discussion led into a discussion on management and leadership and how these skills should be taught in the program. There were many points made on a large number of topics, so I will try to summarize some of the big ones.

Some wondered how much the program should focus on management when many graduates will not be in those positions for many years (issues with younger generations and their expectations of immediate responsibility came up). It was also mentioned that it can be hard to teach and talk about management in a way that is meaningful for a student body with such diverse backgrounds; some students have management or extensive other professional experience while some have just finished the undergraduate degree. Perhaps part of “management class” should also be learning how to be managed, since for many that may be the more immediately necessary skill.

There were many comments about evaluation and feedback, both self-evaluation and feedback from others. Related to this was the topic of collaboration. In the program, students do a lot of group work, but are we reflecting and getting feedback so that those experiences teach us something? When we give presentations, the feedback is often minimal; the instructor says the content was good for the assignment and the presentation was done well, and the classmates say, “Good job!” I have continued to think about this topic and I would like to see more feedback overall for these vital communication skills and more specific feedback. If the presentation was good, how so? If it was a group presentation, was I the stronger or weaker part of the presentation, and why?

In terms of evaluation, we also talked a lot about self-evaluation and where it should be in the program, especially in regards to management. The idea that I took away was that if we do more self-evaluation and exploration, we will know more about ourselves, our management and learning styles, and thus be better prepared to be managers and know where our strengths and weaknesses are. These kinds of activities can be useful to those new to the workforce and those with experience, since evaluation happens throughout the professional life.

Talking about these ideas led to the theme of lifelong learning, which the group as a whole seemed to agree was an important skill and value, especially for librarians. The professionals at the meeting felt that if students could all graduate intending to be lifelong learners, they would be better leaders, managers and employees.

We also touched on teaching and how students could learn to be good teachers and gain experience in this area. Teaching is one possible solution to the difficulties of the different backgrounds of the students; if ethics and leadership are core themes that should run throughout the program, students will experience or knowledge of these areas should get to share what they know.

There were many more ideas and comments - I simply couldn’t keep up with taking notes! It was definitely a very interesting conversation and one I hope students will get to be involved with more later on, as curriculum develops. Please post any comments or questions and I will do my best to respond or let you know who can answer you. I hope to get other summaries of the meeting posted as well, since these are just the themes and comments that stuck out for me and it’s an incomplete picture of all that we covered.

Opportunities for Students!

Several great opportunities for students came up in this meeting. Students are needed to help in the faculty search - it sounded like Marilyn Cathcart is the person to get in touch with if you are interested. Participation in the conference is also still open and is a unique chance to get some conference experience without having to travel or get too nervous! And in my experience, Mary Wagner and the faculty are always receptive to comments and input from students on any topic, so if you have something to add to the conversations about admissions, curriculum, or the calendar, talk to Mary or another member of the faculty.