Association of College and Research Libraries - New England Chapter
New England Library Instruction Group
Winter 2008 Meeting

NELIG scheduled three concurrent but separate meetings for February 22 at Tufts University, Eastern Connecticut State University, and Keene State College  to discuss faculty/librarian collaboration issues. Due to snow, the ECSU and Keene State meetings were postponed until later dates. Here are brief summaries of the meetings:

 
Notes from Tufts University - Angie Locknar, February 22, 2008

Despite the weather, the NELIG meeting scheduled at Tufts University (Medford, MA) on Feb 22 was held as planned.  Approximately 15 attendees enjoyed the open format of the schedule, which allowed plenty of time for networking, including a “speed dating” exercise to encourage attendees to chat with someone they did not already know.  Kathy Blessing of the Community College of Rhode Island shared her experience collaborating with a faculty member on several courses.   Discussion topics included not only faculty/librarian collaborations, but breaking from a traditional teaching mode/schedule, what it is like to be an instruction librarian at the variety of colleges/universities represented, and assessment.
 

Notes from Keene State University – Heidi McCann, March 14, 2008 

The original meeting scheduled for February 22 at Keene State College was rescheduled due to inclement weather, for March 14.  Even with the change in date, the meeting on March 14 had roughly the same number of participants (10 total) as had registered for the February meeting.  The roundtable format worked extremely well, especially for this topic (“Faculty/Librarian Collaborations”).  There was lively conversation for the entire three hours.  After a welcome from the Keene State College Library Director Irene Herold, the meeting began with a suggestion of a “speed dating” round of questions as an ice breaker (people would pair up and ask each other questions about collaborations).  Despite these plans, it became quickly apparent that with a group as small as ours, we could easily cover the same topics by just going around the table which was what the group preferred to do in the end.  After the initial discussion, the two faculty/librarian duos in attendance gave brief presentations about their collaborative work, which led to a short question and answer session and more roundtable talk.  Following the meeting, several in attendance went out for an early supper at a local restaurant.  Peg Barrett of Keene State College was an excellent host for the group and the online feedback evaluation of the March 14 meeting shows interest in having such a session run again in a similar format.
 

Notes from Eastern Connecticut State University – Diane Klare, March 28, 2008

The original meeting scheduled for February 22 but postponed due to inclement weather was held on March 28.  The group of 11 discussed Faculty/Librarian Collaborations and attendees discussed specific situations that had worked versus those that didn’t work out as well as hoped.  Many discussed problem issues regarding the opportunity to only lead one information session rather than develop and imbed a semester-long collaboration with the faculty in a class.  Other issues that attendees brought up included developing a good working relationship with a specific faculty member, but then the faculty member leaves the institution, variety in the effectiveness of assignments, and faculty status/nonstatus of librarians.  Alternative assignments, such as brief podcasts developed with faculty, were discussed as alternative ideas that might work well.  Librarians and faculty alike struggle with different levels of information literacy skills possessed by incoming students and the variety of the student populations that go to different institutions.