Department News
SPRING 2011
Conference Show
cases Siena College’s Faculty-Librarian Collaboration
On March 3, 2011, Ms. Catherine Crohan (Library), Dr. Bruce Eelman (History), and Dr. Wendy Pojmann (History) led a workshop session entitled “From Information Literacy in the Core Curriculum to Information Fluency in the Major: What does a Successful Program Look Like?” as part of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) Information Fluency in the Disciplines Conference held March 3-5, 2011 in San Antonio, Texas. The Siena team was invited by Dr. Susanne Woods, CIC Program Director, to launch the two and half day workshop as a model of what small liberal arts colleges are doing to develop information fluency among history majors through creative partnerships between librarians and faculty. Ms. Crohan discussed the Standish Library’s information literacy policies and programs, including its successful Information Literacy Faculty Development Grants. Dr. Eelman explained recent changes to Siena’s core curriculum and the History Department’s implementation of a senior capstone course. Finally, Dr. Pojmann relayed the results of specific collaborative projects developed and utilized by members of the History Department with Siena’s librarians. The audience members, which consisted of approximately 130 participants from 32 institutions across the country, responded enthusiastically to the presentation, asking many questions and continuing the discussion over the subsequent days of the conference. In his keynote address, Dr. James R. Grossman, Executive Director of the American Historical Association, commended the Siena team for its innovative efforts in the face of heavy teaching loads and limited resources. Participant colleges developed their own information fluency plans to fit the specific needs of their campuses using ideas provided by Ms. Crohan and Drs. Eelman and Pojmann and the other presenters. More information is available at the CIC’s web site:
http://www.cic.edu/conferences_events/workshop/information_fluency.asp.
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