ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


134 / C&RLNews •  February 2001

I n t h e  n e w s

Sometimes, as w e pursue our major goals, 
it is the unexpected that provides us with the 
most useful information or experience.

Imagine developing a workshop with the 
goal o f helping faculty use technology to ad­
dress pedagogical challenges in the classroom. 
As you decide what to include you worry about 
being too basic, but finally decide to include 
an exercise that asks the faculty to itemize the 
criteria that should b e  u sed  in evaluating 
sources o f information from the Web. You feel 
that it will help them articulate a clear list they 
can share with their students. Then imagine 
teaching the workshop and discovering that 
the faculty, not unlike the students, are focussed 
more on the graphic design and usability of 
the Web site then they are the authority and 
content o f the information. While it may be an 
anomaly, this experience that Janet Cottrell de­
scribes on page 141 has important implications 
for us as w e develop information literacy pro­
grams.

Ellen Keith and Trudi Jacob son  describe the 
somewhat unexpected benefit to them w hen 
shey pursued the goal o f teaching a course in 
a graduate school o f library and information 
studies (page 154). The challenges o f a class 
o f  eager students keeps the teachers on their 
toes, staying abreast of new  developments, and 
articulating more clearly their own philosophies.

Speaking o f staying abreast o f new  devel­
opments, thanks to the ACRL m embers who 
created  a report of the exciting networked in­
formation projects discussed at the recent CNI 
co nferen ce (page 181). I think you will also 
fin d  this m onth’s entry in the Scholarly Com­
munication column o f interest with its clear 
description o f CrossRef (page 206).

Take a mom ent to “m eet” ACRL vice-presi­
dent/president-elect candidates, Elaine K. Didier 
and Helen H. Spalding, (page 199) and be an 
informed voter this spring.

— Mary  Ellen K. Davis 
Editor-in-chief, medavis@ala.org

mailto:medavis@ala.org