A Bi-Weekly Update
3/16/12
Local Schools Visit Trexler Library
Thanks to the planning efforts of library staff and the Office of Community Service & Civic Engagement, some 200 elementary and secondary school students from inner city Allentown and surrounding areas will visit Trexler Library over the course of the 2011-2012 academic year.
For instance, Allen High AP English students visited the library in mid-March over two days, to be trained in college-level research skills. They then applied those skills to their own research projects. Emmaus High AP history students will come to the library at the end of March for a day of history research. Jefferson and Roosevelt Elementary students will visit the library as part of the Campus Connect program, to participate in an information scavenger hunt and web evaluation tutorial.
Libraries Take Charge of Their E-books
For our readers not immersed in the daily life of librarianship, it may come as a surprise that library e-books are a hotly contested issue. Libraries have long been frustrated by the inability to own e-books outright. Often vendors, the middle men, only offer the option of renting the books. When the lease is up, the books disappear, unless they are paid for again.
This is due to change. The Digital Shift reports that several libraries in California are joining forces to remove the middle man from the e-book process. Libraries will go directly to those publishers who will agree to let them “truly own, not rent” e-books.
This model is the brain-child of a small group of public libraries in Colorado. The model’s adoption in California means attention being given it on a national scale. Lyrasis, the consortium that Muhlenberg College is part of, is now investigating the model.
Infomaniac Tip
Sign Up for Free NITLE Webinar
In honor of the annual Day of Digital Humanities, NITLE’s next digital scholarship seminar,”Digital Pedagogy,” will take place on the Day of DH, March 27, 2012 at 1 pm EDT. In this seminar, two experienced practitioners of Digital Pedagogy will share their experiences with digital teaching and learning and consider the implications for digital pedagogy. How do new digital tools and methodologies lead us to rethink learning outcomes, power dynamics, assessment, etc.? Where do we draw the line between digital pedagogy and digital humanities or should we? Panelists will include:
- Katherine D. Harris <http://triproftri.wordpress.com/> (member NITLE Digital Humanities Council), Tenured Assistant Professor, English and Comparative Literature, San Jose State University
- Jentery Sayers <http://www.jenterysayers.com/>, Assistant Professor, English, University of Victoria
Please register online by Monday, March 26. Registration is free, however space is limited.
Details and registration are here: http://wwwnitle.org/digital_scholarship_seminar_registration.php
Calendar
3/22 – Faculty Author Reception: Vivian Walsh (Fulford Room, 12:45-1:45 p.m.).
3/22, 3/29, 4/5 – Meditation Group. Open to all Muhlenberg faculty, staff, and students. (Fulford Room, 5:00-6:00 p.m.).
3/29 – Muhlenberg Theatre Association Performance, one of several MTA-sponsored performances across campus in March and April. Plays are written and performed by Muhlenberg College students! (Periodicals Reading Room, level A, 12:30-1:30 p.m.).
