Due to the confidential nature of an interview, I will limit my discussion to the information gleaned from experts in the field and further questions that they have inspired for me.
I began the interviewing process just over a week ago. I was delighted that everyone that I contacted initially was more than happy to speak with me and impart their wisdom on this topic.
My first discussion revolved around embedding a librarian within the course management software, Blackboard. Personally, I am very familiar with Blackboard as this is the medium that I have received my entire education. I think the tool is badly in need of an upgrade, but does allow the instructor to provide all course materials, presentations, grades, etc. in one secure location. Blackboard course modules also allow students to participate and engage with their colleagues through the use of a discussion board.
During our interview, we discussed the story behind the library's provision of information literacy instruction for this particular course; what was required of the students; and the student's interactions with the instructor and the librarian. One problem that was noted by the librarian was that there was not a common format required for assignment submission by the students. Consequently, documents were not always compatible with software on the librarian's computer. Another issue that was raised is that there were many facilitators working simultaneously to provide this course, so communication was somewhat strained between all the various parties. It was also difficult to determine when messages came in from students that required attention via Blackboard. The librarian felt that an email would have been much easier to respond too.
The next portion of our time focused on personal preferences and the future direction of information literacy instruction utilizing the distributed model.
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