Minnesota Library Assocation Conference - Recap

The MLA conference was held Nov. 19-21 at the Sheraton in Bloomington. Several of the metro-area librarians were able to attend, and for the most part, I think we succeeded in achieving our goals of networking, learning, contributing, and getting lots of free stuff. Ok, I actually take that last one back; I think the vendors were a bit disappointing this year. Space was somewhat limited, and the vendors were located pool-side -- definitely not the best set-up.

Aside from a somewhat lackluster vendor area, the conference went very well. I attended the following sessions:

1) Negativity at work
2) Undergrads in the Reference Stacks? Using Reference Universe for Composition 101 Topics
3) Bridging the Divide
4) Government Information in the 21st Century
5) Everybody on the Bus...Let's Get It Done
6) What Do College Students Learn In High School About Research?
7)Wikipedia and Us

Several other sessions were attended by either Dan, Dennis, or Amy.

I was very interested throughout the session on what high school students learn about research. The presenter had interviewed and surveyed several HS media specialists and collected data and commentary on what IL concepts are taught in their high schools. Overall it appears as though HS students are missing out on a great deal of IL instruction. While they know how to use computers better than a lot of us, the concept of using a database rather than a random website is still foreign to them. It also sounds like HS media specialists experience difficulties with getting classroom time to present IL concepts. Ultimately, it's up to us as college librarians to determine the level our students are at. One suggestion was to simply handout a survey to new students in our IL sessions to ask them what their familiarity is with various items like: using databases, exploring credible websites, writing papers, etc... I may try this in the future.

The other session that really captured my interest was Wikipedia and Us. I, like many other people, will occasionally use Wikipedia. I have always instructed students to only use it as a guide for conducting further research. Most people in the group tended to agree with this; however, we did launch into a rather lengthy discussion on Wikipedia versus Britannica. Both have errors, both face revisions, both are cited as sources and really shouldn't be. If you're interested in learning more about Wikipedia, I have copied the "Wikipedia and Us Suggested Readings" into GoogleDocs.

It was great to have the opportunity to attend this conference. I always enjoy myself and walk away with some new ideas and a more positive outlook.