Problems with Plagiarism

Recently, our campus has experienced a few plagiarism issues with students. I have been asked to read over papers in question and comment on the citation or lack there of. Our dean has since asked me to provide a handout for faculty and for students with concrete examples of proper and improper paraphrasing and quoting. Searching for these examples I have come across a couple universities that provide some well done examples Princeton's:
http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pub/integrity/pages/plagiarism.html

Indiana University's
http://www.indiana.edu/~istd/example1paraphrasing.html

Let me know of any others you suggest or content you think might be appropriate.
Thanks,
Beth

Resources for Foundations of English

Two quarters ago, students came to me with issues about online Foundations of English class. I quickly found out that the class did not have a text book and the students were struggling. One of our adjuncts had recommended the book, Writers Inc: A student handbook for writing and learning. I have two copies - one for reference and one for circulation. This book proved to be quited helpful with that class. The circ copy gets checked out, and just came back yesterday.
The other recommendation I had from another adjunct, now full-time instructor, was Painless grammar. I again ordered two copies and the circ copy is currently checked out.

Both books have been helpful to me when I am assisting students. For those of you who do not have the books already, you might consider acquiring them for your library.

Timely news

I'm always glad when students take time to sit on our sofa and read the paper, or read newspapers online. And I always try to incorporate some news in each month's themed display. For "Financial Wellness Month," I have info on Rhode Island Sen. Claiborne Pell, who passed away New Year's Day at age 90. In the 1970s, he spearheaded the program that is now known as Pell Grants. Of course that program means so much to so many of our students.

In past months, I had articles on Seminole tribe events and Hispanic award programs. Often the local papers' coverage dovetails with our library themes. There will be a lot of news for Black History Month!

Circ Success

One of the displays we're doing this month is on fiction (regular popular novels... FIC :-) I've advertised this in the weekly announcements & on our kiosk. Amazingly, students have been checking out books! Another "gimmick" is that I point out to students that we have a few titles in the collection written by a Gen Ed instructor.

Why our team meeting will never be in Bismarck

Yesterday, our low tempertature was -44 degrees. The high temperature for the day was -19 degrees. Yes, that was the high.

How cold is -44? That's just as far from the freezing point as is 108 degrees.

I'll stop pressuring the rest of you to visit Bismarck. Now I understand why the answer is always no. :)

Chinese proverbs

One of my ask a librarian questions this week was about Chinese Proverbs. The student was given the following proverb.

“He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.”

Here is the assignment:

(1) defining what the quote is about; (2) challenging your assumptions about what it might be saying - that is, not jumping to an initial emotional response; (3) collecting any pertinent factors about the author or statement - as in the author's biography or the craft of the writing (check the Internet!); (4) evaluating the quote in its own context and not just your own frame of reference; (5) finally, offering your own "informed" opinion of the quote in relation to the truth of "You and the Humanities."

Has anyone seen this assignment before? I could find the proverb, but nothing about it or the author.

Any suggestions?

In two weeks I have done 7 presentations. 5 were done in the Allied Health field. As I was presenting last night, I found myself pausing, I couldn't remember what to say about a database! And I felt like I was repeating information that I already told the students but I am pretty sure it was information given in another presentation. Do you ever second guess yourself as your presenting or do so many of them that you forget what has been said in the one you are doing? I am trying to present the resources in different orders and stopping to ask if there are any questions and moving around so that I can get students to talk back to me. Let me know what you do, other than claim age as the culprit or the frigid weather in Minnesota!

More on Faculty Collaboration

I have the good fortune of having one of the authors of "First-Year Writing Teachers, Perceptions of Students' Information Literacy Competencies, and a Call for a Collaborative Approach" here at the Fargo campus. We are in the planning stages of a joint presentation for the faculty based on this paper and its findings. I have attached a link for you to view.
http://www.comminfolit.org/index.php/cil/article/view/Spring2008AR1

13 things you should do when you think you don't have anything to do

Because I have a sneaking suspicion that some of you have stopped reading my e-mails to you...

1. Add your best formative assessments to the FA Best Practices folder on Google Docs.
2. Help your follow librarians by adding their FA Best Practices.
3. Update your binder. Make sure you have the most current worksheets, policies, procedures, etc. (If you aren’t sure, ask).
4. Pre-plan your next book or board display. Take pictures of your current display and post them to FlickR.
5. Pick the brains of faculty, staff and students for purchasing ideas – even if it means leaving the library for a bit and chilling out in the lounges.
6. Order publisher’s catalogs online or over the phone.
7. Make sure your professional development is up to date, signed by your Dean, and in your binder.
8. PDF copies of professional development handouts and notes to Google Docs.
9. Review our policies and handouts. Is one missing or does something need updated? Check with Emily to get the Word version, then create or fix it.
10. Work on your campus or program websites.
11. Craft an email reminder about our resources for your programmatic/subject faculty.
12. Call Steve Wettergren and find out if you can help provide resources for a course build.
13. Call Emily and find out what project she’s six months behind on.

Hurrah for books!

" ... There is fantastic information in books. Often when I do a search, what is in a book is miles ahead of what I find on a Web site,” according to Sergey Brin, a Google founder and its president of technology, as quoted in the Jan. 5, 2009, edition of the New York Times.

Brin was interviewed in the story "Google Hopes to Open a Trove of Little-Seen Books," by Motoko Rich, who covers the books beat for the Times. The article does a good job giving an update on the Google book project, the recent copyright lawsuit settlement, etc...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/technology/internet/05google.html

Workshop scheduling

Last quarter (also my first quarter) was a mess when it came to workshops. In some cases, I was asked to give a workshop on using the library on my second day (it wasn't pretty), and in other cases, I never even met a faculty member until there were three weeks left in the quarter, and he asked me to teach how to use the library, research a topic, and create APA citations - in one night. Ugh. I just tried to do the best I could and spent a lot of time on damage control.

But this quarter, I am far more organized, and am ready to approach workshops in a new light. My dean and I worked together and came up with a great gameplan. First, she told new faculty that I would be coming into their classes to conduct workshops - so rather than waiting for them to come to me, the faculty already expect that I will be a part of their lesson plans from the beginning. Also, I sat down with my dean and brainstormed how to break down my topics into smaller chunks - so although I will be giving more frequent workshops, the students will (hopefully) absorb more and learn more.

I hope that these steps will 1) provide more interaction and collaboration with the faculty (esp. since my dean actively encourages faculty to work with me), and 2) engage the students and encourage more information literacy. We'll see!

Collaboration (CD/Assignments) with Faculty

I thought I would share a recent collaboration, of sorts, that developed with one of our instructors. After adding a significant batch of new materials to the collection, I email the list of titles to the faculty, AD, DSL, and Campus Director. This is also a good project for a student assistant- to type up the title list from invoices, and send to you. Rarely, do I hear any feedback from the faculty, but they are kept in the loop as to what has been added to the collection. At the end of last quarter, one of our Allied Health instructors came by to tell me she had noticed a title on the list, looked at it, loved it, and was going to develop an assignment requiring students actually use the set of books! I spoke with her today, and she has incorporated this assignment into her syllabus for this quarter. ...In addition, the list helped with a prior accreditation list in that the CD rec'd a question, remembered that I send out the list, and since I save them was able to show an example.

A Process, Not an Event

Sometimes it's hard to tell if library circulation is increasing. Sure, there are the rush weeks when papers are due. But other than that, it's sometimes hard to tell if all that spending and cataloging have had any effect. Well, in the 2.75 years since we put shelves and books in our campus library, growth in item circulation has been more of a process than an event. I didn't see the growth happen, but it did!

• 2006, 92 items checked out (3 quarters)
• 2007, 268 items checked out
• 2008, 612 items checked out

Pretty good for a campus with fewer than 500 students (many of whom live outside of the area) and about 1100 items!

Blogger's Block

Well, I have finally posted to the Blog. (Emily I hope you are seated). One of my New Year's resolutions was to post, so now I can check it off the list! The second resolution is to get more organized, well I'm more like organized chaos grounded in the Meg Wheatley theory of Chaos. http://www.well.com/~bbear/wheatley.html

I'm working on collaboration this upcoming quarter, and that means sharing more original works on the blog!

I am putting together a faculty packet of useful information. With that I created a cover letter in a bulleted format of the things we have to offer the students and faculty. It isn't complicated, but I think it serves two purposes. One, the faculty will think about what we have to offer, and two maybe sneak a peek for their own knowledge to possibly update their skills. It is a start...

What makes it all worthwhile

This was a really tough quarter at Rockford. I didn't have time to get all the things done that needed to be done. Anytime I actually had time on my calendar something would come up and my time would be gone.

Anyway, what made it all worthwhile was the feedback I got from students, though not through Survey Monkey (see earlier post). It all started with the winner of Matt's Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad....Business World game. Matt did a short interview with Damon Thomas and here is the relevant part:

Gargano: “Do you have a favorite staff member?”

Thomas: Yes. Cynthia Reynolds because she’s always happy and always greets people with a smile. She makes me feel comfortable.”

During the last week of classes, another student came by to thank me for all the help I had given her and a classmate. She said that she wouldn't have gotten her paper done without my help. Two students asked me to come to their business class while they did their presentations. I had a voicemail waiting for me when I arrived the other day from another student. He wanted to thank me for listening and understanding and to share the grades he was getting. While I was composing this post, a student came by to thank me for all of the help I had given her with her computer class. (And I repel technology!) So, at the end of the day, this is what makes my job meaningful and why I look forward to coming to work.

Collection Development & Faculty Development

I wish I could take credit for this, but that goes to my Dean, Heather. Heather knows how I struggle to get faculty recommendations when it comes time to place library resource orders. Her idea this quarter was to devote some faculty development time to recommending resources. Last night at the end of faculty development, I handed out publisher catalogs and resource recommendation forms, and put the URLs for RCL Web and Choice on the white board, and let them have at it. Unfortunately, Choice was inaccessible, but faculty still came up with over 40 requests. Also, there was positive feedback about it in the faculty development evaluation. I believe the plan is to continue to incorporate this into the faculty development sessions.

Magnolia sites and new library webpage

On our call today, we discussed how to better utilize our Magnolia links. I've been working on the MLT page for the new library webpage, and I tried something to make it easier to zoom in on the relevant MLT links.

When I tag a Magnolia link as MLT, I also try to give it a more specific tag, such as a hematology or microbiology. On the MLT page of our Springshare library site, I've been able to include links right to the specific tag.

If you'd like to see what I've done, go to our library page http://rasmussen.libguides.com and the view the MLT page.

Disruptive Patrons

I’ve had several incidents this week with disruptive patrons and was wondering if my fellow librarians had any tips. During finals week a certain “seriousness of purpose” takes over normally sociable students, stressed out by the prospect of taking final exams. I feel bad for these students when other, disruptive patrons (not always students, sometimes their children, etc.) create disturbances in the library.

Many libraries have a “Patron Code of Conduct” which outlines acceptable behavior in the library and how to remedy situations. We are not a public library, and I’m not saying we should take the time to compose a Patron Code of Conduct, but it is an idea. I really liked the Mooresville Public Library Patron Code of Conduct (http://www.mooresvillelib.org/index.php/Patron-Code-of-Conduct.html). Personally, I have dealt with every item on the “Various Behavior Problems” list except for smoking and loitering.

In the past week, I had a student carry a boom-box into the library playing loud music and they were appalled when I told them to turn it off. I have dealt with students using obscene language very loudly and sounding threatening. Others have played Youtube™ clips at full volume on their laptops and turned loose their kids to wreak havoc on the library. I know many of you encounter the same issues, so please share your ideas/experiences.

Rockford Study-A-Thon

Rockford had it's first study-a-thon last Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It started in the student lounge with food and from there students could go to different rooms for help. All of the full time faculty were here to provide help in the different program areas. There were also a couple of adjuncts that came in to help with math and English. I was in the library for research and paper writing. A total of 32 students participated in the event. There were some instructors who had no students and some who had several. I had about five students in the library. After it was over, I had two students come in who needed help with their papers and I worked with them the rest of the day. The event was organized by the Mentor Center Coordinator. I would say that it was a successful first attempt. We may revisit the date and time for future study-a-thons.

Success - Monthly Display

Emily suggested I share this with the team :-) ... For the Fall diversity displays, we have branched out of the library into the Student Lounge. We took over one of the larger bulletin boards & my student assistants have created colorful and informative displays. In addition, we have books and handouts on one of our study tables in the library. (I'll get the pics on FLICKR sometime in the near future...) For December, we're doing Spiritual Awareness Month. I've noticed students reading the material on the board, and one student checked out a book the other day!