getting students' bodies and ideas into libraries: a talk for minnesotan librarians

tomorrow, i'm giving the opening talk at ARLD Day, sponsored by the academic & research libraries division of the minnesota library association. the title of my talk is "getting students' bodies and ideas into libraries." i plan to limit my talk to a particular nook of gleeson library and what university of san francisco students and librarians do with and within it.


exhibit 1: good food (designed by USF librarian sherise kimura)





exhibit 2: get graphic (designed by USF librarians debbie benrubi and kathy woo)






exhibit 3: election exhibit (designed by students enrolled in two sections of david silver's introduction to media studies in fall 2008)







exhibit 4: the reading fort (designed by students enrolled in david silver's digital literacy class in spring 2008)


exhibit 5: our dinner table (currently being designed by students enrolled in david silver's green media in spring 2010)

stir it up - a talk @ sfpl

later this evening, melinda stone and i will be giving a presentation at the main branch of san francisco public library. our talk is called stir it up - in the pot and on the web: making media about making food. it's free and open to the public and yer invited!

with luck, i hope to share ideas via a single flickr set:


if time permits, i also hope to share:

Daniele Dominguez's Vegan Lemon Scones with Lemon Glaze
Kate Greenspan & Sophia Lorenzi's Soph's Loaf of Chocolate Banana Bread
Christina Hammill's No-Knead Bread
Samuel Hernandez & Peter Thoene's rosemary rock salt focaccia
Joel Weston's Blueberry-Lime Poundcake

hope to see you at the library!

yer invited! when wikipedia meets the library: a case study from the university of san francisco

free and public talk at san francisco public library! this wednesday evening!


the san francisco public library herb caen magazines and newspapers center presents When Wikipedia Meets the Library: A Case Study from the University of San Francisco. more info at the SFPL magazines and newspapers center blog.

see you there.

wikipedia project assignment, part 1

wikipedia project assignment, part 1 for digital media production

although we will continue learning new topics and tools, the majority of our remaining time in digital media production will be spent working individually and collaboratively to edit, improve, and extend USF's wikipedia page.


1. select one topic or task that you wish to work on to improve USF's wikipedia page. topics can include existing sections or subsections or entirely new sections. tasks can include editing the wikipedia page, adding photographs, designing maps, etc. you can select any topic or task as long as you find it interesting.

2. find at least 2-3 interesting, relevant, and credible offline sources related to your topic. we spent much of today's class discussing what makes good and bad sources - check your notes! we will have plenty of time to find online sources but for now we are looking for relevant and credible library and archival sources.

3. consult the list of librarian liaisons at gleeson library, select at least one librarian whose expertise relates to your topic, and arrange to meet him or her within the next week or so. like college students, librarians are busy people - plan ahead.

4. begin to brainstorm ways that you can integrate some form or forms of crowdsourcing to improve your research. take some time to think about this. consider taking a walk while thinking about this. share your budding ideas with friends to get feedback. be creative.

5. in class on thursday, be ready to demo your topic or task, your 2-3 sources, and your selection of a librarian liaison. and be ready to share your crowdsourcing ideas.

hint: select a topic or task that interests you.

rule: if you have no work to demo, do not come to class.

a family reunion in colorado

when it comes to states, my heart and history belong to california. but colorado sure is purty.


last week, sarah and i travelled to colorado for a mcgrew family reunion (sarah's mom's side). but before the reunion, we headed to leadville, to see sarah's sister jewlee, her partner sam, and their five dogs.


i like elevation and leadville, which reaches 10,152 feet (3094 m), is the highest town or city in the US. it's also one of the most breath-taking, surrounded by mount massive, mount elbert, and other fourteeners.


after a few days in leadville, we headed south, to wetmore, to visit with nan davenport, director of the wetmore community library, part of the mighty davenport family, and one of those humans who upon meeting you stop and say to yourself, "wow, what a unique person!" wetmore community library is a one-room treasure chest of knowledge and serves as the heart of wetmore. it also organizes the community square dances, which occur about twice a year and bring out the whole community, from teens to old-timers. meeting nan and her family and square dancing with the folks of wetmore (and nearby florence) were trip highlights.





then we jumped back in the car and drove north of denver and west of fort collins and landed in estes park to reunion with the mcgrew crew. we were nineteen, ranging from a newly minted one-year old to a few who got senior discounts to the nearby rocky mountain national park. three generations of mcgrews shuttled to bear lake and ate delicious sammies, played miniature golf under a big hot sun, told stories and shared histories on the deck late into the night, and gathered for a photograph or two.






thanks mcgrews. thanks colorado. i look forward to seeing both of you again real soon.

a trip to seattle

sarah had a work-related meeting in seattle. i tagged along.

my main priority was to meet j. and j., who, overnight, made crispin and jurg's house a home.


then, i headed south to lacey, to saint martin's university, to be part of an exciting faculty development workshop organized by irina gendelman, nathalie kuroiwa-lewis, and olivia archibald and held in o'grady library.





after the workshop, irina and i spent the night on a walkabout through funky olympia, wandering and pondering, walking and talking about everything, including her nearly completed dissertation.

(update: irina gendelman blogged about the workshop and included notes regarding the speakers of the second day.)

back to seattle, sarah and i headed to lee and sachi's (of common craft) to join jay and anastasia (of juxtaprose) for good food, good drink, good talks, and good times.



saturday was spent with beth in ballard, frowning on the new condos and recent developments, walking and talking about new ideas, and smiling at the beautiful puget sound.


sunday brunch with nancy pearl, joe pearl, and sarah was, as always, delightful.


and then a ferry ride to vashon for a delicious meal with lynne and chris and peyton and an after-dinner stroll along the sound.


good to see you seattle.

literacy, e-literacy, me-literacy, we-literacy: a talk for and from art librarians

since friday, i've been in denver, colorado, attending the 36th annual art libraries society of north america (ARLIS/NA) conference.

today is my turn to talk and i will use a recent field trip to work through four different and overlapping literacies: literacy, e-literacy, me-literacy, and we-literacy. i will also share some stories about getting students - and faculty - into their libraries. some of these stories will be about projects i heard about here in denver at ARLIS/NA 08.

for the more linear minded, my talk may go a lil something like this:

stonelake farm, I: literacy and e-literacy

i'll begin with a brief explanation of the davies forum on digital literacy and the series of events that led to our four-day field trip to stonelake farm, an organic, off-the-grid homestead in humboldt county, california. all the while, i'll try to tease out what i mean by literacy and e-literacy.


stonelake farm, II: me-literacy and we-literacy

next, i'll discuss the differences and overlaps between me-literacy and we-literacy and share my students' experiences with individual blog posts and collective tags and tag clouds. i hope to show, as ArLiSNAP's web 2.0 tech kiosk did, that we learn more when we learn together.



getting student and faculty bodies into libraries

the heart of campus is the library -- how do we get more of we inside?

one idea is to do what they do at wertz art and architecture library at miami university in oxford, ohio. there, junior and senior art majors matthew addison, caroline brown, sam doan, kim hogan, katie leone, emily moorshead, chris skaggs, hilary stevens, and ellen warner teamed with librarian stacy nakamura brinkman and art professor sara young to create a site-specific installation that encompasses two study/reading rooms.

to make it happen, the students - collectively - had to brainstorm ideas, write a grant, and establish a dialogue with library staff (in this case, stacy). plus, they had to follow two rules: 1) no physical alterations could be made to the site and 2) the installation could not interfere with daily activities and services of the library.

as far as i can understand, images of book spines and covers were printed onto acetate panels that served as translucent curtains for the reading room's windows. a video was projected on opposite screens in the study rooms. and bringing it all together was a woven paper cord that ran the length of the ceiling.

student art surrounding studying students. awesome.




or maybe we should do what they do at depauw university libraries visual resource center (the same center that creates super smart, award-winning videos that market their library services). there, graduate intern jessica bozeman worked with visual resources librarian brooke cox to create a research scavenger hunt game. the game was based on the da vinci code and engaged students (and, i hope, faculty) in library research, resources, and services. (more info on the panel wiki.)




or maybe we should take a tip from amanda gluibizzi, subject specialist for history of art, fine arts, and art education at the fine arts library at ohio state university. noticing that there was a lot of excellent public art across OSU's campus, amanda created a map with pins on various pieces of art. when users click the pins, they will see images of the art, thereby, i hope, making them more aware of the work the next time they walk by. but clicking on the pins reveals another thing: a keyword search for any OSU holdings relevant to the artist. online tools to enhance offline campus walk-abouts. online tools to highlight offline library services. excellent.




stonelake farm, III: steven's ipod

i'll end my talk with a special story about an ipod, a six-hour drive home, and students remixing and curating content.

update: pics from the stage!