Out of sight, out of mind? prioritizing support of online learners

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Out of sight, out of mind? prioritizing support of online learnersinstruction, librarianship, libraries, online education, screencasting, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 10/5/2023 with 1 comment

It’s been eighteen years and I can’t believe this is still an issue. In 2005, I started my first professional library job as a distance learning librarian. At the time, half of Norwich University’s students were in fully online graduate programs and when I started in this brand-new position, very little had been done to …

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Making Customizable Interactive Tutorials with Google Forms

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Making Customizable Interactive Tutorials with Google Formsfree the information!, Higher Ed, instruction, librarianship, online education, reference, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 11/5/2020 with 3 comments

Please note that the copies of these tutorials have not been updated since 2020 and Google Forms has many new features that have come out since then. In September, I gave a talk at Oregon State University’s Instruction Librarian Get-Together about the interactive tutorials I built at PCC last year that have been integral to …

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Is the Framework Elitist? Is ACRL?

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Is the Framework Elitist? Is ACRL?ALA, free the information!, instruction, librarianship, libraries, online education, open access

by Meredith Farkas on 10/18/2016 with 21 comments

Many of you who read my blog already know that I came to librarianship from social work, where I was a child and family psychotherapist. As a therapist, one of our major guiding documents (whether we liked it or not) was the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). The DSM determined what things …

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Are online MLIS degree-holders “less than?”

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Are online MLIS degree-holders “less than?”library school, online education, our digital future, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 6/22/2015 with 42 comments

When I graduated from library school, I worried about anti-online-degree bias. I worried that people would think my degree was somehow “less than” because I’d done it fully online. I remember being asked some questions about it at one interview that made the search committee’s biases pretty clear, but the people who eventually hired me …

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Inspiring stuff to read, Take 1Inspiring Stuff, librarianship, online education, our digital future, social software, tech trends, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 8/13/2010 with 6 comments

Between work, my son and the class I’m teaching at SJSU (which is about to start), I rarely have time these days to blog. It’s certainly not that I’m uninspired to do so, as I’m constantly reading things that inspire me, provoke me, or just plain interest me. But anyone who has read my blog …

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Teaching Web 2.0 with Web 2.0free the information!, librarianship, library school, online education, social software, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 1/23/2010 with 6 comments

After a year off from teaching to take care of baby Reed, I’m getting back up on the horse. I’ll be teaching a class on Web 2.0 and Social Networking Software for San Jose State University’s SLIS program starting this Tuesday. As usual, I’ll be using Drupal for my online classroom (rather than Angel, which …

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It’s not all about the tech – why 2.0 tech failslibraries, management, online education, our digital future, social software, speaking, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 3/14/2009 with 6 comments

Yesterday, I gave a talk for the ACRL Virtual Conference entitled Can’t Get There From Here: Achieving Organization 2.0. If you’re registered for the Virtual Conference or the regular ACRL Conference, you can access the archive of the talk, and if not, my slides and links to what I discussed are provided on my presentation …

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Online conferences – the future is nowALA, free the information!, librarianship, online education, our digital future, social software, speaking, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 2/15/2009 with 11 comments

I’ve been lucky to have had some recent involvement with two online conference models — one that recently happened and one that will be happening soon. I’m really pleased to see more organized professional development opportunities being offered online in light of the current economic situation and, selfishly, the fact that I personally won’t be …

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Separate but not equal?librarianship, libraries, online education, our digital future, reference, social software, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 1/10/2009 with 24 comments

When I read David King’s post about Ask-a-Librarian services last week, I didn’t have a strong emotional response to it. That was, until he wrote a follow up which brought my attention to some of the responses people had made to it. With email reference, it’s pretty obvious that it’s not a synchronous medium. We …

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Validation of my crackpot teaching ideasblogging, free the information!, instruction, library school, online education, social software

by Meredith Farkas on 12/11/2008 with 5 comments

Last week, my students in the Web 2.0 and Social Networking class I teach (at San Jose State) presented their fantastic proposals (via web conference) for implementing a specific social tool at a specific type of library. I was so impressed with their creativity and professionalism. Each of them made a very good case for …

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Loex 2008 goes online!free the information!, instruction, online education

by Meredith Farkas on 4/28/2008 with Comments Off on Loex 2008 goes online!

I got this email about LOEX 2008 Encore from Catherine Pellegrino at Saint Mary’s College and wanted to spread the word: The annual LOEX conference is trying something new as an experiment this year: three of their breakout sessions will be presented as live, interactive webcasts a few weeks after the conference: http://www.loexconference.org/2008/virtualsessions.htm I think …

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ACRL’s FREE Webcast (for members)ALA, free the information!, online education

by Meredith Farkas on 3/9/2008 with Comments Off on ACRL’s FREE Webcast (for members)

I was thrilled to hear last week about ACRL’s decision to start offering some free Webcasts for members. This is something that many people have suggested to ACRL in the past and I’m happy to see that the organization is starting to respond: Join us on Wednesday, April 2, from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. …

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Getting ready for Building the Social Library Onlinelibrarianship, online education, social software

by Meredith Farkas on 1/19/2008 with 5 comments

Our classroom! Originally uploaded by librarianmer On Wednesday, the class I’m teaching for San Jose State University begins. It’s the first for-credit graduate-level course I’ve ever taught, so I’m really excited about it (and a little nervous). I spent the Fall developing the classroom and spent winter break finishing up the assignments and creating the …

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Want to teach some LIS students about social software?librarianship, online education, social software

by Meredith Farkas on 12/15/2007 with 3 comments

Starting in January, I’ll be teaching an online class on social software at San Jose State University. I am beyond excited about it! I’m really interested in having guest speakers in the class; people at libraries that are doing a lot with social software and can discuss the applications at their library as well as …

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