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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You could learn a lot from us: community college librarians at ACRL

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You could learn a lot from us: community college librarians at ACRL assessment, community college libraries, community colleges, free the information!, instruction, librarianship, libraries, open access

by Meredith Farkas on 4/9/2015 with 8 comments

ACRL was ridiculously amazing this year. I feel energized, affirmed, and hopeful (and completely exhausted and sick since it ended). The programming was so high-quality and relevant that, in most cases, I had at least four options in every time slot on my planner that I wanted to attend. Luckily, ACRL records all the sessions …

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Framework? Standards? I’m keeping it local.

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Framework? Standards? I’m keeping it local. assessment, free the information!, instruction, librarianship, libraries

by Meredith Farkas on 2/4/2015 with 8 comments

I’m sure most of you have already heard that the ACRL Board has decided to adopt the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. What I think is more interesting is that they deferred action on the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, choosing instead to take a wait-and-see approach. I think this is a …

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Sorry Springshare, but also not sorry hi

by Meredith Farkas on 1/27/2015 with Comments Off on Sorry Springshare, but also not sorry

So I probably didn’t make a lot of friends at Springshare with my blog post about LibGuides this morning (if you haven’t already, take a look at the update I made to my original post). And I do apologize for lumping them in with EBSCO, because it appears that they have not taken away something …

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LibGuides, you’re not “Web 2.0” without an open API

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LibGuides, you’re not “Web 2.0” without an open API free the information!, instruction, libraries, reference, social software

by Meredith Farkas on 1/27/2015 with 5 comments

Update: I’ve been in touch with a Springshare representative who tells me that things like the contextually aware D2L widget from Portland State University will work in LibGuides 2.0 and apparently, the responses we’d received from support were based on hypotheticals (though we’d explicitly sent the link to PSU’s code in our emails to support). …

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Peer learning in library instruction

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Peer learning in library instruction free the information!, instruction, librarianship, libraries

by Meredith Farkas on 1/6/2015 with 1 comment

Teaching is such a solitary thing. Sure, you’re up in front of a bunch of students, and maybe an instructor if you’re doing course-integrated instruction, but the act still feels solitary. We try to make it less so by seeking feedback from instructors and doing assessment, but we rarely get feedback from people who really …

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My year in books

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My year in books about me, ebooks

by Meredith Farkas on 12/29/2014 with 12 comments

Growing up, I was a voracious reader. What a surprise, right? Gee, a librarian who likes to read. But something happened to me between college and grad school where I lost that zeal to lose myself in a great book. That’s not to suggest that I didn’t read, but I didn’t read much for pleasure. I …

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Living essentially

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Living essentially Work-life balance

by Meredith Farkas on 9/11/2014 with 5 comments

“What do I feel deeply inspired by?” and “What am I particularly talented at?” and “What meets a significant need in the world?” ― Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less So I’m reading this book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less and it’s not really that great a book (in fact, I nearly shut the book after …

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Free and Cheap Technologies to Supercharge Your Teaching

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Free and Cheap Technologies to Supercharge Your Teaching instruction, speaking, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 9/3/2014 with 1 comment

Just gave a fun whirlwind instructional technology talk and I wanted to provide the slides and links below for the attendees (and anyone else who’s interested). Slides: Links: Tools for Point of Need and/or Mobile Instruction Library DIY ARIS QR Codes QR Codes Video Demo QR Code Generators Kaywa QR Stuff QR Code Readers Kaywa Quickmark …

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Reflections on library assessment and the Library Assessment Conference

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Reflections on library assessment and the Library Assessment Conference assessment, free the information!, instruction, knowledge management, librarianship, libraries, our digital future, research, speaking

by Meredith Farkas on 8/22/2014 with 7 comments

I wanted to write about the Library Assessment Conference as soon as I returned, but unfortunately, life got in the way. I got barely a week and a half before I was set to leave my job and, not surprisingly, there was a lot of wrapping up of projects and getting things to a good …

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Taking a new path in a familiar place

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Taking a new path in a familiar place about me, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 7/2/2014 with 7 comments

Lisa Hinchliffe and I are currently analyzing data from a survey looking at factors that facilitate the creation of an assessment culture in community college libraries (it’s a sister study to the one we did with Amy Harris Houk on four-year and above schools reported on in C&RL). We’ll be presenting the results at the Library …

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We contain multitudes

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We contain multitudes hi

by Meredith Farkas on 5/13/2014 with 5 comments

I’ve been thinking a lot about how people choose to define themselves and what happens when things in their world challenge that definition. This is probably because I spent the weekend with someone close to me who pretty much defines himself by his work, and also read a blog post by a friend with a …

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Getting into the gray areas with the draft Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education

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Getting into the gray areas with the draft Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education instruction, librarianship, libraries, our digital future, social software

by Meredith Farkas on 3/3/2014 with 5 comments

This semester, I’m teaching I new course I developed for San Jose State’s MLIS program entitled “Embedded Librarians/Embedded Libraries: Embedding the Library into the Fabric of Higher Education.” It’s been a pleasure so far because the students are so ridiculously smart, insightful, and engaged that I can’t help but be excited about the future of …

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