Rural Community-Centered. Experiences from Rural Libraries in Texas and the Pacific Islands

Transcription

1 Rural Community-Centered Information Services and Training: Experiences from Rural Libraries in Texas and the Pacific Islands 以 农 村 社 区 为 中 心 的 信 息 服 务 和 教 育 培 训 : 德 州 和 太 平 洋 岛 屿 项 目 回 顾 Yunfei Du, Ph.D., Associate Professor, College of Information Herman L. Totten, Ph.D., Regents Professor, Vice President for University it & Community Affairs Moderator: Yvonne Chandler, PhD, Associate Professor, College of Information University of North Texas, Denton, TX CAFLL Conference, June 10-12, Shanghai, China

2 First Annual Chinese & American Forum on Legal Information & Law Libraries Beijing May 2009 思 路 来 源 :2009 北 京 CAFLL Delivering an ALA accredited graduate library and Information science education program via online technologyto to international locations Training law librarians and other professionals to provide legal information assistance in remote or rural areas

3 UNT/DLIS TRAINING NEXT GENERATION LIBRARIANS FOR RURAL & REMOTE AREAS IN THE UNITED STATES 北 得 大 项 目 简 介 Promoting & Enhancing the Advancement of Rural Libraries (PEARL) funded by the Robert and Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust ($1.6million dollars) Yunfei Du, Associate Professor and Herman Totten, Dean Library Education for the U. S. Affiliated Pacific funded by the Institute of Museums & Library Services (IMLS) Laura Bush 21 st Century Librarian Fund ($999,363.00) Yvonne J. Chandler, Associate Professor & Principal Investigator

4 美 国 大 陆 农 业 人 口 分 布 图

5 Rural Information Services 农 村 图 书 馆 简 介 Challenges in rural education The US Public Library movement in 19 th Century Essential public services but often without formal MLS training (33.2% according to IMLS) Some suggested core competency certification or associate degree programs (Johnson, 2001; Vavrek, 1997) Local funding support in rural libraries Essential or nice thing to have UNT s rural library initiative Focus on partnership Community outreach New definition of outreach

6 Social Trust Conceptual tools Putnam (2007) bli believes social ilinteractions ti create more social il capital. Varheim et al (2008) suggested the role of intuitions, including libraries in creating social capital. Community outreach as a tool to create social trust 项 目 概 念 模 型 社 会 网 络 相 互 信 任 社 项 目 概 念 模 型 : 社 会 网 络 相 互 信 任 社 会 资 本 及 社 区 外 展 服 务

7 Project Design Rural Libraries defined by Texas State Library and Archival Commission (N = 104) Training sessions on technology and designing community needs assessment surveys Selecting mutual beneficial partners in the community Completing outreach programs Outreach reports available at UNT PEARL website bit

8 Case Study 1 Case 1: Government information services. From Muleshoe, TX, the Library partnered with its region Social Security Office to provide Social Security information to senior citizens 政 府 信 息 服 务 案 例

9 Case Study 2 Case 2: Outreach in medical information services. Motley County Library from Matador, TX, partnered with the Motley County Clinic, a primary health care facility for Matador and the surrounding area, and sponsored a health fair. More than 100 of the whole 700 population of the town attended. 卫 生 保 健 信 息 外 展 服 务

10 Case Study 3 Bulverde/Spring Branch Public Library partnered with American Association i of Retired Persons (AARP). Volunteers from AARP who are trained and certified in tax assistance provided income tax preparation p to seniors in the community free of charge every Friday beginning in February and ending in April 退 休 人 员 个 人 报 税 服 务

11 Implications Initial and post-surveys, and interviews after the completion of outreach projects suggested the enhancement of community support, more efficient library practice, and broader professional networking Rural libraries can benefits from partnering with law agencies to serve rural communities health information services partners to serve rural areas business and technology partners working with rural workforce Bahra (2011) suggested importance of law reference training to rural libraries, especially degreed librarian specializing both MLS and laws

12 Conclusions Libraries collaborating with local business, education institutions, law firms, government, private medical service agencies, and other community partners will gain more social trust and increase community social capital. US and China law librarians can contribute theoretical tools, competencies, standards, platforms, and mentoring in rural area library training.

13 Limitations and Future Work Qualitative in nature. Needs quantitative studies to confirm the validity of preliminary results. Need to build theoretical and statistical tools to assess the social capital and social trust in rural communities. Address the feasibility of distance learning in rural community services. One example is Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). 今 后 打 算 : 计 量 模 型 统 计 工 具 及 大 规 模 远 程 教 学 模 式

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15 LEAP 项 目 简 介 LEAP Scholarship Awardees Receive 1. $20,000 full tuition scholarship and fees 2. Travel stipends to attend the Web Institutes required residency and two professional conferences the Pacific Education Conference and Pacific Islands Association of Libraries, Archives, and Museums (PIALA) 3. A UNT librarian mentor matched to each student for academic support and professional mentoring 4. Professional development workshops, library tours, classes on information literacy and technology, and other professional enrichment programs 5. A personal laptop, software, and funds to supporthome connectivity costs during the two year program 6. Professional association annual memberships to the Pacific Islands Association of Libraries, Archives, & Museums (PIALA) and joint Hawaii Library Association / American Library Association memberships

16 ALL THE WAY FROM DENTON, TEXAS TO GUAM & THE PACIFIC ISLANDS 从 德 州 丹 顿 到 关 岛 DENTON GUAM

17 DEMOGRAPHICS 学 员 人 口 特 征 The 23 LEAP Scholarship recipients are representative of the demographic, cultural, l and linguistic diversity of the region. A major focus of the project plan was to meet the goal of educating a new generation of indigenous librarians. Each of the Pacific Islands entities are represented by a scholarship recipient with the exception of the Marshall Islands. The gender makeup of the scholars is 60.9% female and39.1% male.

18 DEMOGRAPHICS 详 细 情 况 LEAP Scholars Live In Response Percent Total # of Students American Samoa 13.0% 3 Guam 43.5% 11 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) 21.7% 5 Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) 17.4% 3 Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI); 0.0% 0 Republic of Palau 4.4% 1 Total 23

19 Educating Law Librarians Justin Maga concentration: Law Librarianship and working at the American Samoa Bar Association

20 Educating Law Librarians Geraldine Amparo Cepeda, Executive Director The Guam Law Library

21 The UNT/DLIS LEAP Cohort Classes started with the Web Institute August 10-19, 2011 at the Outrigger Hotel, Tumon Guam Activities 1. Welcome Dinner 2. Information Literacy and Technology Training with UNT Librarians 3. Pacific Voices - Shared information about their islands culture, history, and traditions 4. Tours of Libraries in Guam 5. Classes Core courses in the MLS Curriculum were taught. ( In January 2012, Dr. Enoch delivered a mini virtual Web Institute for the SLIS 5200 using the WIMBA Chat technology) LEAP 课 程 介 绍

22 CLASS DAYS

23 Information Literacy with UNT Librarians 信 息 素 养 课 (UNT 图 书 馆 员 )

24 PACIFIC VOICES PRESENTATIONS

25 LAST CLASS DAY ON GUAM

26 CHALLENGES FACED 1 Through recruitment methods contact was made with 232 individuals. Many did not have bachelor s degree or were from colleges with accreditation not recognized by UNT. More than onehalf of the recruitees applied for admission to the UNT/DLIS program and the LEAP scholarship. Testing facilities are only on Guam so we had to make special arrangements for the majority of the students to take the GRE entrance examination Some islands do not have banks, so some students did not have accounts or credit cards to purchase textbooks or to receive a deposit of per diem. 问 题 与 挑 战 1

27 CHALLENGES FACED 2 CHALLENGES FACED 2 Time difference between Denton and the Pacific for teaching and advising. 问 题 与 挑 战 2

28 Blackboard Learn Course for Law Library Students 网 上 课 程 软 件 界 面

29 WIMBA Classroom for Online Chat with iharchive Wimba 实 时 语 音 视 频 教 学 软 件

30 Success Stories Jennifer Hainrick, Director, College of Micronesia, National Campus Library

31 Library Education for the U. S. Affiliated Pacific /leap/

32 Future LEAP Cohorts Library Education for Affiliated Pacific grant will end December 2013 Submitted Application for Continuation Grant to Institute of Museum and Library Services for LEAP II Proposing to educate 15 librarians in digital technology, data curation, and knowledge management. Requested $499, Propose to begin September 2014 LEAP 项 目 未 来 计 划

33 Contact info: Yunfei Du ( 杜 云 飞 ), Associate Professor, Department of Library and Information Sciences. yunfei.du@unt.edu Herman L. Totten, Regents Professor, Vice President for University & Community Affairs. Herman.totten@unt.edu Yvonne Chandler, Associate Professor, Department of Library and Information Sciences. Yvonne.chandler@unt.edu