A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to the Candy Store

15 Dec

If you’re curious about what happened to the daily candy canes over the past few days, here’s the scoop. Starting TODAY, I’m the new Research Evaluation Analyst for the University of Massachusetts Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Yep, I’ve left my former position in the library and venture off into a new world. Since it’s Day One (officially, though I’ve been doing some work before today, catching up), I have to put my focus here, but I’ll be back very soon (later in the week) with updates on the job and candy canes galore!!

Please stay tuned. “A Librarian by Any Other Name” remains the name of this blog for good reason. This librarian is now going by the name, “Evaluator.” 🙂

New Digs

New Digs

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Candy Cane 11: Are we leaping (like the lords) to conclusions?

11 Dec

 December 11 – Managing Information and/or Managing Data

I admit that I struggle greatly with how easily we librarians interchangeably use the terms information and data. I believe that there are significant differences between managing information and managing data. I also think that our history, professionally, is in the former more than the latter. That said, as we move more and more into the realm of data management, we’re making the argument that we also have a history of managing data. 

In a recent post on the e-Science Community Blog (a part of the e-Science Portal for New England Librarians), Nancy Glassman, Assistant Director for Informatics at the D. Samuel Gottesman Library, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, argues that Librarians are the Original Data Managers. I’m not sure that I wholeheartedly agree with Nancy, but what I do really like about this post is how she lays out the thesis for a class of students who attended a data management workshop she led. What I like best is that she convinced them that librarians do, in fact, have a role in this area. They understood her explanation and she gained credibility not just for herself, but for other librarians these attendees might encounter in the future. 

That’s a win-win for all!

INFORMATION

Tomorrow is Friday! What will the treat be? Check in to find out.

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On the 10th Day of Candy Canes…

10 Dec

 December 10 – Teaching Online

Yesterday was the last official day of classes at the University of Rhode Island, thus it marked the “official” end of my first semester as an adjunct professor. I still have grades to do, of course, but the instruction part is over. It was really a great experience and I so enjoyed putting together materials for each of the topics. And my students were fantastic.

That said, it was a lot of work – perhaps even more than I’d anticipated (and I’d anticipated a lot). Mostly this is because I’d never taught a full class and more, I’d never taught a full class online. Online education is a different animal and many of the techniques I’d come to rely upon in my traditional classroom teaching didn’t translate easily to the online environment. In short, my students learned a lot about health sciences librarianship and I learned a lot about teaching, curriculum development, and the online educational environment. It’s like I took a class, too!

I recently read a good review in the “Advice” column of The Chronicle of Higher Education on Michelle Miller’s new book, Minds Online: Teaching Effectively With Technology. Miller is a professor at Northern Arizona University, an institution that was early to adopt the online educational environment, in part because of their location. Bad weather is common and rather than cancelling classes, the University took to the Web to provide uninterrupted learning. I haven’t read this book yet, but based on the review will likely check it out. Understanding how people learn in different environments is key to effective teaching. I think this book will offer more insight there.

If you find yourself in the situation of moving course content and/or entire classes online, you might find it of interest, too.

The treats continue tomorrow…  (And in case you’re wondering, I’m still going on my Jingle Bell 5K-a-Day challenge, too! Going for 10 today.)

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