By Andy Rutkowski and Raymond Pun

Maps are incredible and powerful primary sources that can be used to inform and engage learners about the complexities of human geography. Today there are tons of free digital map resources such as NYPL’s Map Warper and the Library of Congress’ Digital Map Collections. These digitized maps can be used to teach visual literacy across the disciplines, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s possible when incorporating maps and geographic information systems (GIS) in library instruction. In this interview, Andy Rutowski, Visualization Librarian at the University of Southern California (USC) Libraries, shares some ideas that he’s been working on to promote information and data literacies through maps and GIS tools.

Last Monday, October 8th, many states and cities observed Indigenous Peoples’ Day, recognizing indigenous peoples of America in order to appreciate their shared culture, history, and contributions. I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic lately in relation to my work as an academic librarian.

By Liz King and Raymond Pun 

Raymond Pun recently spoke with Liz King, the Humanities Librarian at Alkek Library in Texas State University. Liz shares her techniques for connecting information literacy to things they do every day, how she overcomes misconceptions about the nature of research in the humanities field, and which resources she leans on when designing instruction.

By Ann Matsushima Chiu and Raymond Pun

Zines are fascinating primary sources for self-expression, creativity, engagement, and research. They are self-published work that often include a variety of texts and images on any topic such as health, literature, activism, science fiction, and many more. Providing useful perspectives, some are written by marginalized voices not often included or cited in scholarly resources. By encouraging readers to visualize and reconsider topics, zines can help people reflect upon their own experiences and the experiences of others. Many libraries have added zines into their collection, with some even organizing zine-events where participants can create their own zines. In this interview, Librarian Ann Matsushima Chiu shares her experiences supporting zines in library instruction and programming.

Bryant University is known for its vigorous academic program, a design thinking experience for first year students, and a campuswide focus on student success. The culture at Bryant provides fertile ground for innovation at all levels of the university. The Douglas and Judith Krupp Library embraces this culture and the elements of flexibility, experimentation, and collaboration, offering library staff the opportunity to innovate within the library and with campus partners.

The success of our information literacy program was achieved largely through continuous and collegial collaboration between the library and its campus partners. The Writing Center, faculty, and various committees have all participated in a productive give and take that helps ensure students pick up IL skills early and use them often.

By Kenya Flash and Raymond Pun

Thinking of creative ways to teach the ACRL Frames using Credo? We began our discussion of Credo and the ACRL Frames, here. In this piece, we’ll cover three additional frames that will assist you in diving deeper into the complexities of research for your students. The three frames we will explore through this post:

Librarians Ray Pun (Fresno State) and Kenya Flash (Yale University) recently joined us to discuss teaching social justice issues using Credo. Campuses have always provided a space to nurture political thought and activity, and librarians can tap into students’ growing interest while also teaching sound research strategies that will benefit all of their studies.

By Kenya Flash and Raymond Pun

Are you looking for creative ways to teach the ACRL Frames? In this piece, we’ll cover three frames that can be used to dive deeper into the complexities of the research process, and show how Credo can help students put these concepts into action.

By Raymond Pun and Kenya Flash

In our last post, we covered how you might use Credo to teach image searching and visual literacy. This week we will be looking into how Credo can help you teach data literacy. Data literacy is the ability to read, interpret, create, and communicate data as information. Many disciplines, from communication to political science and more, expect students to show proficiency with these skills in their assignments.