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Drake University’s staff, in collaboration with Cowles Library, announce a “pilot run” of an All-University Book Club! The purposes of this book club are simple: Encourage reading for the sake of reading, and increase conversation among faculty, staff, and students across campus through the medium of books!

Cowles Library has eleven copies (hint: Ask for the book on reserve for Library 301) available for “The Kind Worth Killing,” a well-reviewed 2015 mystery that will be our first book. Details are in the flyer that follows (click here for a print-friendly version); the book is available in audio format from Audible.com, at various DM-area Public Libraries, and Amazon, in addition to the Cowles Library copies.

So, read the book and let Sara Heijerman know about your interest in discussing; the face-to-face discussion sessions will be in January (with the possibility of more than one, if there is enough interest), so happy reading!

11 new series comprising 57 videos have just been added to the Ambrose Digital Streaming Video database available to Drake through Cowles Library.

Nine of the new series are from BioMEDIA ASSOCIATES LLC  which produces and distributes instructional life sciences multimedia that captures the diversity and intrigue of the living world.  Their programs engage viewers  with compelling images, revealing video sequences, concise narrations, and effective instructional design that supports learning.  BioMEDIA programs feature new techniques of microscopy, animation, and photography to reveal the structure, process, and behavior of living things.  The new series (and number of videos) are

The Biology Classics (1)
Branches on the Tree of Life (16)
The Domains of Life (1)
Hiddent Biodiversity (9)
Inside the Living Cell (5)
Life in Aquatic Environments (3)
Termites: The Secret Queens of the Woodlands (1)
Visualizing Cell Processes (5)
Visualizing Human Physiology (1)

In addition, two older series have also been added. They are:

Bill Moyer’s Healing and the Mind (5)
Ten Who Dared (10)

INFO LIT: KEY TO COMMUNITY BASED / EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING – CRN: 1660 – LIBR 042

Below is the course description for an Information Literacy (AOI) course for Jterm 2016.

The course is designed for first- and second-year (and transfer) students, and satisfies the Info Lit AOI. It is offered by Cowles Library Professor Bruce Gilbert, who must approve all student enrollment in this course; his contact information is at the bottom of this post.

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Course description:

Modern students and modern learning are enmeshed in the various communities that give education its context. This course will explore the relevance of information literacy in the community-based environment and impart an understanding of how intelligent use of information resources can benefit both the student and the community.  Emphasis will also be placed on preparing students for experiential learning (both within the academic curriculum and as a lifelong perspective).  Students will be challenged to engage and research community-based resources, create at least one artifact of that involvement (such as an interview, oral history, or research project) and reflect upon the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to marshaling information, especially in the context of experiential learning and community engagement. NOTE: This course takes a “blended” approach to course delivery.  In this case, that means that most of the course is transacted online, but there are also mandatory in-class sessions at the beginning and end of the course.

Texts and Readings:

Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich. Other selected readings will supplement core texts.

Learning Objectives:

•       Gather relevant information to support and address a research topic
•       Demonstrate the use of critical thinking and information literacy skills
•       Analyze and interpret information relevant to his or her needs
•       Retrieve, evaluate, synthesize and cite appropriate information
•       Articulate the social and ethical implications of information use and misuse.
•       Select and employ the appropriate method and data for disciplinary research, problem-based learning, experiential-based research, and/or reflective/integrative coursework.

Projects and Assignments:

Students will visit one or more cultural organizations in their home community and gather background information about that organization.  The primary assignment will be to use the results of that information to create an informative artifact (such as an electronically-captured interview, oral history, or research project) that will further awareness of the organization. Finally, the students will write a brief reflection paper about the process of learning about their community through engagement; both of these projects will require proper attribution of information resources.

Please contact Professor Gilbert (bruce.gilbert@drake.edu or x4821) if you would like to be added to the class and if you have any specific questions about the class.

University Archives & Special Collections will close at 3:00 p.m. today, Thursday, October 15.

JSTOR is experiencing widespread intermittent site issues, causing pages to stop loading, access denials, and site crashes.  JSTOR technical support is aware of the problem and working on fixing it.  Currently, there is no time frame for when this will be resolved.

The Drake University Archives & Special Collections at Cowles Library has a new web site: archives.library.drake.edu