Keynote and Closing Plenary

Keynote Address

Monday, May 25, 2009 - 11am to 12pm
D.B. Clarke Theatre, Hall Building

Where do we go now?
Some research directions in information literacy

Dr. John M. Budd
Professor, School of Information Science and Learning Technologies, University of Missouri

There has recently been a heightened interest in research directed at the many and varied issues surrounding information literacy and instruction. The possibilities are indeed numerous and formidable.

One of the possibilities concentrates on the cognitive matters related to students' beginning to think with, and through, information. The connection of students' educational experiences and their integration of what others write, say, and show presents a challenge and an opportunity. Some first steps along this path of inquiry include defining what aspects of cognition can be examined, locating those aspects within instruction, and positing some ways of inquiring into the students' learning.

The primary purpose of this presentation is to address those first steps, with an eye to enhancing the effects of instruction in students' lives.

John Budd is a Professor in the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies at the University of Missouri. He has previously taught at Louisiana State University and the University of Arizona. Among his publications are Knowledge and Knowing in Library and Information Science (2001), which won the 2002 ALA/Highsmith Library Literature Award, and Self-Examination: The Present and Future of Librarianship (2008). He has served in a number of capacities in professional associations, including as president of the Association for Library and Information Science Education.

Closing Plenary

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 - 12:15pm to 1pm
D.B. Clarke Theatre, Hall Building

Looking outward, looking within:
Reflections on information literacy praxis

Heidi LM Jacobs Information Literacy Librarian, University of Windsor

Selinda Berg Clinical Medicine Librarian, University of Windsor

Reflective praxis - the interplay between theory and practice - has the power to transform our work as individual librarians and our collective work as a profession. WILU provides a tremendous opportunity for reflective conversations about praxis and an opportunity for critical self-reflection about our own work and our profession.

In this closing plenary, we will discuss how each of us might take our reflections about our work and our profession and move it outward to our classrooms, our libraries, and our communities.

Heidi LM Jacobs is an Information Literacy librarian at the University of Windsor's Leddy Library. Prior to becoming a librarian, Heidi earned a PhD in American literature and taught English literature and Women's Studies. Her current research relates to digital humanities, information literacy and pedagogy.

Selinda Berg is the Clinical Medicine Librarian at the University of Windsor. Concurrently, she is working towards her PhD in Library and Information Studies at the University of Western Ontario. Selinda's research interests include the intersection between the role of librarians and the social, cultural, and political dimensions of information.