MN ARLD Day 2012

TRANSLITERACY: Constructing Knowledge

and Networks

ARLD Day April 27, 2012 Minn. Library Assoc.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidclow/2456360108/

Where I’m coming from

Why I’m here http://www.flickr.com/photos/scolirk/5920957686/

First,

a question http://www.flickr.com/photos/21496790@N06/5065834411/

What is the most terrifying thing about

working in an academic library?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theloushe/4386211866/

Finals week?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamtiredfeet/6041587969/

Committee work?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clagnut/252185030/

Printer jams?

Nope… http://www.flickr.com/photos/miskan/3313324/

Graduation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/143186839/

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

9th Grade High SchoolDiploma

Some college Bachelor'sDegree

Master'sDegree

ProfessionalSchoolDegree

DoctoralDegree

1.29

3.24

5.2

7.74 8.79

10.1 9.79

Educational Attainment and Library Usage

Sin, S.-C. J., & Kim, K.-S. (2008). Use and non-use of public libraries in the information age: A logistic

regression analysis of household characteristics and library service variables. Library & Information Science Research, 30(3), 207-215.

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

6-13 14-17 18-20 21-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 >80

2.11 1.55 1.27

0.88 0.95 0.9 0.97 0.94 0.88 0.68

Attending school

Not attending school

Sin, S.-C. J., & Kim, K.-S. (2008). Use and non-use of public libraries in the information age: A logistic

regression analysis of household characteristics and library service variables. Library & Information Science Research, 30(3), 207-215.

Library Usage by Age Group

An existential crisis…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/celesterc/1302838239/

Are we just

handmaids

to annotated

bibliographies?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/canonsnapper/171439809/

What do we do

that will last?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/steffanyf/4190646747/

Even the day-to-day

is in flux. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ventriloblog/144041118/

It all comes down to

preparing for change

http://www.flickr.com/photos/atbartlett/2432704579/

It all comes down to adaptation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/deapeajay/2969264395/

We need to think

beyond our gates http://www.flickr.com/photos/arenamontanus/5503405700/

What do we

impart that

will outlast

change? http://www.flickr.com/photos/rilindh/6243990270/

We need to build bridges

to a life outside the library

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7455207@N05/1213545027/

Transliteracy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ionushi/229284156/

Transliteracy is the ability to

read, write, and interact

across a range of tools,

platforms, and media.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gomattolson/4499988373/

A brief history

of transliteracy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidclow/2456360108/

2005

The Transliteracies

Project

“Text has historically existed

as a negotiation between

media, including oral, written,

print, visual, and… electronic

media.”

(Liu 2006)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/networkcultures/5739150931/

2005

The Transliteracies

Project

Studying “the zone of

negotiation…by which the

older dialogue among print,

writing, orality, and

audiovisual media…enters

into new relations with digital

media.”

(Liu 2006)

2007

PART: Production

and Research in

Transliteracy

The ability to read, write and

interact across a range of

platforms, tools and media.

(Thomas, et al., 2007)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mak61/4647008124/

2007

PART: Production

and Research in

Transliteracy

“Transliteracy is an umbrella

term encompassing different

literacies and multiple

communication channels.”

(Andretta 2009)

2010

Libraries and

Transliteracy

“Transliteracy began as a

descriptive concept,

designed to understand how

people navigate their way

across various media.”

(Newman 2011)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mlibrarianus/4521632001/

2010

Libraries and

Transliteracy

“[It is] understanding the

ways various means of

communication interact and

understanding…the skills

necessary to move

effortlessly from one medium

to another.”

(Ipri 2010)

What do all of these approaches have

in common?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sridhanush/4135873153

1. Multiple media

http://www.flickr.com/photos/grandgrrl/5240360344/

2. Communication

http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/4012030328/

3. Interaction

Transliteracy is the ability

to communicate meaning

between media

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholasro/4933559660/

Why is transliteracy relevant to librarians?


Libraries have always

promoted literacy http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesterpubliclibrary/

Literacy has always been

mediated by information

technology http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital_rebel_xt/72224228/

So, technology

influences how we

can and should

promote literacy

But, a multiplicity

of technologies

can be a logistical

nightmare

Early literacy http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomaslife/4508639159/

Web literacy

New linguistic

competencies

http://www.flickr.com/photos/misspixels/5785978957/

Transliteracy helps us

promote literacy

across technological

barriers http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital_rebel_xt/72224228/

Transliteracy in more detail

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gomattolson/5518638853/

1. Multiple Media

Foundations of

transliteracy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samantonio/6399080897/

Once upon a time…

…literacy was simple.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/george_eastman_house/3122869849/

Then, something changed…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/superbomba/2230681898

We invented new tools to communicate

We found new places to communicate

http://www.flickr.com/photos/transkamp/54371294

We found new time to communicate

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephangeyer/3501272881/

We’ve always had choices

http://www.flickr.com/photos/julia_manzerova/2757851927/

Just never quite so many


The days of “one medium” research

are over

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zanzo/349901563/

Yet we often

tend to focus on

the resources

that we know

we put up

defensive walls

To distinguish

ourselves from

the web

Students will use

non-library resources


Head, A. J. & Eisenberg, M. B. (2011). How college students use the Web to conduct everyday life

research. First Monday, 16(4). Online.

Where do they get their information?

They’re running

right into the

walls we’ve been

building

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ortizmj12/2366706532/

Get comfortable with non-library

resources

Just be careful… http://www.flickr.com/photos/jblyberg/3394121594/

literacy critical

visu

al

scientific

print

information media

eco

no

mic

digital

health ora

lity

computer

web

financial

eco

no

mic

so

cia

l

cult

ura

l new

historical

po

st-

fina

ncia

l

numeracy electracy

visua

l sta

tistical

meta

There’s got to be

a better way

1. Multiple Media

2. Communication

Foundations of

transliteracy


http://www.flickr.com/photos/verbeeldingskr8/3638834128/

The birth of the web made it necessary for

librarians to shift more towards teaching search

strategies and evaluation of sources. The tool-

focused “bibliographic instruction” approach was

later replaced by the skill-focused “information

literacy” approach.

Meredith Farkas American Libraries Magazine

11/01/2011

http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/columns/practice/information-literacy-20

http

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ho

tos/ricin

/52

25

89

06

6

The end of the “tool-focused approach”

But, information isn’t just evaluated http://www.flickr.com/photos/harvardavenue/773700408/

Information is used

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephangeyer/3494488505/

Information is

communicated

http://www.flickr.com/photos/miuenski/5887393036/

But doesn’t information

literacy cover that? http://www.flickr.com/photos/barneymoss/6372144917/

Transliteracy and information literacy

Print

Orality

Signing

Visual

Computer

Digital

Scientific

Health

Economic

Cultural

Critical

Media

We can be literate without

being able to evaluate

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiotsrun/3945682459/

We can be

information

literate without

being tech-savvy


Print

Orality

Signing

Visual

Computer

Digital

Scientific

Health

Economic

Cultural

Critical

Media

Communication Evaluation


Print

Orality

Signing

Visual

Computer

Digital

Scientific

Health

Economic

Cultural

Critical

Media

Transliteracy Information Literacy

What good is evaluating information if

you can’t get to it?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/superciliousness/314764905/

What good is

information if

you can’t

communicate it?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/irisslootheer/4348994132/

We’ve done a great job with evaluation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jstar/345712329/

Transliteracy brings our attention

back to communication

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyewash/3575612360/

1. Multiple Media

2. Communication

3. Interaction

Foundations of

transliteracy


Transliteracy is also

about asking:

How do these literacies and

technologies interact?


How do librarians

usually handle

integration and

interaction?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shellysblogger/2130085604/

Librarians love

compartments http://www.flickr.com/photos/franklinheijnen/5089819498/

But patrons don’t

Our “versus” mentality

doesn’t cut it

anymore

http://www.flickr.com/photos/atlnav/369536486/

Popular vs. Scholarly

Wikipedia vs. peer-review

Scholarly publishers vs. open access

http://www.flickr.com/photos/biblioteekje/6325328112/

Google

vs.

the library

Transliteracy is about avoiding silos

http

://ww

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m/p

ho

tos/tw

ob

/87

41

93

3/

The question posed

by transliteracy is:

“Are we

encouraging

skills that

transfer?”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/en321/322710700/

The ability to transfer

cognitive skills

learned in one domain

to a new domain

Transfer of learning

www.flickr.com/photos/chaparral/2737992503/

Get rid of the

“click here”

mentality

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rufo_83/206707421/

Encourage skills that will adjust

Start from

patrons’

existing

mental

models of

libraries

(Holman 2011)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darwinbell/5827849044/

And teach

the analogy

(Gentner & Colhoun 2010)

1) Candidate inferences

2) Schema abstraction

3) Re-representation

Begin with what they know

Encourage inference through analogy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/automania/126698126/

Show how it works,

not just how to use it

http://www.flickr.com/photos/distinctlyaskew/396655424/

Give ample time for free play

Reinforce that the library is a node in

the network

Caveat:

It’s not just digital

http://www.flickr.com/photos/juska/2168547359/

Transliteracy is

not about the

media

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jblyberg/4506047012/

Transliteracy is

about

the network

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pascalcharest/308357541/

So, where do libraries

fit in the network?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katerha/5318405382/

Libraries and transliteracy:

Making the connection

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jadammel/6232852998/

Librarians encourage transliteracy by

adopting programming and teaching

strategies that promote skill transfer

across media

Libraries are filled with amazing

information services.

www.flickr.com/photos/donkerdink/1324433035/

How do we keep patrons from being

overwhelmed?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/riekhavoc/4975764806/

We can teach the skills needed to use our

services.

We can adjust our services to meet our

patrons’ skills.

Or both

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanghaidaddy/4444781040/

Transliteracy is about showing how

the library fits in

Moving forward

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryandesiderio/2346522953

Today’s special

Promoting impact

Inventing spaces

Remix revolutions

Chat reference

Equity and diversity

Data and student success

Linked data

Cloud collaboration

Leadership

Library instruction

Google Docs

Roving reference

Legal literacy

Pop culture

Youth outreach

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sridhanush/3784559599/

It’s all about bridging the gaps

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sridhanush/4108645910/

We all have to deal with multiple

media

We all have to deal with

communication

We have to deal with

how it all fits together

http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthileo/5448890398/

Transliteracy is the ability to read, write

and interact across a range of platforms,

tools and media

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smcgee/2504469684/

It’s about communicating meaning

across media

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smcgee/2504469684/

Thank you

senseandreference.wordpress.com

librariesandtransliteracy.wordpress.com

References Andretta, S. (2009). Transliteracy: Take a walk on the wild side. In World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA Genreal

Conference and Assembly, Milan, Italy: 23-27. http://eprints.rclis.org/handle/10760/14868

Farkas, M. (2011). Information literacy 2.0. American Libraries [Blog post]. November 1, 2011. Available at:

http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/columns/practice/information-literacy-20

Gentner, D. & Colhoun, J. (2010). Analogical processes in human thinking and learning. In Glatzeder, B., Goel, V., and von Muller,

A. (2010). Towards a Theory of Thinking. Heidelburg: Springer. 35-48.

Head, A. J. & Eisenberg, M. B. (2011). How college students use the Web to conduct everyday life research. First Monday, 16(4).

Online.

Holman, L. (2011). Millennial students’ mental models of search: implications for academic librarians and database developers .

Journal of Academic Librarianship, 37(1): 19-27.

Ipri, T. (2010) Introducing Transliteracy. College & Research Libraries News, 71(10), 532-567

Liu, A. (2006). Definition of Online Reading. http://transliteracies.english.ucsb.edu/category/research-project/definition-of-

online-reading

Newman, B. (2011). Beginner ’s guide to transliteracy. Available online at

http://librariesandtransliteracy.wordpress.com/beginner’s-guide-to-transliteracy/

Sin, S.-C. J., & Kim, K.-S. (2008). Use and non-use of public libraries in the information age: A logistic regression analysis of

household characteristics and library service variables. Library & Information Science Research, 30(3), 207-215.

Thomas, S., et al. (2007) Transliteracy: crossing divides. First Monday, 12(12). Online.

http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2060/1908