Skills that Travel Transliteracy and the

Global Librarian

Lane Wilkinson

ACRL/NY Annual Symposium

December 2, 2011

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abbeychristine/2882946249

What does

it take to be

a global

librarian? Diverse

populations

Variety of

platforms

Progressive

technologies http://www.flickr.com/photos/beth19/4923647610/

For a global librarian

“physical distance is no

longer a barrier to

teaching and learning.”

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

“I have long contended that a room

full of books is simply a closet but that

an empty room with a librarian in it is

a library.”

-R. David Lankes The Atlas of New Librarianship, p. 16

http://www.flickr.com/photos/practicalowl/3996349414

Global

librarianship

is not tied

to the library.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgis/6710769/

As global librarians,

we can stop treating

the library as a destination

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and start treating it as a hub.

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The global librarian is not a guardian.

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The global

librarian is a

guide.

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Transliteracy

Is transliteracy a silly buzzword?

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Absolutely.

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Information Literacy 2.0: Facilitating Participatory Learning Culture

through Transliteracy:

The Synergy of Collaborative Student-Centered

Learning Communities and Open-Access

Knowledge Construction

Lane Wilkinson

ACRL/NY Annual Symposium

December 2, 2011

Transliteracy is not a panacea

So, what is it?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/selva/7737130/

What is

transliteracy?

2005

Transliteracies Project

2007

Sue Thomas,

DeMontfort University

2010

Libraries & Transliteracy

What is

transliteracy?

The ability to read,

write and interact

across a range of

platforms, tools

and media.

[PART 2007]

What is

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, T. (2010) Introducing Transliteracy. College &

Research Libraries News, 71(10), 532-567.

What is

transliteracy?

“The most

fundamental notion of

transliteracy is the

ability to adapt. It’s

creating a literacy and

fluidity between

mediums that’s not

tied to space or

modality.”

- Karp, J. (2010, Oct 25). What is this buzz word

“transliteracy”? (Blog) Retrieved from

http://spotlight.macfound.org

What is

transliteracy?

It isn’t a concept we

teach, it’s an innate

skill we develop.

This is not transliteracy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tylersilva/4779673639/

but this might be. http://www.flickr.com/photos/foreverdigital/2240673803/

What about

information literacy?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barneymoss/6372144917/

Why do we need another literacy?

Print

Orality

Signing

Visual

Computer

Digital

Scientific

Health

Economic

Cultural

Critical

Media

Communication Evaluation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/loungerie/1471835306/

Why do we need another literacy?

Print

Orality

Signing

Visual

Computer

Digital

Scientific

Health

Economic

Cultural

Critical

Media

Transliteracy Information Literacy

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://www.flickr.com/photos/ricin/522589066

Information literacy is about

evaluating content, not containers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/captkodak/272746539/

Transliteracy

is about

containers,

not content.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hansvandevorst/104094978/

So, what does transliteracy have to do

with the global librarian?

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If we’re going to go global,

we’ll need to pack.

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Transliteracy can

help us figure out

what to bring along.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/josephrobertson/2265297242/

Three principles

1

Effective

information use

requires several

information

sources http://www.flickr.com/photos/masochismtango/2186726069/

We tend to

focus first and

foremost on

library

resources.

We’ve put up

defensive walls

To distinguish

ourselves from

the web

But, students will use

non-library resources.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87913776@N00/5129607997/

And they’re

running right into

the walls we’ve

been building.

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

If we want to

be global

we

have to go

where

they are.

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

2

Information

sources don’t

stand alone,

they interact. http://www.flickr.com/photos/holster/486753307

Information

can’t fit into tidy

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

The “versus” mentality

doesn’t cut it

anymore.

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

Information resources

are linked.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/intherough/3244476512/

3 Identify skills

that transfer

across tools,

platforms,

and media http://www.flickr.com/photos/kozumel/2308100933/

The question posed

by transliteracy is:

“Are we

encouraging

skills that

transfer?”

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

Transfer of learning

The ability to transfer

cognitive skills

learned in one domain

to a new domain. http://www.flickr.com/photos/chaparral/2737992503/

Put simply,

it’s more bang

for your buck.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/poetatum/3457696479/

We don’t know

where we’ll end

up, but we can

still prepare.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anyway/5652405755/

Start from

existing

mental

models of

research

(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

Here’s an example

Inference > Abstraction > Re-representation

Encourage

inference by

teaching

similarities,

not differences.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wilsonbentos/2998279462/

Encourage

abstraction by

talking about

how a resource

works, not just

how to use it.

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

Encourage

re-representation by

providing ample

time for free play.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andresthor/3968071923/

By emphasizing transfer we create

mobility and adaptability.

www.flickr.com/photos/j0n9292/3396096818

Once again:

what is

transliteracy?

The ability to read,

write and interact

across a range of

platforms, tools

and media.

[PART 2007]

Transliteracy is transfer of

learning applied to

traditional, communicative

literacies.

Transliteracy is a heuristic for

evaluating what we’re

teaching our students and

what we’re teaching

ourselves.

Putting it all together…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/autumn_bliss/467766536/

We can’t bring

everything.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brutalworks/67250891/

But we can bring

what matters.

Transliteracy is

Multiple resources

Interaction

Transfer

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlsimages/3221993157/

Transliteracy is one way of thinking about

which skills a guide should pack.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbiskoping/3388639698/

We know

where we’re

going.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/4329630502/

Transliteracy may

help us get there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisbokt/4700923321/

Thank you

senseandreference.wordpress.com

librariesandtransliteracy.wordpress.com

Selected Reading 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. New York: Springer. 35-48.

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.

Karp, J. (2010, Oct 25). What is this buzz word “transliteracy”? (Blog) Retrieved from

http://spotlight.macfound.org

Lankes, R. D. (2011). The Atlas of New Librarianship. Cambridge: MIT Press.

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

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smichael/4563914649/