Computing and Libraries: Fostering Collaboration for Better Teaching

Citation

Lefebvre, M. (2000), "Computing and Libraries: Fostering Collaboration for Better Teaching", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 17 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2000.23917aac.010

Computing and Libraries: Fostering Collaboration for Better Teaching

Madeleine Lefebvre

Hugh Blackmer, Science Librarian at Washington & Lee University, is a former Anthropology professor who became a librarian in his late 40s. This career path clearly gave him the credibility to foster collaboration with faculty. He used examples from his own institution to make the point that collaboration does not have to be big budget or major-project; it can happen informally, across and in spite of a formal structure. Washington & Lee University, a small institution of 1,600 students and 200 faculty, is of a size that Blackmer and his colleague, John Blackburn, are able to know all the faculty on first name terms, and can enter into informal collaborative projects as opportunities arise.

Blackmer began with an anthropological look at the organizational structures evident in universities. His own experience as a professor showed him that teaching departments have no model of teamwork, whereas media centers are much flatter, newer, and cross-functional. University computing centers tend to be always in crisis, under constant reorganization. Working as a librarian, he stated, allowed him to collaborate with others across boundaries.

Various projects at Washington & Lee were described, to provide examples of how informal collaboration can work, even if funds are scarce. The Hurd Project, in which a database of images was developed to support an ecology course (http://miley.wlu.edu/educause/hurd.html), was written in perl by a specialist in the University Computing department, who cobbled together existing scripts. The collaborative project used the professor's large slide collection to create an archive of images for his students to review at any time. It thus provided him with a valuable product, which has proved very popular with his students. A question from the audience led Blackmer to concede that there is a lack of scalability in a cobbled-together project. He also reported problems running the database on a laptop. Questions were also raised about copyright. Blackmer explained that the images, most of which were taken by the professor, were constrained to domain, and thus only available to students registered in the course. But the benefit of such collaboration, he emphasized, is that it brings together people who want to be involved, regardless of their place in the formal structure of the university. Librarians can serve as the middle person between the teaching faculty and the computing center.

John Blackburn, an instructional technology specialist in the library, assists users with equipment issues and supervises the media center. Working out of the library, he reports to Computing Services. He stressed that collaborative projects demonstrate to the community what the possibilities are. Describing the Miley Graphics Server project (http://miley.wlu/edu/miley/home.html) Blackburn explained that the founding concept was that the Web offered enormous benefits for libraries' unique items and special collections; items that tend to be inaccessible, fragile, and difficult to use. The Leyburn Library at Washington & Lee University houses the Robert E. Lee papers. Funds were obtained through the Associated Colleges of the South to buy the server, and the images were loaded, using Photoshop. Consideration was given to the revenue generation aspect, and whether to make the images readily available or to restrict them. At Washington & Lee more people have been coming to see the special collections on site since the graphics server made them more public.

Blackburn advised that to ensure the success of a project, one should work with interested parties who have credibility. The idea should be fully formed, but a well-chosen faculty member should present it.

Blackmer then turned to GIS (Geographical Information Systems), considering it as fundamental a development in its time as word processing and spreadsheets were. He raised the point that, more and more, students are being taught presentation skills. Since GIS is cross-disciplinary, should this teaching responsibility lie with the library? Two participants, from large institutions who run GIS, commented that the question of where these issues should be handled comes up repeatedly. Blackmer's assertion was that the library has the open hours and teaches information retrieval, but must also have the interest in GIS to make this happen. He added that children are learning GIS projects at school; thus higher education institutions must be aware of its capabilities and embrace it. Funds were raised through a Mellon Technology Fellowship Grant to purchase ArcView 3.1 GIS, to develop the GIS project on the Miley server (http://miley.wlu.edu/gis/).

Supporting such projects is a challenge, both speakers conceded. Storage requirements are huge, and bandwidth issues are ever present. But computing services and libraries share a common goal: to send robust information campus-wide over the network.

The speakers discussed the value of a Web portfolio ( http://wlu.edu/~hblackme/portfolio/). For students, such work is more like real scholarship. Unlike a research paper, Web work is subject to scrutiny by others, and shame is a powerful force. The learning experience of a student can be dramatically improved by publishing to the Web. An example of a student project on the history of the sewing machine showed how a student with no confidence can gain a sense of achievement from mastering Web techniques ( http://miley.wlu.edu/educause/technol/index.html).

Knowledge is the infrastructure, Blackmer concluded. Since hardware depreciates 1 percent per week, and software even faster, it is not the product that is the important factor: it is what people learn and can apply. Crossing borders for deeper integration is where the value is.

The 30-plus participants formed a wide representation of both institutions and functions, which led, with Blackmer's encouragement, to a lively discussion. The seminar was refreshing for several reasons. The projects in question were relatively small yet effective, and were achieved with minimal funds. They all emphasized the importance of communicating enthusiasm across institutional boundaries. What was perhaps most refreshing was the philosophical slant Blackmer put on what could have been merely a description of a number of in-house projects. His lively approach not only ensured audience interest and participation; it demonstrated why he and his colleagues have managed to get these projects off the ground.

Madeleine Lefebvre is University Librarian at Patrick Power Library, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. madeleine.lefebvre@STMARYS.CA