This year’s very successful ALPS December Meeting was held at Langara College on Friday, December 5th and was attended by over 55 academic librarians from across BC. The theme was Interactive Learning and Instruction Online.
The morning speaker program kicked off with a warm welcome from Kevin Paul, Dean of Student Support Services at Langara. Colleen Bell, Information Literacy and Web Services Librarian at the University of the Fraser Valley, then provided an engaging and informative overview of the evolution of the academic library research skills tutorial from the print workbooks of the 1980s to the cutting-edge online modules of today. Her talk included a demonstration of the interactive Online Library Assignment she created for her own library; this tutorial can be viewed via ALPS LINK (http://www.eln.bc.ca/irl) or at: http://journals.ufv.ca/library/first_year/
Next, Joyce Leung, Communications and Design Coordinator for the Developmental Disabilities Association and a recent graduate of the Interaction Design program at SFU, offered a valuable student perspective on the effectiveness of interactive learning online. She also discussed her work with post-secondary librarians and educators around the province in developing a series of online research and writing tutorials for the BC Campus Project; these Academic Resource Toolbox (ART) tutorials can be viewed via ALPS LINK ((http://www.eln.bc.ca/irl) or at: http://www.eln.bc.ca/view.php?id=1603
After lunch, attendees were treated to tours of the beautiful, award-winning Langara College Library: http://www.langara.bc.ca/library/newbuilding/aboutbuilding.html The afternoon business meeting included reports from ALPS executive members Ophelia Ma (UVic), Chairperson, Katherine Miller (UBC), Incoming Chair, Celia Brinkerhoff (Douglas), 2nd year Continuing Education Director, Nicole Aerts (Royal Roads), 1st year Continuing Education Director, Hope Power (SFU), Recording Secretary, and Nicole Penz (UBC SLAIS) Student Representative. The ALPS LINK Laud a Librarian contest awards were then presented and the meeting concluded with a lively roundtable discussion of BC post-secondary library news.
Many thanks to BCLA for sponsoring and Langara College for hosting this meeting. The presentations and part of the business meeting were videotaped and will be posted to the ALPS web server. Keep your eye out for an announcement on the ALPS e-mail list this month!
Submitted by: Hope Power, ALPS Recording Secretary, Simon Fraser University Library
ALPS Yodeler 