Johannah Sherrer Memorial Lecture
Alison J. Head
Executive Director, Project Information Literacy
"What Librarians and Faculty Should Know about Today's Students and their Research Practices"
Friday, September 20, 2013
at 3 pm
Gordon H. Smith Hall, Albany Quadrangle
A reception will follow the event.
How do today's students find information and conduct research for coursework and use in their everyday lives? Discover what we have learned at Project Information Literacy (PIL), an ongoing research study that has surveyed and interviewed more than 13,000 college students at over 50 US colleges and universities since 2008. Our findings indicate a large majority of students still attend college to learn, but many are lost in a thicket of information overload. Nearly all students intentionally use a small compass for navigating the ever-widening and complex information landscape they inhabit. They struggle with managing the IT devices that permeate their lives and endlessly distract them. Most students turn to professors, friends, family members - or no one at all - for help with research, rather than asking librarians. What's a librarian to do? Key takeaways are presented from the PIL studies, including a discussion of their implications for teaching, learning, work, and librarianship in the 21st century.
Alison J. Head, Ph.D. is an information scientist and researcher. She is the founder and director of Project Information Literacy (PIL), a national research study that has investigated how college students conceptualize and operationalize research tasks. Alison is an Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Washington's Information School and a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard. PIL's research has been covered by The Atlantic Magazine, The Huffington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Education Week, Library Journal, and American Libraries.
You can find out more about Dr. Head's research project here.
Johannah Sherrer
1947-1998
Director
Aubrey R. Watzek Library
Lewis & Clark
July 1993-September 1998
The Johannah Sherrer Memorial Lecture in Library Service was established in 1999 by James J. Kopp to commemorate the contributions and legacies of a respected friend, colleague, and champion of service.
Known for her warm smile, her boundless energy, vitality, and drive, her compassion and friendliness to all creatures great and small, and her devotion to service in all its connotations, Johannah Sherrer was a friend, a colleague, a mentor, a leader, and a champion of libraries.
Johannah came to Lewis & Clark in 1993 from Duke University where she served as Head of Reference. She held positions as Coordinator of Reference Services and Collection Development and then Director of Public Services at the University of Northern Colorado. She worked at the University of Dayton from 1970 to 1979, initially as Reference Librarian and then as Head of Reference. She received her MSLS from the University of Kentucky, an MA in History from the University of Dayton, and her BA degree from the University of Portland.
Johannah authored and co-authored numerous articles and book chapters and was a frequent speaker and panelist at library conferences. She chaired the ALA's Professional Ethics Committee and several other committees at the national, regional, and state levels.
If you are interested in contributing to the Johannah Sherrer Memorial Lecture Fund, you can do so through the College's Online Giving Form.
Please select Johannah Sherrer Memorial Lecture from the pull-down menu. Thank you.
Previous Sherrer Lecture Presentations
2012 -- "Coming Soon to Campus: The New "Free Agent" Learner - Are You Ready?"
Julie Evans, Project Tomorrow
2011 -- "Forward Thinking: Aligning Library Services with Faculty Needs"
Roger C. Schonfeld, ITHAKA S+R
2010 -- "Think with Me: The Possibilities of
Public Conversations in Cultural Institutions"
Dr. David Carr, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2009 -- "Straws In the Wind: Emerging Models of Library Service"
Lizabeth (Betsy) A. Wilson, University of Washington
2008 -- "Aligning Academic Libraries with Real User Needs"
Susan Gibbons, University of Rochester
2007 -- "A Convergence of Pathways: Re-imagining Image Collections for Tomorrow's Teachers and Learners"
Elisa Lanzi, Smith College
2006 -- "Peering Through the Net: Student Perspectives on the Net Generation--A Panel Presentation"
Craig Beebe, Tyler Caffall, Charlotte Helmer, Mahria Lebow, Mindy Ross, Eric Valentine
2004 -- "On the Same Path: Faculty, Librarians, and IT Collaboration"
Susan L. Perry, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Council on Library and Information Resources
2003 -- "The Changing Face of Service: A Panel Presentation"
Patricia Cutright, Victoria Hanawalt, John Helmer, Elaine Heras, Scott Smith
2002 -- "Service in a Collaborative Way"
Joan K. Lippincott, Coalition for Networked Information
2001 -- "The Importance of Being Learned"
Elizabeth A. Dupuis, University of Texas
2000 -- "The Fate of Service in an Increasingly Digital and Commercial World"
Jerry D. Campbell, University of Southern California
1999 -- "Service in a Complex Future"
Walt Crawford, Research Libraries Group
