Presentation for the Virginia Association of School Librarians Regional Spring Conference on the transition from highs school senior to college freshman and how school and academic libraries can serve students.

1. Your High School
Senior is My
College Freshman

2. Heather Moorefield-Lang
Contact me at moorefield-lang@sc.edu
You can find me at @actinginthelib
Website: www.techfifteen.com
YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TechFifteen

3. ◦ “Yours, Mine and Ours: Moving
Students through the Information
Literacy Ladder from High School
through Community College to the
College/University,” Thompson,
Oakleaf, et.al. At ALA and ACRL

4. ALA/AASL
◦Within ALA, a joint committee exists,
the American Association of School
Librarians (AASL)/ACRL Interdivisional
Committee on Information Literacy.

5. Not a New Topic
A Definite Concern and Focus

6. High School Seniors1

8. What Are They Being Assigned?

9. College Freshmen
We can even include transfers here
2

11. A few Examples of Assignments
◦ Annotated Bibliographies on a mix of
topics
◦ Persuasive Speeches
◦ Informative Papers
◦ Research Papers on a myriad of
topics
◦ Problem solving/Critical thinking
situations
◦ Genealogy and History

12. They Are All on the Same Footing
Essentially……

13. From Patricia Owen, School Library
Monthly, A Transition Checklist for High
School Seniors, 2010
◦ Students don’t know what they don’t
know
◦ Students are sometimes unsure of
how to phrase, narrow, or hone in on
research questions
◦ Information literacy skills, how to be
critical of the information they have
gained

14. Handy Checklist, Owen, 2010
General
◦ Know what they
don’t know
◦ Know who to ask
for research help
◦ Understand library
jargon
Research Process or
Questions
◦ Follow research process
◦ Estimate time required for
research
◦ Define a research
question or topic

15. Searching for Information
◦ Find different
formats of
information
◦ Understand that
Web search engines
rarely locate good
information
◦ Distinguish
between databases
◦ Conduct effective
searches
◦ Interpret search results
◦ Find full text of articles
◦ Find books using Library
of Congress
◦ Try again when at first
don’t succeed

16. Evaluating Information
◦ Weed through search results
◦ Evaluate information
◦Distinguish between popular and
scholarly articles
◦Disregard inadequate or inaccurate
information

17. Using Information
◦Synthesize, communicate, and argue
using evidence
◦Analyze data and statistics
◦ Represent, analyze, and critique the
words and ideas of others ethically
◦ Write without plagiarizing
(accidentally or otherwise)
◦ Cite sources properly using multiple
citation styles

18. So If Our Students Need to Know All of This
Second
Last
First

19. What Are High
School Libraries
Doing?
To Bridge the Gap?

20. ◦ Research Projects
◦ Makerspaces
◦ University/HS Collab
◦ Mentoring Programs
◦ Collaboration with Peer Educators
◦ Training students in more than one
citation style
◦ More, much, much more……

21. What Are
College Libraries
Doing?
To Bridge the Gap

22. ◦ Research Projects
◦ University/HS Collab
◦ Mentoring Programs
◦ Collaboration with Peer Educators
◦ Training students in more than one
citation style

23. Also Providing Access to…….
◦ Reference Services
◦ Writing Centers
◦ Makerspaces
◦ Communication Labs
◦ One on one research aid
◦ Library orientations
◦ 24/5 or 24/7 access
◦ More, much, much more……

24. Orientation
So Important!

25. Some examples
◦ Game Nights (VT and USC)
◦ Poker Stations (Hollins)
◦ Orientation Quiz Bowl (VT)
◦ Open House (Multiple)
◦ Classic Game Night (Multiple)
◦ Luau (Penn State)
◦ Murder Mystery (Works better in
some places that others)

26. Lets Play an Orientation Game!

27. Keep Em Coming
◦ Karoke Nights
◦ Game Nights
◦ Grilled Cheese
◦ Coffee (Lets just say free food/drink)
◦ Pet Therapy
◦ Photo Booths
◦ Exhibits
◦ Performances
◦ And much more……

30. No matter how large,
well stocked their high
school library was. No
matter how awesome
their high librarian may
have been. A university
library is overwhelming

31. Some statistics: Most
academic libraries have
complete mobile access to
their materials from books
to journals to databases.
Place your screenshot here

32. Place your screenshot here
Universities will have
millions of books
Hundreds of thousands of
e-books
Hundreds of databases
Thousands of journals
These journals produce
over two million articles a
year.

33. Place your screenshot here
This is why it is so
important that we
prepare our high
school seniors.
This is why it is so
important for
college librarians
to collaborate and
work with
freshman classes
Any collaboration
between the two is
gold!

34. A Final Thought
Librarians, whether high school or
college, are all there to aid their
students. In the end they are going to
be okay. But the more we can do to
support them, can only, in the end, help
them.

35. Thanks!
ANY QUESTIONS?
You can find me at
moorefield-lang@sc.edu
@actinginthelib
www.techfifteen.com