Charlotte Kadifa, Jaylene Telford, and Amy Gabbert-Montag are working on an oral history and digitization project featuring the work of Hennepin County Library (HCL) catalogers from 1973 to 1999. During this time, the HCL catalogers created a unique and accessible catalog for their users and published their work through the Hennepin County Library Cataloging Bulletin. The digitized Bulletins and oral histories will be available on the HCL Digital Collections website, and a contextualized LibGuide with supplementary digitized materials will be available through St. Kate's library. The team successfully applied for St. Kate's Assistant Mentorship Program and will work on this project throughout the spring semester. 

LIS 7270 Information Literacy in the Digital Age

The project is a paper and presentation on a type of literacy, I chose to present an overview of Indigenous literacy and some examples of how Indigenous American knowledge functions as a form of literacy and advocate for the LIS field to consider forms of literacy outside of traditional Western conceptions.

I learned so much doing research, especially about how Canada has produced more of the research output on this subject, probably due to some specific programs at institutions there.

This project as part of the class really helped me to think about how different people and cultures conceptualize knowledge and literacy, and how we all, especially as LIS professionals, need to be aware of possible ways we are missing knowledge

The class really expands the idea of "literacy", definitely something students should know as they begin their LIS journey.

Professor Lim’s notes: “This paper characterizes indigenous cultural practices as a literacy and argues for librarians’ responsibilities for decolonizing literacy and librarianship. This is a unique and meaningful topic.” 

In Dr. Lim's LIS 7270: Information Literacy in the Digital Age class, MLIS students Rebekah Crosby and Lauren Sampedro completed their final project on older adults' digital media use and digital literacy. They wrote a research paper that explored the characteristics of older adults related to their information literacy and digital technology adoption and use, the types of barriers that hinder digital literacy, and recommended strategies for digital literacy support and instruction. 

One of the biggest takeaways from their research was that older adults are a diverse information user group with a wide range of needs and skills. Many programs fall short in supporting older adults due to the tendency for a one-size-fits all instructional design. They found that purposeful, tailored outreach and programming are needed for older adult user groups to be motivated to participate in the digital environment and have improved digital literacy. 

LIS 7270 greatly benefitted Rebekah and Lauren because it provided a thorough review of the many types of information literacy and literacy perspectives that exist in the digital era and the considerations that go with them. It provided knowledge that is directly applicable to our future careers. One of the most exciting and beneficial elements of the course was the opportunity to develop skills in new digital media. We were able to directly apply what we learned in class through lesson plans we created, focused on topics like how to create a podcast or use ChatGPT. We highly recommend taking this course. The subject matter was intellectually stimulating and very relevant in today's overly digital world. Dr. Lim was also engaging and actively encouraged and influenced thought-provoking discussions during the course. 

Professor Lim's Notes: "This team provided an excellent overview of older adults aged between 50 and 65. The coverage of the topics is comprehensive. I would recommend librarians who work for older adults to read this paper, which profoundly captures the characteristics of older adults encompassing the diversity of this group (regarding skills, attitudes, education, experiences, and barriers), the distinction between ownership and use of technologies, ageism/stereotypes, and barriers!! This paper demonstrates why understanding a targeted audience is important in developing a program suitable for the audience!!"