Presentation Types
Lightning Talk
Start Date
27-10-2020 12:30 PM
End Date
27-10-2020 12:40 PM
Keywords
Collaborative Assignments and Projects, Undergraduate Research, Internships
Description
Small liberal arts colleges often showcase high impact practices like student-faculty research and service learning on their websites. But too often these opportunities are limited to only a few exceptional students on a given campus. Libraries can help provide their communities with more opportunities for students to engage in high impact practices through practicums. Lewis & Clark’s Watzek Library has offered practicums in exhibit creation, software development, archival processing, oral history, data curation and other activities. The practicums are faculty-sponsored and library-led and give the student a mentored practical and intellectual experience. Depending on the practicum, they can involve writing, collaboration, community-based learning, and a practical work experience akin to an internship. With a willing faculty collaborator, it’s also possible to bring some aspects of these experiences into regular coursework.
Mark Dahl is director of the Aubrey R. Watzek Library at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. After completing graduate work at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, he began his professional career in libraries in 1998 as a systems and technical services librarian at Central Oregon Community College. He moved to Lewis & Clark College in 2001 where he established the digital initiatives program and gradually took on greater administrative responsibilities, becoming director in 2012. His interests in the field include digital projects, data services, library space, consortia, library collections and the changing role of the liberal arts college library. In October 2019, he served as a Fulbright Specialist for strategic planning for the National Library of Kosovo.
How libraries can increase the number of opportunities for students to engage in high impact practices on their campus
Small liberal arts colleges often showcase high impact practices like student-faculty research and service learning on their websites. But too often these opportunities are limited to only a few exceptional students on a given campus. Libraries can help provide their communities with more opportunities for students to engage in high impact practices through practicums. Lewis & Clark’s Watzek Library has offered practicums in exhibit creation, software development, archival processing, oral history, data curation and other activities. The practicums are faculty-sponsored and library-led and give the student a mentored practical and intellectual experience. Depending on the practicum, they can involve writing, collaboration, community-based learning, and a practical work experience akin to an internship. With a willing faculty collaborator, it’s also possible to bring some aspects of these experiences into regular coursework.
Mark Dahl is director of the Aubrey R. Watzek Library at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. After completing graduate work at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, he began his professional career in libraries in 1998 as a systems and technical services librarian at Central Oregon Community College. He moved to Lewis & Clark College in 2001 where he established the digital initiatives program and gradually took on greater administrative responsibilities, becoming director in 2012. His interests in the field include digital projects, data services, library space, consortia, library collections and the changing role of the liberal arts college library. In October 2019, he served as a Fulbright Specialist for strategic planning for the National Library of Kosovo.