ILU Committee Meeting Minutes
OISE meeting room 3-211 (OISE MIL)
November 20, 2013, 9:30a.m. – 11:00a.m.
Present: Jenaya Webb (OISE, Chair), Monique Flaccavento (OISE, minutes), Tracy
Zahradnik (Dentistry / Engineering & Computer Science), Nathan Wolfe (iSchool student),
John Bolan (Law), Sooin Kim (Law), Sheril Hook (UTM), Heather Buchansky (Robarts), Kate
Johnson (UTSC), Sarah Fedko (UTSC), Kathleen Scheaffer (iSchool), Caleb Domsy (iSchool
student), Roma Kail (Victoria College), Courtney Lundrigan (Trinity), Richard Carter (St.
Mike’s), Cris Sewerin (Engineering & Computer Science), Rita Vine (Robarts), Eveline
Houtman (Robarts)
Regrets: Susan Barker (Law), Carla Hagstrom (Gerstein)
1. Selection of a secretary – Monique Flaccavento volunteered to take minutes
2. Minutes of the last two meetings


September – Approved without corrections
October – Approved without corrections
3. Business arising from the minutes – no business arising
4. Brief roundtable of IL initiatives and updates - deferred until January
5. Self-awareness inventory questions (Sheril Hook)














UTM’s self-awareness inventories are administered in Bb
Self-awareness inventories can be administered at any time – they don’t
have to be administered during class time
Announcements are sent out via Bb on specified dates – these can be
entered into the system ahead of time
Responses use Likert scales, as there are no right / wrong answers when it
comes to self-awareness
A very small percentage of the course’s participation grade is awarded to
those who complete the assessments.
Inventories have excellent completion rates.
Questions are based on assignments, and the skills required to successfully
complete each assignment.
Assessments use library terms such as “Boolean”
SAILS questions (https://www.projectsails.org/SampleQuestions), which
have right / wrong answers, are also included
The Writing Centre included questions from UDLES which have been
modified as needed
Student responses are automatically populated in the Bb grading system
Feedback can be provided for students (e.g. suggesting additional
resources, etc.)
Data from self-awareness inventories is made available to library and
writing centre instructors before they meet with classes, to help with
session planning
Data can also be shared with faculty
Page 1 of 4




The assessments raise awareness among students about the implied skills
needed to complete assignments
Data is available for each student, so theoretically, it should be possible to
compare student self-awareness inventories with student grades.
Anyone who is interested in viewing / using the self-awareness inventories
should contact Sheril Hook.
Please see attachments that were distributed via the ILU listserv for
additional information.
6. Jenaya introduced iSchool student Caleb Domsy
7. CTSI seconded librarians activities updates (John Bolan)
John noted that the final report for the year of librarians seconded to CTSI had been
distributed via listserv, and highlighted some of the activities included in the report.
Upcoming activities / initiatives include:




Considering how to increase librarian participation in the Annual Teaching
and Learning Symposium
Development of an online plagiarism tutorial
Practice exchanges
Further exploration of the library’s role in curriculum development and
program review
Jenaya suggested that John provide monthly updates at ILU on behalf of the librarians
seconded to CTSI.
8. Proposed topics for future Practice Exchange sessions (John Bolan)




John suggested that practice exchange sessions be structured with a goal in
mind. For instance, for a practice exchange session on teaching higher level
information literacy concepts, it would be great to come out of the session with
an agreement about how to move forward.
A list of possible topics for future practice exchange sessions was distributed via
the ILU listserv
Are there other topics which should be added to the list? Suggestions from
Committee members included:
o Peer learning
o Partnerships with community organizations outside of UofT (service
learning)
o Development opportunities
Kate Johnson suggested it might be interesting to invite participants to watch a
video or read an article before each practice exchange session.
9. Update on the teaching resources consolidation project (Nathan Wolfe, iSchool
practicum student)



Nathan introduced the new Drupal site which consolidates teaching resources for
librarians
Nathan will be finished adding content in approximately 2 weeks
The site will be linked through the staff intranet
Page 2 of 4

Instructions will be posted on how to upload and share resources
10. Expansion of assignment calculator (Sarah Fedko and Rita Vine)




The assignment calculator has been on the main UTL page for some time
Rita reported that there has been interest from the Registrar about making
some modifications to the assignment calculator so that it is more St. George
inclusive
The goal is to make recommendations on these modifications to ILU by
February, and to complete updates by the summer
Jenaya and Eveline (maybe) have volunteered to help inject St. George
content
11. Screencast workshop and potential development of centralized UTL YouTube
channel (Heather Buchansky and Kate Johnson)














Heather has created a LibGuide on screencasting
(http://guides.library.utoronto.ca/screencasting)
A workshop will be offered at UTSC for librarians December 5th, 1-3pm, on best
practices for screencasting, including accessibility.
Kate and Heather will send out a message regarding the workshop; they will also
connect with Christina Toulias-Santolin as this may be of interest to those in the
Mentorship Interest Group
Heather and Kate are happy to deliver the workshop at other libraries
Sarah said she’d be happy to share information about librarian instruction PD
sessions at UTSC with ILU, in case anyone is interested in attending
Jenaya proposed a workshop on screencasting for ILU in January
Heather and Kate reported that 6-7 libraries at UofT are consistently creating
screencasts
They would like to create a centralized YouTube Channel. For an example,
please see the University of Houston Libraries:
http://www.youtube.com/user/uhlibraries
Each library could have its own playlist in a centralized channel.
It’s possible to create feature channels and list library channels on the side.
Another possibility would be to embed library widgets.
Google analytics is available for YouTube videos.
UTL bumpers (title page; end page) could be created for consistency.
Kate and Heather also suggested that recommendations re: metadata be
provided to screencast creators so that YouTube videos are more discoverable.
12. Report from the Bb Collaborate pilot project working group (Jenaya Webb and
Monique Flaccavento)
Jenaya and Monique presented highlights of the Bb Collaborate Working Group’s report.




13 UTL librarians explored Bb Collaborate over the summer to determine whether
it would be a suitable tool for the delivery of large-scale “one-shot” library
instruction.
9 “Getting Started @ the University of Toronto Libraries” sessions were offered in
September / October – 6 online, and 3 in-person.
The target audience for sessions was students new to the university.
Registration was higher for in-person sessions than online sessions.
Page 3 of 4




The only online session with high registration numbers was offered at 8:10pm.
Attendance rates were much higher for in-person sessions than online sessions.
The Working Group encountered a number of technical issues / limitations with Bb
Collaborate.
The Working Group did not feel that Bb Collaborate was a suitable tool, and
suggested that another working group should be struck to explore alternative
software options.
Jenaya will distribute the report to the Committee - Please see the report of the Working
Group for a full list of observations, recommendations, etc.
Jenaya asked if anyone would be interested in participating in a working group to follow
up on the Working Group’s recommendations (to explore software options for
synchronous online learning; to learn more about student preferences regarding online
learning; etc.) Monique, Eveline, and Heather all volunteered.
Rita suggested that the report first be forwarded to CTSI before any further action be
taken.
13. PD Day update





Registration is full – there is a waiting list.
The event will be held in the Blackburn Room; a catered lunch will be served in
the Reference workroom.
Char Booth’s hotel and flight have been arranged.
Char will have to leave quickly after the event to catch a flight.
Char has asked people to complete a pre-course survey.
14. Other business
a) Proposed item for January meeting: Strategic plan road show?
Jenaya will ask Julie and Sian to talk to ILU in the new year re: the strategic plan. This will
provide an opportunity to look back at ILU’s goals and suggestions and to think about
how these fit into the plan.




b) Webinar for LibGuides 2
There is a LibGuides Advisory Group. Members include Eveline, Sheril, and Susan
Barker.
UTL is considering switching to LibGuides 2 in April.
One change is that images may need to be redone.
Detailed instructions will follow.
15. Next ILU meeting: January 15, 2014
Page 4 of 4