Live Stream TLA Discussion Forum 11/6, 2-3pm EST: Information Literacy in the Performing Arts: What’s Happening in Your Instruction?
Are you curious about what types of instruction colleagues are doing to support performing arts-based information literacy development? Join the Theatre Library Association’s Events and Programming Committee for their next online discussion, “Information Literacy in the Performing Arts: What’s Happening in Your Instruction?” as we welcome two colleagues who have explored some different approaches in their teaching. Read more below for descriptions of the presentations and our colleagues’ bios.
We welcome you to join us on Friday, November 6 from 2:00-3:00pm EST. Bring your questions as we will engage in a Q&A session after the presentations. To register, please go to this form. The forum is available synchronously for all attendees, and a recording will be made available to TLA members afterwards. A Zoom link and Outlook calendar invite will be sent to registered RSVPs closer to the event.
Laureen Cantwell-Jurkovic – Close Reading’s Role in Performing Arts Information Literacy
Over the past year, since starting my role as the Humanities & Multidisciplinary Librarian at Vassar College, I have been surprised by requests to lead in-class instruction sessions focused on “close reading” rather than more traditional “information literacy” (IL) instruction activities. While there are a number of factors behind faculty requesting this kind of instructional interaction with their students, it’s generated some internal debate: Is this my role? Is this something I [can] teach? Is this [part of] information literacy instruction? Largely, I’ve come to the point of answering “Yes” to all of those questions, at this institution and at this moment in time. This presentation will share a close reading activity I did with a Sources of World Drama course, why and how I did it, and how this activity — and students’ opportunities to replicate it throughout the semester — contributes to students’ information literacy development and more.
Laureen Cantwell-Jurkovic is the Humanities & Multidisciplinary Librarian at Vassar College, where she also did her undergraduate work, and currently liaises with Drama (as well as English, Film, Religion, Jewish Studies, Hispanic Studies, Latinx Studies, Italian, and Dance). She has a MSLIS from Drexel University and a PhD in Information Science from the University at Buffalo. She lives in Poughkeepsie, NY, with her husband (Misha) and (super awesome) cat (Arthur).
Stephanie Bonjack – An Embarrassment of Riches: Using Primary Source Databases in Performing Arts Instruction
I am always interested in finding ways to incorporate primary source content into instruction sessions. Recently, I was asked to teach a class on dance research methods and decided to focus on historical newspapers and magazines because the students had fin de siècle topics. What I discovered is there is a wealth of content in the fashion literature (!), and I ended up combining that with historical newspapers from our region to help students get into these types of materials and view content through multiple lenses. In this talk, I will share examples and go through my process of teaching these materials.
Stephanie Bonjack is the Music, Theatre & Dance Librarian at the University of Colorado Boulder. She writes and presents on topics related to collections, discovery, and cultural heritage. She serves on the board of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres and currently serves on the interim Board of the Theatre Library Association.