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My next session at ALA was titled, Making Information Literacy Instruction Meaningful through Creativity. A team of three speakers, Randy Hensley from Baruch College, City University of New York, Beth Woodard from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Dane Ward from Illinois State University took turns introducing elements which they felt impacted learning and facilitated creativity. A couple of their suggestions were:

Wonder – Try to engage the listener’s imagination. Randy Hensley advised to “start in an unusual place.” He illustrated this point by beginning this segment with a song (he CAN sing).

Empathy – Listen closely to who the listener is. It was suggested that teaching research should start with a class on Google because that’s what students use and then enhance the knowledge they already have.

Monday morning I attended, Copyright and Digital Media in a Web 2.0 World, with Dr. Rebecca Butler from Northern Illinois University. This session was packed with people looking for copyright guidance. Some of us sat on the floor and others stood. Dr. Butler suggested that copyright is the “convergence between law and ethics.” Her favorite phrase in answering copyright questions is, “it depends.” She talked about the vagaries of copyright law but used flow charts which were VERY helpful in mapping the options available for different scenarios. Dr. Butler answered many questions. Her insight and patience made for an appreciative audience. Her book, Copyright for Teachers and Librarians, is in our reference collection.

Monday afternoon I headed out with Susan, Mary Beth, Molly and Carolyn on the bike tour of New Orleans. Despite the thunder, lightning and rain, it was a great tour! Later that afternoon, Mary Beth and I headed home and again had the cooperation of the weather and automobiles until we got to North Carolina where we were greeted by a downpour. All in all it was a great adventure and a great conference.