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DSU's Smith to present at national convention

Madison – Risë Smith, public services librarian and associate professor with the Karl Mundt Library at Dakota State University, will be one of fifty presenters at the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) national annual conference in Nashville, TN this March.

The ACRL is an association which represents over 11,000 professionals in academic and research libraries. According to the ACRL, its mission is to provide leadership for development, promotion, and improvement of academic and research library resources and services to facilitate learning, research, and the scholarly learning process.

Smith is a member of ACRL and sent an abstract in for the call for papers for the conference. Over 200 applicants were received by ACRL, but fewer than one-fourth were accepted for presentations.

Smith's presentation, “Philosophical shift: Teach the faculty to teach information literacy”, focuses on how librarians should train and assist the faculty to teach information literacy in their classrooms. Smith believes a “teach the teacher” approach provides a way of reaching more students in more courses, and the faculty are better able to keep their own information seeking skills up-to-date.

Smith was also elected this Fall as Vice-President/President-elect of the South Dakota Library Association. She will serve the association for the next three years beginning as Vice-President, following as President where she will plan and coordinate the annual convention, and finishing as Past President.

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