PsycINFO Volume 27 ISSUE 3 2008

Anne Wade Selected as 2008 Recipient of APA Award

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e are very pleased to introduce Anne Wade, MLIS, winner of APA’s 2008 Excellence in Librarianship Award. The award was presented at the Educational & Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS) Research Forum at the annual meeting of the American Library Association on June 27, 2008.

Anne Wade (right) accepts the APA 2008 Excellence in Librarianship Award from Susan Hillson, Manager, PsycINFO Customer Relations.

In this issue 1 Anne Wade Recipient of APA Award

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Using

PsycCritiques for Research and Instruction  PA Style Tips and A Resources: Citing Blogs

Wade is Manager and Information Specialist at the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP), located at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Over the course of her career she has worn many hats—often on the leading edge of her evolving profession—and juggled quite a few at once. Currently, she spearheads the collaborative Inquiry Strategies for the Information Society in the Twenty-First Century, a project to design and develop interactive multimedia to support teachers of information literacy skills. She is also an Information Retrieval Specialist for both CSLP and the Campbell Collaboration, an international provider of evidenced-based research regarding social welfare, education, and crime and justice. In addition, she is a Sessional Lecturer, an author, a frequent presenter at a variety of conferences, and a Director on the Board of the Quebec Library Association. She shared a few insights about her career and her views on the current state of the profession.

You’ve been a key member of the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP) since its founding almost 20 years ago. What can you tell us about CSLP and your role there? You know, if I had sat in one position all these years, I would never have lasted. I think it is the diversity and the constant challenges that have kept me at the CSLP all this time . . . and the people, of course.

Out of your many “hats,” do you have a favorite? The role of “educator” is what I most enjoy. I love to present our Information and Communication Technology projects to the educational community, train systematic reviewers in how to perform the information retrieval phase of a review, and teach undergraduate students how to conduct research. . . . I still feel like I have a lot to learn in terms of how to successfully “teach” and convey knowledge to others. Maybe that’s why I enjoy it so much—I’m still learning every day.

You were a keynote speaker at a conference in Finland on e-portfolios earlier this year and have been actively involved in a number of continued on page 2

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Anne Wade Selected as 2008 Recipient of APA Award continued from page 1

interesting technologies. Are there some that you’re especially excited about? The CSLP is uniquely advantaged, as we have both a Design Art and a doctoral program in Educational Technology at Concordia University on which we can draw. Our teams have developed very powerful and engaging web-based software, and our evidence-based interactive tools . . . have targeted the development of early literacy and self-regulated learning and will shortly target information literacy skills. The fact that we can make the tools freely and widely available over the web has tremendous potential in terms of the impact in classrooms around the world. What we are learning in our meta-analyses on distance education is that a blended approach (some F2F, some online learning) with lots of interactivity is critical. Our studies on uses of ABRACADABRA (the early literacy tool) have been very positive.

How did you come to choose your profession? I was originally enrolled in a preservice teacher education program—this was in the early ’80s, and there were no teaching jobs, so I switched over to a Psychology/ Business joint major, thinking I was interested in organizational behavior. When I decided to pursue graduate work I considered library science for two main reasons: I was very interested in information storage and retrieval, and I loved the training/education component of library work. I saw great potential in this field, especially given that personal computers were becoming affordable around this time. Yet my mother claims I went into Library Science because it didn’t have an entrance exam. We still argue about this.

Have there been any major turning points in your career? Hmmm, good question. I would have to say, no. My career has continually evolved over the 20 years, with each stage feeding into the next. And I have enjoyed every step along the way for different reasons. To a great extent, I owe my career opportunities to the fact that the CSLP has grown significantly over the years, and also to the Director of the CSLP, an educational psychologist who has been a firm believer in the importance of our profession and has actively supported and encouraged me throughout my career.

What are the areas you hope to focus on in the coming years? Where do you see the movement toward social networking going?   Without a doubt, there are two areas that I hope to focus on in the near term: Information Literacy and the education of systematic reviewers regarding the challenges associated with information retrieval in the social

sciences. I am extremely excited about our new project entitled Inquiry Skills for the Information Society in the 21st Century (ISIS-21). This is a collaborative venture with an English school board in Montreal and a nonprofit education organization called LEARN—but we also have school boards and ministries from around Canada (and I hope the U.S. too) that are very excited about this project. We are developing a web-based prototype designed to teach Information Literacy skills. ISIS-21 will provide an online environment for elementary students to conduct their research, with scaffolding (for teachers and students) along the way. The full ISIS-21 project is very broad in scope, as we hope to develop a tool for teachers, parents, school librarians, and students from late elementary right through to high school graduation, and maybe to college age students too. There is a huge gap in our educational system, as information literacy skills aren’t currently being taught, and there is a strong need for a tool such as this. Our challenge will be how to engage students as they go through the inquiry process, given they are accustomed to the 15-minute Google search. The other challenge will be learning about where and how social networking fits with all of this. You know, I wish I had an intelligent answer regarding the impact of social networking—I just don’t. I watch my 11-year old daughter on Facebook and MSN chat nightly, and I scratch my head. I really don’t know where this is all going. And I know it has relevance in terms of our ISIS-21 project. I’m just not sure how . . . yet.

What would you say to someone entering the knowledge professional field today? You have selected an extremely quick-paced and exciting profession that presents a diversity of opportunities. Make sure to keep an open mind, and don’t stand on the side lines.

To a freshman walking into a university library for the first time? Whatever you do, take a course or a workshop on developing research skills before you even step inside a classroom.

Is there anything you’d like to add for our readers? Only to thank APA for this wonderful recognition of my work. I do accept the award on behalf of all the people I work with at the CSLP, at the Campbell Collaboration, and within the educational community.

Issue 3 2008

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Using PsycCRITIQUES for Research and Instruction

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sycCRITIQUES, the American Psychological Association’s full-text database of reviews of books, films, and other media with content relevant to psychology, is a valuable resource for students looking for research topics and faculty seeking textbooks. It’s also a tool that subject specialists can use to identify topics in the news that can be used for tip sheets and training guides.

Using PsycCRITIQUES for Evidence-Based Research

Finding Topical Information for Classroom Use

A student is seeking an authoritative book about evidence-based psychotherapy research but wants to know how well received the book is by reviewers. Searching PsycCRITIQUES for the phrase “evidence based” and “psychotherapy” in the title of the reviewed item retrieves six reviews, one of which looks particularly relevant. When the PsycCRITIQUES record is viewed, there is a link to the full-text review and to the PsycINFO record of the book being reviewed.

A faculty member who is teaching a class dealing with suicide can find reviews of videos and popular films by searching PsycCRITIQUES using the search term Suicide and limiting to the Document Type Review-Media. Results include both reviews of a video about suicidal adolescent boys

and a popular film about the last days of a rock star, loosely patterned after the suicide of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the band Nirvana:

When the link to the original book record is opened, the student can view the book record and also link to the full-text PDFs of each of the chapters.

APA is featuring a sample review each month on the PsycCRITIQUES web site at www.apa.org/psyccritiques. For more information, please contact [email protected].

For updates on upcoming exhibits and conferences and for the Customer Relations training schedule, please visit us at www.apa.org/librarians/exhibits/html

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Issue 3 2008

APA Style Tips and Resources: Citing Blogs

“I

know, Honey, I’m dancing as fast as I can,” actress Mamie von Doren famously replied to her boyfriend, pitcher Bo Belinsky, when he told her his curfew at spring training camp was fast approaching. It’s a sentiment many of us share as we quick step to stay abreast of an ever-expanding world of data and means of access to that information. How to reliably cite new and changing technologies is one of the greatest challenges all of the major style guides are encountering, as the people behind the guides scramble to tease out current best practices and predict future ones.

For example, we’ve had a number of queries lately from people interested in the proper way to reference and cite a Weblog post. Here’s an example from our Style Guide to Electronic References:

 fy. (2007, January 22). Re: The unfortunate prerequisites and b consequences of partitioning your mind. Message posted to http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/

So let’s look at an example and see how it fits into our template above. Citation Content

Element Name

bfy

Author

If the author’s full name is available, then use the standard style with the last name followed by initials. But if only a screen name is available, use the screen name.

Date

Provide the exact date of the posting, as such entries are by nature ephemeral, and the greatest degree of specificity is helpful.

Title

As Weblogs do not (generally) have titles, use the subject line of the message, not italicized. If there is an identifier for the message (for example, Video file) place it in brackets [ ] after the title.

Publication

Provide the web address of the archived version of the message.

who what It is important to stress that where(2007, January developing new standards is an ongoing task, and gray areas do (and en 22) h will) remain, but the foundation of w APA reference principle is solid: The function of the reference and citation hor t is to ensure that a reader wanting to u a retrieve sources and replicate research Re: The will be reliably pointed to the exact e t unfortunate a d source used. At their most basic prerequisites and level, our references have a who, of when, what, where format: an author title consequences partitioning your element, a date element, a title element, and a publication element. Sometimes one of these must do publ mind. double duty (for example, a book with no author or editor will have the title in the author position), but in general, all of our references—new and old—will somehow fit into that mold.

Questions about the evolution of our reference style come to us from authors, students, writing professors, and librarians. They come in many ways: made in person at conferences, by phone, via e-mail, and even occasionally by someone walking into the Journals or Books Department at the APA. We always try to give an answer to the individual with the question. In addition, we maintain an APA Style website (http://apastyle.apa.org/) that provides Style Tips and Frequently Asked Questions sections, and we also regularly put out new products, such as the APA Style Guide to Electronic References, which came out last year. We would like to showcase some of your questions and our replies in the PsycINFO News.

Message posted to http:// scienceblogs. com/pharyngula

Explanation

Because the shelf life of a Weblog entry is short, you may or may not find the message you’re looking for. This uncertainty suggests that great caution should be used in relying on them as a source in scholarly writing. But the reader now has all the information available to find that particular entry, if it’s there to be found. Have a reference question of your own? Or like to weigh in on a decision that has been made in an APA publication about a reference? We’re always happy to hear from you. Send your style questions to [email protected].

PsycINFO PsycINFO News is published six times per year by PsycINFO American Psychological Association • 750 First Street, NE • Washington, DC 20002-4242 Telephone: 800.374.2722 • 202.336.5650 • Fax: 202.336.5633 E-mail: [email protected] • Web: www.apa.org/psycinfo Printed in the United States of America. All organization, product, or service names mentioned are ­trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Graphical software interfaces appearing in illustrations herein are copyright © by their manufacturers.