University Libraries honors Lisa Williams during First Draft event

On Sept. 12, University Libraries honored The Patton College’s Human and Consumer Sciences Assistant Professor Lisa Williams during its third annual “First Draft” event for collaborative efforts in support of teaching and research.

One of six faculty members recognized, Williams was lauded for her promotion of information literacy and library resources in the classroom, as well as her efforts to reduce the cost of course materials for students.

“I am honored to be recognized for implementing library resources into my classes, and I am very thankful to have such a wonderful colleague in Sherri Saines,” said Williams. “It would be difficult to provide these valuable resources without her advocacy for our programs.”

Williams has worked with Saines, Alden Library’s subject librarian for the social sciences, for several years to create library guides for two of her classes: Elementary Textiles and Product Development, Evaluation, and Distribution. Each class meets with Saines to gain hands-on experience working with the library guide and to learn how to use electronic databases and resources they will need for class projects.

“This collaboration is very important to me because it allows me to have a connection with a person who helps to make my courses more current,” said Williams. “The library guides make it easier for my students to understand how to use resources available for projects and to have a centralized location in which they can access that information.”

This past summer, Williams and Saines took their collaboration a step further, developing a digital reading list for Williams’ CONS 2500: Families as Consumers in Global Communities class. As a result, Williams was able to eliminate the textbook for the course.

“Sherri and I worked with a shared Google Sheet and uploaded readings that we had both found so that I could review them to make sure they were relevant to the weekly content of the class,” explained Williams.

Dr. Chris Guder, Alden Library subject librarian for education, created links for the readings that students could access in Blackboard. Williams replicated this process for other courses.

Drs. Ashwini Ganeshan (College of Arts & Sciences), Bayyinah Jeffries (Arts & Sciences), Jennie Klein (Fine Arts), Richard Wetzel (Fine Arts), and Rebekah Crawford (College of Health Sciences and Professions) were also honored at the event, which was held on the fourth floor of Alden Library.

Faculty members were nominated by librarians for promoting the Libraries’ goals, including student information literacy, lowering the cost of course materials, and supporting teaching and research.