Class Reflection, January 30

We spent a lot of time this week revisiting material that we covered last week, which turned out to be a good thing, since most of us didn't actually know what we were talking about when it came to information literacy and (especially) transliteracy. I'm afraid I still don't know what I'm talking about regarding transliteracy, but I think I'm in good company there.

The most interesting part of class was when Kristen asked us to think about and write down the steps we took to complete our most recent research papers and the emotions we felt at each step. Maybe it's because I just can't stop talking about myself, but I found it illuminating to write down the actual process of what I had done. In case you're curious - as I'm sure you are - here is the unedited list:

stress out
pick topic (relief, uncertainty)
explore topic in general (curiosity)
stress out
search databases (stress)
ask for help (accomplished)
refine database search (confident)
start writing (stressed, a little confident)
search more, scrap some sources (looking for specific info) (increasingly confident)
finish writing (2 days before due) (relieved)

Without thinking much about it, I wrote "stress out" twice as distinct steps in my research and writing process. That's probably due in part to the fact that I could see where the lesson was going (Kulthau's findings about the emotional phases of information seeking), but also because as academics, many of us come to understand not just the intellectual processes of writing, but the emotional ones as well. We know when to allow ourselves to feel overwhelmed and when it's time to overcome those feelings and get to work. We know not to really relax until our projects are finished. 

I think that becoming a librarian, someone who helps others with these processes, requires formalizing that innate knowledge. It's a recognition and codification of what has become familiar over time. 

Writing this, I think about teaching my fiance how to cook. I have to remember what used to be new to me, the mistakes I made, and recognize the little things (where the oven rack goes, how to tell if you've set a burner too high) that I can now do without thinking. And this teaching happens as I'm still learning. It seems like teaching another person to learn or to seek information might be a similar balance of recognizing what you don't know and passing on what you do.