Authors at OU 2009: Celebration of the Journal Article

In the fourth year of an increasingly important Oakland University tradition Kresge Library hosted its Authors at OU event. The 2007-2008 publications of authors in the genre of the journal article were honored. Nearly 70 articles were listed in the program for the event and the text of all were on display. The reception honored the efforts of all the authors of these articles. Two articles were chosen to represent the totality, and their authors invited to discuss their work.

Elizabeth Kraemer and Shawn Lombardo, both Associate Professors in Kresge Library, spoke about their article "The Librarian, the Machine, or a Little of Both: A Comparative Study of Three Information Literacy Pedagogies at Oakland University," (published in College and Research Libraries in 2007). In this study the benefits of live teaching, blending live and online instruction, and all online instruction were studied with respect to information literacy instruction in Rhetoric 160 classes. Professors Kraemer and Lombardo discussed the methodology and results which indicated that a human presence, most particularly with blended instruction, was clearly superior in outcome to all-online instruction. The issues raised by their research were clearly of interest to the audience who offered several questions.

Natalie Cole, Professor of English, spoke on her work "Dickens and Gender: Recent Studies, 1992-2007" as published in Dickens Studies Annual in 2008. She wittily shared with the audience the challenges posed by a comprehensive literature review on such a challenging topic. She conveyed the joys, occasional frustrations, and ultimate satisfaction of the journey of scholarship itself. Professor Cole showed a catholicity of perspective and a droll manner of conveying her results such that many in the audience were convinced that this was perhaps the most thoroughly entertaining "review of the literature" ever. Professor Cole showed the same good humor in answering the numerous questions and comments from the audience after her presentation.

After this highly successfully event, attended by approximately 80 members of the campus community, eyes turned to the 2010 Authors at OU event, where the book will be celebrated. Come join us on March 24, 2010, at 2PM, on the fourth floor of Kresge Library to hear Linda Benson, Professor, History, discuss her book Across China's Gobi, and Valerie Palmer-Mehta, Associate Professor, Communication, discuss two book chapters on the topic of reality television.