Baruch College, Newman Library, Room 415

February 28, 2003, 2pm-4pm

Members in Attendance:

Francine Egger-Sider, LaGuardia

Alexandra de Luise, Queens

Susan Voge, Lehman

Scott Johnston, Graduate Center

Jerry Bornstein, Baruch

Mounir Khalil, City College

David Koenigstein, Bronx

Marion Prudlo, Borough of Manhattan

Michael Adams, Graduate Center

Jaqueline A. Gill, City College

Holly Hutton

Edward Owusu-Ansah, Staten Island

Meeting commenced at 2pm.

Members introduced themselves, and Mounir Khalil of City College proceeded to introduce the guest presenter, Holly Hutton, doctoral student (English), with the Graduate School and on a project at City College. Khalil also explained the background to the creation of the idea to be the subject of the presentation. He submitted the flow chart idea was the product of a desire to reach and get students to embark on independent research, with the aid of an instrument that was always at their disposal, and self-explanatory enough to facilitate easy understanding and use.

Agenda:

Re: Agenda item 1: Holy Hutton presented on a flow chart approach to guiding students to required research material, guiding them to resources on the basis of their specific needs, and providing further detail and navigational skills for those resources.

Questions following the presentation focused on specific suggestions and their rationale, while comments aimed at improving the effectiveness of the instrument. Khalil indicated an openness to further comments and suggestions, and asked members to address those to him.

Re: Agenda item 2: Regarding the exchange of experiences and solutions on Aleph instruction, many found the new catalog did not produce any exceptional instructional challenges that couldn’t be handled with a concentration on transferable skills over an insistence on teaching the detailed nuances of a specific tool. Problems remained, but appeared manageable within the instructional context.

Other matters and issues:

Members suggested the following items for future discussion:

Presentation and discussion of the instructional programs of our respective colleges.
How to get subject faculty more interested in our instructional services?
How do we assess the benefits of our instructional services?
Collaborating with colleagues for better teaching.

Above item 1 was unanimously selected to be the subject of the March 28 meeting. Members agreed to keep on thinking of topic for further consideration.

Meeting adjourned at 4pm.

Submitted by:

Edward Owusu-Ansah

Chair