LILAC 2014 Teachmeet Abstract

1. Bio bibliography building
Adele Martin-Bowtell, University for the Creative Arts, amartin-bowtell@ucreative.ac.uk
Bio Bibliography Building workshops were formulated in response to an IL need in a unique environment. The
University for the Creative Arts is a specialist arts focused, five campus, institution located across Kent and
Surrey. As well as offering undergraduate, postgraduate and research study opportunities, each site also has a
thriving Further Education department. It was in this department at the Rochester campus that the workshops
were first trialled.
The brief was to create a method of teaching 16 and 17 year olds how to Harvard Reference with the following
stipulations: simplicity, relevance, and practical application. Working alongside the academic team the Librarian
devised a workshop to support a studio project and written essay entitled “Echoes”. The project asked students to
investigate the influences that had shaped both their art and them as individuals. All influences were explored
and so a diverse range of sources were ripe for Harvard Referencing.
This TeachMeet presentation will focus on the challenges of approaching and applying a formal academic
convention to the work of FE art students. It will show how through an innovative approach the issue of
referencing was introduced, removed from its academic parameters and put into practice. It will show how the act
of dissecting the Harvard structure and placing it into grids, made the process clear, easy to identify when
information was missing and thus encouraged students to initiate independent research to complete each
reference. The result was workshop in which students actively engaged and applied a range of IL skills to
produce a personalised, Harvard Referenced, Bibliography of themselves.
Finally this TeachMeet will show how evidence was gathered to assess the impact of this method of teaching and
its outcome.