Last Wednesday I saved a file on my computer – an incomplete draft of a document to post on our library blog.  I just took a quick look at it this afternoon since my PDA (remember those) showed that today I was supposed to submit an item.  I had written about information literacy, my thoughts on its role in the four basic liberal arts skills in first-year seminars (I’m going to be teaching a section of FYS this fall) and how much more is involved with information literacy (and its integral companion skill, critical thinking) than the academic research aspects of locating and evaluating information.  On re-reading, I liked one sentence:  “In fact, most of the information we encounter or seek out may only indirectly find its way into our academic writing, or more likely, not enter into the academic realm at all.”

I just took a look at my recent web browser history (which includes Google searches.)  Items include:  This is Hardcore Fest, August 9, 10, 11, 12 2012; H20 (American Band) Wikipedia; Whiners of Average Intelligence (from the Chronicle of Higher Education); Services for Faculty (SMCM Library); ProQuest Migration Platform Center; USA Basketball: 2012 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team Roster; Home – LibGuides at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.  Just did a search for a friend on Philadelphia Arts Alliance to get to “Shiny Monsters.”

I can connect the dots.  I can explain why each of these sites was of interest, and why they each contributed to the ongoing creation of me – the “who I am” in terms of what I “know” or think about.  I can tell you why I trust the information I found.  I don’t expect anything that I found will be cited by me in any type of academic paper.