Todd Heldt’s work as a librarian focuses on the development of open educational resources and the teaching of critical thinking, source analysis, and research practices.
LIS101 Information Literacy Resource Site
LIS101 is Todd Heldt’s open educational resource that introduces information literacy through critical evaluation, source analysis, and research practice. The site is designed for flexible use in both classroom instruction and independent learning.
Visit the LIS101 Information Literacy Resource Site.
Open Educational Resources
Librarians encounter daily the challenge of students struggling to afford required course materials, which can impede academic success. This page is intended for educators interested in providing more affordable, accessible options for their students.
Visit my Transitioning to OER page.
My Vision for Information Literacy Instruction
The role of academic librarians is changing. The information landscape has become entirely too complex to expect that students will learn enough in a one-hour library session to competently use information to complete academic, job, and life tasks. Students need comprehensive, immersive instruction.
A Brief Essay on AI and Libraries
Artificial Intelligence is changing libraries and services. While recent articles I have read focus on products that streamline librarian workflows or change how patrons interact with the collection, the more important question is how AI is affecting our relationship to knowledge. People tend to talk about AI as a tool—either for good or bad—something that does something for us. Chatbots answer virtual reference requests, and Claude summarizes and synthesizes articles for students. And that’s great, but it is also the problem. A professor friend of mine joked once that he was going to create a grading bot that would mark up student papers. He said, “Why not? They aren’t writing the papers, so why should I read them?” As amusing as the idea of one large language model grading another large language model’s work is, we’d have to admit we had lost the thread. But even if the actual scenario is never quite as absurd as the one I imagine, in becoming dependent on AI, we risk losing our willingness to learn, our ability to do, and ultimately the community that creates knowledge.
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