Libraries, Archives and Technology in Post-Modern Times

My interest in the moral and ethical use of technology has led me to publish papers such as Moral and Ethical Concerns of the Online Environment, Halakhah and Netiquette, and Women and Responsible Use of the Online Environment, as to remain silent puts society at great risk.

On one hand, biotechnology has promoted the longevity and quality of life.  For example, organ transplants and pain elimination enhance the value provided by the medical profession. Soon, advances in stem cell research and cloning may allow engineered biological enhancements (such as eye implants to enable night vision) and end diseases through reverse genetic engineering. Thus, we understand Friedrich Hölderlin’s poetic verse in “Patmos”: “Where the danger is, there is the saving power too.” Of course, these new scientific advances raise many important ethical and moral questions in the rapid advance of biotechnology. See, for instance, our LibGuides on: Humanistic Medicine, Jewish Ethics, Jews in Medicine, Internet and Online Ethics, and Philosophy of Science. 

2017 Customer Satisfaction Survey: Addressing Your Concerns (Part II)

In this second part of the Customer Satisfaction Survey, we will share with you some of your feedback and concerns.

Some of your responses to “What do you like most about the library?” are as follows:

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The friendly and helpful library staff

Online access to scholarly journals

Large selection of databases

Organized and quiet place to study  

That it is accessible from my home workplace

Since the main purpose of the annual survey is to give our users an opportunity to hear their voices, we also asked, “What do you least like about the library?”

2017 Customer Satisfaction Survey: The Results Are In! (Part I)

In December, we ran our annual User Satisfaction Survey asking students, faculty, and staff about their experiences with Touro libraries over the past year. We strive to provide the best possible service, so your feedback is very important to us. Check out the results of the survey below, and let us know any additional thoughts you have in the comments.

We are very happy to announce that over 94% of you said that the service Touro Libraries provide meets or exceeds “your expectations for an excellent library.” We had 205 respondents this year. So thank you for your positive feedback!

Fostering Critical Thinking and Information Literacy Skills: An Inquiry into What Librarians Could Do to Support Students

Since I have been teaching critical thinking and informal logic online for a number of years now (and I have a first-hand account of how both courses are beneficial for students in many different ways), as well as having taught several library orientations at Touro College, I have become curious regarding how aspects of critical thinking skills could be fostered and applied to the arena of information literacy, and how both aspects could be beneficial to our students’ information needs.  And rather than relying on the information literacy prevalent on various websites, I want to explore the topic with few outside sources, free of influence from such sites.  Hence, the aim of this short essay is an inquiry into the overlap and/or intersection between information literacy, critical thinking, and the ways such an inquiry into both areas could be beneficial to our students.