People Profile: Adam Murray
People Profi le: Adam Murray
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0 Head of Acquisitions, Murray State University 224 Waterfield Library , Murray, KY 42071 Phone: (270) 809-3510 Fax: (270) 809-3736
Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/atg Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation
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Biz of Acq
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hire, the position of Head of Acquisitions was
vacant, resulting in a substantial gap in modern
policies and procedures, especially regarding
electronic resources and collection
assessment. Preliminary steps towards acquiring
an Electronic Resource Management
System (ERM) had been undertaken, including
product demonstrations and the formation of
a planning committee.
Policy gaps had a direct impact on both the
needs of the institution and of the attendee.
Staff members were aware of these
shortcomings, but required a supervisor to suggest
possible solutions; however, the attendee — being
a recent library school graduate — needed
confirmation from professional colleagues as
to the viability of any solutions he suggested.
The attendee also had the added need of an
introduction to the world of library acquisitions
in order to identify concerns of the position
that had not occurred to either himself or his
staff. The author had been on the job for three
months when he attended his first professional
library conference.
This background information provides
context to the application of Kolb’s ELM,
particularly with respect to the concrete
experience stage of the learning process.
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model
The Experiential Learning Model
developed by Kolb (1984) is used as an analytic
framework for this exploration. There are a
number of experiential learning models, such
as those developed by Lewis, Dewey, and
Piaget. Each of these models is based on
the Hegelian notion that learning takes place
through conflict between diametrically
opposed forces. Kolb’s model
posits two conflicts as the
driving force of learning:
concrete experience vs.
abstract
conceptualism, and reflective
observation vs.
active
experimentation.
The
component factors
of these two
d i a l e c t i c s
are also the
stages in the
process of learning. They are outlined in
sequential order below:
• Concrete experience: focuses on
dealing with immediate situations and has
a concern with “the uniqueness and
complexity of present reality as opposed
to theories and generalizations” (Kolb,
1984, p. 68).
• Reflective observation: focuses on
“understanding the meaning of ideas and
situations by carefully observing and
impartially describing them” (Kolb,
1984, p. 68).
• Abstract conceptualization: emphasizes
the creation of general theories rather
against the grain
people profile
u in my Spare time i liKe to:
Read, of all things!
moSt meaningful career achievement:
Mschool…getting a first job!
B.A. – 2001 – university of north carolina at Wilmington.
M.L.I.S. – 2006 – university of north carolina at greensboro .
Since graduating from library
• Active experimentation: practical
applications rather than observation
Individuals tend to emphasize different
parts of this learning process to different
extents, resulting in individual learning styles
based largely on Jungian personality types.
Kolb states that “each of these four
dimensions becomes more highly integrated at higher
stages of [individual] development” (Kolb,
1984, p. 140).
Rather than focusing on individual
learning styles and their integration (there is some
evidence of poor correlations between Kolb’s
learning styles and the Jungian personality
types upon which Kolb based his model), this
paper emphasizes the process by which
learning takes place (Garner, 2000). In Kolb’s
model, concrete experience and abstract
conceptualization are diametrically opposed,
as are reflective observation and active
experimentation, yet these pairs of opposites are
linked by the actions Kolb calls grasping and
transformation, respectively. Kolb states:
The simple perception of experience is not
sufficient for learning; something must be done
with it. Similarly, transformation alone cannot
represent learning, for there must be something
to be transformed, some state or experience that
is being acted upon (Kolb, 1984, p. 42).
From this perspective, Kolb posits the
following working definition of learning:
learning is the process whereby knowledge is
created through the transformation of
experience (Kolb, 1984, p. 38).
For the purposes of this exploration, Kolb’s
ELM was chosen not for its emphasis on the
different individual learning styles, but for
its presentation of the learning process as the
result of two dialectics. This process-oriented
perspective lends itself to an exploration of
learning at the institution level, where
individual learning styles are not taken into account.
Analysis
While this exploration takes the form of a
case study, the methodology utilized does not
warrant calling this a true case study. Despite
this, an attempt was made (...truncated)