Learn how to successfully employ practical techniques that infuse information literacy instruction with humor. How can humor be applied by academic librarians to better teach information literacy? And why is humor such an effective teaching tool? This book provides a cross-disciplinary review of the literature regarding use of humor in tertiary education settings, and specifically in library science; explains its effectiveness for capturing and maintaining student attention when covering necessary subjects; and presents the invaluable personal experiences of instruction librarians across North America who regularly use humor in the classroom. Humor and Information Literacy: Practical Techniques for Library Instruction addresses the subject in both a scholarly and a practical manner. The first section of the book contains original multi-disciplinary essays covering humor in the fields of communication theory, education, library science, psychology, and even stand-up comedy. The second section documents practical techniques that practicing librarians use to teach information literacy with humor, accompanied by commentary by the authors.

This engaging handbook gives students and working scientists and engineers the information literacy skills they need to find, evaluate, and use information. Beginning with a strong foundation in the utility, structure, and packaging of information, this useful handbook helps students and working professionals decode real-world information literacy problems. Mary DeJong provides a compelling context and rationale for the skills scientists and engineers need to succeed in challenging careers that rely on the successful discovering and sharing of complex information. Students will appreciate the in-depth information on sources, especially those needed for research assignments, and scientists and engineers who write for publication will benefit from chapters on searching databases and organizing and citing sources. Written with science and engineering students and professionals in mind, this book is thorough, well-paced, engaging, and even funny.

Every day researchers face an onslaught of irrelevant, inaccurate, and sometimes insidious information. While new technologies provide powerful tools for accessing knowledge, not all information is created equal. Valuable information may be tucked away on a shelf, buried on the hundredth page of search results, or hidden behind digital barriers. With so many obstacles to effective research, it is vital that higher education students master the art of inquiry. Information Now is an innovative approach to information literacy that will reinvent the way college students think about research. Instead of the typical textbook format, it uses illustrations, humor, and reflective exercises to teach students how to become savvy researchers. Students will learn how to evaluate information, to incorporate it into their existing knowledge base, to wield it effectively, and to understand the ethical issues surrounding its use. Written by two library professionals, it incorporates concepts and skills drawn from the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and their Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Thoroughly researched and highly engaging, Information Now offers the tools that students need to become powerful consumers and creators of information. Whether used by a high school student tackling a big paper, an undergrad facing the newness of a university library, or a writer wanting to go beyond Google, Information Now is a powerful tool for any researcher’s arsenal.

Health literacy in practice requires the development of techniques that ensure that the patient can better access information, understand its content, know how to use this information, and make better health decisions. If the patient makes better health decisions, there are immediate reflexes in health outcomes. The aim is to develop an approach based on the commitment and creation of an atmosphere of trust that reduces uncertainty, anxiety, and embarrassment based on a process of assertive, clear, and positive communication (ACP model). The Handbook of Research on Assertiveness, Clarity, and Positivity in Health Literacy brings the consolidation of knowledge, strategies, and techniques to improve health literacy. This book discusses the importance of making sound health decisions: decisions that can save lives, prevent premature deaths, avoid hospitalizations and abusive resources to medical emergencies, and improve overall health outcomes for the individual, family, community, and society. Covering topics such as dietary guidance, health behavior change models, and medication reconciliation, this resource has theoretical and practical aspects essential to health information libraries, hospitals, clinics, health centers, health schools, patient associations, health professionals, medical students, researchers, professors, and academicians.

Two rival businessmen meet in the Warsaw train station. "Where are you going?" says the first man. "To Minsk," says the second. "To Minsk, eh? What a nerve you have! I know you're telling me you're going to Minsk because you want me to think that you're really going to Pinsk. But it so happens that I know you really are going to Minsk. So why are you lying to me?" Four men are walking in the desert. The German says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have a beer." The Italian says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have wine." The Mexican says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have tequila." The Jew says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have diabetes."

This monograph explores the diverse sociopragmatic functions and meanings of humorous discourse in various online contexts affecting its use. To this end, an analytical model is proposed which takes into consideration the aspects of context which are relevant to the production and reception of humor, and hence to its sociopragmatic analysis. The model is employed for addressing research questions such as the following: Why may an utterance/text be intended and perceived as humorous by some speakers and fail for others? How and why may speakers attempt to regulate language use through humor? Why and how may the same humorous utterance/text engender diverse and contradictory interpretations? How do speakers create social groups and project social identities through humor? How could the sociopragmatic analysis of humor form the basis for teaching about humor within a critical literacy framework?

This unique annotated bibliography is a complete, up-to-date guide to sources of information on library science, covering recent books, monographs, periodicals and websites, and selected works of historical importance. In addition to compiling an invaluable list of sources, Bemis digs deeper, examining the strengths and weaknesses of key works. A boon to researchers and practitioners alike, this bibliography Includes coverage of subjects as diverse and vital as the history of librarianship, its development as a profession, the ethics of information science, cataloging, reference work, and library architecture Encompasses encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, photographic surveys, statistical publications, and numerous electronic sources, all categorized by subject Offers appendixes detailing leading professional organizations and publishers of library and information science literature This comprehensive bibliography of English-language resources on librarianship, the only one of its kind, will prove invaluable to scholars, students, and anyone working in the field.

Humor may surface in numerous and diverse contexts, which at the same time determine how humor works, its form, and its functions and consequences for interlocutors. Adopting a sociolinguistic and discourse analytic perspective, this study is aligned with approaches to humor exploring the variety of humorous genres, the wide range of sociopragmatic functions of humor, and the more or less dissimilar perceptions speakers may have concerning what humor is, what it means, and how it works. The chapters of this book propose a new theoretical approach to the analysis of humor by bringing context into focus. Furthermore, the study explores how we can teach about humor within a critical literacy framework creating classroom space for everyday humorous texts that are part of students’ social realities, and simultaneously taking into account that humor may yield multiple, disparaging, and often conflicting interpretations. This book is intended to appeal to humor researchers from various disciplines (such as linguistics, media studies, cultural studies, literary studies, sociology, anthropology, folklore) as well as to professionals or researchers in education.

This book provides a wide spectrum of research on young children’s humor and illuminates the depth and complexity of humor development in children from birth through age 8 and beyond. It highlights the work of pioneers in young children’s humor research including Paul McGhee, Doris Bergen, and Vasu Reddy. Presenting a variety of new perspectives, the book examines such issues as play, humor, laughing and pleasure within the context of learning and development. It looks at humor, wordplay and cartoons that can be used as educational tools in the classroom. Finally, it provides explorations of humor within a cultural and spiritual context. The book presents diverse and creative methods to study humor and provides practical implications for adults working with children. The book offers a powerful springboard for moving research and practice toward a deeper understanding of young children’s humor as an integral and meaningful component of early development and learning.