Over the past seven years, Professor Jason Newport and I have been able to collaborate on our information literacy classes together, which have made them a lot of fun for the students and us. As a lifelong music lover, I was thrilled that Professor Newport chose music to be the theme for this class. We now catch up regularly to discuss music and books and possible readings for his classes. His readings have allowed me and his students to engage with powerful essays, poems and books covering the unique power of music. Our collaboration has expanded outside of the classroom to build up our collections as well. We have purchased Jessica Hopper’s essay collections, the St. James Encyclopedia of Hip Hop and many other books covering Riot Grrrls to world music to support his classes.
Professor Newport not only understands the power of music, but the power of research as well. He lets me into his classes for my introduction and to talk with his students candidly about what I would research for the positive argumentation paper they will need to write. The time he allows me to teach the students builds a connection between him, me and them as they learn about the art and the music I love, along with all of the library resources we have to support their exploration too. I always look forward to being part of these classes, from when we discuss poems together, to when I help the students with discovering a good topic and resources to support it.