Rasmussen College Library Blogger

Digital World @ SWFLN Annual Meeting

2009-11-25T15:33:00.000-08:00

After our Orlando team meeting, on Thursday morning, Nov. 5, 2009, I zoomed down to a library at the bottom of Naples (near the Everglades!) to attend the annual meeting of the Southwest Florida Library Network. Fortunately, "tourist" Sara was my companion during the long drive.Both of us enjoyed hearing the meeting's guest speaker, Arnold Hirshon. He is the chief strategist and executive

Database workshop without a lab

2009-10-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

As our student population grows, it becomes more difficult to secure a computer lab for library workshops. This happened to me this week when I conducted a journal database workshop for English Comp. Thankfully most of the classrooms now have overhead projectors connected to the instructor's computer. I was trying to figure out a way to make the workshop interesting when students could not sign

NDLA 2009 Conference in Dickinson, ND

2009-09-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

Chandra and I attended the NDLA Conference September 23-25. It was great to meet Chandra and other ND librarians. You might all know about this already, but EBSCO has some great training videos that may be useful during classroom presentations and some free, customizable, downloadable promotional materials (posters, bookmarks, etc.) available for free at http://support.ebsco.com.

Is It All Online For Free

2009-09-26T12:35:00.001-07:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation I saw at NDLA. Great links we may want to add to Delicious or in presentations. Is It All Online For FreeView more presentations from Valley City State University.

new APA tidbits

2009-09-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

I'm wondering what my library teammates have discovered in th 6th edition of the beloved APA Manual. I've already found a couple things new things, plus a few I thought were new but were really old things that I just didn't know from the previous edition. What's new to you in the latest APA Manual?1. NEW: In the reference page listing for a book, all cities now get their 2-letter state

New Student Orientation

2009-08-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

While I'm still getting oriented to my new job, I have started working with the Dean of Student Learning to be involved in new student orientations. The Learning Center instructor and myself are going to give 20-minute presentations at all of the orientations about the library/learning center services available to students. We figure it will be a great opportunity to increase usage.

ND Author visits Bismarck

2009-08-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

During summer quarter, I worked with a campus instructor and a librarian at the local public library to bring a noted North Dakota author into the Bismarck/Mandan community. Shadd, the instructor, contacted Larry Woiwode, a North Dakota native whose works have received high acclaim, and asked him to come to Bismarck to do a reading of his book A Step from Death: A Memoir and to discuss his

TLC - Helping students get what they need!

2009-08-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

Since using TLC, I have to say I'm hugely impressed with the usability and the interest my students have had in using the catalog. In the past, students were NOT very receptive to searching within ALEPH for items ... perhaps because it was lacking visual aides. I believe that TLC is already proving it's value at my campus (and most likely at other campuses) because I'm noticing a HUGE uptick in

Amazing connections

2009-07-18T12:03:00.001-07:00

An amazing thing just happened to me at work in the library this Saturday afternoon, July 18, 2009. I checked my email and got the following:"Hi Libby, May I borrow parts of your MA libguide as I construct my own? Thanks so much!"The email came from* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-alt:"Calisto MT"; mso-font-charset:0;

Book River

2009-07-07T10:14:00.001-07:00

I love it that the book river comes up when a student goes to the Internet in the library. It looks fabulous and it gets students interested. I had a student ask about it yesterday and today a student called me over to explain it. She liked the idea that she could manage her own holds and she created an account on the spot.

Jing

2009-06-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

Have you used Jing? It's a free screen capturing service.I was able to make this video in literally less than 5 minutes. It's so cool! It's really quick and easy.. and I can envision it being really helpful when email or chat reference hits a dead end. You know? I usually take a lot of screenshots in those situations and request the student's email address, but we could just paste the Jing video

Get Caught Reading

2009-06-25T15:06:00.001-07:00

May was "Get Caught Reading" month. I caught the Bismarck faculty and staff reading books which matched their professional or personal interests. Even our RasMall mannequin got into the spirit.To view staff/faculty pictures, checkout my Flickr photostream.

Library Promo

2009-06-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

Last week, I did a promotion "Celebrate Romance!" for June which is Nat'l Wedding & Marriage Month. The first 10 students had their choice of a free romance novel. While low-key, this was a success and something fun & different for the students. They let me take their picture w/the book, but many didn't want them 'posted on the Internet'- so I'll have to figure something else for that. I

ebook tutorial

2009-06-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

I found this ebook tutorial to be really helpful. I didn't even know about some of these features.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

2009-06-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

The Fort Myers campus has hired an MLT coordinator (Steve Shelfer) and is trying to get enough students to start the program. I was surprised when Steve told me that 70% to 80% of a patient's medical record are lab results, but there's going to be a severe shortage of lab technicians to meet the needs of a growing and aging U.S. population. It "smelled" like a good news story to me, even if I

The Golden Day

2009-06-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

Originally I was going to name this post the Golden Notebook, but Jon, the Learning Center coordinator who shares space with me, said I should name it the Golden Day because that really reflects how my day has gone. It started off with my first workshop on APA formatting in which I had 10 participants! Students from one instructor’s class brought the rough drafts that had been returned to them.

poetryslam

2009-06-03T13:31:00.001-07:00

poetryslamOriginally uploaded by Rasmussen College - Green Bay

Military Appreciation Month

2009-06-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

Last month was National Military Appreciation Month and I'm happy to say our campus had a very successful display - with student, faculty, and staff participation. My student assistants put together the background for the bulletin board and we included information on the branches of service, etc. We received a number of photos, which is great. For June we are doing something similar to continue

Better Signage for All

2009-06-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

I’ve had the opportunity to visit a few campus as of late, or see pictures of your libraries, and I’ve noticed that we have quite a bit of signage. Some of it is positive, and some of it has a clearly negative vibe - “Absolutely NO Cell Phones” – as an example.I’ve changed the post below slightly to encourage a different set of responses. I’m going to post this to the blog, as well – please use

MILE 2009

2009-06-01T17:22:00.000-07:00

During the last week in April, I attended MILE. MILE is the Minnesota Library Association Institute for Leadership Excellence. It was held at the Bug-Bee Hive Resort in Paynesville, MN. Librarians from around the state gathered to:-learn about leadership styles-develop our strengths-ask questions of a leadership forum of current librarians holding leadership roles in the state of Minnesota-mind

Disabled student

2009-05-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

We have a new mid-start student who uses a wheelchair, and I am becoming well acquainted with her because she uses the library often. The other day she asked me to retrieve a book for her from a top shelf, and of course I was happy to help.I have been thinking about her request ever since, however. Her disability literally "handicaps" her from being able to physically browse many of the

Workshop series

2009-05-29T06:31:00.000-07:00

This quarter I tried to turn my open workshops into a series. The flyers had the same elements. I did not use the word 'workshop' on any of them in hopes that students would be more apt to attend. I planned Internet Searching for Week 7, Database Demonstrations for Week 8, and APA Format for Week 9. Unfortunately I had no attendance for the Internet workshop. However, students at my Database

Serial Boxes

2009-05-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think that I'm personally keeping Demco fiscally alive with my orders for those little plastic serial boxes for storing back issues.Now that my print book collection is growing larger, the books and the back issues of serials are competing for shelf space. I'd have enough room if I didn't have so many back issues of serials to store. I follow the suggestions for how long to keep back

ALA

2009-05-18T10:37:00.001-07:00

The event planner is now available. This is a useful tool for building a tentative schedule and list of exhibitors that you want to see (w/booth numbers). To login, you need to already be registered for the annual conference- http://ala.cistems.net/Index2.php

EP Library - Lookin' Good 2

2009-05-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Sitting Area Reference Collection Magazine Rack - Not complete Already the favorite chair on campus! Three people have already sat here this morning!

EP Library - Lookin' Good

2009-05-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

Take DownFirst Shelves First Books Books on the Shelves See next post....

Fake Wikipedia Quote of Composer Maurice Jarre Makes Way Into Newspapers Worldwide

2009-05-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

When you are explaining how to USE and NOT USE Wikipedia to classes this is a great example. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30699302/wid/11915829?GT1=40006Newspapers across the planet published a quote that originated on Wikipedia, and attributed it to the Oscar winning composer Marcus Jarre. The quote was placed in his Obituary and newspapers in America, Great Britain, India, Australia, and

Get Caught Reading

2009-05-06T13:13:00.001-07:00

With May as Get Caught Reading Month, I asked campus faculty and staff let me "catch" them reading so that I could take a picture of them with books from the library. Sometimes I took a stack of books to the employee, and other times employees browsed the library. Overall, they enjoyed trying to find just the right book.

Poem in Your Pocket

2009-05-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

For April, I went with the Poem in Your Pocket theme. The bulletin board had old jeans pockets that were filled with poems from the Poem in Your Pocket website. There was a sign encouraging students to help themselves to a poem and another that told about carrying a poem around in your pocket all month and then sharing it with someone on April 30. Students actually took poems and I had to refill

The Future of Newspapers that are History

2009-05-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

Anyone pay attention to the news about newspapers as of late? Newspaper owners are filing for bankruptcy, and slowly (but persistently), print newspapers are ending production - and either moving fully online or closing up shop altogether.Today, via Stephen's Lighthouse and an article from the The Wrap about Google enhancing newspaper content for its users. While we don't question the relevancy

Favorite books

2009-05-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

I've been getting lots of good general education collection ideas from faculty and staff the past few days -- ever since Fort Myers dean Tara McIlmoil suggested I ask them to email me their top five favorite fiction and non-fiction books. It's fun to see their choices. And it's great that it keeps them thinking about the library, on the heels of such a terrific library-centric April!

PACODES/Lost Boy interview

2009-04-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to acknowledge and thank you all for the work on this diversity/PACODES event. It has been a wonderful experience working on this project, as we move to the groundbreaking and eventual building of the library, I welcome input for the development of a library cataloging plan, approach to internet connectivity issues, grant possibilities, staff training, etc. I will keep us up to

ALA

2009-04-21T12:50:00.001-07:00

When are you going to ALA?Where are you staying?What is the one thing you are most looking forward to seeing / attending? When should the RCLS get together?

online instructors

2009-04-21T11:05:00.003-07:00

What, if any, communication have you had with the online instructors for your campus’ students?

syllabi

2009-04-21T11:05:00.001-07:00

Are you collecting syllabi for both online and on-campus classes offered to students on your campus?

Organizing!

2009-04-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

When I first started here, way back in October, one of the first things I did was to organize all the print books by subject. It was pretty haphazard, since a lot of my books were either uncataloged or missing call number labels, but I rationalized that at least students could go to, say, the Allied Health section, and find books in their subject. However, now that my collection is growing and my

free educational videos online

2009-04-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

I discovered that many videos from NOVA and National Geographic are available online for free. (Yes, including at least one I purchased a while back.)http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/programs/Additional videos are available for streaming from Annenberg Media. They're not to be downloaded, and the user needs to sign in to a free account.http://www.learner.org

Lost Boys Event

2009-04-03T05:33:00.000-07:00

What is everyone planning for the Lost Boys film showing?I have a captive audience with the film class. So far I have had two staff members and one student RSVP for the event. I was able to get the largest room on campus so hopefully I can accommodate everyone who wishes to come. I have the event posted on the monitors around campus and it will go in the student newsletter this week. I also

ILL at a distance

2009-03-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

I just logged into First Search/OCLC and saw that a book from my campus had been requested by a library in Norway. Now that's what I call a long-distance ILL!

Hounding the faculty

2009-03-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

I'm an old newshound from way back, which is why I pitched Rasmussen's terrific MLT program to a TV reporter at our county library system's recent reading festival. But I also have been partaking in another kind of hounding recently -- getting the faculty to give me ideas for ordering! I had good luck this past order deadline, with 10 instructors submitting requests.How did I do it? Lots of

Library Liaison - Massage Therapy Meeting

2009-03-26T13:22:00.000-07:00

Today I had the privilege of meeting with the massage therapy department, during their annual Massage Therapy Summit. As I came into my Massage Therapy Liaison role somewhat recently, it was a great opportunity to introduce myself and the liaison program to them. We began with some simple introductions, then I went on to describe the history/background of the liaison program, followed by

Student volunteers

2009-03-16T08:23:00.001-07:00

For the last two Saturdays, I had two students come in to help me with cataloging. Emily gave me the great idea of asking a couple of students to help me identify which books in my young collection still needed cataloging. So I asked two young ladies who are in the library often and are responsible to come in and help (this is also a great way for me to test them out as potential work studies

Rassy visits Bismarck

2009-03-12T08:43:00.000-07:00

Rassy made an appearance in Bismarck this week. For you Floridians, the white stuff is snow.

How I know it's week 10

2009-03-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

My day so far:11:00 - 2 voicemails from students waiting for me when i arrived11:30 - On reference phone call with student, while conducting reference interview on meebo with another, with one student sitting at my desk, and 3 others in line waiting to see me. (Mentor center coordinator making a statement about how popular I am)12:45 - On meebo with student while on the phone with another.

Book Donations

2009-03-10T15:53:00.000-07:00

Mary and I have been discussing ideas for ways to support the PACODES library. When she shared the idea of running a book donation, I remembered that someone on our team had once mentioned Better World Books.Better World Books is an organization which accepts book donations and then sells them. Some of the money goes to support literacy programs. I sent about 6 boxes of books, and got a check

Supporting online instructors

2009-03-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

For the last two quarters, I've been exchanging e-mails with an online English Comp instructor who has a class of Bismarck students. Although she initially contacted me (interim dean) regarding concerns with student work, it's been a great opportunity for me (librarian) to support an online instructor.I realize I was in a unique situation while in my dean/librarian role in that I could easily

My attempt to encourage students to use the Library Catalog

2009-03-05T13:37:00.000-08:00

I created a poster which hopefully will create some interest in checking the library catalog for books. I hope it will spark interest in the library's resources.

Professor's Picks

2009-03-04T08:46:00.000-08:00

Our Campus Dean and I were brainstorming about boosting circ. We came up with the idea of monthly or quarterly "Professor's Picks". It will be a display naming the instructor and there book picks for both leisure reading and coursework. We plan on starting it next quarter, they will announce their "picks" in class and we will distribute lists via email as well. Has anyone done a similar display/

Liaison areas & ALA Annual

2009-03-03T13:03:00.000-08:00

In my next installment for "all things ALA" to know before July... in addition to the programs, exhibits, and networking you can also find a section/discussion group/committee/round table related to your program or subject area. i.e., Office of Diversity, Video Round Table, BRASS section (w/i RUSA for business), Law and Political Science section (w/i ACRL), etc. You might need to dig into the

Technology Literacy

2009-02-26T06:55:00.001-08:00

I had my yearly review this month and as part of my objectives for this year, my Dean put that I would provide support for HLC Preparation by leading Technology Information initiatives. Now, I know that she really means Technology Literacy because I am not an IT person. As part of the measurement of this objective, she has that I will provide 2 workshops to faculty and staff on Technology

Ethical question

2009-02-25T19:14:00.001-08:00

What would you do if you suspected that a student might turn in a piece of work that was plagiarized? Let's say you were working with that student on a research paper. The student wanted the first draft to be proofread, and after reading it, you noted that most of the paper was taken word for word from the sources you had accessed earlier.You advise the student that they need to put information

Go Figure

2009-02-25T07:08:00.001-08:00

Just when I was despairing that not many students care about print serials, I received an email from a student asking if the Fort Myers campus could subscribe to The New Yorker. Interestingly, the student responded immediately after I sent an email blast seeking recommendations for library materials. Just shows how hard it is to judge....

NAACLS team praises liaison concept

2009-02-24T09:30:00.000-08:00

The Bismarck campus just completed an accreditation visit for our MLT program. (The accrediting agency is NAACLS.) During the exit interview, the site visitors listed the strengths of our campus program. They made specific mention of our use of library liaisons, and they praised the concept. One of the team members is going to send me a list of sites and resources she recommends.Just more

Rassy loves books

2009-02-24T06:55:00.001-08:00

The Bismarck library has been home to the RasMall mannequin for quite some time. In addition to startling unsuspecting library visitors, "Scary Mannequin Guy" models clothes from RasMall. However, he recently donned the Rassy costume. He's even celebrating his love of books with Mardi Gras beads.

Circ Stats!

2009-02-19T12:36:00.001-08:00

I had a great idea the other day for keeping those circulation stats up. I often bring in print resources with me to workshops for students to check out, especially for classes that are writing papers on the same topic. However, since most classes write papers in their field, this is not always possible.Last week, for my Success Strategies workshops, I had each student complete a self-checkout

NYT's Future of Reading Part 3

2009-02-16T07:43:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest installment of the NYT's "Future of Reading" series. (I like the idea of having students write book reviews that then go on the library web site!)http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/books/16libr.html?_r=1&hp

Digital Branch Style Guide

2009-02-13T08:02:00.001-08:00

Hello,A blog author that I follow posted this style guide for online communications/resources for patrons.Please keep this handy as you are preparing your website pages, so that we can provide the most effective service as possible to our patrons.

Scholarly journals in workshops

2009-02-12T12:12:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to add this post for a while, and I think it fits in nicely with Emily's previous post. For one of my workshops this quarter (for English Comp), the instructor wanted me to focus on explaining what scholarly articles are and how they are used. I've found that many of our students have not been exposed to the "world" of scholarly journals before, and I think there is a

The Budget: Meeting Student Needs

2009-02-12T10:41:00.000-08:00

One of the projects slowly making its way up from the back of my mind is our budget. While it's still the beginning of the year, I need to start planning now for major anticipated purchases: namely, library resources, electronic or otherwise.I've been looking over databases and ebook vendors most of today, and I can't help but wonder how to balance out the fiscal responsibility of resources for

Evaluating websites exercise

2009-02-12T09:07:00.000-08:00

I just gave my "Clean Off Your Google Goggles" Workshop for the 3rd time. This time was very successful. I presented the workshop, and then I had the students complete the exercise that is shown above. I think it really helped the students have an understanding of the quality of resources they will receive with using different search engines.In this workshop, I also introduced how to search for

Gamin' @ Rasmussen

2009-02-11T13:25:00.000-08:00

I'm so thrilled about an event I planned in response to goal-planning for the campus & the library.Backstory first. We have a large number of students in this community who are simply afraid of technology, afraid of trying things out, and afraid to make mistakes. We also have a large number of students who are quite adept at Web 2.0 stuff and aren't afraid of texting or messaging.I went to a "

Cataloging accomplishment

2009-02-11T13:04:00.001-08:00

If you would like to get an idea of what schedules look like, the "

Collaborating with Associate Director of Admissions

2008-12-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

I have two areas to do books displays no bulletin boards. I knew that one had to be spiritual but I was not sure what I was going to put in the new area. I looked at the topics Emily put on the calendar for us and I became interested in the Identity Theft Prevention and Awareness month because I have had friends and relatives touched by this problem. I realized that I did not have much on the

Survey Monkey surveys

2008-11-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

I have checked my results in Survey Monkey for both the general and workshop surveys, and the number of results are disappointing. I have had 11 completed for workshops and 4 for the general satisfaction survey. In workshops, I distribute handouts that have the link on them and tell the students at the beginning and end of the workshop that they will be entered to win a $50 Target Gift Card if

ESL Article

2008-11-26T11:47:00.000-08:00

I found a great article through WebJunction (but published elsewhere) that discusses how some libraries are reaching out to Spanish-speaking populations. Most of the libraries are public, but I think they include some good ideas - and all of the suggestions could work for other non-Spanish ESL learners.http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6606945.html?nid=2712&rid=reg_visitor_id&source=title

2008-11-26T11:46:00.001-08:00

Successes

2008-11-25T08:46:00.000-08:00

I did an "Intro to the Library Resources" for one section of Success Strategies last week and I implemented a couple of new items we talked about at our team meeting. There were ~ 18 students. I had them sit in tables according to the School of their program. They were curious as to why there were more at the table of the School of Allied Health. I took the opportunity to let them know that

Collaboration!

2008-11-21T13:12:00.001-08:00

I wanted to share with all of you a recent experience working together with faculty. Earlier this week, one of my English Comp. instructiors had both of her classes watch "An Inconvenient Truth," and after a break, I came in to do a workshop on finding/using library resources. I structured the class around the topic of environmentalism and climate change, and showed the students very specific

My workshop story

2008-11-19T17:16:00.001-08:00

As some of you may know, I have a business instructor who I call the "Passionate Professor." He brings his classes to the library on field trips and has workshops for every single class. Today I had my fourth workshop for him. I decided it was time to change things up since many of the students had been in other workshops with me this week. There were only 7 students in the class. I went in and