What makes it all worthwhile

This was a really tough quarter at Rockford. I didn't have time to get all the things done that needed to be done. Anytime I actually had time on my calendar something would come up and my time would be gone.

Anyway, what made it all worthwhile was the feedback I got from students, though not through Survey Monkey (see earlier post). It all started with the winner of Matt's Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad....Business World game. Matt did a short interview with Damon Thomas and here is the relevant part:

Gargano: “Do you have a favorite staff member?”

Thomas: Yes. Cynthia Reynolds because she’s always happy and always greets people with a smile. She makes me feel comfortable.”

During the last week of classes, another student came by to thank me for all the help I had given her and a classmate. She said that she wouldn't have gotten her paper done without my help. Two students asked me to come to their business class while they did their presentations. I had a voicemail waiting for me when I arrived the other day from another student. He wanted to thank me for listening and understanding and to share the grades he was getting. While I was composing this post, a student came by to thank me for all of the help I had given her with her computer class. (And I repel technology!) So, at the end of the day, this is what makes my job meaningful and why I look forward to coming to work.

Collection Development & Faculty Development

I wish I could take credit for this, but that goes to my Dean, Heather. Heather knows how I struggle to get faculty recommendations when it comes time to place library resource orders. Her idea this quarter was to devote some faculty development time to recommending resources. Last night at the end of faculty development, I handed out publisher catalogs and resource recommendation forms, and put the URLs for RCL Web and Choice on the white board, and let them have at it. Unfortunately, Choice was inaccessible, but faculty still came up with over 40 requests. Also, there was positive feedback about it in the faculty development evaluation. I believe the plan is to continue to incorporate this into the faculty development sessions.

Magnolia sites and new library webpage

On our call today, we discussed how to better utilize our Magnolia links. I've been working on the MLT page for the new library webpage, and I tried something to make it easier to zoom in on the relevant MLT links.

When I tag a Magnolia link as MLT, I also try to give it a more specific tag, such as a hematology or microbiology. On the MLT page of our Springshare library site, I've been able to include links right to the specific tag.

If you'd like to see what I've done, go to our library page http://rasmussen.libguides.com and the view the MLT page.

Disruptive Patrons

I’ve had several incidents this week with disruptive patrons and was wondering if my fellow librarians had any tips. During finals week a certain “seriousness of purpose” takes over normally sociable students, stressed out by the prospect of taking final exams. I feel bad for these students when other, disruptive patrons (not always students, sometimes their children, etc.) create disturbances in the library.

Many libraries have a “Patron Code of Conduct” which outlines acceptable behavior in the library and how to remedy situations. We are not a public library, and I’m not saying we should take the time to compose a Patron Code of Conduct, but it is an idea. I really liked the Mooresville Public Library Patron Code of Conduct (http://www.mooresvillelib.org/index.php/Patron-Code-of-Conduct.html). Personally, I have dealt with every item on the “Various Behavior Problems” list except for smoking and loitering.

In the past week, I had a student carry a boom-box into the library playing loud music and they were appalled when I told them to turn it off. I have dealt with students using obscene language very loudly and sounding threatening. Others have played Youtube™ clips at full volume on their laptops and turned loose their kids to wreak havoc on the library. I know many of you encounter the same issues, so please share your ideas/experiences.

Rockford Study-A-Thon

Rockford had it's first study-a-thon last Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It started in the student lounge with food and from there students could go to different rooms for help. All of the full time faculty were here to provide help in the different program areas. There were also a couple of adjuncts that came in to help with math and English. I was in the library for research and paper writing. A total of 32 students participated in the event. There were some instructors who had no students and some who had several. I had about five students in the library. After it was over, I had two students come in who needed help with their papers and I worked with them the rest of the day. The event was organized by the Mentor Center Coordinator. I would say that it was a successful first attempt. We may revisit the date and time for future study-a-thons.

Success - Monthly Display

Emily suggested I share this with the team :-) ... For the Fall diversity displays, we have branched out of the library into the Student Lounge. We took over one of the larger bulletin boards & my student assistants have created colorful and informative displays. In addition, we have books and handouts on one of our study tables in the library. (I'll get the pics on FLICKR sometime in the near future...) For December, we're doing Spiritual Awareness Month. I've noticed students reading the material on the board, and one student checked out a book the other day!

Interesting article (since we've been discussing (in passing) oursourcing our IM). I was very surprised at the amount though (would like to see the break down in services, hours, etc. to get to that amount).

Library for Hire: Johns Hopkins U. Sells Services to an Online College

Scavenger Hunt in Success Strategies

I did a version of the "Library Scavenger Hunt" in multiple Success Strategies classes this quarter and all seemed to enjoy it. I divided it into three parts: Part 1 finding electronic resources, Part 2 finding print items in the library and Part 3 citing these items using NoodleBib. I did a mock "hunt" while the class was viewing my search via the Proxima, then let them work on their hunt by program area for about 20 minutes then we went to the library . This does take more than the usual 45min.-hour workshop time and all the classes needed additional time the following class to finish up. I gave them a handout with the assignment and our SurveyMonkey workshop address at the bottom. My handout is on Googledocuments if anyone would like to use it.

Book Displays

Friday I received new display shelving. I was finally able to remove my book displays from the actual book shelves (where they tend to get lost) to the revolving pyramid display furniture. Since it has three sides, I was able to do three displays. I included the books for Spiritual Literacy Month, along with New Books and Books for Break. Yesterday four books were checked out from the display, so it appears to be working.

Minnesota Library Assocation Conference - Recap

The MLA conference was held Nov. 19-21 at the Sheraton in Bloomington. Several of the metro-area librarians were able to attend, and for the most part, I think we succeeded in achieving our goals of networking, learning, contributing, and getting lots of free stuff. Ok, I actually take that last one back; I think the vendors were a bit disappointing this year. Space was somewhat limited, and the vendors were located pool-side -- definitely not the best set-up.

Aside from a somewhat lackluster vendor area, the conference went very well. I attended the following sessions:

1) Negativity at work
2) Undergrads in the Reference Stacks? Using Reference Universe for Composition 101 Topics
3) Bridging the Divide
4) Government Information in the 21st Century
5) Everybody on the Bus...Let's Get It Done
6) What Do College Students Learn In High School About Research?
7)Wikipedia and Us

Several other sessions were attended by either Dan, Dennis, or Amy.

I was very interested throughout the session on what high school students learn about research. The presenter had interviewed and surveyed several HS media specialists and collected data and commentary on what IL concepts are taught in their high schools. Overall it appears as though HS students are missing out on a great deal of IL instruction. While they know how to use computers better than a lot of us, the concept of using a database rather than a random website is still foreign to them. It also sounds like HS media specialists experience difficulties with getting classroom time to present IL concepts. Ultimately, it's up to us as college librarians to determine the level our students are at. One suggestion was to simply handout a survey to new students in our IL sessions to ask them what their familiarity is with various items like: using databases, exploring credible websites, writing papers, etc... I may try this in the future.

The other session that really captured my interest was Wikipedia and Us. I, like many other people, will occasionally use Wikipedia. I have always instructed students to only use it as a guide for conducting further research. Most people in the group tended to agree with this; however, we did launch into a rather lengthy discussion on Wikipedia versus Britannica. Both have errors, both face revisions, both are cited as sources and really shouldn't be. If you're interested in learning more about Wikipedia, I have copied the "Wikipedia and Us Suggested Readings" into GoogleDocs.

It was great to have the opportunity to attend this conference. I always enjoy myself and walk away with some new ideas and a more positive outlook.

Trial- Guide to Reference

While taking a break from finishing up my term paper (haha), I found this free trial for Guide to Reference. Here's the link with the info http://www.guidetoreference.org/HomePage.aspx

ALA July 2009

Registration rates are now available for the Annual Conference in Chicago. Registration begins Jan. 5 http://staging.ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/upcoming/annual/2009/registration.cfm
ALCTS has added pre-conference & program information for the Annual Conference http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alcts/confevents/index.cfm

-->If you would like to get an idea of what schedules look like, the "full daily schedule" is online for Midwinter. Although, keep in mind the Annual Conference has programs and meetings, while MW is primarily for "business of the association".

Collaborating with Associate Director of Admissions

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 shelves for this topic and I wanted this display to be more informational so I contacted Jen, Associate director of Admissions, and asked her if we had any partnerships with banks. Jen goes out into the community and creates partnerships with businesses among other community activities. Jen was excited that I asked and immediately hooked me up with a rep from the local Wells Fargo bank. He came in and we discussed what they could offer. Starting Thursday we will have a display up on Identity theft in the library and on Wednesday the rep will be coming to the school to present in Success Strategies and Accounting 1. He will also do an open workshop just before night classes. I will do the advertising but he will do all the talking. I have also set him up with an instructor for next quarter that would like him to come in and present on the same topic. I'm so excited that this display will go further than just that! Jen told me that if I can come up with other topics that would reach out into the community she will help me bring them in and we can do more of the same! What fun this will be, my displays can come alive because they will be more than something to look at.

Survey Monkey surveys

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 they fill out the survey. I have signs in the library promoting the general survey along with slips of paper on the tables and on my desk with the information. What are you doing to get students to fill out the survey?

ESL Article

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

Successes

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.

1. 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 50% of the school's students were in that school.
   
2. After showing how the books were organized, I had them in their groups physically take books off the shelves and look at what they had to offer. I've never done this specifically before, and it proved to be a huge success! I gave each one a self-check out form, and I had more than 3/4 of them check out books! A HUGE boon to my circulation statistics. I will expand upon this next quarter and have every introduction workshop have this same sort of component.
   
3. I used Dennis' "half-sheet response' and was delighted to read them afterwards. I will continue doing this type of assessment for me.
   

Collaboration!

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 places to conduct their research. I narrowed their resources to three types - Books, Articles, and Websites - and demostrated how to find resources on environmental issues in all three.

I first showed them the difference between keyword and subject searches in the online catalog, using "global warming" and "climate change" as my examples. Then, I showed them Points of View, which has an entire category of "Earth and Environment." Last, I explained Ma.gnolia, and showed them how the tag "environment."

I also used a hybrid of Dennis's half-sheet response and Amy's workshop quiz to gain feedback.

I noticed that many of the students (most of which had already attended a workshop) started to understand the different types of resources, once the topic had already been chosen for them. I got responses such as "I learned about Ma.gnolia for the first time" and "I learned how to navigate the system," even though I know that this class had received such information before. I think the success of the workshop stemmed from a combination of: 1) having a topic area already selected for them; 2) showing them specific examples of finding information on that topic; and 3) choosing a topic that many people have an opinion of already. I also think that the quiz/response kept them on task and forced the students to think about the ideas I was presenting.

My workshop story

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 passed out note cards. I asked the students to write down what they wanted to get out of the workshop. I told them if they didn't list anything that we would go back to the same old PowerPoint. So everyone listed things except for one student who couldn't come up with anything. She said she knew enough and that she used Noodlebib all the time. So, I invited her to teach Noodlebib at the end of the workshop. She was open to it and it was great! Afterwards, I used Dennis' idea of the half sheet response. All of the responses were positive and everyone said that they had no unanswered questions. One student wrote, "If I have questions, I'll just go see Cynthia in the library." After the workshop, many of the students remained in the lab working on their research and I was able to stay for awhile to help.

Using movie reviews to teach students how to evalutate websites

I used one of the assessment ideas that was discussed at our team meeting. I had students do this assessment in Success Strategies.

It was a great success. I picked out 2 websites about the death penalty. One is a blog with an anonymous author that calls himself "The Exterminator." The other site is a government site with statistics about capital punishment. I explained the Who, What, When, Where, and Whys of evaluating websites, and most students did a great job deciphering if the websites were credible. See below. Notice the stars :). After the students completed the evaluating exercise, I had the students enter these websites into Noodlebib and print out a reference page.

I am going to load this document into Google Docs.

ALA

I am excited about the chance to attend ALA. So much so that I have already checked the web for the dates....July 9- 15 and talked with my husband and family about attending. I am wondering who is planning on going and how is everyone planning on getting there?

Half-Sheet Response a Full-Blown Hit!

I'm so grateful for finding out about the one-minute paper ("Half-Sheet Response") from Dennis. It is a terrific assessment tool for workshops. I had a workshop last night and all 16 students in attendance filled it out. (And no, I did not get any comments about my hair or the state of the world...)

I did get helpful responses for the teacher and me. One student wrote: "I'll probly (sic) end up forgetting all this. Can I come in + ask anytime?" That made me glad I always tell the students the different ways they can reach me and our team.

I'll be using this tool often; it is great.

Traditional vs. Entrepreneurial Libraries

In October I attended the annual meeting for the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). Marshall Keys, the keynote, spoke about Entrepreneurship and Risk in Libraries. He compared the traditional library to the entrepreneurial library, stating that most libraries are traditional. The goal is to be entrepreneurial. It appears that RCLS is on the right track.


Characteristics of Traditional:
• Statute and rule directed
• Hierarchical
• Specialized responsibilities
• Centralized control
• Accountable for rules
• Focus on what’s best for organization
• Emphasis on programs
• Quality defined by professional standards
• Cost focused
• Monopoly service
• Dependent on external funding
• Try to be all things to all people

Characteristics of Entrepreneurial:
• Mission directed
• Team oriented
• Integrated responsibilities
• Decentralization and empowerment
• Accountable for outcomes
• Focus on what’s best for customer
• Emphasis on performance
• Quality defined by meeting customer expectations
• Value focused
• Multiple choices
• Self-supporting
• Niche focused

* These lists Adapted from Jim Thalhuber National Center for Social Entrepreneurs

Gen Y - Those rascally Milennials!

These are the comments that made up the large Y we created during our Systems Meeting.

When working with Gen Yer's use:
Interactive activities & videos/media rich/treats and rewards/tell them why the information is important to them/they need to be successful so build activities they can succeed at/make them feel special/entertain them/repetition is good/explicit instructions/customize/Use Web 2.0 tools such as Facebook/humor/group work/electronic resources and RSS feeds/have students teach/choices in activities and assessments/divided tasks into short intervals/hands-0n learning/

They really aren't the "dumbest generation". We just need to change our teaching styles to match their culture!

ALA Chicago- Poster Session Proposals

Call for poster sessions for ALA Annual in; the deadline is January 31st-

http://www.lib.jmu.edu/org/ala/

Great academic skills videos

These videos are pretty cool. Peer-review is explained in the Database module.

Chains part two

We had a nice response to our Chains of Diversity. One of my tutors graciously volunteered the make the chains. So I gave her all of the ballots that didn't have names on them. During our Diversity Committee meeting last week, the committee members made chains from the ballots that had students' names on them. We are leaving the chains up through the end of the quarter so that there is that visual representation of diversity. I uploaded the pictures of the continuing chain to Flickr if you want to see more.

Delighting the Customer: It's the Little things that Count

Happy Monday, everyone. As we slide into Week 5, just a week away from our Annual Team meeting, I wanted to take this opportunity to focus (myself) on customer service.

I'm a big fan of the Tom Peters Weblog. He provides small nuggets of inspiration each day to my Google Reader, and when collected with the other 200 or so feeds that I receive in a day, make a fine bit of meditation reading. Today's gem was about customer service:

"As I said, now, more than ever. I suggest, for example, that you devote most of your "morning meeting" or "weekly phone call" to the "little" things—from clean restrooms to deliveries made or missed to thank-you calls to a customer for her business after an order ships.

Keep on each other over those basics—and be liberal with the kudos for those who go an extra millimeter to do a "trivial" job especially well."

The basics are incredibly important. Let's look at it from the perspective of a customer. Do you get easily frustrated or disappointed when someone is late for a meeting or misses a call with you? What if they don't show up for the meeting at all, even though they'd already said they'd come? Have you waited on an e-mail for weeks without response?

Have you ever visited a library and been upset because the thing you wanted was in the wrong location? Or, gone to a store that was a mess? Does uncleanliness, poor service, or disorganization stress you out?

Now, turn a critical eye to your own services and practices. Do you return calls and respond to e-mails within a 24 hour period (this is not only good business practice, it's also our service policy to students). Do you respond in this time frame JUST to students? Remember that your fellow librarians, as well as staff, faculty, and community members are your customers, too.

How does your library look today? Is scratch paper available for folks to take notes? Are the printer trays full of paper? Are chairs neatly pushed in and trash off of the floors and tables? Have you dusted lately? Are your books neatly organized or do they look hap-hazard?

Turn a critical eye to your desk. If a patron asked you for a form, a pencil, a business card, or a handout, could you immediately pick it up and hand it to them?

Do you turn in your reports on time? Remember that the people who ask for the reports aren't just collecting them for fun; the data is used for assessment and meeting additional deadlines/responsibilities. Do you attend calls and meetings on time, and take good notes?

Do you smile to patrons and welcome them to the library as they walk in? Do you say goodbye as they leave? How do you answer the phone? Are your e-mails courteous or do you merely answer the questions asked as briefly as possible?


I'm not saying that I'm perfect in any of these areas: in fact, I've caught myself not paying attention to these basics many times over the past few days, which prompted this post.

What other basics do we need to follow to delight our customers?

-Emily

Are You Where You Want To Be Professionally (from ACRLog)

I thought this post from ACRLog might be of interest as it relates to professional development-

It’s a thought that probably comes to every librarian at some point in their career. Professionally, am I where I’m supposed to be at this point in my life? Should someone my age be further along? Should I be an administrator by now? Should I have a bigger reputation in the field? And the ultimate question, should I be making more money? And when we seek the answers to these questions we often have no choice but to compare ourselves to others, whether it be a colleague down the hall, that blogger being profiled in the Chronicle, or folks who graduated in your MLS class. We seem to have the tendency to judge ourselves against the A listers rather than the mass majority of library professionals who are in all likelihood doing about the same as we are. It’s a harsh mirror into which we gaze. It’s hardly unique to librarians.
Rest of the post is at: http://acrlog.org/2007/12/05/are-you-where-you-want-to-be-professionally/

Library friends

In my Dean/Director call this week Donna told Emily that we felt that the collection grading has helped bring the faculty into the library. They feel ownership now and feel welcome to give feedback. Donna commented that our faculty found many materials that were outdated and helped me with titles that would replace them. Emily made the comment that not everyone was able to get this cooperation. Donna shared that we kidnapped the faculty from our Friday meeting and told them that the meeting was to be moved to the library so that they could help me with the collection. They came willingly. When I do this again I will have food. It seems that I always forget that.

Library programs

I know we're all doing workshops/demos, but is anyone doing library programs (other than the diversity programs already posted about)? Or have you done programs in the past, like Pat's book club, that worked well? (in-house or partnering with outside groups)
Thanks!

Spot a librarian

Today we celebrated Rastoberfest at the Rockford Campus. I stopped down to see how the festivities were going and some little girl asked me if I was the librarian. I told her I was and asked her how she knew that. She replied that all librarians looked alike. (ouch!) She said that she could pick out librarians and artists. When I asked her if there were any artists in the room, she took a look around and said no. Too funny.

Disabilities-related resources

In B&T is a cart, "Disabilities Resources", similar to the carts we have for programmatic/liaison resources. Titles included here may be useful for your campus collections. I will continue to add resources to this list.

Explaining what information is common knowledge..

I think I'm going to start going more in depth with explaining the concept of what students need to cite and what information is common knowledge. It seems like students really struggle with this. I have a feeling that this academic integrity issue is being overlooked by some of K-12.




For a Humanities class this morning, I gave a general information literacy workshop preparing the students for a research paper that they have to write. I explained with concepts that might interest the students for their Humanities research paper. The students and I discussed why the information on the right column needed to be cited, and I felt like (for one of the first times) it clicked!

Chain, chain, chains

The diversity committee, of which I am a member, has instituted a Chains of Diversity activity for Diversity Awareness Month. This is to be my activity for the fall where the librarian is to be in charge of cultural diversity in the student community. There is a blurb about it on the student portal. So, what the committee has decided to do is to create paper chains (you know, the kind you did in kindergarten/grade school) to represent the different aspects of each individual and how we are all connected to support and strengthen the bonds of community. Every five links will represent a person. Of course this idea originated before we had over 500 students. With that in mind, we decided to target the Success Strategies classes so that we had all of the new students involved and then make it voluntary for all of the other students. The incentive to participate is a $50 gift card for Borders. Participation in the activity is anonymous, but students can put their names on the back of the ballots if they want to be entered into the drawing. The chain will start at the library bulletin board which has a diversity theme and includes information on Chains of Diversity and the Chain legend and go all over campus, I expect. More to follow as the activity progresses....

I attempted a "quiz" for my assessment

Tonight I gave a workshop for a Pathology I class. I gave a few workshops last week, and I noticed that I have a lot of students that overlap. I realized that I need to create a variety of assessment options so the same students will not be doing the "mapping exercise" over and over again. :)

I made the document to the right. I gave them this sheet before the workshop. Then, they answered the questions throughout the presentation. then, we went through the answers at the end. The students were really engaged throughout the workshop, and I walked around to make sure that the students were filling in their questions. I did not collect the quiz because I wanted the students to be able to take these "notes" home and have a copy of the Survey Monkey link.

Working with faculty

Emily asked that I post and let all of you know about a success I have had in working with faculty. Our full time Massage instructor, Tilley, has wanted more materials in the library... I have added over $3000 to the collection within the last year and the collection now takes up to two full shelves. One night Mary was talking with Tilley and telling her that we need to get our circulation stats up. That night Tilley brought her class in and told them that they all needed to check out a massage book. Just recently Tilley sent me an email and told me to look at her new assignment she created for her Intro to Massage class. Here is what is being required:
Book Review Assignment
This weekly assignment is to familiarize you with books within our library system so you may better understand the massage therapy profession and its many modalities.

The last statistic I read on bodywork modalities is that there are 250 different techniques for the public to choose from. Rasmussen’s library doesn’t (unfortunately) have books on all 250 different techniques; however there is a nice selection.

Tilley would like to see more materials coming in for her students and we are hoping that the circuluation will go up. This will also give the students practice with APA style as this is a requirement for any class students will take with Tilley.

Call for Presentations – 15th Reference Research Forum, 2009 (ALA Annual in Chicago)

The Research and Statistics Committee of the Reference Services Section of RUSA invites the submission of research projects for presentation at the 15th Reference Research Forum at the 2009 American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago, IL.

The Reference Research Forum continues to be one of the most popular and valuable programs during the ALA Annual Conference, where attendees can learn about notable research projects conducted in the broad area of reference services such as user behavior, electronic services, reference effectiveness, and organizational structure and personnel. All researchers, including reference practitioners from all types of libraries, library school faculty and students, and other interested individuals, are encouraged to submit a proposal.

More info at http://rusa.ala.org/blog/2008/10/09/rrf/

Open Workshops

Are any of you planning open workshops to highlight the new databases? I've been thinking about offering open workshops by discipline. During the workshops I'd like to cover our traditional resources as well as our recent database additions. Do you think students would be interested or would participate? I hate holding empty workshops (sorry for complaining). Can anyone think of ways to "jazz" them up?

The Future of Reading - Part II

"Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers" is the front-page headline of the Monday, Oct. 6, 2008, issue of The New York Times. It is the second installment in the paper's "Future of Reading" series. The series is "looking at how the Internet and other technological and social forces are changing the way people read."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/books/06games.html

Syncing Google Calendar to Outlook

I have now tried to sync twice from Google Calendar to my Outlook Calendar. All that transfers is the chat schedule. As much as I would love to know who is doing virtual reference every hour, this really clutters up my calendar. Also, not having the Master Calendar transfer to my outlook is quite bothersome. I uninstalled and reinstalled Google Sync in hopes that if I highlighted only the Master Calendar that it would work, but it did not. Who can tell me how to make this work?
Thank you!

ILA 2008

Last week I attended the Illinois Library Association conference in Chicago. There were two sessions that actually applied to Academic Libraries. They were Systemic Change Needed in Information Literacy and Academic Integrity and the College Student.

In the first session Lisa Stock, from the College of DuPage, discussed a study she conducted on how students develop info lit skills. She found a need to educate the educators and that there should be full collaboration between librarians and faculty, not just parallel work or cooperative work. Our new workshop forms are more collaborative.

The session on Academic Integrity seemed to bring up more questions than answers. The speakers were from Eastern Illinois University and Elmhurst College. They found that while there are not more students plagiarizing, students are plagiarizing more. They discussed what role librarians have in teaching students about plagiarism, citations, and use of information. They discussed how to keep students from cheating. Turnitin software was mentioned. One suggestion was that faculty need to create cheat proof assignments and not give the same tests over and over. They too said that collaboration between faculty and librarians is vitally important.

One session I attended in which I had to stand for 1.5 hours (see below) was The Customer Focused Library - Lessons Learned from Retail. This was the result of a study conducted in the Chicago area of four libraries, both public and academic. While the academic library was larger than our libraries are, there were still some things that apply to us. One of them was to keep the desk uncluttered - lofty goal for me since I do all my work from my desk. Also, look at your library from a patron's view and keep computer-generated signage fresh or it will lose power among frequent visitors.

I did attend a session on gadgets, where they had the Kindle, some phones, some battery chargers, etc. It led to my purchasing an ITouch. After all, we did step up to DSL from dial up at home last month. Now if I would just connect everything so that I can use it. :)

I wanted to get into the session about leadership, but it was full to overflowing. (I still uploaded slide presentation to Google Docs.) As a matter of fact, that happened to me in three of the sessions that I wanted to attend. I noticed that some of the very popular sessions were put in rooms that had only about 50 seats, while others were in huge rooms and had only a scattering of attendees. That was the frustrating part of my week.

I placed the handouts and PowerPoints in the ILA 2008 folder under conferences in Google.

Successful admin rep workshop

I had been prepared to show the Admission Reps the library introduction I use during student orientation. There are a few 'high-maintenance" reps who simply are too stubborn to use any of my previous suggestions, and in the spirit that repetition makes a consistent pattern, I was going to share with them how I introduce the library resources.

Of course, the ones that tend to be the "high-maintenance" reps were not there. I had only 4 of the 9 present, so I had them log onto the student portal and I took them through a 20 minute library session, and it was fantastic.

We went through the library website. I pointed out the meebo online reference box. We looked at the catalog, the ebooks, the journal article databases our students need to use. We looked at the APA citation help and showed them where they can see for themselves how papers need to be written look like. I showed them and encouraged them to log onto NoodleBib so they can experience the wonder that is NoodleBib.

It went really well. The 4 that were present are fantastic reps, and they do their job really well. They seemed to appreciate me going through the library website and its resources with them, and it has given me some ideas as to how we can follow up on this!

:)

Successful RSS workshop

We had 9 instructors attend a Professional Development program last night. My part was to introduce them to RSS and what it can mean for them. Our new full-time IT hire (yippee!) was the only one who knew what RSS was, so it was very new to the rest of them.

The things I highlighted were how it could eliminate the time it took to keep up-to-date, how easy it was to set up, how Google Reader was so easy to use, and sample RSS feeds they might want to try. Very successful!

Book Display for Faculty and Staff

Last night I set up a display of books in the Faculty and Staff lounge. The sign says, "Faculty and Staff, Do you have extra time over break to do some recreational reading?"

Already this morning I had 2 check-out slips! I chose the books carefully trying to decipher what the faculty and staff might be interested in reading. The 2 books that were checked out are Maus and The Last Lecture.

Here are the photos of the display.




So, sometimes you have to take the books out of the library to get faculty and staff to notice??

I Forgot MEEBO...

Librarians,

Since MEEBO will be included in the reference sampling, I thought that it might be time to put aside the daily MEEBO stats.

What are your thoughts? Is it necessary to collect them daily? Do you think that an occasionally "heads up" on chat trends from one another will be sufficient?

Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month is Sept. 15 – Oct. 15.
The US Census has a ton of great info. Follow that link for many great bulletin board ideas and trivia facts.


Here is some information that is available on this website:


"In September 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim National Hispanic Heritage Week, which was observed during the week that included Sept. 15 and Sept. 16. The observance was expanded in 1988 to a monthlong celebration (Sept. 15 – Oct. 15). America celebrates the culture and traditions of those who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Sept. 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on Sept. 16 and Sept. 18, respectively."

Interview Thyself!

This week, I've worked on preparing interview questions for the final three candidates for the Aurora campus librarian position. We've whittled down from approximately 70 candidates, to date (and they keep on coming).

What struck me about these questions is that I'm not sure how I'd answer some of them. Now, I am by no means preparing to leave my current role, but I think that it's important to take a step back and gain some professional perspective. It may also help you sort of re-focus on your work and gain back some energy toward a job that can become stressful at this time of the quarter.

Please look through the questions. You can answer them in the blog, if you want; or, you can simply think over the answers to yourself. I'd be interested in knowing if any of them inspired you to change your work habits, short term or long term goals.

1. What do you see as the value of belonging to a professional organization?
2. Do you like working with people?
3. Where do you expect to be professionally in five years?
4. If we asked your present supervisor what your strengths are, what would he/she say?
5. What did you do to prepare for this interview?
6. What would you do if you overheard a staff or faculty member providing inaccurate information about the library?
7. What type of management style do you prefer?
8. Give an example of an incident of teamwork you performed in a former job, your role on that team, and what you would change now, given the opportunity.
9. After you have eliminated the backlog, how do you see this job challenging you? What will motivate you to come to work?
10. What have you read lately, and what are you reading now?
11. You have an expansive book order planned, and then you are told that your budget has been cut. How would you manage such a situation?
12. Are you a person who likes to “try new things” or “stay with regular routines”? Give an example.
13. What do you hope to leave as your professional legacy?

Mentor Center

The dean asked me to find out what techniques, if any, have worked at your campuses to make the Mentor Center successful? At my campus, the mentor center is seperate from the library. One of the instructors coordinates the pairing of mentors with students needing help. The peer mentors are volunteers, not paid or FWS. We also have a few instructors who mentor occasionally as well. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Intergenerational Classrooms

I would like to study how librarians and faculty can best instruct information literacy concepts to an intergenerational classroom.

Understanding the different learning styles and how students interact will help librarians and faculty meet the needs of students and improve the teaching style for information literacy purposes.

Here are some questions that I have. I would love feedback from librarians/faculty that hold workshops and teach intergenerational classrooms. You can respond by commenting on this blog or by email: amys@rasmussen.edu

1. Who is more likely to participate in class discussion- traditional aged students or non-traditional adult learners?

2. T/F You cannot teach all ages the same way.

3. T/F Traditional aged students view adult non-traditional students as more knowledgeable because they may have more work/life experience.

4. T/F There is limited interaction between non-traditional and traditional aged students.

5. T/F By the end of a course non-traditional and traditional aged students realize that they can really learn from each other.

6. T/F When using or discussing technology in the classroom, there is a wide gap in understanding technology between traditional students and non-traditional aged students.

7. T/F Traditional aged students have a shorter attentional span in the classroom.

8. T/F Outside of class, non-traditional students spend more time on assignments and preparing for class.

Do you have any suggestions for alternative questions?


* This was cross-posted on my blog.

Mosby's Dictionary: New Edition

I received a flyer today that Mosby's Dictionary is in a new edition. According to the flyer, new features include: 5,000 new definitions; thumb tabs, entry words in color; new lab test and surgical procedure definitions; 50 complementary and alternative medical therapies; and over 200 new drug entries.

The ISBN is 9780323049375.

Should we purchase an eBook, as well as having the print version available in our libraries? This is an essential reference for our Allied Health & Nursing students.

One of the nicer features appears to be the companion Evolve website, with 35,000 audio pronunciations; a printable English-Spanish phrase book; 400 interactive medical terminology review exercises, and more. You can see complete information about the text at http://MosbyDictionary.elsevier.com.

Mosby's Dictionary Online will be available in the Spring. It will act like a database, rather than an eBook.

I think that I should just purchase a copy for every library - but I am interested in your thoughts.

Adult Education Resources

This morning, I had a new catalog on my desk from Steck-Vaughn, self-proclaimed "Leader in Adult Education". Many of the titles were for GED and TABE preparation, but they had other titles for basic mathematics & algebra; language skills & vocabulary; ESL; classic fiction titles for a 2-6 reading level; etc.

Since we are an open enrollment institution, we will continue to see students who struggle with reading, writing, and mathematical concepts - even those students who have successful passed Foundations classes.

Should we offer titles like these in our libraries? Should we work collaboratively with our Mentor Centers to maintain this kind of collection with their resource bank? How do we advertise that these titles are available? Do we maintain them in their own section?

The link to the company catalog is http://www.SteckVaughn.com/AdultEd.

Privacy, Part II

Pretty apparent that the buzz about the topic of privacy just keeps on increasing; among colleagues, students, neighbors, you name it.... Not only is it a cover story in the current Scientific American, but my September copy of american libraries just arrived. Haven't had a chance to read it yet, but its cover story looks intriguing: "Privacy: A National Conversation."

Admissions Team Workshop

I have been trying to meet with the Head of Admissions for the past two weeks without success. Today I walked in with one of the reps who does a fantastic job of promoting the library and sending students to me. She said that I needed to do a workshop for the reps. I told her it was funny that she should mention that as I had been trying to talk with her supervisor about it. She said that if I was available on Monday during their regularly scheduled meeting that she would take care of it. Soon after, she sent an email to her supervisor and copied it to me requesting that I do a workshop. Fifteen minutes later, her supervisor called me and we finalized the arrangements. I am excited about this as we have several new admissions reps and as far as I know there has never been a library workshop for admissions. As Chandra has said, it is important for them to know what they are promoting. Also, the reps are the ones who do all of the online training with the students at orientation, so it is important that they be able to show them what is available in the online library. And, I now know the 'go to' person in Admissions. ;^)

Going to ALA in Chicago?

2009 Annual Poster Session Application Information

Chicago, IL: July 11-13, 2009

Applications for presenting poster sessions at the 2009 American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago, IL, will be accepted via the World Wide Web at:
http://www.lib.jmu.edu/org/ala/

Applications will be accepted between November 1, 2008 and January 31, 2009

An application form, guidelines for applying, helpful hints, and photos of sample poster sessions can be found at the website. If you don’t have access to the World Wide Web or to email, please contact Jody Condit Fagan, Chair, at 540-568-4265 (telephone) for instructions on how to apply.

Intro to Library Presentation: Success!

Since Jan was out today, I volunteered to take over her presentation to a mid-start Success Strategies class. All that I know was that the instructor had given me about an hour to talk about the resources in the Online library.

Normally when I give this presentation, I run through the resources (sometimes with students following along, sometimes not) and the results are the same: students' eyes glaze over, they play solitaire or work on assignments, etc. It's frustrating to me, in part because I believe I deserve their respect, in part because I know that I'm sharing information that will be valuable to them down the road - probably a very short road.

I came up with a solution this morning as I was waking up. I'm only blogging about it because it happened to be successful, I think. After I set up the laptop, I passed out 11x14 sheets of paper to each student. I had the entire class turn off their computer monitors. Then, we talked about maps. I talked about how a map gets a person from one point to another, that the legend usually identifies rivers, railroads, Chuck E Cheeses, etc. (they laughed).

Then, I asked them to use the paper to create a map that they could use to navigate the library website. I told them that they could write all text, or they could draw out a map with pictures and arrows, etc. I encouraged them to include the key resources that they thought would be helpful in their program. I also told them that their instructor would collect them at the end of class to take a look at the maps, and then hand them back so that the students could use them as a guide.

The instructor did not know in advance. Thankfully, she likes me.

We walked through the catalog. I identified each of the databases by program, and we took a look at Academic Search Complete and Points of View (may favorite, but all of the students liked it). We looked at the Magnolia sites, and then APA tools. I showed them Noodlebib and how to create a APA-formatted paper using the export feature (they loved it). I showed them Ask a Librarian, and then logged into Meebo and chatted with myself.

They had questions! They asked about getting back into the databases, using Noodlebib, using MEEBO, and about the Magnolia sites. I stayed to watch the instructor collect the maps, and a couple of students were really worried that they wouldn't get them back! Many of the students asked about the assignment that they have for their Success class (a six page paper - egads!) All of the maps contained substantial notes, and many had visuals (arrows, images). I believe that it's a legitimate assessment for what is otherwise a potentially mundane and/or overwhelming workshop.

I need to get back in the classroom more often. I love doing workshops and I miss connecting that way with students.

Constitution Day happenings on GB campus

In addition to everything else happening system-wide, we're going to do a couple of other 'events'.

1. During the week of September 8th, we will be running an in-class competition, completely voluntary. We will be providing all the words of the preamble, mixed up. Each class, as a team, will need to put the words in order. There will be no using the web to find the answer. The closest team will be awarded with a copy of the constitution AND pizza!

2. I'm figuring out a way to display something on the board we have- which is in the student lounge right now - and have some sort of interactive Bill of Rights discussion (which is the most important / why). Students really got into writing on the boards during the Women's Equality week last week.

That's what we're planning right now. Are you doing anything extra?

Perfect Timing for the 'Future of Privacy'

I had just finished glancing at the latest American Libraries Direct when, within minutes, a student asked me for information on "Privacy and the Internet." In the "Actions & Answers" section of Direct, an article says the September issue of Scientific American "focuses mostly on technologies that erode privacy and technologies that preserve it."

The student and I clicked on http://www.sciam.com/sciammag/ and it is really worth taking a look at. The features include "Do Social Networks Bring the End of Privacy," "How RFID Tags Could Be Used To Track Unsuspecting People," and "Privacy in an Age of Terabytes and Terror" -- just to list a few. Fascinating!

Learn with the Librarian

I found great videos about voting in North Dakota on the website for the Secretary of State. I was thinking of a way to share them with my students, and I decided to create Learn with the Librarian blog.

I'm still mulling over ideas for how to market it and other ways to use the blog after Constitution Day is over. I think I might use it to showcase new acquisitions and to market workshops. (Amy, you've done something similar for your faculty, haven't you?)

I'd welcome your comments and suggestions!

Special Projects for Interns

I am hoping to piggy-back on Cynthia’s well received post regarding interns.

In addition to the regular duties (circulation, reference interviews, collection development, workshops, cataloguing), interns will now be asked to complete one major project.

Does anyone have suggestions for what this project should be? I would relish any suggestions my fellow librarians would have.

A few ideas that have been tossed around include; Collection Marketing, Open Workshops, & making a presentation to the Librarians regarding an emerging technology.

New to Facebook?

Check out these EASY Facebook 101 tips.

Survey Updates, Take II

Thanks to those of you (6 of you, where was everyone else?) who submitted comments about the surveys. I will detail changes I've made (or have not made and why) below.

Workshop Survey
- added Fort Myers to the campus list

- I Changed question 2 to a general pick list of workshops that you often give. I also included an "other" box for students to identify a blended workshop of 2 or more topics, if they feel it to be necessary.

- I changed the language of the first two items in #3 to "this information will be useful"

- I put the "effort" question as the last one in the set of #3. This was a suggestion made by one of you and I think it's a valuable question, considering how many students label something as boring/useless right now.

- I added a line in the e-mail portion about the e-mail remaining anonymous. I can send you results without you seeing which person added which response.

General Survey
- Added Fort Myers

- I'm leaving the "online library" language as is. The question is not for students to identify print resources that we are lacking (although, I guess it could be); it's for online students who do not visit the physical library. If we take out the "online library" part, fully online students may not think that the question applies to them.

- Changed "completed" to "attempted research"

- Changed the use of Library question to: The library (or Online Library) is useful for research, individual work, or group study (please note the OR here - I know that not all libraries are used for group study - but some certainly are)

- Added anonymous statement

- Added separate comment/question box

Questions, Concerns??

Survey Updates - Please read & respond

Librarians:

To make it easier for students to complete the online and general surveys, and to assure that the questions in our surveys are relevant and meaningful, I’ve updated both surveys and put them in Survey Monkey.

We have a few discussions before these will be in place, so please do not begin using them in your library, in e-mail transactions, or for workshops. However, I am very much interested in your feedback about
1) The questions themselves (Are they appropriate? Consistent with our mission and needs for assessment? Too many?)
2) The wording (Too “librarian-speak”)
3) What’s missing?

Please login to Survey Monkey today or tomorrow (http://www.surveymonkey.com; if you cannot find the username/password, please IM me) and click on “My Surveys”. The top two surveys are the ones to review. Please comment to this post.

Thank you for your help.

Baker & Taylor stamps

I know I ordered a lot of books, but...
Sara recently received her first box of items with Baker & Taylor processing. She noticed that they were all stamped Bismarck Campus even though they're the items she ordered. You may want to check how your books are stamped.

Plagiarism

Mary came across this site in one of the classes she teaches. One of her students is doing a paper on plagiarism. She wanted me to read it and comment. I felt that many of the thoughts here were on target and I am going to look at plagiarism differently. I truely feel that many of our students fall into the misuse of resources category.

Let me know what you think.

http://wpacouncil.org/positions/plagiarism.html

Practicum Student (Amended)

Starting next month, I will be having a practicum student working with me on Tuesdays. I have come up with a list of tasks for her to do, which of course mirror my own. She should also have a project. One of the things that I have been meaning to do since I started last October is to rearrange the library (collection, not furniture) to make it more accessible for users. I'm thinking this might be a nice project for a LIS student. What projects have you given your practicum students/interns? Any advice/tips you would like to share on managing students/interns?

“Library Accessibility” toolkit

CHICAGO—Anxiety, panic, and fear. When trying to help a patron with a disability, many expert librarians are overcome by these emotions.

Recognizing that education is the most effective method for overcoming these barriers, a team of volunteers in conjunction with the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) developed Library Accessibility –What You Need to Know, which provides critical information and tips for librarians and staff in all types of libraries.

Edited by Monique DeLatte, this toolkit of 15 concise documents outlines the challenges faced by disabled patrons and offers methods for delivering one-on-one library services to these groups. The toolkit content was compiled by a committee of ASCLA members in partnership with experts in the field of library access, library science students at Louisiana State University and patrons with disabilities and their families.

Library Accessibility –What You Need to Knowcan be downloaded through the ASCLA web site


ASCLA, a division of the American Library Association, is devoted to the development of specialized and cooperative library activities, and its members represent state library agencies, specialized library agencies, multitype library cooperatives and librarians who work outside of traditional library settings.

Camel Bookmobile

I just finished a book titled "Camel Bookmobile" it is by Masha Hamilton. It was about a young librarian, who wasn't quite sure why she pursued this career because she felt that she didn't fit the mold. She knew though, that she loved the feeling of helping a person find the right book and she felt that she was pretty good at it. She jumps at the chance to go to Africa to be part of a program where librarians help those in "the bush" become literate. This book is based on a true story and it is an enjoyable read. It will make you become aware that not all cultures place literacy high on their list and that the past is very important.

A successful RSS workshop!

Last Friday I hosted a RSS workshop for the EP Faculty. It lasted about an hour and took the place of our Faculty Friday morning meeting.

We started with a brief introduction and explanation of RSS, which included a viewing of the Common Craft RSS video on YouTube. The viewing went successfully, and several faculty members even chuckled. I recommended that they look for Common Craft videos on other Web 2.0 topics. Next, I demonstrated my own Google RSS Reader and answered a few questions. The final segment of the workshop gave faculty members the time to set up their own Google Reader accounts. There were quite a few questions and much discussion between faculty members.

At the close of the workshop, several faculty members expressed that they were happy they attended the workshop and that they would continue exploring RSS on their own.

In the future I may consider hosting a RSS in the Classroom workshop. However, I think as most of us mentioned in a previous post, I would definately have to get more familiar with RSS on my own first.

Opportunity - ALA President announces virtual poster sessions

From ALA News -

This year, under American Library Association (ALA) President Jim Rettig’s leadership, members will have new opportunities to participate in ALA and to communicate their success stories. One of these opportunities is an ALA-wide virtual poster session.

The first of two poster sessions will debut this fall. Its focus is “Community Central.”

Share your experiences of making your library vital in your community (any kind of community). The possibilities are almost endless. Are you reaching underserved populations? Are you vital to local political activity? Is your library a center of learning? Are you visible outside the building? Demonstrate the specific purpose of your community involvement and the ways that you have achieved that purpose. Photos, images, and sounds may accompany your presentation.

To be considered for inclusion in the poster session, please send a proposal in the form of a summary of your library’s efforts, making sure to address the following points:

Question or problem (need not be stated as hypotheses)
Environmental context of the question or problem (such as public libraries, academic libraries)
Organizational context of the question or problem (internal services, outreach, community analysis, etc.)
Approaches to address the question or problem (i.e., the specific ways the library and its staff have addressed the kinds of programs and activities mentioned in the Community Central description)
Outcomes (details on the effects of the approaches, including data, testimonials or other evidence of community involvement)
The summary must be no longer than three pages, double-spaced (one or more photos or images may be included as part of the three pages).

The deadline for submitting proposals is Nov. 15. Approximately 25 submissions will be selected and will be available for viewing during January 2009. Please send the proposals via e-mail to Dr. John M. Budd at BuddJ@missouri.edu.

A second virtual poster session will take place in the spring of 2009.

Rettig’s initiatives for his presidential term are about “Creating Connections” –connections among our libraries; connections between the communities we serve and those who make funding and policy decisions; connections with prospective library workers; connections with ALA members. His initiatives address three critical issues: Advocacy, Diversity and Member Participation.

For more information about ALA President Jim Rettig’s initiatives, please visit http://jimrettig.org/content/initiatives/initiatives.htm .

WebJunction 2.0

I know that Sara told us all about WebJunction a while ago. Just thought I'd bring it to your attention that they have revamped their website to 2.0

If you aren't familiar with the site, they offer online courses, etc. specific to libraries-

http://webjunction.org/home

Article - As Seen By The Color Blind

I originally saw this article in American Libraries (ALDirect):

As Seen By The Color Blind
By evad in Tools, Guides, Popular, ArticlesPrint this page

In the U.S. 7% of the male population – or about 10.5 million men – and 0.4% of the female population either cannot distinguish red from green, or see red and green differently. Color blindness affects a significant amount of the population, and it is even more prevalent in more isolated populations with a smaller gene pools. It is mostly a genetic condition, though it can be caused by eye, nerve, or brain damage, or due to exposure to certain chemicals.

For those of us who see colors just fine, it is hard to imagine what those with color blindness are seeing. Luckily humans are smart and have created technology like the Color Blind Web Page Filter.


rest of the article, examples at http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2008/07/24/as-seen-by-the-color-blind/

The Future of Google and Knol

Google and Knol are increasingly making the news, as evident by this article on the front page of the business section in the New York Times on Aug. 11, 2008. (Prime layout spot after a weekend!)

It's titled "Is Google a Media Company?" and the gist is: "While Knol is only three weeks old and still relatively obscure, it has already rekindled fears among some media companies that Google is increasingly becoming a competitor. They foresee Google’s becoming a powerful rival that not only owns a growing number of content properties, ... but also holds the keys to directing users around the Web."

Risky business, these days, to predict the future, but the article states: "While Google helps drive the success of other content providers, it is clear that the company will not shy away from entering what it considers 'high-value' content areas, said David B. Yoffie, a professor at the Harvard Business School.

“ 'If I am a content provider and I depend upon Google as a mechanism to drive traffic to me, should I fear that they may compete with me in the future?' Professor Yoffie asked. 'The answer is absolutely, positively yes.' ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/technology/11google.html?pagewanted=1&ref=business

NoodleTools Open Workshop

One of my goals for this quarter is to do an open workshop. So, I decided that in week 9 I would attempt a NoodleTools workshop. I am hoping that by this time students who have a project/paper due will have already collected their sources so that they can leave the workshop with their Reference page completed. Has anyone done this and if so, how did it go? I am always looking for tips. If anyone has any flyers that they have used for this purpose that they would like to share, that would be great, too.

Thanks!

Strategic Planning 101: Step 1

I think that a subtitle to this post could be "One more thing they didn't teach me in Library School". Or, perhaps I should have been paying better attention during my management class.

Strategic Planning is neither fun nor easy (or, if it s fun, said fun is masked by the difficulty of planning). One needs only to read the hundreds of strategic plans developed by a myriad of academic and public libraries to determine that there are hundreds of different ways to approach strategic planning.

I started out this venture in an attempt to create a Student Learning Outcomes plan for our Information Literacy Instruction That, however, transitioned into a much broader Outcomes plan for the library. There is not much written about Outcomes-based planning/assessment for the whole library. I've decided that plans that mention "challenges" or "goals" are really talking about outcomes (although, only to a point - some of the goals are really actually outputs).

Some critical questions currently lay at my feet:
1) How can we write this as a team without substantially eating away at your campus-work time (instruction, weeding, cataloging, reference, etc. etc. etc.)
2) Where does one begin? We have quite a bit of content for an environmental scan (stats, LibQual results, etc.) but we've never really talked about a vision or "goals" (outcomes).
3) Am I overanalyzing this? Are we better off approaching this from a needs-based perspective, as we have been for the past two years? We've needed better communication - we developed a blog - now we have better communication. I just don't think that this approach will work in the long term. The problem is, I don't know what approach will work.

Where do we begin?