The Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians Annual Conference in Manitowoc, WI

The Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians Annual Conference Manitowoc, WI

This was a great conference to have attended. In addition to talking and getting back in touch with other librarian friends and colleagues, I had a fantastic poster session and went to some useful sessions.


Avoiding the “Librarian Nerd Loop”: Engaging Students & Creating a User-Friendly Library Environment

The librarians at Carroll College are working hard to create student-centered services by making their webpages easier to navigate and use and using chat reference extensively using Meebo in particular. What I took away from this session was that the language library instructors use should be words and phrases the STUDENT would understand. No one is going to understand “bibliographic information”, “ILL”, or potentially even “Information Literacy”.

Ways to achieve a more student-centered library service plan:

• use Meebo for online chat (the RCLS is already doing this);
• create and update usable subject guides;
• utilize RSS feeds for appropriate links.

(See slides)

I LOVE this quote:

“Geek is chic – nerdiness is not!”

Pay attention to the words I use in the library and focus on what the audience will understand. “Information Literacy” is a big concept to get across. How can this be broken up into usable segments so our students can understand them?

Improving Teaching & Learning through Instructional Partnerships: Building Relationships One-on-One

This is a really interesting project that allows instructional librarians to improve their teaching skills with the aid of a partner. The project uses reflection, discussion and observation to achieve the goals of building supportive relationships with colleagues.
(see slides and handouts)

Identify those aspects of my teaching that I’d like to work on and ask for assistance from both the other RCLS team members and from faculty members on the GB campus for suggestions, discussion, etc.

Creating a Library 2.0 Presence Without a Web Programmer
This was an unexpected bonus session as I was going to attend a concurrent one. The NWTC library has created a dynamic web page and subsequent library subject guides within 3 months using a fantastic product called LibGuides. I’ve already shared this with Emily, and the RCLS is looking into this product. It’s beautiful! (see slides)

I’ve already shared this web product with Emily. I am looking at how other libraries use this as well to create the most dynamic and usable website we can

Library Instruction: Using Effective Marketing Strategies to Ensure Successful Outcomes
Library instruction is not understood in general. What we do is not understood by faculty and by staff. Faculty have assumptions as to library resources and its services. This intriguing session was about how librarians market our resources and services and how we promote ourselves in different ways. Some suggestions I and the rest of the RCLS team might be able to use are:

• the elevator speech
• focus primarily on the audience’s needs
• posters – K.I.S.S.
• the lingo changed to something the audience can understand: “Research-ology”, “Information Navigation 101”
• Creating a Marketing Plan for the RCLS!

I am looking at how I market workshops and other items on campus for the short and long term.