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.
   

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!

:)

Database Demonstrations

Librarians:

Maybe the word "workshop" is not the best way to get the message across to some of our students. After all, a workshop implies 30 minutes to 60 minutes of PowerPoint presentations, handouts, and activities *blah*. And, after all, aren't students already subjected to that when they are in class?

Maybe, instead, we could consider using the terminology "Database Demonstrations" - and DO exactly that. Set up very informally - maybe have a few computers set up already pointed to a specific database. Offer one handout on the use of that database, and show students how to utilize it. Or, set up a computer with a power point about the database that continually restarts, and answer questions during the "demonstration".

Think about it like a Conference vendor display - maybe even have small prizes just for showing up :)