Supporting online instructors

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 refer an online instructor to the librarian. However, I'm sure deans or Student Success Coordinators would be happy to recommend you to online instructors when students are struggling with sources and information literacy.

The online instructors I've "met" lets me know which Bismarck students are struggling with finding resources or citing sources. If they live in the area, she directs them to me or I seek them out. I've had a couple come in for help. Last quarter, we even set up a designated day/time for her online students to come to the campus library to meet each other and to get help. (No takers.)

Today I got another e-mail from the instructor, and I think it underscores the support we as librarians can provide for our online instructors. It also made my day. Here's an excerpt...

"Personally, I do not think I would still be doing this if I had not run into you. I have tried to contact different people...but I have had less than helpful responses or no response. I guess I do not like working in a vacuum...I have taught for 30 years, but I find that online teaching presents its own very special challenges."

My attempt to encourage students to use the Library Catalog

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

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/program?

Liaison areas & ALA Annual

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 division, office, and round table pages.

Also, the New Members Round Table (NMRT) has an orientation "101" program on Friday night and again on Saturday morning. http://www.ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/upcoming/annual/2009/2009_prelimprogram_only_FINAL.pdf

Technology Literacy

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 Literacy (my word). Has anyone else been asked to do this? If so (or if not) do you have suggestions on how you might provide a Technology Literacy workshop?

Ethical question

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 in their own words, and to use proper citation when needed. You even discuss plagiarism and how the paper in its rough draft would be considered to be plagiarized if turned it as it was.

Let's say that you know that student pretty well and suspect that they will not take the time to make the appropriate changes.

What would you do? Would you hope for the best? Would you notify their instructor? Would you notify the Academic Dean? How far would you go?

Go Figure

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

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 proof that the Rasmussen Library System is a great system!

More good news: The NAACLS team did not list any areas of concern in their report. Now we just have to wait until September for the NAACLS board to meet to rule on our accreditation, but it looks good.

Rassy loves books

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!

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 form to get comfortable with the idea, and then the instructor had them complete a worksheet about that particular source. So each student left with at least one book! At the next workshop for Success Strategies, I taught how to use the online catalog, and each student's "assignment" was to order an interlibrary loan on something in their field. Now, each student is comfortable checking out books, ordering ILL, they each have at least two resources for their research paper, AND my stats went up!

NYT's Future of Reading Part 3

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

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

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 disconnect between information online and what students are used to seeing.

So I decided to bring in some print examples. Since my library doesn't really have a print journal collection, I grabbed some from home (mostly poli sci and humanities, and yes, even a couple Library Journals). I passed them out in the class, and had students start comparing them to popular magazines. We made a comparison list on the board, and talked about what makes scholarly journals so different from popular magazines, and why we use them.

I think this exercise helped the students understand that what they are viewing online is also available in print. It seems to help to have literal, hands-on examples for students to touch and look at it when explaining new concepts. However, I agree with Emily that perhaps our focus should be our online databases, and not print journals. Students may like seeing the resources for themselves, but when it comes to using the resources, they seem to prefer online.

The Budget: Meeting Student Needs

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 our students. We've danced around it for three years. Do we need less print and more online?

I would never suggest eliminating the print budget completely. Print materials are essential to our campus libraries, and as our circulation increases it is obvious that our students value print resources. However, there are many valuable resources that we were unable to purchase last year due to cost. If we cut back our print budgets by 25%, it would save us over 100K a year - enough to purchase 4 or 5 quality databases.

One of your esteemed colleagues suggested to me today that we move our journal collections completely online. We could definitely do this (I think) - that is, we have the technology available to do this, or will with the new catalog. But, do you have enough students who use your print resources to warrant having items in print? Many items, or just some general magazines & your local newspaper?

I know that your responses to the following question will vary campus to campus. I expect some of you could cut back your print budgets to only 20% of this fiscal year's allotment and probably do quite well. So, I ask you: what are your opinions on print & electronic?

-E

Evaluating websites exercise

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 only government websites in Google. This feature is at www.google.com/unclesam. This website will definitely be useful to our Criminal Justice students.


A Search for the "death penalty" is shown below. The students were able to see the quality of results were better than searching for the death penalty under the normal google.com platform.

** Sorry for cross posting. I also put this blog post on my personal/professional blog.

Gamin' @ Rasmussen

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 "Gaming In The Libraries" session last October for the Wisconsin Library Association annual conference and was intrigued about the idea of using gaming as a tool for literacy (or in many ways technology literacy) in the library.

After mulling over the session with Emily, we decided it would be interesting if we could have an event on this campus and see what happens!

We're on!

I'm working with the Admissions department and have MANY volunteers. I sent out an email to the leadership team on campus:

I will be hosting the PS3 & RockBand2. The college has the Wii and Pam has some games that she will share. It will be a fantastic way to have fun with our students, a good way to assist in retention, and possibly even a way for some of our tech-wary students to have some fun and learn not to be afraid of technology.

I'm so excited that the event seems to be gaining momentum. We will have at least 1 person in each room to staff each room for the Wii & the RockBand2 so students can come in, and even if they don't know HOW to do the game, they will be able to shown how.

Did I mention that I actually have fantastic support from the leadership team, including the DOA and the Campus Director?

I'm so excited for this, and hope it will be successful. I'll be starting to advertise it in the near future.

Cataloging accomplishment

It's amazing what one can accomplish in just a few months. I'm finally feeling GOOD. If not 100% then pretty darn close, and it's apparent in the work I've been able to accomplish recently.

We have the internal auditors here this week, and it was important to the campus director to get as much cataloging as we could for this campus. It's not to say nothing was cataloged. There was a slight glitch here because Aleph was going through an upgrade around the same time I started, and while items were ready from OCLC, we couldn't get them into ALEPH. I'm not complaining - it just is what it is.

Well, nothing like a deadline to just get things done…

We now have 700+ books, reference books & DVDs in the ALEPH (public online) catalog. Since June 2008, I’ve cataloged +550!!!

Since I returned from vacation / surgery / 2008 craziness, 351 items were cataloged. I’ve had assistance from Sara from St. Cloud (THANKS!) who successfully cataloged 124 which helped tremendously.

Phew ... bring on the world! :)

Captive Audience for Open Workshop

Last quarter, I had 14 students attend one of my open workshops. Hurray! The back story? It was in Week 9, and was on resumes and cover letters (now Fort Myers has a mentor center coordinator who will handle these in the future). But per the terrific suggestion of Tara, our dean, I held that workshop in the lunchroom during lunch break!

At least 20 people were actually coming and going, but it was easy to get the 14 students to take a look at my "portable resume workshop info." I didn't even need a laptop; just had lots of copies of things like template ideas, lists of active verbs, pathway info, etc., that I handed out.

(I caught everyone's attention initially by displaying that funny poster from Ras Career Services. It shows an appropriately dressed job interviewee and her "clean" resume, contrasting with a picture of her slacker alter ego and a resume that potential employers would immediately put in a circular file.)

The Big Time

I feel like I have finally hit the big time. I just filled my first request for Interlibrary Loan from a library outside of Rasmussen College. I believe I did it correctly and it will be picked up tomorrow and delivered to another library system. I have to give credit to my practicum student for this as he is the one who discovered that I was not listed as a reciprocal lender in OCLC.

Wiki for Annual 2009 in Chicago

Usually updates more often than the website- http://wikis.ala.org/annual2009/index.php/Main_Page

I've been back... just been busy & am catching up on things at the campus! Will send a message by Fri w/info from Midwinter.

Preliminary program is on the website


Reference & User Services Association (RUSA) Programs-
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/events/annual09/index.cfm

Chat Reference

I love chat reference and our Meebo sessions. I wish it was available to our students 24/7, but I certainly do not want to be the person working in the wee hours of the night. :)

One of the sessions that I attended at the MLA Conference (November 2008) was about a digital reference services that is 24/7. In the future, we might want to consider a similar option through a cooperative service. This service is through Minnesota Libraries and QuestionPoint, a National Reference Cooperative.

Name of the session: AskMN: The Librarian Is In

This session explained how many libraries are teaming up to have 24/7 instant messaging services for patrons. They are now able to have the librarians at a site get first “dibs” on a question posed by their patron. If the librarian at that location is not able to answer the question after a certain period of time OR if their library is closed, the question will be picked up at another location. The participating libraries pay for this service. They provide logins and passwords so librarians that are not working for the institutions where the questions are posed are then able to access the same databases granted to those patrons. Therefore, they are able to “see” what the virtual patron is navigating. This would be a great service for Rasmussen due to the 24/7 availability. The only login and password would be needed as the Non-Rasmussen librarian logged into the Student Portal. The website for this services is AskMN.org, and participating libraries can put the widget on their library homepages. The libraries that are currently utilizing this service are both academic and public. This session was led by Carla Steinberg Pfahl from MINITEX.

Categorizing Grid CAT

Last week I did a workshop for Intro to Criminal Justice. Since the majority of the class was first quarter students, the instructor asked for an overview of the library resources. When he saw the PowerPoint for using the library for great research, he decided to go with that. For assessment with the Intro to Library Resources workshops I had been using a questionnaire based on the one that Amy created. I wanted to try something different this time, so I did the Categorizing Grid, where students had to put the terms under the proper category. It was a simple assessment that didn't take much time to create or implement, and only a few of the students got a couple of the terms mixed up.

Problems with Plagiarism

Recently, our campus has experienced a few plagiarism issues with students. I have been asked to read over papers in question and comment on the citation or lack there of. Our dean has since asked me to provide a handout for faculty and for students with concrete examples of proper and improper paraphrasing and quoting. Searching for these examples I have come across a couple universities that provide some well done examples Princeton's:
http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pub/integrity/pages/plagiarism.html

Indiana University's
http://www.indiana.edu/~istd/example1paraphrasing.html

Let me know of any others you suggest or content you think might be appropriate.
Thanks,
Beth

Resources for Foundations of English

Two quarters ago, students came to me with issues about online Foundations of English class. I quickly found out that the class did not have a text book and the students were struggling. One of our adjuncts had recommended the book, Writers Inc: A student handbook for writing and learning. I have two copies - one for reference and one for circulation. This book proved to be quited helpful with that class. The circ copy gets checked out, and just came back yesterday.
The other recommendation I had from another adjunct, now full-time instructor, was Painless grammar. I again ordered two copies and the circ copy is currently checked out.

Both books have been helpful to me when I am assisting students. For those of you who do not have the books already, you might consider acquiring them for your library.

Timely news

I'm always glad when students take time to sit on our sofa and read the paper, or read newspapers online. And I always try to incorporate some news in each month's themed display. For "Financial Wellness Month," I have info on Rhode Island Sen. Claiborne Pell, who passed away New Year's Day at age 90. In the 1970s, he spearheaded the program that is now known as Pell Grants. Of course that program means so much to so many of our students.

In past months, I had articles on Seminole tribe events and Hispanic award programs. Often the local papers' coverage dovetails with our library themes. There will be a lot of news for Black History Month!

Circ Success

One of the displays we're doing this month is on fiction (regular popular novels... FIC :-) I've advertised this in the weekly announcements & on our kiosk. Amazingly, students have been checking out books! Another "gimmick" is that I point out to students that we have a few titles in the collection written by a Gen Ed instructor.

Why our team meeting will never be in Bismarck

Yesterday, our low tempertature was -44 degrees. The high temperature for the day was -19 degrees. Yes, that was the high.

How cold is -44? That's just as far from the freezing point as is 108 degrees.

I'll stop pressuring the rest of you to visit Bismarck. Now I understand why the answer is always no. :)

Chinese proverbs

One of my ask a librarian questions this week was about Chinese Proverbs. The student was given the following proverb.

“He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.”

Here is the assignment:

(1) defining what the quote is about; (2) challenging your assumptions about what it might be saying - that is, not jumping to an initial emotional response; (3) collecting any pertinent factors about the author or statement - as in the author's biography or the craft of the writing (check the Internet!); (4) evaluating the quote in its own context and not just your own frame of reference; (5) finally, offering your own "informed" opinion of the quote in relation to the truth of "You and the Humanities."

Has anyone seen this assignment before? I could find the proverb, but nothing about it or the author.

Any suggestions?

In two weeks I have done 7 presentations. 5 were done in the Allied Health field. As I was presenting last night, I found myself pausing, I couldn't remember what to say about a database! And I felt like I was repeating information that I already told the students but I am pretty sure it was information given in another presentation. Do you ever second guess yourself as your presenting or do so many of them that you forget what has been said in the one you are doing? I am trying to present the resources in different orders and stopping to ask if there are any questions and moving around so that I can get students to talk back to me. Let me know what you do, other than claim age as the culprit or the frigid weather in Minnesota!

More on Faculty Collaboration

I have the good fortune of having one of the authors of "First-Year Writing Teachers, Perceptions of Students' Information Literacy Competencies, and a Call for a Collaborative Approach" here at the Fargo campus. We are in the planning stages of a joint presentation for the faculty based on this paper and its findings. I have attached a link for you to view.
http://www.comminfolit.org/index.php/cil/article/view/Spring2008AR1

13 things you should do when you think you don't have anything to do

Because I have a sneaking suspicion that some of you have stopped reading my e-mails to you...

1. Add your best formative assessments to the FA Best Practices folder on Google Docs.
2. Help your follow librarians by adding their FA Best Practices.
3. Update your binder. Make sure you have the most current worksheets, policies, procedures, etc. (If you aren’t sure, ask).
4. Pre-plan your next book or board display. Take pictures of your current display and post them to FlickR.
5. Pick the brains of faculty, staff and students for purchasing ideas – even if it means leaving the library for a bit and chilling out in the lounges.
6. Order publisher’s catalogs online or over the phone.
7. Make sure your professional development is up to date, signed by your Dean, and in your binder.
8. PDF copies of professional development handouts and notes to Google Docs.
9. Review our policies and handouts. Is one missing or does something need updated? Check with Emily to get the Word version, then create or fix it.
10. Work on your campus or program websites.
11. Craft an email reminder about our resources for your programmatic/subject faculty.
12. Call Steve Wettergren and find out if you can help provide resources for a course build.
13. Call Emily and find out what project she’s six months behind on.

Hurrah for books!

" ... There is fantastic information in books. Often when I do a search, what is in a book is miles ahead of what I find on a Web site,” according to Sergey Brin, a Google founder and its president of technology, as quoted in the Jan. 5, 2009, edition of the New York Times.

Brin was interviewed in the story "Google Hopes to Open a Trove of Little-Seen Books," by Motoko Rich, who covers the books beat for the Times. The article does a good job giving an update on the Google book project, the recent copyright lawsuit settlement, etc...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/technology/internet/05google.html

Workshop scheduling

Last quarter (also my first quarter) was a mess when it came to workshops. In some cases, I was asked to give a workshop on using the library on my second day (it wasn't pretty), and in other cases, I never even met a faculty member until there were three weeks left in the quarter, and he asked me to teach how to use the library, research a topic, and create APA citations - in one night. Ugh. I just tried to do the best I could and spent a lot of time on damage control.

But this quarter, I am far more organized, and am ready to approach workshops in a new light. My dean and I worked together and came up with a great gameplan. First, she told new faculty that I would be coming into their classes to conduct workshops - so rather than waiting for them to come to me, the faculty already expect that I will be a part of their lesson plans from the beginning. Also, I sat down with my dean and brainstormed how to break down my topics into smaller chunks - so although I will be giving more frequent workshops, the students will (hopefully) absorb more and learn more.

I hope that these steps will 1) provide more interaction and collaboration with the faculty (esp. since my dean actively encourages faculty to work with me), and 2) engage the students and encourage more information literacy. We'll see!

Collaboration (CD/Assignments) with Faculty

I thought I would share a recent collaboration, of sorts, that developed with one of our instructors. After adding a significant batch of new materials to the collection, I email the list of titles to the faculty, AD, DSL, and Campus Director. This is also a good project for a student assistant- to type up the title list from invoices, and send to you. Rarely, do I hear any feedback from the faculty, but they are kept in the loop as to what has been added to the collection. At the end of last quarter, one of our Allied Health instructors came by to tell me she had noticed a title on the list, looked at it, loved it, and was going to develop an assignment requiring students actually use the set of books! I spoke with her today, and she has incorporated this assignment into her syllabus for this quarter. ...In addition, the list helped with a prior accreditation list in that the CD rec'd a question, remembered that I send out the list, and since I save them was able to show an example.

A Process, Not an Event

Sometimes it's hard to tell if library circulation is increasing. Sure, there are the rush weeks when papers are due. But other than that, it's sometimes hard to tell if all that spending and cataloging have had any effect. Well, in the 2.75 years since we put shelves and books in our campus library, growth in item circulation has been more of a process than an event. I didn't see the growth happen, but it did!

• 2006, 92 items checked out (3 quarters)
• 2007, 268 items checked out
• 2008, 612 items checked out

Pretty good for a campus with fewer than 500 students (many of whom live outside of the area) and about 1100 items!

Blogger's Block

Well, I have finally posted to the Blog. (Emily I hope you are seated). One of my New Year's resolutions was to post, so now I can check it off the list! The second resolution is to get more organized, well I'm more like organized chaos grounded in the Meg Wheatley theory of Chaos. http://www.well.com/~bbear/wheatley.html

I'm working on collaboration this upcoming quarter, and that means sharing more original works on the blog!

I am putting together a faculty packet of useful information. With that I created a cover letter in a bulleted format of the things we have to offer the students and faculty. It isn't complicated, but I think it serves two purposes. One, the faculty will think about what we have to offer, and two maybe sneak a peek for their own knowledge to possibly update their skills. It is a start...

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.