CSB/SJU marketing

This is a creative way to advertise library services...

In case you were wondering:

About the 7 sexiest librarians of all time:

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/1761

Favorite Library Websites

Good Morning!

What are your favorite library websites? Post 1 or 2 of them here, along with (if you have time) the reasons that you like them. Please post by Monday so that I can take your list with me to share during my meetings in Maitland.

Thanks - Emily

For those of you up for review, a job description is below:

Thing #145 I love about NoodleTools

If you are logged into NoodleBib as an instructor/librarian, you have the ability to create "Class Lists". You can enable lists for any class you teach... or you can simply call them "Your Campus Library".

When students are logged in, they can choose to share their references lists & notes. When they click on "share", all they have to do is provide their own name (so that the instructor/librarian knows whose list they are reviewing) and the name that you gave your class list.

Once students have submitted the lists, you can login to NoodleBib and review the lists. You can analyze the References pages, look at the notes, and more. Is that nifty or what?

Oh, the Things I can do!

I just figured out how to add our very own blog to my very own personal Google page. I've been customizing Google for several weeks now, adding my favorite library blogs (some of which are extremely informative), and others which are simply quirky and amusing (Unshelved, anyone?)

Still, you have to admit that it is awesome that we - our team - is out there for the world. If you are interested in learning how to create your own Google customized page with our blog on it, just let me know. -E

Green Bay - Push to the Finish

Alright runners, you are at the 25-mile mark... grab a drink of water and let's push to the finish line!

Ok, so perhaps we are not runners - but we are librarians and the list for Green Bay needs to be finished! Several areas are looking great - especially digital design and criminal justice - but a few areas are also still very weak (especially Allied Health).

Please take some time in the next few days and add a minimum of 10 books in any of the folders. Your contributions will go a long way in getting materials ready for this new campus in our system.

Thanks!
Emily

Pop Culture Book

I just read a book called Using Pop Culture to Teach Information Literacy (ISBN: 1591583012). After reading this book, it makes me want to formulate my workshops to include pop culture ideas that might be successful for the students to remember information literacy concepts. This book is written for high school librarians, but 90% of the content could be applied for the content that we cover in the Success Strategies workshops.

For example, the book talks about how many students know how to download music, program their TIVO, etc. So, if they can accomplish these things, using the library databases should be a breeze, but we all know that some students have very little experience with any technology.. Due to the "digital divide" and Rasmussen students entering college from many different generations, you'd have to be creative when using pop culture because otherwise someone may be confused when your information literacy workshop is based solely on Napoleon Dynamite. I use this example because they wrote a lot about Napoleon Dynamite in this book. The book also includes ways to use pop culture for explaining Boolean Searching and for evaluating resources. Check it out. I feel like I am on Reading Rainbow..

Plagiarism and "Critical Thinking"

Notice that I quoted the words "critical thinking". There is a reason for this. Well, as I can understand this, "critical thinking" is not something new. Socrates and Aristoteles taught it. In fact, philosophy is based on this. It seems to be a recent (perhaps the last 12 years or so) bandwagon thing. And everybody gets on it!, especially colleges and educators. For me critical thinking is based on critical reading and writing. All three feed into a dynamic process of teaching-learning. Oh well, as for plagiarism, it is a way by which a piece of information is received and "copied" without any necessary comprehension and application. It just is! It is taken from somewhere and "pasted" somewhere else. The context disappears, the comprehension is null, the explanation is non-existant, and thus it limits the critical thinking aparatus. Well, that is one way of looking at it. :)

Serafin

Critical Thinking Issues

Lib Staff,

This morning while evaluating GAP projects, I made a series of comments to the faculty relating to "critical thinking issues." It seems this is a major area of concern; the letter, the communication piece and the information literacy document can be easily managed. But the "critical thinking" area needs to be addressed. Faculty may be unclear as to what "critical thinking" really means, so we need to discuss definitions, Bloom categories (some of these overlap with each other, etc), methods, and just what "critical thinking" is or purports to be. Once this is done, then we (faculty) need to teach these skills and "coach" students to write pieces that focus or emphasize on these "ways" of thinking, etc. Faculty could give essay assignments or papers in which words such as the following are included: Explain, evaluate, analyze, compare and contrast, [see handout on Bloom categories]

Serafin

PS This is my first posting, sorry about this!

Plagiarism and Critical Thinking

Librarians:

Please review the articles that I sent to you via e-mail about Plagiarism - specifically, the article by Hamalainen about Useful Tips on Avoiding Plagiarism.

Relate the content of this article to the article that we reviewed in the previous weeks on the blog about Critical Thinking Disposition and consider the following questions:

- Do we currently develop assignments that approach research with critical thinking disposition?

- How does critical thinking disposition relate to plagiarism (if it all)?

- What teachable moments can librarians use to PREVENT (rather than combat) plagiarism?

- Provide examples of collaborative efforts you have made with faculty at the beginning of the quarter to prevent plagiarism. Note any effective (or even ineffective) techniques/approaches.

As always, your comments and responses on the blog are appreciated and will go a long way in developing our TEAM approach to collaborating with faculty to improve the skills of our students. I encourage you to respond before our team meeting next Wednesday. Thanks!

Critical Thinking Disposition and Library Anxiety

Librarians:

I have attached an article that came out in this month’s College & Research Libraries entitled “Critical Thinking Disposition and Library Anxiety: Affective Domains on the Space of Information Seeking and Use in Academic Libraries” via your -email.

The article touches on two very common themes in our world: Library Anxiety (fear of failure, shame, confusion, etc. using the library); and the processes of and disposition toward the processes or types of Critical Thinking (reviewed in the article).

I am sending this to you because I believe it is highly applicable to how we serve and TEACH our students. While we may be purveyors of reference services, and workshops, students who do not have (or have weak) disposition to critical thinking may have relatively high library anxiety and avoid research or requesting your assistance altogether.

It is our responsibility to:

- Offer an open, welcoming, easy-to-use space that encourages research and learning (both physically and electronically)

- Provide customer service, programs and services that invite students to dive into our resources

- Teach and encourage the dimensions of critical thinking dispositions (see pg. 273) so that students are better prepared to use the library, either through collaboration with faculty and staff or in the “teachable moments” during workshops and in reference interviews and programs.

To an extent, we take advantage of teachable moments already – by encouraging students in the second workshop to prepare the lists of the elements of each citation as they complete their research, instead of after the fact. Consider other teachable moments that you see during workshops or in the library, directly related to dimensions of critical thinking dispositions and library anxiety and how we can positively affect both.

Please read the article and response to the above question by next Monday, June 11. I look forward to using this discussion during our call on Wednesday, June 13.

Demco Orders

Please list any items that you need from Demco here. I will place orders on the first Friday of every month.

Wish Lists

Please post your wishes for next budget year here. Please include any links to view or try out the items (in the case of databases or software), ISBN/ISSNs in the case of print resources, why you want the items, etc. Thank You!

expiring patron records

I know that we can delete patron records by giving them expiration dates of 1+ years old. But what if the account is less than a year old? Aleph won't let me assign an expiration date more recent than the open date.

And am I to change the exp. date for both the Global Patron and the RCS Admin Library?

Overdue notices

Have any of you been able to print overdue notices in Aleph? I've tried to them, but I get an error message when I try to print. I'm able to print other reports, though.

Aleph Circ Note

In Aleph Version 15, if an item had a circ note, the note would pop up when the item was scanned for check out. That was useful because it notified me if an item had restrictions on it.

Example: I put OPAC notes and CIRC notes on videos (For instructors only) and on reference textbooks (For use in library only)

In Version 17, the circ note does not pop up. In order to see it when checking out an item, I must switch from loan view to item view, then I must scroll down in the box of item details.

Has anyone found a way around this problem?

I am so disappointed...

Librarians:

Have any of you tried to start your own student book club yet? At EP our first meeting was tonight and only one student showed. I used food as an incentive, there were posters, e-mails, and other marketing techniques and nothing worked. It was also right before classes, so most students were already on campus. I'm so angry right now and just incredibly frustrated. I don't know what else to do to make students interested in this, or at least make them interested enough to show up.

When I sent out an electronic survey regarding a student book club, 19 students said they were interested. However, none of these students showed up in the end. Ugh, I just don't know what to do anymore. You try to do something nice and beneficial for the students and this is what you get. Same goes for open workshops!

I'd really love any feedback you all might have. I also apologize for the negativity expressed here...

Thanks everybody! Good luck if you're trying something like this!

Books in Print (via LIRN)

When I try to access Books in Print through LIRN, I'm asked for a username and password. I don't have those. Any advice for me?

tasks when connecting to Version 17

Regarding the list of tasks required after upgrade, forwarded in an e-mail by Emily on Jan. 8 on behalf of PALS helpdesk:

1. I've connected to the harp as directed. The second task says to go into ADM--configuration--application configuration--common headings and then to change two lines called "browser" to reflec the path on my PC. Do I need to do that? What path is it talking about? How do I find out the path on my PC?
2. The next part of that step says to modify the [Mail] setting to reflect our institution. Is that something I need to do? If so, what do I use for the setting?