No wonder Copyright is so 'not with the times'!!!

Check out this article; The head of the U.S. Copyright office doesn't have a computer at home!

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9779996-7.html

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 :)

Study-a-thon at Eagan

The Mentor Center Coordinator and I planned a Study-a-thon on Saturday Sept. 8th from 10-2. It was a huge success. About 30-35 students attended. We offered prizes (Wal-Mart gift cards) and food. Many students met in study groups. The Mentor Center Coordinator, tutors, and I were all available to answer many questions. It was great to see the library and computers labs buzzing with students studying for finals and finishing up research papers. In the future we are planning on doing more study-a-thons during a Saturday around Midterms and again at the end of the quarter. We think that Saturdays work best for students to not have conflicts with daycare, their classes, etc. I highly recommend doing this at other campuses. It is not always fun to come to work on a Saturday, but it was nice to get out early on Friday :)

Database Statistics ....

Our database statistics have tumbled over the past year.

Would anyone like to wager educated guesses as to why?

Faculty Workshop?

I'm hoping to host a faculty workshop at the beginning of next quarter and am looking for some ideas on this. I've never given a faculty workshop, and for some reason I find it a little unnerving. I would love some advice on this and also to hear what has been done successfully in the past. Also, how long does the typical faculty workshop run? Thanks!

Addy Will Know

A song for librarians..

Favorite Success Links

Greetings library masters:

What are your favorite time management, stress reduction, test-taking, and general success links? Not databases, mind you - websites.

Gracias!

Open Workshops for Fall 2007

I'm looking for ways to revitalize my open workshops for fall quarter. What open workshops do you hold? What times of day have you found to work best? How do you market your workshops? How do you encourage/reward attendance? Do you hold your workshops in the library or elsewhere? I'd appreciate your input.
--Chandra

What are you reading...

Right now?

I don't mean this second, because obviously the answer would be "this blog" (hardy har har). What I mean is - what book, books, serial or serials are you reading? It doesn't have to be for work. I need some fresh ideas.

Gracias.

ILS/OPAC Vendors

As you know, when Heather and I attended ALA we were able to visit a number of ILS vendors. There is a spreadsheet on CHIPSnet that I created with vendors, their urls, our respective notes, etc . The document is in the OPAC Committee folder, and I have additional articles if you are interested.

Please take a look at the products and provide any feedback you may have on them- who do you like/don't like? Pros/cons?

Thank you!

Trading Cards Anyone?

To increase visibility and market library services to students Carleton College has created "trading cards" for each librarian. The librarians are caught in action poses (too funny) along with a description of their strengths, powers, and weaknesses. So cute! Check out the link http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/library/help/help/liaisons/cards/?page=1

I think we could definately do something fun like this - let's get that marketing team to work for us!

Social Bookmarking Library Resources

I used to work at the William Mitchell Law School Library, and they updated their OPAC this past spring.

I really like their link for social bookmarking with options of Delicious, Google Bookmarks, Facebook, etc.

My images are blurry.. follow the link below to get the the Wmitchell catalog.

http://library.wmitchell.edu/search?/Xthe+tipping+point&SORT=DZ/Xthe+tipping+point&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBKEY=the%20tipping%20point/1%2C2%2C2%2CB/frameset&FF=Xthe+tipping+point&SORT=DZ&1%2C1%2C

Library Course Questions

Per our meeting today, here are a few questions that we need to consider IMMEDIATELY regarding a self-paced library course?

What are the objectives for this course? That is, what do we want our students to learn?

How do we offer lecture in this course? (PowerPoint, Video, Lecture Notes, Links, etc.)

What kind of activities do we offer to help students learn the material?

Should the cumulative (final) assessment be a paper, or a test? The paper would be a 3-paragraph paper with two References; would the test be multiple choice, matching, or a combo? For what it's worth, we could use a paper as a pre-assessment for the Information Literacy Piece for GAP.

How long should the course run? If it IS a 1-credit course, then we'd have to run it for three weeks.

How would we manage the course? That is, they are self-paced, but the librarians would have to participate in the courses to answer questions and complete grading the final assessment (unless it is a test, which could be auto-graded).

How would the blended model of this course work? Would you hold open workshops?

What other concerns or questions do you have?

-E

Website Features

Hello Librarians,

I met with Mark K. last week to discuss what we want our library page on the Student Portal to look like. Obviously, we will have some technical limits, but right now we have the opportunity share as many ideas and "wants" as possible, and I'd like to take advantage of that.

What are some features that you think we absolutely MUST have on the new page (if you like any that we have now, I suggest including those in your list).

What are some features that you'd like to have but may not be essential?

What are things you don't want to see on the new page?

Think outside the box on this one. Let's not just stick with links (although include those if you want) but also the way that individuals navigate to services, how we group services together, how we link out to resources, information about libraries that you want to include on the pages, interactive elements, etc.

Thanks-

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