Last week of classes

This is my last week of classes. I have one more final to go and after that I am done. Next week I have my practice portfolio to do and I am somewhat nervous about that. This is what I have preparing for since I started the program. The portfolio represents a journey that I have begun and will continue on into my professional career once I graduate. This document is an assessment of all the bits of knowledge I have picked up along the way. Next semester I will have to present my portfolio for real. I plan to use the website that I designed for my 5433 class to show that I can design a resource for students to use in the library. I will also mention my blog, as I feel this will be a good representation of my class this semester and my internship. I forgot! I must talk about the internship. The internship has helped me in so many ways. This semester I was able to sit at the reference desk and I will continue to do so next semester. Because I was able to sit at the desk and actually help people who needed information, I was able to apply what I had learned in class. It has been a very rewarding experience and I am glad that I was able to do it. I plan on continuing the internship next semester and continue learning more about the reference librarian field.

Winding down

This semester is winding down and everything is piling up on me all at once, but at the same time I feel that this semester for me has been the most rewarding. I feel like I am actually applying what I have learned, especially since working on the Reference desk this semester I can definitely see how the concepts I am learning in my class are relating to what I am experiencing at the Reference desk. I am looking forward to my last semester and only having one class to be responsible for. I feel that I more capable of creating web pages and I think I am more technologically savvy. I am also more aware of the technologies that others are using to promote their library services and how to effectively use some technologies to get students interested and into the library.
I am looking forward to presenting my portfolio and getting that over and done with, at the same time I am also very nervous and scared about what the future holds for me.

Reference desk 2 cont...

Shortly after my other Reference experience with the nature publication, a girl came to the Reference desk looking for the publication Inside OKDHS. I knew that we had this publication and looked it up in the catalog. While I was doing this, the girl told me that she had already been on 2nd floor and could not find the publication. She also said that someone tried to help her, but that they were not much help. I found the call number for her and wrote it down. She said that she had looked everywhere. I told her where to go and told her to try again and to come back if she needed anymore help. Eventually she came down and she said that she still could not find the publication. I told her I wasn't sure what else we could do and gave her the number of the Govt. Documents Librarian. Later when my shift was over I went up to the 2nd floor and decided once again that I would look for the publication myself. Sure enough it was there on the shelves where I thought it would be. I was flabbergasted as to why this girl could not find the publication. We can only do so much, but in this case I should have gone upstairs with her and help her find it, even if it meant leaving the desk for a short period of time. We try to teach the students things, but when they are not receptive like in the College Strategies class I was in, it can be very hard to get them to learn anything.

College Strategies

This week I sat in on a College Strategies class taught by one of the Reference Librarians. I had been asked the previous week if I wanted to teach the class. I said that I would think about it. I was scared out of my mind! I have never taught a live class, other than Sunday school and somehow I don't think that college kids and 4th graders are the same. I just could not get up the nerve to do it. I would like to teach a College Strategies class in the future, but I would like to be more prepared for it.
When I sat in on the class, the one I could have been teaching, I noticed that it was very hard for the instructor to get the class motivated. By no means was it the instructor's fault whatsoever. She was trying her hardest to get them to do something, speak, anything. It was quite a big classroom too. They were not the liveliest bunch. The whole time it was like pulling teeth. She said that the teacher had warned her that they were a hard sell. She was right. I wonder how the class was after that one. Right after the first class, another group came in. I wonder if they were any better. There definitely did not seem to be as many people in that class.
It just amazes me how little the students know about the library, of course they are College Freshman so I guess it makes sense. Hopefully they know a little more about the library than they did before. Also, the librarian stressed that the library was here for them and for them to come ask questions if they needed help. I think that is probably the most important thing they could have walked away with.
At the end of the class, one of the instructors got up and said, " Okay, you can Facebook now." 'Wow!', I thought, David Silver's words really were true. He said that a lot of the kids just know Facebook.

Oklahoma ACRL conference

On Monday, Nov. 5, I went to the OK ACRL conference. This is for American College and Research Libraries in Oklahoma. It was the first conference that I have ever been to. It was a small conference and I am glad that I went to it. I think that it is better to start out at a smaller conference before going to a bigger one. The title of the conference was "Eyes Forward and Hands On: Gearing Up for 2.0 in Oklahoma".
One of the speakers was David Silver, he was from California and his presentation was very entertaining, it was called "Where Books Meet Facebook and Other Web 2.0 Tales". He had a lot to say about getting students involved in the library and how he gives assignments to his students to get them in the library. He was very funny and I think that he had some good ideas. I wish more professors were like him!
The next speaker was Dr. Lynn Silipigni Connaway, her presentation was called, "'The Library is a Good Source if You Have Several Months.' Making the Library More Accessible." She had done some very interesting studies on what students do in the library, how they use it and what changes they would like to see made in the library. I thought that it was surprising as to what some of the students said.
After the first 2 presentations we had lunch and were told to go to Breakout sessions. I chose to go to the Tagging and del.icio.us breakout session done by Jason Cimock from UCO. It was pretty cool! I learned that there is a website called del.icio.us where you can put all your bookmarks. Generally when you save a bookmark it is saved to the computer that you are working on, but if you set up a del.icio.us account you can save your bookmarks and tags to that account and access it on any computer!
The next session I went to was about Animoto and it was done by Jason Dupree from SWOSU. Animoto is basically a website that you can go to to create videos, all you have to do is upload pictures and music and Animoto will create a 30 second video for you for free! If you want to create a longer video however you have to pay for it. I thought that it was pretty neat! I plan on using this in the future.
I had a good time at the OK ACRL conference and I plan to go to more conferences in the future!

Reference desk 2

Last week when I was manning the Reference desk, a man came up and was wanting to know if we had the periodical Nature. He was looking for the April 2007 issue, I was pretty sure we did, but I looked it up on the catalog anyway. It said that we had the periodical in print on the 2nd floor which is where all the periodicals are shelved and the latest issue we had was October 2007. I told the man where to find it and he went upstairs to find it. He came down a while later and said that it was not up there and that the only issues that were up there were from the 1980s. I thought that was odd and I told him that maybe it was at the bindery, since it is a bindery title. He thought that was odd and wanted to know how long that would be and I said I didn't know, but that it usually takes a month. He and his friends walked away and disappointed and I felt bad. I couldn't believe that it wasn't upstairs, and I was pretty sure that it hadn't been canceled. So I decided to go look for it myself and sure enough it was sitting there on the top shelf and it was bound. I don't if he was just looking at the pan boxes that hold the loose issues, because all that was in the pan boxes was one issue and it definitely was not from the 1980s. This leads me to my point, which is that I can only help someone so much. I thought he knew how to find it, I guess I shouldn't assume that people should know things. Right now I am still wondering what publication he was looking at. He seemed like a knowledgeable person. I was hoping he would come back and that I could show him where it was and make sure he got a copy of the article, but he didn't. Next time I will follow through and go check myself while the patron is still there.

ACRL Conference

This week I decided that I am going to the ACRL conference in Tulsa. The them is Web 2.0 which is something that we have talked about in my Web design class. I am excited to go because I think it will be fun. This is my first conference and I am looking forward to it. I should have plenty to write about on my blog after I attend.

Reflection

I think that I as I come to the end of the LIS experience (I still have one semester left) I see more clearly how my classes are relating to the duties I am performing at the Reference desk. I feel that I have learned a lot. I also feel that I am actively contributing to the library and the patrons. This reflection is due in part to the completing of my portfolio. I am also really enjoying the classes I am taking this semester. I feel like I am learning about so many new things and getting really good skills for when I enter the professional world.

Class

I got to sit in on a class a few months ago. I was surprised that the students did not know where the main collection was, nor did they seem to know where a lot of the materials were located in the library. I mentioned this to the Reference librarian who was teaching the class. The class was an instruction session for English students on how to use the library and the resources for their subject area. She said that you can't assume that the students know these things. She said that she tries to give them as much information as possible, in the time frame allotted, but at the same time it is hard to explain everything, especially since there is never enough time.

Wiki idea

I found a wiki that I can contribute to. It is called the LISWiki. Their Reference librarian page needs some more information. Here is the address for it. http://liswiki.org/wiki/Main_Page

Working Reference

Tomorrow I will start my weekly reference schedule. I will work the reference desk every Thursday afternoon and possibly more once the Resource coordinators/Reference librarians decide if they want me to work more. It will be good practice for me if I am working the desk even more, also it will look good on my resume. But I am still nervous about it! I guess I will see how tomorrow goes.

Collection Development

The two questions I had at the Reference desk, were about pedophiles and treatments, the other question referred to wealthy nations helping poorer nations, should they or shouldn't they?
Yesterday I talked to one of the Reference Librarians about Collection Development. I found it fascinating that a lot of the things she talked about were some of the very same things we talked about in the Collection development class that I took. She also talked about budgets and deciding what serials to keep and which ones to get rid of, which is never an easy decision. She also talked about when selecting books not to let personal bias get in the way. I hope to get to sit on a meeting regarding cutting serials. I think that should be interesting.

Solo on the Reference desk!

Today I got to be on the Reference desk by myself. It was scary! I actually had two people come up to the desk and ask questions. I felt I helped them with their information needs. It made me feel good that I could help them. As for answering the phone, I am still working on that.

Final Project

I finally decided what I am doing for my final project. Hopefully it will be something that adds to the library's resources. I hope to create something that will help students find the resources they need. This will go along with one of the goals in my portfolio.
I still haven't got to sit in on a class yet. I hope to do that soon, also I plan to sit at the Reference desk some more and observe. This will help me when I get to sit at the Reference desk myself. I will be filling in for the Reference librarians while they have their weekly meeting. I am a little nervous about this, but I still have some time to get ready before that happens!

Reference Meeting

This week I did not get to sit in on a class unfortunately. I did get to go to a Reference Meeting. In the meeting we learned how to maintain library webpages and the guidelines specified for each page so that there is uniformity in all the pages.
Right now I am trying to come up with an idea for my final project in my web class. More on this later.

Last week I got to sit at the Reference desk with one of the Reference librarians. I learned a lot about the different resources that are in the Reference section. There are some really neat items that are useful for many different things. I also learned about Meebo, which is a type of instant messaging, the Reference librarians are using it at the reference desk to answer questions people have online. I intend to sit in on a class this week and observe different teaching methods.

Reference internship

This semester I have started a reference internship with the librarians here at John Vaughan Library. I will be observing at the reference desk and attending meetings as well as sitting in classes. I am excited, but I am nervous as well! I guess I will find out if this is really what I want to do as a career.

First post

This is my first post to my very own personal blog. I am so excited! This is a first for me. More in my next post!