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!