I knew it would be a challenge but I didn't realize how much I would have preferred herding cats to teaching library instruction for basketball students until it was done. Seventeen basketball players in the classroom and I was the only adult. Technically they are also adults but believe me, they do not behave like adults.
I made it fun. We used basketball as our search topic. It's something they all have an interest in so I knew I could keep them engaged in what we were doing. We searched Google for our favorite basketball players, we searched EBSCO & Infotrac for full articles on basketball, we looked for books on basketball and even looked at NBC Learn for videos about basketball. And I showed them how to find citations to make their lives easier.
Did they learn anything? Who knows. Did they take me seriously? Not likely. Did they have fun? I think so. They did get all excited when we found a video on NBC Learn about a one armed basketball player.
It was an adventure for sure and it made me very happy to go home to my house full of girls.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Defending what we do
Sometimes libraries get threatened in little ways, usually by those who don't see the importance of what we do. It's the library closures that get all the attention, not the little things that happen all the time.
A couple of years ago I was working in a public library. The man who supervised the library was in charge of Parks & Recreation for the entire county. He knew nothing of libraries or why we did things the way we did. At the time I was the Collection Development Librarian. I worked with all the other librarians to decide what books to buy and then I was in charge of ordering, receiving & processing all those books. I loved my job.
When our Director retired after 25 years, her supervisor (the P&R guy) came in and said we needed to restructure everything because we had 3 vacancies (2 in reference and the Director). I get that, we weren't a huge library system with lots of librarians, and I was absolutely willing to do my part. He looked at me and said "you need to do Young Adult services and Collection Development". I had no experience with YA. None. I took 1 YA Lit class in library school and it had been 8 years before. He looked at me and said "But you're a librarian, you should know how to be any type of librarian. Just figure it out."
Fast forward two years. I am now in a small technical college library. Yesterday I got called to my VP's office where I was informed that our Computer Technology teachers need the library computer labs. Their labs can't be modified the way they want them to be modified so they want the ones we have and we would not have access to them at all. I seriously wanted to cry. We have 15 computers on the floor of the library and we do have wireless but most of our students do not own a laptop or tablet. In exchange for our two lovely labs, they want to give me 2 smaller labs on a different floor in the same building. Our administrative side is itching to take these labs. They've been calling my VP every day to see if they can take them over and start working on them. They said that the old labs upstairs can't altered the way they want them to be altered because of the wiring in the walls.
So now I'm being asked to defend the value of our services and why it's important to have library services in the library. It would be easier to defend why we exist at all.
Why are libraries so easy to attack? Librarians are typically seen as a passive group so those who like to intimidate find us to be easy targets. Why on earth would libraries would need all those books and computers? People have that stuff at home! Just because you have an oven doesn't mean you know how to cook. Why assume that because a person has a computer that they know how to use it? Why assume the people have it at home at all? People need us more than ever. People are not information literate. In fact, I know that I could teach every person on this campus something they don't already know about searching for information. Does that mean they'll come and find out what I have to share? Hmm...
A couple of years ago I was working in a public library. The man who supervised the library was in charge of Parks & Recreation for the entire county. He knew nothing of libraries or why we did things the way we did. At the time I was the Collection Development Librarian. I worked with all the other librarians to decide what books to buy and then I was in charge of ordering, receiving & processing all those books. I loved my job.
When our Director retired after 25 years, her supervisor (the P&R guy) came in and said we needed to restructure everything because we had 3 vacancies (2 in reference and the Director). I get that, we weren't a huge library system with lots of librarians, and I was absolutely willing to do my part. He looked at me and said "you need to do Young Adult services and Collection Development". I had no experience with YA. None. I took 1 YA Lit class in library school and it had been 8 years before. He looked at me and said "But you're a librarian, you should know how to be any type of librarian. Just figure it out."
Fast forward two years. I am now in a small technical college library. Yesterday I got called to my VP's office where I was informed that our Computer Technology teachers need the library computer labs. Their labs can't be modified the way they want them to be modified so they want the ones we have and we would not have access to them at all. I seriously wanted to cry. We have 15 computers on the floor of the library and we do have wireless but most of our students do not own a laptop or tablet. In exchange for our two lovely labs, they want to give me 2 smaller labs on a different floor in the same building. Our administrative side is itching to take these labs. They've been calling my VP every day to see if they can take them over and start working on them. They said that the old labs upstairs can't altered the way they want them to be altered because of the wiring in the walls.
So now I'm being asked to defend the value of our services and why it's important to have library services in the library. It would be easier to defend why we exist at all.
Why are libraries so easy to attack? Librarians are typically seen as a passive group so those who like to intimidate find us to be easy targets. Why on earth would libraries would need all those books and computers? People have that stuff at home! Just because you have an oven doesn't mean you know how to cook. Why assume that because a person has a computer that they know how to use it? Why assume the people have it at home at all? People need us more than ever. People are not information literate. In fact, I know that I could teach every person on this campus something they don't already know about searching for information. Does that mean they'll come and find out what I have to share? Hmm...
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
USA Programming
Soon summer will be over (not soon enough for this summer hatin girl) and it will be time for a full set of classes to get started again so I need to get back to my Library Instruction ideas.
One of the few awesome things about summer is the programming on the USA Network. I got addicted when Monk started. I started to watch it because I like Tony Shalhoub, but I stayed because it was awesome tv. Then Psych came along, still my absolute favorite show. One of the only shows I will watch over and over and over. Just can't get enough of Shawn & Gus.
Now USA has gone over the top with their offerings and I'm watching almost all of them. Well last night it got me to thinking about Library Instruction. It used to be that all over their programming was related to crime. Most of it still is but now they've expanded. So we have Burn Notice, Covert Affairs & In Plain Sight that look at the CIA & US Marshalls, Suits is all about lawyers, Necessary Roughness is a psychotherapist dealing mostly with a football player but other personalities too, Royal Pains is about a doctor, and I don't watch White Collar or Fairly Legal. I'm sure they're good, I just couldn't get into those shows for some reason.
This is, I think, a good tie in for the library instruction that I do for a Sociology class that looks at social problems. Different types of law enforcement, different types of help for different types of problems.
If the Criminal Justice classes ever set foot in the door I could have all kinds of fun with them. TV is full of law enforcement shows but the CJ instructors just don't see the use for library instruction for their students. It's sad. Maybe one day!
One of the few awesome things about summer is the programming on the USA Network. I got addicted when Monk started. I started to watch it because I like Tony Shalhoub, but I stayed because it was awesome tv. Then Psych came along, still my absolute favorite show. One of the only shows I will watch over and over and over. Just can't get enough of Shawn & Gus.
Now USA has gone over the top with their offerings and I'm watching almost all of them. Well last night it got me to thinking about Library Instruction. It used to be that all over their programming was related to crime. Most of it still is but now they've expanded. So we have Burn Notice, Covert Affairs & In Plain Sight that look at the CIA & US Marshalls, Suits is all about lawyers, Necessary Roughness is a psychotherapist dealing mostly with a football player but other personalities too, Royal Pains is about a doctor, and I don't watch White Collar or Fairly Legal. I'm sure they're good, I just couldn't get into those shows for some reason.
This is, I think, a good tie in for the library instruction that I do for a Sociology class that looks at social problems. Different types of law enforcement, different types of help for different types of problems.
If the Criminal Justice classes ever set foot in the door I could have all kinds of fun with them. TV is full of law enforcement shows but the CJ instructors just don't see the use for library instruction for their students. It's sad. Maybe one day!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Summer in the library
This time of year I am a bit envious of my public library friends. They are all extremely busy on a daily basis with summer reading madness. I remember it well, it's only been two years since I was in a public library. The work day disappears and you feel like the only things you've done all day are pass out summer reading materials, tell people where the bathroom is, and suggest books to read to kids and teens.
These days I'm in an academic library and summer is not our busy season. I can go all day without a reference question. It doesn't mean I don't have things to do but there are times you feel like you could truly hear a pin drop. This will be at it's worst next week. It's July 4th week, we have no classes all week, and most of my staff will be on vacation so it will be even quieter than usual.
I will take the opportunity to begin the overdue weeding of our health collection. It's a great time to weed books because I don't feel bad about making noise while shifting things around.
Just think of me next week. Particularly if you are a public librarian, although I doubt you'll have time.
These days I'm in an academic library and summer is not our busy season. I can go all day without a reference question. It doesn't mean I don't have things to do but there are times you feel like you could truly hear a pin drop. This will be at it's worst next week. It's July 4th week, we have no classes all week, and most of my staff will be on vacation so it will be even quieter than usual.
I will take the opportunity to begin the overdue weeding of our health collection. It's a great time to weed books because I don't feel bad about making noise while shifting things around.
Just think of me next week. Particularly if you are a public librarian, although I doubt you'll have time.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
ALA 2011
ALA11 was completely awesome! New Orleans is an interesting city, although I didn't get to see as much of it as I would have liked. I got some great sessions in and attended my first committee meetings. Here are a few things I learned at ALA this year:
1. It's all about mobile. Mobile apps, mobile web sites, mobile marketing. Libraries need to be taking advantage of mobile technology and finding ways to use it to their advantage!
2. The user experience - It's all about the user. Libraries are using various products to unify the experience that our users have. Whether it's Drupal, LibGuides, Course Views, Library Ala Carte, or something else, this is a trend. Something that we all need to be thinking about. People want a seamless experience. In addition to the digital world, our libraries should be thinking about how users want to use the space when designing & renovating their libraries. If the users don't want to come to the library, then change the library to meet their needs.
3. E-books. I don't think you could go more than 15 minutes without hearing the word e-book from somewhere at ALA. Maybe if you were in a room by yourself and all your technology turned off, but what fun is that. E-books are here to stay and we all need to be involved. And libraries have to work with publishers to make this sustainable for them. While we are not in the business of making money, they are. And we need our publishers to stick around and be successful. It's not us against them. It needs to be us with them.
4. Transliteracy - I've heard this word a lot over the last year. We need to all be doing more of this with our students and patrons. They need to know how to use all forms of media, print and digital. Students can't be successful unless they walk out the door with a well rounded experience. If we don't give teach them how to use library so they continue educating themselves far into the future, then we've wasted their time and money and we're not doing our jobs.
5. Be flexible and adaptive - transform the library and library services to meet the needs of the students. If this means taking the information to them or embedding ourselves into places we haven't been before, then so be it. Our administrators say it's all about student success. Make it happen in the library too!
6. Have fun. Working in a library isn't all about books. Get out there and enjoy your career and remember why you went into libraries to begin with!
1. It's all about mobile. Mobile apps, mobile web sites, mobile marketing. Libraries need to be taking advantage of mobile technology and finding ways to use it to their advantage!
2. The user experience - It's all about the user. Libraries are using various products to unify the experience that our users have. Whether it's Drupal, LibGuides, Course Views, Library Ala Carte, or something else, this is a trend. Something that we all need to be thinking about. People want a seamless experience. In addition to the digital world, our libraries should be thinking about how users want to use the space when designing & renovating their libraries. If the users don't want to come to the library, then change the library to meet their needs.
3. E-books. I don't think you could go more than 15 minutes without hearing the word e-book from somewhere at ALA. Maybe if you were in a room by yourself and all your technology turned off, but what fun is that. E-books are here to stay and we all need to be involved. And libraries have to work with publishers to make this sustainable for them. While we are not in the business of making money, they are. And we need our publishers to stick around and be successful. It's not us against them. It needs to be us with them.
4. Transliteracy - I've heard this word a lot over the last year. We need to all be doing more of this with our students and patrons. They need to know how to use all forms of media, print and digital. Students can't be successful unless they walk out the door with a well rounded experience. If we don't give teach them how to use library so they continue educating themselves far into the future, then we've wasted their time and money and we're not doing our jobs.
5. Be flexible and adaptive - transform the library and library services to meet the needs of the students. If this means taking the information to them or embedding ourselves into places we haven't been before, then so be it. Our administrators say it's all about student success. Make it happen in the library too!
6. Have fun. Working in a library isn't all about books. Get out there and enjoy your career and remember why you went into libraries to begin with!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
ALA New Orleans
Heading out for ALA Annual 2011 in New Orleans today! Very excited! I've never been to New Orleans so this will be a new city for me. As an added plus, two of my good friends are traveling with me. My friend Erin, who works in a public library nearby as an admin assistant. And my friend Amanda who is my travel buddy. She & I travel together all the time and it just works.
I have an insanely busy schedule while in NOLA. This will be my first trip to annual where I have committee meetings to attend because I am on the committee. Can't wait for all this fun experience! Hoping to meet a few authors while I'm there, Mo Willems, Sarah Dessen, Mary Kay Andrews.
I have an insanely busy schedule while in NOLA. This will be my first trip to annual where I have committee meetings to attend because I am on the committee. Can't wait for all this fun experience! Hoping to meet a few authors while I'm there, Mo Willems, Sarah Dessen, Mary Kay Andrews.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Radithor
What an incredible story. So thankful that we have come so far!
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,743525,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,743525,00.html
Radiation & Superheroes
I can say for sure that I know way more about radiation & superheroes today than I did 2 days ago. I spent most of my afternoon yesterday reading about types of radiation for this assignment that I'm trying to work on. Trying to find out what types of radiation each superhero was exposed to was difficult. Most of their histories just say "radiation." And some of the types of radiation they were exposed to won't work with this project that these students are working on. BTW, their assignment is to look for radiation in items we use in everyday life and look at the impact it's had on our lives.
My goal was to have 3 superheroes with different types of radiation exposure so we could have 3 types of radiation being studied by students in this library instruction. Then they could partner off and look at different resources available that will help them find not only items with radiation in them but resources to help them move forward.
First I looked at the Fantastic Four. They were exposed to cosmic rays when they took their spaceship into outer space. While fun & interesting, cosmic rays are not found in everyday items on earth. If they were, as my husband put it, we would all be dead. They're quite deadly these cosmic rays so I couldn't use that.
Then I looked at The Hulk. Success! Dr. Bruce Banner was exposed to gamma radiation from a bomb he invented which gives him his alter-ego, The Hulk. Gamma radiation is used to irradiate food, as a way to do surgery, and in cancer treatments. Perfect!!
Next I looked at Daredevil. He was blinded as a child by radioactive waste while saving an old man from a truck barreling down the road. Doesn't say what kind of radioactive waste. Interesting, also incredibly unrealistic, but also not helpful.
On to Spider-man! For this project, we're using the comic book version of Spider-man because he was bitten by a radioactive spider. But there is no reference made about how this spider became radioactive or what type of radioactivity he had. But considering the effect it had on Peter Parker, one can only assume that it was ionizing radiation since non-ionizing radiation is around us everyday and doesn't cause us all to be spider-people. So after discussing with my physicist husband, we decided that I could use Spider-man and his ionizing radioactive spider and make that alpha & beta particles.
That gave me two superheroes but I still needed a third. And that was HARD. There are a lot of them out there that I have never heard of before and if I haven't then most likely lots of other people haven't either.
After lots of review with physicist husband, we settled on Dr. Manhattan. The blue guy from the movie & comic books Watchmen. According to the web sites I found on him, was disintegrated in an Intrinsic Field Subtractor. A fictional science contraption. So I kept reading and apparently his blue "glow" comes from Cherekov radiation, or electromagnetic radiation (according to husband). COOL, electromagnetic radiation is all over the place!
So my first hurdle is done. I found 3 superheroes and 3 types of useful radiation. Reading the stories of these superheroes is fun, they're all kind of ridiculous.
My goal was to have 3 superheroes with different types of radiation exposure so we could have 3 types of radiation being studied by students in this library instruction. Then they could partner off and look at different resources available that will help them find not only items with radiation in them but resources to help them move forward.
First I looked at the Fantastic Four. They were exposed to cosmic rays when they took their spaceship into outer space. While fun & interesting, cosmic rays are not found in everyday items on earth. If they were, as my husband put it, we would all be dead. They're quite deadly these cosmic rays so I couldn't use that.
Then I looked at The Hulk. Success! Dr. Bruce Banner was exposed to gamma radiation from a bomb he invented which gives him his alter-ego, The Hulk. Gamma radiation is used to irradiate food, as a way to do surgery, and in cancer treatments. Perfect!!
Next I looked at Daredevil. He was blinded as a child by radioactive waste while saving an old man from a truck barreling down the road. Doesn't say what kind of radioactive waste. Interesting, also incredibly unrealistic, but also not helpful.
On to Spider-man! For this project, we're using the comic book version of Spider-man because he was bitten by a radioactive spider. But there is no reference made about how this spider became radioactive or what type of radioactivity he had. But considering the effect it had on Peter Parker, one can only assume that it was ionizing radiation since non-ionizing radiation is around us everyday and doesn't cause us all to be spider-people. So after discussing with my physicist husband, we decided that I could use Spider-man and his ionizing radioactive spider and make that alpha & beta particles.
That gave me two superheroes but I still needed a third. And that was HARD. There are a lot of them out there that I have never heard of before and if I haven't then most likely lots of other people haven't either.
After lots of review with physicist husband, we settled on Dr. Manhattan. The blue guy from the movie & comic books Watchmen. According to the web sites I found on him, was disintegrated in an Intrinsic Field Subtractor. A fictional science contraption. So I kept reading and apparently his blue "glow" comes from Cherekov radiation, or electromagnetic radiation (according to husband). COOL, electromagnetic radiation is all over the place!
So my first hurdle is done. I found 3 superheroes and 3 types of useful radiation. Reading the stories of these superheroes is fun, they're all kind of ridiculous.
Monday, June 20, 2011
More Superheroes
After spending time thinking about superheroes and their jobs, one of our Radiation Protection Technology instructors came to me asking for Library Instruction for an assignment about radiation in everyday life. COOL!!! So many superheroes out there became superheroes thanks to RADIATION! YAY! So now I thinking my use of superheroes for this field. I have a growing list of superheroes that I can use:
The Hulk
Daredevil
Fantastic Four
Spider-man (from the comic books, not the movie - that was a "genetically modified spider")
Insectasaurus and Ginormica from Monsters vs Aliens
Then we also have Godzilla, who was that large because of radiation and Homer Simpson who works at a nuclear power plant.
In the process of researching, I found this hilarious cartoon that is about the origin of Spiderman. I really want to show at least part of this in this library instruction session because it is just too hilarious.
Any other popular superheroes I might have missed? This one isn't until August but I'm already working on it!
The Hulk
Daredevil
Fantastic Four
Spider-man (from the comic books, not the movie - that was a "genetically modified spider")
Insectasaurus and Ginormica from Monsters vs Aliens
Then we also have Godzilla, who was that large because of radiation and Homer Simpson who works at a nuclear power plant.
In the process of researching, I found this hilarious cartoon that is about the origin of Spiderman. I really want to show at least part of this in this library instruction session because it is just too hilarious.
Any other popular superheroes I might have missed? This one isn't until August but I'm already working on it!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Superheroes in Library Instruction
Had a conversation with my husband about Superheroes and jobs after doing the Jersey Shore session. Surely everyone knows Superheroes. I've found that most superheroes don't have actual jobs. Most of them seem to scientists or have no job whatsoever. Here's what I've found so far:
Spiderman - photographer
Superman - reporter
The Hulk - physicist
Batman - industrialist/businessman
Daredevil - lawyer
Iron Man - billionaire industrialist
Green Arrow - businessman
Flash - police scientist
Wonder Woman - army nurse
Green Lantern - graphic artist (although this seems to depend on the which version of the GL)
Captain American - soldier
Wolverine - soldier prior to becoming Wolverine
Spawn - soldier/assassin
These superheroes need better jobs. Well more interesting & defined jobs I guess. I'm thinking this could be fun with a Social Problems class. How would they attack the problem? I need to think more about this one. How would you do it?
Spiderman - photographer
Superman - reporter
The Hulk - physicist
Batman - industrialist/businessman
Daredevil - lawyer
Iron Man - billionaire industrialist
Green Arrow - businessman
Flash - police scientist
Wonder Woman - army nurse
Green Lantern - graphic artist (although this seems to depend on the which version of the GL)
Captain American - soldier
Wolverine - soldier prior to becoming Wolverine
Spawn - soldier/assassin
These superheroes need better jobs. Well more interesting & defined jobs I guess. I'm thinking this could be fun with a Social Problems class. How would they attack the problem? I need to think more about this one. How would you do it?
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Trying Out Jersey Shore
I just recently read an article in C&RL News by Amy Springer & Kathryn Yelinek from February 2011. Yeah, I'm behind on my reading. Anyway, I was instantly enamored with the idea of using a TV show to teach Library Instruction. GENIUS! I am a TV addict. There isn't any part of the year that there isn't something on for me to watch. Duh, why had I not thought of this before. So, I mentioned it to the librarian who does most of our library instruction and she was laughed. Hmm, okay, I thought, then I'll find a way to make it happen on my own.
Not 24 hours later I get an email from one of our Business professors wanting library instruction. Well, she really wanted a Blackboard orientation (because our Learning Resource Center covers both) but was intrigued when I mentioned library instruction. I asked her if she would mind if I got creative and she thought it was great. The students needed to do an Ad campaign throughout the class, a major project that involved actual research. I got super excited. I dived into our databases to find business resources of use and found ways to make it connect with Jersey Shore.
I started the class and not ONE student had seen Jersey Shore. Fabulous. They knew the characters of the show but none of them had seen it. So we went with it anyway. We went through all the resources that related to their project and I gave them each (all 6 of them) a worksheet to complete. One of the students thanked me for the class. I've never been thanked for library instruction in my 10 years of being a librarian. Wow! She said she needed that last semester for an assignment in one of her other classes. And the instructor was over the moon, she loved it! She raved to all 4 deans & most of the department chairs at a meeting about it and is already wanting to schedule her all of fall classes for library instruction with me! YAY!
I was so bummed though that none of them had heard of Jersey Shore. So I chatted with one of our work study students and she asked me why I just didn't try using a different show. Did it have to be Jersey Shore? Well no, I guess not! So now I'm working on a list of TV characters & cartoon characters that have identifiable jobs that aren't law enforcement related that I can use in different library instruction sessions.
So thanks Amy & Kathryn! This is fun!
Not 24 hours later I get an email from one of our Business professors wanting library instruction. Well, she really wanted a Blackboard orientation (because our Learning Resource Center covers both) but was intrigued when I mentioned library instruction. I asked her if she would mind if I got creative and she thought it was great. The students needed to do an Ad campaign throughout the class, a major project that involved actual research. I got super excited. I dived into our databases to find business resources of use and found ways to make it connect with Jersey Shore.
I started the class and not ONE student had seen Jersey Shore. Fabulous. They knew the characters of the show but none of them had seen it. So we went with it anyway. We went through all the resources that related to their project and I gave them each (all 6 of them) a worksheet to complete. One of the students thanked me for the class. I've never been thanked for library instruction in my 10 years of being a librarian. Wow! She said she needed that last semester for an assignment in one of her other classes. And the instructor was over the moon, she loved it! She raved to all 4 deans & most of the department chairs at a meeting about it and is already wanting to schedule her all of fall classes for library instruction with me! YAY!
I was so bummed though that none of them had heard of Jersey Shore. So I chatted with one of our work study students and she asked me why I just didn't try using a different show. Did it have to be Jersey Shore? Well no, I guess not! So now I'm working on a list of TV characters & cartoon characters that have identifiable jobs that aren't law enforcement related that I can use in different library instruction sessions.
So thanks Amy & Kathryn! This is fun!
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