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!