I spend hours trying to connect users to information resources. As a public services librarian, most of my week is spent in front of a classroom or working one-on-one with students trying to connect them to the resources they need for their assignments. Every reader his or her book. But how often do I give time and attention to the third law of library science? One of my goals for this semester is to spend more time finding the right users for some of our resources. Because books want to be loved. And I’m a biblio-match-maker.
Sometimes it’s what you don’t expect
So I’ve been working on a series of workshops for the brief, one-month semester we have at MPOW called JTerm. Three workshops. One each week. Two sessions each. The first is a refresher course on finding library resources, the second on evaluating sources, and the final on citation managers and plagiarism. I’m uber-excited about these but am fully aware that I may be teaching to an almost-empty classroom (based on sign-ups thus far). However, the interest from faculty for future, customized sessions generated by the announcement of the workshops is a win that trumps no shows.
New shoes for a new year
The first day of the new semester deserves a nice pair of shoes.
Standards, anyone?
Is anyone else anxiously awaiting the draft report of the new information literacy standards from ACRL? I’ve probably checked the website 20 times in the past month. Seriously.
The latest issue of Communications in Information Literacy devoted an entire issue to changing standards. Notably, the articles discuss two concepts essential to understanding the new standards (we are told): metaliteracy and threshold concepts.
It’s been over a decade since the standards were first published. A decade from now in all likelihood we will be in the same place, but between now and then is a good time to reenergize the discussion.
Happy new year 2014
The evening has begun
Aletheia spent the evening looking a Xmas lights and singing carols with grandparents and great-grandparents, then slept while the old folks pigged out and wrapped gifts. Best first Christmas Eve ever? I think so.
Baby library on wheels
Why does the baby car seat have the library symbol on it??
QOTD: Info lit isn’t natural
“Information literacy in a strong sense is deeply unnatural, and yet we task ourselves with teaching it. Sometimes we might feel bad for not accomplishing more, but given the workings of the human mind, when it comes to teaching information literacy, it’s amazing if we accomplish anything at all.” (Source: Information Literacy as an Unnatural State)
Aletheia gets excited when I put on Cannonball Adderley.
::Drops mic. Walks away::
Did I mention…
Hm. There seems to be a lack of content here of late. Did I mention I started a new job this Fall? Dear reader, my apologies for leaving you out of the loop. I was hired as the Reference & Instruction Librarian for Whittier College back in August. With only two weeks before the semester started to prepare, I hit the ground running teaching instruction sessions for First Year writing courses, managing the reference desk and a team of student assistants, overseeing ILL, liaisoning to a handful of departments/programs, and promoting the library through its social media accounts. Between my daylight hours at Whittier and my late-night hours with our newborn daughter, I’ve had little time for writing or much of anything else (ask me when was the last time I went to the grocery store).
Instruction season slows down dramatically in two weeks and while I’ll need to turn my attention to other tasks like collection development and assessment, I hope to inhabit this space once again. I’ve been rethinking the way in which I use social media (as a professional). More on that later. Until then, I hope you are well and we’ll chat more soon.