It’s official! I have a name badge and everything. Last Monday I began my internship experience at University of Dubuque (UD)! My supervisor, Anne Marie Gruber, and I had been communicating quite a bit prior to the start of the semester (working on a couple of conference presentation applications and simply getting things in order) so were able to jump right in to library/UD orientation. I took a walking tour of the Charles C. Myers Library and was able to meet the wonderful librarians and staff along the way. Of course I was curious to learn how things are done at UD, so I asked many questions as we went...Circulation policies (do they vary with certain collections or populations?), study room use (do they need to check out a key or reserve the rooms?), course management software (Sakai? Moodle? – In case you’re wondering, they use Moodle.), reserves (do professors put their own reserves up or does the library?)...
Anne Marie also shared with me some UD history and information about various programs of study. Some programs unique to UD (especially for a school this size) are Aviation and Flight Operations, as well as the Theological Seminary’s offerings for graduate studies.
After our tour we were able to take care of some paperwork (human relations, parking, identification and library card, emergency contact information, etc.) and technology. We spent some time going over log-ins, accessing shared network storage, and we talked a lot about UDOnline (Moodle). I’m excited to learn more about how Moodle works and about customization options. We have been trying to figure out a way to use an HTML form (with PHP) so that students can fill it out and submit the information to both themselves and the librarian (though, from what I’ve found on various Moodle forums, I think the PHP might be an issue…I plan on picking some folks’ brains to see if it’s an option, as the last forum post I could find addressing this was from 2008—Hopefully things have been updated).
We took care of some goal-setting (listed at the very bottom of the post) and established a weekly schedule. Over the next few days I was able to observe some Info Lit sessions with World View 2 (WV2) classes. This January is the first time UD has done J-term classes for their undergraduate students (though the Seminary students have had J-term for some time), and it has been a little bit of a transition for the students and the faculty. For the most part the sessions went smoothly and the sessions I observed helped me to better understand the instructors’ and librarians’ expectations for the students.
Each course was tailored to the service organization (or population) the class was serving. All of the library instructors had the same basic presentation template, but incorporated specific resources and strategies to connect the students to the organization (i.e. Big Brothers, Big Sisters; local nursing homes; local public parks). The instructors each brought their own style to the instruction session, but kept in mind the objectives of the class: What do we know; what do we want to know; conduct search; use the questions provided to help guide your search (the students were divided into five groups with five questions for each group to answer about their organization); if there is still information we don’t know, let’s formulate questions to ask the organization’s representative the next time you are in contact with them. Each instruction session utilized Moodle to collect the students’ findings. I noticed the students were particularly engaged when their professor was in the room, wandering along with the librarian, checking on groups as they worked. This emphasized the usefulness of the IL session and reinforced to the students that the information they were finding was something they would be using in their final presentation (to all of the other sections of WV2, around 400 students).
I also was able to sit in on a meeting with a professor and librarian as they discussed Research 104 (RES 104) for next semester (as it had been several years since the professor had last taught that course). Sitting in on the meeting really helped me to understand the professor’s perspective, along with the librarian’s role and view, of the course. UD incorporates information literacy into their core curriculum and RES 104 is an excellent example of showing how that is done. Throughout the semester all sections have six Info Lit sessions directed toward helping students understand how to best prepare, research, and present their scholarly ideas. The students prepare three research papers throughout the semester: one on a social science topic, one on a humanities topic, and one on a science topic. The library instructors go through several steps to help the students not only find quality resources, but to also understand the process of writing and properly citing the resources in their work.
Anne Marie also went through some of the library’s resources as I shadowed at the Reference Desk. We talked about the program used for the catalog (SirsiDynix Horizon) and went through their (open source) journal finder list, Gold Rush. We also talked about a few of the basics they use often with their undergraduate work (Academic Search Premiere, JSTOR, and LexisNexis), as well as some new or seminary-specific resources (new ones include Credo, e-books, and Films on Demand; a heavily-used database is American Theological Library Association’s ATLA Religion Database). UD also shares resources freely with Wartburg Theological Seminary, also in Dubuque, without having to submit ILL requests for every item. Instead the two libraries’ catalogs are linked and the items can be requested and delivered, or students may travel across town to retrieve the desired item.
I already started working on a few of the projects we discussed earlier, including doing some preliminary selecting for the purchase of print materials, working with recommended lists and Books in Print. This week holds more exciting adventures preparing for spring semester (including scheduling, preparing course presentations and research guides), shadowing various departments around the library, and working with the Career Center to discuss further supporting the library’s student workers.
All in all, week one gets two thumbs up from this intern, and I’m looking forward to learning more!
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Goals:
* Collaboratively design, deliver, and assess library instruction sessions
* Create learning tools using course management software to support course objectives and student learning
* Evaluate and implement various summative and formative assessment tools
* Support the research needs of students, faculty, and other library patrons through reference services, both in-person and virtual
* Assist with collection development and faculty support through liaison work
* Update and redesign webpages
* Assist with the refining of a new Information Literacy component in a required course, Introduction to Computers (CIS101)
* Initiate projects using a variety of open-source and emerging technologies
* Promote the library’s mission by assisting with programming, special events, and displays
* Participate in other professional development activities and staff meetings
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