Showing posts with label collaboration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collaboration. Show all posts

Friday, October 13, 2017

Updates Fall 2017

Well, I suppose I'm more than overdue for a blog update. Here goes! After my last post, it was a race to the end of the semester at Grand View, but not before hosting both the Iowa Private Academic Libraries conference and the spring Iowa Library Association ACRL conference. I was a member of the planning committee for the ILA ACRL conference and as a local person, also helped with IPAL. In addition to generally helping, I also helped plan and co-lead the Information Literacy Interest Group morning session at IPAL. But rather than drone on and on, how about we just check out some of my tweets between my last post and now! :) I think you'll see some exciting things!




































You may have noticed a shift in my role. I took a new position at Iowa State University as an Instruction Librarian focusing on teaching and teaching support. This is a big switch from a small, private university to a large, Regent university, but I'm excited to try new things and serve the students and instructors here! Also, I got an adorable puppy (with photos sprinkled in above). I'm sure I'll share more as I develop into this position, but I wanted to write an official update before I left this blog hanging even longer!
Posted by Cara at 10:14 AM 0 comments
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Silly Photo Highlights

I just got an email from a colleague with highlights of this morning's photo shoot for the Vision for Iowa School Libraries video.  They have a storyline all mapped out, and I just did what they told me to do. Here's the result:

Yep, I work with some great (and crazy) folks! I can't wait to see the actual video! 

Posted by Cara at 4:24 PM 0 comments
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Friday, May 17, 2013

April and May 2013

I realized I'm a bit behind on posting lately, so here's the "Reader's Digest" version of what I've been up to in April and May.

At the start of April I attended IPAL at Drake. Sometimes conferences can be hit & miss, but this year's IPAL felt practical and relevant.  Not only that, but I felt more connected and open with colleagues from other institutions about sharing ideas, successes, failures, and encouragement. You can find more information about what the iLOVE group discussed during IPAL here: Instruction Ideas & Ask the Masses

After IPAL I spent a few evenings covering a colleague's evening Computers & Information Literacy course wherein we covered the following topics:

  • Creating a Safe and Powerful Online Presence: Socially, Academically, and Professionally 
  • Visual Literacy: Using PowerPoint & Prezi to Communicate Your Ideas

It was a good experience, but also a nice reminder that scheduling myself to work late three nights/week isn't something I want to take on right now. It's fine when I know I'm staying for a specific project that has a definite stopping-point or is something I can take home with me and work on in my pajamas, but different when it is a regularly scheduled thing and I'm in full-on teacher mode all day and all night.

We also had another Library After Hours event featuring Lori Hanson Howe and Dr. Ellen Strachota. They shared their experiences from their recent travels to Rwanda working with Art of Conservation, an organization dedicated to using education and conservation to assist Rwandan children in gaining life skills and building a future for them and their communities using sustainable growth methods. Lori and Ellen also shared their experiences working with the children of Rwanda, their participation in a gorilla trek, and highlights from a three day safari they took into Kenya. Their presentation was followed by a reception.

 

 

This semester I've been serving as a mentor for an English/Theatre student for her senior capstone project.  During finals week the mentors attended the class's poster presentations. What a cool project! The students had to write a pretty intense research/analysis paper and then present on it. I could not have been more proud of my mentee! She knew her stuff inside and out, was articulate, had a well-written final paper, and did it all while being super-involved with various play performances, student organizations, and the rest of life! I am so proud of her!

We're also experiencing some changes around campus, one of which particularly impacts the library: dining services.  Our contract is switching to a new company, and with that change so changes the library coffee shop. Out with Starbucks products and in with and Einstein Bros Bagels.  Right now we don't really know what changes to the physical space will be made, but we're looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

As a library staff we've been working on reviewing, revisiting, and revising our Core Seminar I (freshman course) assessments and modules that we teach. That has been quite the process and is something we will continue to revise as we gain more experience with the new curriculum.

GV celebrated commencement at the end of April and I again volunteered to help usher.  It's always so rewarding to see the new grads so excited and proud and their family members just as excited and proud.

And then I took a quick trip to California. It was awesome. Here's a peek:


The week I returned from California was also the same week as ILA/ACRL held at Simpson College in Indianola. My colleague, Dan, and I presented a session that wasn't exactly the "typical" session.  I'm a big fan of practical ideas, things you can take home with you, things that feel relevant, and things that promote collaboration and brainstorming. Here is our session description (and, yes, it sounds a little info-mercial-y, but I embrace it):

"Calling all who teach library instruction sessions! Have you ever wanted a session that consisted entirely of instruction ideas? Do you want information literacy instruction strategies to add to your bag of tricks or teaching tool-kit? Have you ever been asked to teach a class and wondered 'how in the heck am I supposed to teach THAT?' Then this is the session for you! Not necessarily what one would think of as a 'typical conference presentation,' this session is one that will get you interacting with other participants from around the state. Participants will work together to share ideas and tackle instruction questions as you work with others to think outside the box, generate new ideas and ways of approaching information literacy, and leave with practical ideas. Attendees will be grouped together to brainstorm lesson ideas for a given prompt, then decide on an approach and develop a basic lesson plan outline.  Groups will share their initial brainstorming ideas and discuss why they chose the approach they used for their outline.  The brainstorming ideas and lesson plan outlines will then be compiled and electronically distributed to attendees shortly after the presentation so attendees can modify and apply the shared ideas at their own institutions."

The good news: we all survived this wacky experiment. The even better news: I think it actually worked! Folks shared their ideas, recommended resources, and had great conversations! Here are the lesson plans that were developed by the various groups: http://bit.ly/instantil2013


Lately I've been catching up with the folks in the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning on campus to start planning faculty development calendars, sessions, newsletters, and themes.  I've also been meeting with faculty to help plan library instruction for their summer courses, and this week was the Summer Reading Program Kickoff Open House! Despite the construction around campus (see photo below) we still had a great turnout for the open house, wonderful conversations, and some folks even brought books to share! I have some pretty wonderful colleagues around this campus and I'm looking forward to getting to better know them throughout the summer!
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Saturday, April 21, 2012

IPAL Spring Conference 2012

No, IPAL isn't an Apple product...It's the Iowa Private Academic Libraries consortium (librarians do like our acronyms, don't we?)! This was the first time I attended this conference which, as I understand it, in the past few years has usually just been treated as a business meeting.  This year, however, in addition to the lunch business meeting there were short 20- to 25-minute presentations highlighting the theme "Library/Campus Collaborations."

The day began on the road.  It was a little over two hours to drive there and, luckily, my colleague, Dan, didn't get too sick of my constant chatter (I was feeling talkative that day).  We arrived on campus with enough time to check in, grab a quick breakfast snack if we wanted, and see some fantastic friends I hadn't seen in a while.  It was so nice to catch up with them (and to see Anne Marie's adorable growing baby bump)! The president of the college shared a few words of welcome with us, then it was off to the sessions!

The first session I attended was UD's Jon Helmke's Skyping session, "Collaborating from a Distance: Using Skype to Help Achieve Student and Faculty Goals." During my internship at UD I was aware they had a professor Skyping in to teach an aviation class.  In order to accommodate this, the students met using a model similar to that used with graduate students.  The full group met once/week with the other class periods used for students to independently complete their course work. Several features of Skype made it the top choice for UD: the ability to screen share (so the professor could share with the students his computer desktop, and vice versa), the fact that it was free, instant messaging/mobile options.  Skype not only allowed the professor to lead classes, it also allowed him to be present at staff meetings and, later, when the professor had returned from campus, bring in guest speakers (reducing travel & housing costs and allowing more flexibility for the guest speaker's schedule).  The premium service allows for video conferencing between more than 2 users at some cost (similar to Google+ Hangouts).  There were some questions from the audience about campus bandwidth restrictions, outages, and clarity of sound/video.  For the most part none of these things were an issue in the speakers' experience.  UD campus bandwidth is pretty generous, though occasionally things will load a little less quickly or be a little more jerky/jumpy during prime campus-wide usage times.  Basic microphones and cameras work well and the professor said, as long as the students were projecting, he didn't have issues hearing classroom discussions or questions on the other side of the camera.  They did recommend you consult your IT department to be sure your network can handle such bandwidth use.

The second session I saw was another UD group, Anne Marie Gruber & Marta Abele in their session, "From Cover to Cover: Library-Campus Collaboration to Support At-Risk Students." They discussed their BRIDGE program, which is a summer program that brings at-risk or under-prepared first-year students to campus earlier than the rest of the incoming freshmen in order to better prepare them for their first year in college.  Many of these students have an ACT score of 17 and 75% of the group are the first-generation from their family to attend college. Much of the way Marta described the BRIDGE program made me think of Upward Bound or a more intensive version of the federal TRIO program.  They discussed the partnership between the BRIDGE program and the library and how the library was involved from the early development stages.  The library provided a literature review when the program was just beginning development, and has continued support them by providing materials to support student success & the faculty teaching at-risk students. (Some of the resources mentioned were The Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into in College, The Thinking Student's Guide to College: 75 Tips for Getting a Better Education, & Teaching Unprepared Students: Strategies for Promoting Success and Retention in Higher Education.) The summer program is primarily to orient students to campus and for bonding, not necessarily a time to focus on academic catch-up from what they may have missed in high school.  As the year goes on, students will spend time in required study-hall sessions in the library computer labs and take introductory/student success classes.  Not only does the library provide the space, they also build connections with the students early (during the summer session) so the students know who to speak with when they have questions about coursework.  The librarians also come in and introduce the "Who, What, When, Where, and Why" of research strategies.  Students were given a "fake paper," similar to they type most first-year students would receive in an introductory level writing course.  Instead of writing the paper, however, they looked at the guidelines and came up with a strategy as to how they would approach the assignment.  They answered "Who can help me with this paper? What is the format of this assignment? When is it due and when can I work on it? Where do I find the information I need? and Why am I doing this--what will I learn from this?" This reflective process helps the students see that the "fake paper" is a manageable assignment and it helps them form a strategy that can be applied to other assignments in the future.

The third session I attended was "Collaborating for Information Literacy: The Drake Experience." given by Carrie Dunham-LaGree and Bruce Gilbert from Drake.  They discussed their first-year seminar model at Drake and how they've worked to incorporate IL into all sections of the course.  One of the sections is led by a librarian, but all first-year experience courses.  Particularly helpful was the link to their libguides (http://researchguides.drake.edu/fys) and the example rubrics they shared.

Throughout the day it was nice to meet new people and hear about what other institutions had been up to.  In the middle of the day we enjoyed a working lunch where we reviewed the minutes from the last IPAL meeting and discussed new business.  Officer nominations were approved and the Secretary/Treasurer's report was given. In the afternoon I attended Dan's session where he discussed the embedded librarian program we have, how it began, and where we're going with the development and implementation of the new Core Sem I courses.  There was a lot of interest in what Grand View is doing and several nice questions from the audience.  Our plan was to slide out and hit the road early, but Dan got stuck with this Chatty Kathy (points thumbs at self) and we wound up visiting with a good friend of mine from my undergraduate days.  We may be chatting more in the future about collaborating on an ACRL presentation proposal, which would be really exciting!  The laid-back feel of the conference was nice and it got me even more ready to head up to ILA/ACRL next month!
Posted by Cara at 3:34 PM 0 comments
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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Top Ten List: Number Five (LibTech Keynote)

From the Library Technology Conference, in reverse chronological order:

5. TechSoup for Libraries Sarah Washburn, Library Program Manager, TechSoup for Libraries

Simple sharing that makes a big difference.

  • Sarah Washburn began by giving a brief introduction to the services TechSoup for Libraries offers, and the types of institutions they support (public libraries that are listed in the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) database or have 501(c)(3) nonprofit status). Basically, they provide support and training, regular newsletters, their "Cookbooks" for IT maintenance, help connect libraries to donated products (facilitate product partnerships), and promote & assist with advocacy. How are they so successful in helping libraries? Simply put, they listen to the needs of the institutions they serve, and share wisdom from past experiences to help other libraries. Stories are powerful tools that can not only help bring about innovation, but also reach individuals. By sharing these experiences, knowledge is passed, creating a network of experts with experience (particularly with open-source technologies). Washburn also emphasized aspects that make a tech story one they want to share: story/solution is outcome based, solving a problem from the "daily grind." Something that is tricky about finding these stories is that librarians tend to be (too) humble, thinking "what I do is just part of the way things work; others are probably doing the same things elsewhere." This isn't necessarily the case, so share what you are doing--you never know who you is looking for the exact solution you may provide.
Examples of success stories include:
  • Ankeny, Iowa: Created a freeware self-check system, reconfigured existing hardware and only had to purchase a monitor and scanner.
  • Adopt a Computer Program: Library patrons can pledge one dollar per day to support computer purchases. They receive an adoption certificate, quarterly updates (a letter of how the computers are doing, how they are being used), and signage recognizing donors.
  • Radom Hacks of Kindness (RHoK): Hacking for humanity done by Google, NASA, World Bank, Microsoft, and Yahoo! (and a long list of others). Technology companies work together "to make the world a better place by building a community of innovation. RHoK brings software engineers together with disaster relief experts to identify critical global challenges, and develop software to support them."
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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tech Blog Discussion: What is Your Library Doing about Emerging Technologies?

Jeffries, C. (2010, July 6). What is your Library doing about Emerging Technologies? LITA Blog. Retrieved February 15, 2011, from http://litablog.org/2010/07/what-is-your-library-doing-about-emerging-technologies/

Courtney Jeffries summarizes the LITA panel presentation from the ALA 2010 annual conference. Group 1 tackled the question “What are emerging technologies and how should they be adapted for libraries?” Rather than emphasize the (growing and changing) technologies, I loved one of the panelist’s responses (Elisabeth Leonard from Western Carolina University) who emphasizes the users. “Leonard suggested that as librarians we should “think through the eyes of our users.” Who are we trying to meet and where do they want us meeting them? What’s the context? An example given was social networking. Facebook, Twitter, and other similar platforms, while considered emerging to many librarians, have seemingly always been present for younger library users/college students. (This is something I’ve been struggling with in exploring emerging technologies. What is considered emerging? Much of the professional literature emphasizes technologies that have become a part of my daily life, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, chat, online videos, course management tools, wikis, RSS feeds/readers, blogs, etc.) The summary article also notes that Leonard “added that the reverse could be argued for another user group.” This is particularly timely now that many non-traditional students are returning to collegiate studies. While it would be easy to heavily rely on emerging technologies and social networking, it’s also important to consider the learning curve for these returning students. Not only are they making big changes in their professional lives; they are also encountering many new technologies they likely did not have to use before they began their professional careers (i.e. course management software, electronic databases, online forums, online course registration, even email).

In the session summary Jeffries note’s the reaction of Frank Cerone’s (Purdue University Calumet) to including social networking under the umbrella of emerging technologies. Cerone “argued that social networking sites are not emerging technologies for any user group.” He instead directs us to examine commercial technologies. Cerone gave the example of 3-D television as an emerging technology, though Leonard considers it a “leading edge technology,” as opposed to an emerging one. I am hesitant to embrace these commercial “leading edge technologies” (mostly based on my frugal nature), questioning how they can be used to further the educational goals of the institutions, students, faculty, and learning communities we serve. Keeping in mind how these technologies can supplement and improve our communication or other services we provide is key (are we purchasing/using just to feel more technologically advanced?).

Group 2 discussed the “daily tasks and skills required of emerging technologies librarians.” Those who contributed for this session were Amanda Margis (Warren-Newport Public Library), Danielle Whren Johnson (Loyola/Notre Dame Library), Darcy Del Bosque (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), Elisabeth Abarbanel (Brentwood School, Los Angeles), and Rebekah Kilzer (Drexel University Libraries). Many of the panelists emphasized the changing roles of librarians, no matter the populations served. Embracing flexibility, being involved, sharing technologies with colleagues, introducing new terms and programs to those around you. Kilzer shared a bit about her beginnings as Emerging Technologies Librarian at Drexel University Libraries. A wonderful suggestion for anyone beginning a new position is to take note of those technologies that have already been utilized. Also, visiting with “colleagues about their expectations of and suggestions for emerging technologies at their libraries” is a great way to gauge where the library is, where the librarians are, and where to start (what sort of things can be introduced? What will support the mission of the university/library?). Particularly relevant were the answers to the question “ How can librarians sty current when it comes to emerging technologies?” Tech feeds and blogs like:
Mashable (mentioned in my last blog post)
Lifehacker
Wired
In the Library With the Lead Pipe (one I really like and have subscribed to for a while now)
ReadWriteWeb
Non-profit Tech Blog
Museum 2.0
Margis suggested (and I agree), “if you want to stay up-to-date, play with the technology...Even if you don’t have it, just get your hands on it...Experiment, test, and reevaluate.” This is something I’ve been working with throughout the semester. I also think approaching the technology from a different perspective (thinking of it from a student’s perspective, a faculty perspective, a patron from the greater community with borrowing privileges) is key to effectively incorporating it into your library. Whren emphasized attending conferences, particularly those not library related to see what new things can be incorporated.

The next question addressed assessing emerging technology projects. Del Bosque suggests not just looking at what other libraries are doing, but rather looking at your local population. How is success defined? She suggests “Usability testing, surveys, and focus groups.”

Group 3 consisted of Cynthia Johnson (University of California, Irvine), Jacquelyn Erdman (East Carolina University), Kathryn Munson (Southeastern Louisiana University), and Marissa Ball (Florida International University). Assuming the responsibilities associated with adopting emerging technologies requires management and can be quite a commitment. Will you have an emerging technologies librarian? Are there librarians who have expressed interest in emerging technologies? How might responsibilities be shifted to assume the tasks associated with emerging technologies? At UC-Irvine, Johnson says her position is a consulting role (in addition to their web services department). Erdman works with a committee at East Carolina University. Florida employs a team-based approach, and has incorporated the following two tools in instruction and collection development:
Jing
LibX (an extension for Firefox and Explorer... Lately I have been using Chrome, so I may have to switch back to Firefox to experiment with it).
I have enjoyed creating simple, easy (and free!) screencasts using Jing, but have not used LibX, though I can definitely see its usefulness (I’ve just not had occasion to use it yet).

It was good to hear Erdman talk about emerging technologies while still keeping (restricting) budgets in mind. At East Carolina University they hosted “an in-house conference that focused on emerging technologies.” Sharing these tools with your local colleagues can not only help with the technologies presented that day, but can also cultivate a continuing dialog that can benefit everyone in the future. I like Munson’s suggestion of documenting what you are (and are not) doing and why. The key to this is finding a simple, efficient (i.e. not time consuming) way to do this in addition to the many duties librarians perform. Making sure your emerging technologies mission mirrors that of your university and library is important (otherwise, why are you doing what you are doing?). Johnson collaborated with other departments (educational technologies and web services) to achieve some technology goals. Right now I am interning at a small university library where collaboration is key between areas of the library, technology departments, and the larger campus.

One use of Twitter that I found somewhat surprising was what Johnson reported. “After setting up the library’s Twitter account, Johnson watched as it evolved into a virtual suggestion box. Johnson welcomed this unforeseen use of Twitter. Despite the suggestion box that had lived at the library for years, user feedback flooded the library’s Twitter account.” This emphasizes meeting the library users where they are.

David Ratledge (University of Tennessee), Gwen Evans (Bowling Green State University), and Rebecca K. Miller (Virginia Tech), made up the last group and discussed libraries and risk taking with emerging technologies. Evans utilizes Computer Science students, working with them to develop new technological offerings. By partnering experienced CS students with new CS students, there is some peer training that happens but, as can be expected, there are always unexpected challenges associated with this. Enthusiasm can sometimes overshadow practicality when it comes to taking on new tasks, so being sure you do have the resources to commit to new technologies (both man power and financial) is important to keep in mind. Making sure there is a long-range plan in place is important for maintaining new technologies.

Ratledge had a good point when he said, “Your users might be on Facebook, but, do they want you–the library–on Facebook?” When students are looking for assistance, is the first place they will look Facebook? Or will they automatically go to the library web page? What platform is best for supporting your library’s users’ needs? Another idea for discussing and experimenting with new technologies is a brown bag technology lunch series in which ideas can be exchanged (and technologies demonstrated or tried by participants).
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