The week of March 7th was filled with great discussions, observations, and reference work, and instruction experiences. Monday I observed additional RES104 Humanities sessions and worked with the students to understand the Humanities in relation to their next paper. In Humanities Day 1 the students worked in groups to find resources to provided questions. They then gave an informal presentation demonstrating how they found a resource containing the requested information.
I taught the "Q" section of Research 104 and we discussed finding credible resources to be used for their Humanities paper (we focused on web evaluation and finding relevant articles/books for their annotated bibliography, due shortly). The students submitted their website examples and, as a class, we discussed what aspects of the website made us think it was credible, and what aspects made us hesitant to use it to write papers. I also showed them a couple of databases and where to find humanities resources on the library's website. The students came up with great topics and I was excited to hear their paper ideas.
We had another Web Committee meeting, discussing more details of the changes we would like to make on the "How do I?" page. There are lots of pieces we'd like to see incorporated (embedding Jing videos, mobile interface, continuing to tweak/modify language and categories for tutorial content and other questions). In addition to technology related to the website, we are looking at bigger-picture issues such as the use of QR codes, computing in the cloud, and other software and technologies that can help UD grow in terms of technology offered to help students, faculty, and staff be their most effective.
The rest of the week was spent tweaking my ILA/ACRL presentation, "Cultivating Future Librarians: Turning Students into Colleagues Through Mentorship." I got a call from one of the ILA/ACRL Awards Committee members informing me that I was selected as the 2011 ILA/ACRL Spring Conference Scholarship recipient! I am very excited to not only be attending and presenting, but to also have received this award!
Showing posts with label observation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label observation. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Week Six: Assisting, Teaching, Shadowing, and Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity
I packed a lot in to this first full week of February. On Monday I did my first solo stint at the Reference Desk because one of the librarians wasn't feeling well, so I volunteered to slide in and man the station. While I only had a couple of reference questions, it was still nice to be able to be there and help. I also observed a sociology class where students answered questions based on their readings. They considered the various types of resources needed to answer the questions (articles, books, primary, secondary, etc.) and talked about keywords for searching. After an orientation to the catalog and Academic Search Premiere, they were off to answer their questions! There are a couple of quirks to the current library catalog to keep in mind when students are searching for books. Of course, the library catalog isn't intuitive when it comes to creative student spelling and won't anticipate or offer suggestions like Google might. Another thing to keep in mind is that when the catalog finds resources that match your search terms, it bumps the most recent item to the top of the list (and the catalog recently added new e-book titles). By returning e-books as the first search results, some students were ignoring those print resources they were seeking (for those unable or unwilling to download the e-books). We showed students how to limit by material type, which helped them be more successful.
Sprinkled throughout the week was prep work and various other ongoing projects. Tuesday was a day filled with teaching (both observing and assisting). I worked with two sections of a World History class preparing for an upcoming assignment that leads them to a larger paper (due in April). We searched for relevant articles concerning a student-chosen topic within a certain time range. Students would engage with the articles, providing commentary on the viewpoints presented for their assignment, and eventually bring the information together for a longer paper. Many of the students were able to find all of the articles they needed for the rest of the semester (though for this class day, they were only required to find their first article--but we encouraged them to get as much done as they could to be ready for their upcoming article discussions).
Wednesday I observed one section and was able to teach on my own (WOO HOO!)! I worked with two World View II (WV2) classes. The first was an 8 a.m. class who, though still a little sleepy, was able to engage with information about their local organization, St. Mark's. Following the templates provided for all WV2 sessions, I began by introducing myself and what we would be doing for class that day. We discussed the "big picture" and the impact individuals can have by simply doing and being involved. The students will eventually present about their community organization at the Service Learning Fair, sharing with their peers what the organization does. After talking about various sources that may be used, and bias that goes along with sources, the students broke off into groups to answer the questions about who is involved with and benefits from the services they provide, how the organization is structured, how it is funded, and they developed additional questions to be presented to the organization representative when they met later that week.
All of the students answered questions that were provided using Moodle forums (they added threads to the posted questions). With the last 10-15 minutes of class, students reported back to the entire group a few interesting things they found as they were searching. This process was repeated for an afternoon class researching Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I enjoyed helping the students work collaboratively to find the information they were looking for. There was definitely some redirecting students away from unreliable resources toward things that would more easily help them answer their questions. At one point I used the example of a Wikipedia article I saw (and took a screenshot of) that listed a town's nickname as "The Armpit of America," and it's motto as "Too lazy to commute. Let's go on title [sic] 19." The article also notes the population as "15,579 Smiling toothless methheads." While this example is extreme, and the above mentioned information was removed that same day, it was effective in driving home the point that while Wikipedia is a fine place to start to find out basic information to steer your search in the right direction, it should not be your only source.
I returned to campus again on Friday for a shadowing session with Jon Helmke, Assistant Director for Library Systems and Technical Services. Jon teaches instruction sessions and performs liaison duties to various departments on campus (as do all of the librarians at UD), is responsible for maintaining the library systems (including Horizon and ILLiad), vendor correspondences for electronic resources, Gold Rush Electronic Resource Management System, and the Data Central Project. He supervises Meris, Sue, and Meghann (who I talked about in week five). Jon works with the University webmaster to keep a uniform look for the library's website while adding content. We discussed eventually moving from Horizon to a cloud-based system (similar to the new World Cat), or possibly even going Open Source, but at this point that just an idea they are keeping in mind but not actively pursuing.
After spending time learning more about Jon's duties, I worked on a project to learn more about the Report on the geological survey of the state of Iowa (and another from the state of Wisconsin) that had been donated. After exploring the online Library of Congress National Union Catalog, I went down to the basement archives to check out the print version (just to be sure, and to say I'd actually used the print version) and found that even though the item says it's Volume 1 (part 1 and 2 for the Iowa survey, and just one part for the Wisconsin) only one volume was ever published (we wanted to be sure it was complete before adding it to the collection).
The afternoon was filled with scholarship and creativity as the library held their annual Scholarship and Creativity Celebration which displayed scholarly works, and artistic/musical talents of those who work at UD. The reception included food (of course), music, and spoken word. It was quite the event, and wonderful to see that so many are active within their disciplines! Friday was also UD night at the Dubuque Fighting Saints game (and it was a close one too--overtime leading to a sudden death shootout, but ultimately a home team loss)!
Sprinkled throughout the week was prep work and various other ongoing projects. Tuesday was a day filled with teaching (both observing and assisting). I worked with two sections of a World History class preparing for an upcoming assignment that leads them to a larger paper (due in April). We searched for relevant articles concerning a student-chosen topic within a certain time range. Students would engage with the articles, providing commentary on the viewpoints presented for their assignment, and eventually bring the information together for a longer paper. Many of the students were able to find all of the articles they needed for the rest of the semester (though for this class day, they were only required to find their first article--but we encouraged them to get as much done as they could to be ready for their upcoming article discussions).
Wednesday I observed one section and was able to teach on my own (WOO HOO!)! I worked with two World View II (WV2) classes. The first was an 8 a.m. class who, though still a little sleepy, was able to engage with information about their local organization, St. Mark's. Following the templates provided for all WV2 sessions, I began by introducing myself and what we would be doing for class that day. We discussed the "big picture" and the impact individuals can have by simply doing and being involved. The students will eventually present about their community organization at the Service Learning Fair, sharing with their peers what the organization does. After talking about various sources that may be used, and bias that goes along with sources, the students broke off into groups to answer the questions about who is involved with and benefits from the services they provide, how the organization is structured, how it is funded, and they developed additional questions to be presented to the organization representative when they met later that week.
All of the students answered questions that were provided using Moodle forums (they added threads to the posted questions). With the last 10-15 minutes of class, students reported back to the entire group a few interesting things they found as they were searching. This process was repeated for an afternoon class researching Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I enjoyed helping the students work collaboratively to find the information they were looking for. There was definitely some redirecting students away from unreliable resources toward things that would more easily help them answer their questions. At one point I used the example of a Wikipedia article I saw (and took a screenshot of) that listed a town's nickname as "The Armpit of America," and it's motto as "Too lazy to commute. Let's go on title [sic] 19." The article also notes the population as "15,579 Smiling toothless methheads." While this example is extreme, and the above mentioned information was removed that same day, it was effective in driving home the point that while Wikipedia is a fine place to start to find out basic information to steer your search in the right direction, it should not be your only source.
I returned to campus again on Friday for a shadowing session with Jon Helmke, Assistant Director for Library Systems and Technical Services. Jon teaches instruction sessions and performs liaison duties to various departments on campus (as do all of the librarians at UD), is responsible for maintaining the library systems (including Horizon and ILLiad), vendor correspondences for electronic resources, Gold Rush Electronic Resource Management System, and the Data Central Project. He supervises Meris, Sue, and Meghann (who I talked about in week five). Jon works with the University webmaster to keep a uniform look for the library's website while adding content. We discussed eventually moving from Horizon to a cloud-based system (similar to the new World Cat), or possibly even going Open Source, but at this point that just an idea they are keeping in mind but not actively pursuing.
After spending time learning more about Jon's duties, I worked on a project to learn more about the Report on the geological survey of the state of Iowa (and another from the state of Wisconsin) that had been donated. After exploring the online Library of Congress National Union Catalog, I went down to the basement archives to check out the print version (just to be sure, and to say I'd actually used the print version) and found that even though the item says it's Volume 1 (part 1 and 2 for the Iowa survey, and just one part for the Wisconsin) only one volume was ever published (we wanted to be sure it was complete before adding it to the collection).
The afternoon was filled with scholarship and creativity as the library held their annual Scholarship and Creativity Celebration which displayed scholarly works, and artistic/musical talents of those who work at UD. The reception included food (of course), music, and spoken word. It was quite the event, and wonderful to see that so many are active within their disciplines! Friday was also UD night at the Dubuque Fighting Saints game (and it was a close one too--overtime leading to a sudden death shootout, but ultimately a home team loss)!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Week Four: Four Weeks Already?! Haikus, Collection Development, Research, and Web Content
It's hard for me to believe it has already been four weeks since I began my internship here at UD!
Last week was the kickoff week for RES 104. Becky Canovan, Reference and Instruction Librarian, has been working tirelessly to prepare the first set in a series of instruction sessions for this course. The librarians join each section of RES 104 (13 on campus sections, and one online section) six times throughout the semester to assist them with the research and writing process. The first round of sessions introduces the research process as it relates to the students' first paper covering social science topics.
The librarians here give each other the opportunity to observe (for the benefit of both the person rehearsing the instruction, and for those observing to be more comfortable with the content and approach before jumping into teaching). Becky ran through the Res104 Day 1 lesson (she is teaching all of the Day 1s and the Days 2 and 3 are divided between all of the librarians). She put together a creative first day incorporating various technologies as well as a haiku matching game where the students matched example topics to the prepared haikus (you can learn more about them in her blog post, click here). I was able to observe the first two (of three) of the social science sessions for one of the sections (with the third observation taking place later this week), taught by Becky. It was interesting to see (even between just the first two sessions) the difference in the ways the students responded to the instruction. I could see them connecting the ideas presented in the first session to the initial/exploratory research in the second section, as they looked to see if their proposed research questions were viable. I loved going around, helping students refine their searches and topics, asking questions and offering suggestions to help them be more successful.
This past week, Anne Marie and I also had the opportunity to discuss the collection development practices in a bit more in depth. Each librarian is responsible for approximately four different liaison areas. As is the case in many libraries, when purchasing for their liaison areas, the librarians welcome suggestions from faculty and students. The faculty suggestions are particularly key when purchasing in subject areas that are not the librarian's subject of specialty. In addition to faculty suggestions, librarians consider how the curriculum is changing, and whether the selections may serve multiple areas. Anne Marie gave examples of her selection and deselection processes, though weeding tends to fall to the bottom of the list behind instruction, public services, and selecting new items. Weeding happens, typically in the summers when the library is less busy, when space becomes an issue; deselection policies vary with department standards.
I was able to complete the WV2 prep (though some professors have yet to submit their partnering organizations to us so we can prepare the slides), update discussion threads on Moodle for the instruction sessions, and observe at the reference desk. As it was still early in the semester (only three days into the term), there were only a handful of reference questions, allowing Anne Marie and I the opportunity to discuss another one of the core classes, English 101 (ENG 101).
The design of ENG 101 is different than that of any other course I've seen, in that students are developing critical thinking, evaluation, and thesis developing skills through the writing of essentially the same research paper for the entire class. The students are learning about the research writing process and, rather than complicate or distract the students from the elements of this process, the students are presented with the same resources; as a class they evaluate the resources, formulate a class thesis, and compile the same bibliography. The students then write their own research paper using the resources from the class. The pedagogical idea is that the students are there to learn the process, not get bogged down in the resources or the last minute habits that seem to plague younger college students. By emphasizing the process and grading along the way, the students are able to better understand the building blocks of writing and connect that process to future classes (RES 104) where they complete the research, evaluation, thesis writing, and paper writing process independently. The librarians participate in a two-week unit (4-5 class days) in which the students examine the same articles (popular, scholarly), discuss, develop research questions as a class, break into smaller groups and complete a similar process for other articles, discuss answers as a class, develop a thesis/argument, and discuss how to read a scholarly article.
This week was another week where I came in on Friday to participate in meetings and instruction session observations. We had a meeting to discuss one area of the UD library's web page, the "How Do I?" page. What began as a quick reference has gotten bogged down with text, and is not necessarily presenting the information in a concise or organized fashion. We discussed:
What are the goals of the page? Is it a teaching tool? Should it not duplicate what we do in the classroom? Or should it present the same information, but in a "Reader's Digest" form? Do we want to include podcasts/screencasts? Who is our target audience (on campus students, distance students, those needing help with the research process, faculty, all)?
The plan is to look at other library web pages (including public libraries) to see how they present their FAQ or "How do I?" pages, whether it is presented in database form or browsable form or both, examine mobile interfaces, and look at best practices for libraries.
This week I'll be shadowing in several areas of the library and continuing to observe classroom instruction sessions.
Last week was the kickoff week for RES 104. Becky Canovan, Reference and Instruction Librarian, has been working tirelessly to prepare the first set in a series of instruction sessions for this course. The librarians join each section of RES 104 (13 on campus sections, and one online section) six times throughout the semester to assist them with the research and writing process. The first round of sessions introduces the research process as it relates to the students' first paper covering social science topics.
The librarians here give each other the opportunity to observe (for the benefit of both the person rehearsing the instruction, and for those observing to be more comfortable with the content and approach before jumping into teaching). Becky ran through the Res104 Day 1 lesson (she is teaching all of the Day 1s and the Days 2 and 3 are divided between all of the librarians). She put together a creative first day incorporating various technologies as well as a haiku matching game where the students matched example topics to the prepared haikus (you can learn more about them in her blog post, click here). I was able to observe the first two (of three) of the social science sessions for one of the sections (with the third observation taking place later this week), taught by Becky. It was interesting to see (even between just the first two sessions) the difference in the ways the students responded to the instruction. I could see them connecting the ideas presented in the first session to the initial/exploratory research in the second section, as they looked to see if their proposed research questions were viable. I loved going around, helping students refine their searches and topics, asking questions and offering suggestions to help them be more successful.
This past week, Anne Marie and I also had the opportunity to discuss the collection development practices in a bit more in depth. Each librarian is responsible for approximately four different liaison areas. As is the case in many libraries, when purchasing for their liaison areas, the librarians welcome suggestions from faculty and students. The faculty suggestions are particularly key when purchasing in subject areas that are not the librarian's subject of specialty. In addition to faculty suggestions, librarians consider how the curriculum is changing, and whether the selections may serve multiple areas. Anne Marie gave examples of her selection and deselection processes, though weeding tends to fall to the bottom of the list behind instruction, public services, and selecting new items. Weeding happens, typically in the summers when the library is less busy, when space becomes an issue; deselection policies vary with department standards.
I was able to complete the WV2 prep (though some professors have yet to submit their partnering organizations to us so we can prepare the slides), update discussion threads on Moodle for the instruction sessions, and observe at the reference desk. As it was still early in the semester (only three days into the term), there were only a handful of reference questions, allowing Anne Marie and I the opportunity to discuss another one of the core classes, English 101 (ENG 101).
The design of ENG 101 is different than that of any other course I've seen, in that students are developing critical thinking, evaluation, and thesis developing skills through the writing of essentially the same research paper for the entire class. The students are learning about the research writing process and, rather than complicate or distract the students from the elements of this process, the students are presented with the same resources; as a class they evaluate the resources, formulate a class thesis, and compile the same bibliography. The students then write their own research paper using the resources from the class. The pedagogical idea is that the students are there to learn the process, not get bogged down in the resources or the last minute habits that seem to plague younger college students. By emphasizing the process and grading along the way, the students are able to better understand the building blocks of writing and connect that process to future classes (RES 104) where they complete the research, evaluation, thesis writing, and paper writing process independently. The librarians participate in a two-week unit (4-5 class days) in which the students examine the same articles (popular, scholarly), discuss, develop research questions as a class, break into smaller groups and complete a similar process for other articles, discuss answers as a class, develop a thesis/argument, and discuss how to read a scholarly article.
This week was another week where I came in on Friday to participate in meetings and instruction session observations. We had a meeting to discuss one area of the UD library's web page, the "How Do I?" page. What began as a quick reference has gotten bogged down with text, and is not necessarily presenting the information in a concise or organized fashion. We discussed:
What are the goals of the page? Is it a teaching tool? Should it not duplicate what we do in the classroom? Or should it present the same information, but in a "Reader's Digest" form? Do we want to include podcasts/screencasts? Who is our target audience (on campus students, distance students, those needing help with the research process, faculty, all)?
The plan is to look at other library web pages (including public libraries) to see how they present their FAQ or "How do I?" pages, whether it is presented in database form or browsable form or both, examine mobile interfaces, and look at best practices for libraries.
This week I'll be shadowing in several areas of the library and continuing to observe classroom instruction sessions.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Week One: Orientation and the Start of a Good Thing
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!
-----
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
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!
-----
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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