Week Three: Circulation to Orientation and Everything in Between

In addition to projects preparing for spring semester instruction sessions, I get the opportunity to shadow in various departments around the library. Monday’s job shadow was in the Circulation Department with Jaimie Shaffer, Circulation Supervisor. Not only did I get a great behind-the-scenes look at the circulation desk and all of the wonderful things they do there, I also got a behind-the-scenes perspective on things like hiring & supervising student workers, training employees to work with the public, circulation and reserve policies (and how they have changed to accommodate the needs of the patrons and the collection), working with faculty, and working with the local community.

In my library teaching philosophy I write, “I see librarians as educators, organizers, facilitators, collaborators, preservers, outreach experts, and public servants. Above all else, librarians are people who care and who want to help others.” I can see that portrayed through the actions of those at the Circulation Desk, and I was impressed by the emphasis Jaimie put on service as we were conversing about the various duties the Circulation Department performs. Much of what they do is what one might think of as “typical circ desk work:” checking books in and out, fixing the copy machine, answering basic questions about where some things are in the library (i.e. bathroom, newspapers, etc.), pulling materials to be put on reserve, and shelving materials. During times when the reference desk is not manned, the circulation staff will help out with some reference work (where things are located, or basic catalog or database help) and some technology help (printers, copy machines, etc.).

Every two hours one of the circulation student workers enters statistics as they conduct a visual sweep of specific areas in the library. These are compiled periodically and used for reporting to the university as well as ACRL. They also reshelve non-circulating materials and keep track of in-house use (again, for reporting). There are a few special areas behind the desk where certain materials are kept. Though many professors are using electronic reserves, there are still some physical copies of materials kept on the reserves shelf. Students and faculty can also request certain items to be held for them behind the desk until they are able to come in and check them out (similar to my experiences at a public library). A few course reserve items are kept in the supervisor’s office, particularly DVDs needed for class, because of scheduling or other problems in the past. These items are not only put on reserve, but they are also scheduled at certain times for class viewing.

Throughout the week I continued to work on researching/prepping for spring semester courses (specifically World View II and Research 104). I’ve also begun orienting myself with Moodle (here they call it UDOnline), adding discussion forum topics for upcoming WV2 classes. Doing the behind-the-scenes work helps me feel more comfortable with what I will be helping to teach in the coming weeks. Not only am I learning more about the research topics (local charities in WV2 and the Mississippi River basin in Res 104), I am also learning more about the courses and what is expected of the students.

Speaking of getting ready for the spring semester: Hello InfoLit scheduling! Talk about a puzzle! As I may have mentioned before, UD incorporates Information Literacy as a part of their core curriculum. That means they do a lot of library instruction (and by a lot I mean over 500 IL sessions per year spread between five librarians—yep, a lot). I was able to participate in the meeting where the first few weeks of instruction are divided. First, before anything can be done, Anne Marie and Becky (a reference and instruction librarian) worked on entering all of the sessions from all of the classes into a spread sheet, keeping in mind: course times, instruction session needs (i.e. computer equipment, access to library print materials, etc.), room schedules, requested times, and instructors. Once that is taken care of, the librarians are able to sign up for various sessions. They traditionally sign up to work with professors with whom they already have a working relationship (whether through past instruction experience or through liaison work); after that it is first come, first served. I am excited to be putting myself into the instruction rotation! My schedule for the week of February 7 is full of assisting with some lessons and taking charge of others (woo hoo!).

On Wednesday, a few of us met to discuss the Career Services component they are adding for library student workers. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the students are offered one hour of paid time to meet with one of the Career Services representatives. They may meet with her to discuss a wide range of career-related topics: résumés, cover letters , graduate school applications, job applications, and mock interviews. This spring semester will serve as a trial, but they are heavily encouraging all of their undergraduate student workers to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity (getting paid to meet with a career counselor (when others have to pay career counselors for similar services? It’s a win-win situation!). We discussed marketing these services to the student workers and modified a brochure from the career center to fit the needs of this new program.

I deviated from my regular schedule, putting in an extra day on Friday, so I could participate in new student orientation. The library hosted 3 hour-long sessions for incoming students. The time was divided between the technology orientation and the library orientation. In each session the same technology person presented information on the basics of using UD technology (how to set up your laptop, which anti-virus software programs are required, saving files/downloads, and accessing various accounts). It turns out, the tech. person is also a great library supporter and is on the Board of Trustees of the local public library. I plan on contacting him about doing some volunteering there. The library portion was a basic introduction to the library and was delivered by three different librarians, giving me time to observe their different teaching styles. Again, the information presented was pretty basic, but crucial to early success at UD. The biggest emphasis, in all three sessions, was that the librarians are here to help you (whether it be finding an article in a database, finding your way across campus, or finding a nearby convenience store).

My favorite part of the day came at the very end. One student missed the first part of the session (covering technology). We were just at the start of the log-in process, so I made it a point to stick close to her, helping her get on track with what the rest of the class was doing, but also wandering to make sure the others were able to log in. She was doing fine, I just had to help her figure out her password and she was off and rolling. As the session wrapped up, I asked her if she wanted to stay an extra couple of minutes to catch up on what she missed. We joked about the cold weather, and I asked her where she was transferring from (California). After covering the information about laptops, connecting to the UD network, and anti-virus software we went back and looked at Moodle (she was familiar with Blackboard, which I used as an undergrad at Luther). I explained that the folks at the library are always here to help. By the end I think she felt a lot more comfortable with the material, the library, and with her decision to transfer to UD (from sunny southern California...during the coldest time of year! What a shock to the system!). I’m glad I was able to take a little extra time to make a connection with a student. I can’t wait to do even more of this!

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!
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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