Libraries/Info Sci

Had another productive class of Library Instruction tonight!

We branched out into the idea of marketing your library, because as an instruction librarian you are often one of the more public faces of the institution.

Here’s some creative ideas for services that we brainstormed up. Some are more geared toward public libraries, and others academic:

• “Beer & Boox”
• Drive through book return & pickup
• Tool checkout
• Book cart drill teams
• Activity bags for family trips
• Prom dress checkout
• Coffee bars
• Branded mugs and other items
• Book carts on the beach
• Day care
• Outdoor patio w/ wireless internet access
• Film screenings
• School textbook collection
• Yoga classes
• Trivia contests
• Portable whiteboards for patron use
• Video game tournaments/collection
• Customizable catalog interfaces
• Sleepovers
• Housecalls and tech support
• Convenience store
• Pizzeria
• Art exhibits/cultural events
• Keychain version of library card

I’m sure I missed a few as we went around the room. But there’s a lot of good stuff in there! Some of these were even examples people gave of services their workplace already offers.

Tomorrow we have to give a 3 minute (ungraded) talk on a topic of our choice to work on public speaking skills. I’m thinking I’ll talk about my blog 🙂

Just got back from an interesting meeting.

While in the SIS (School of Information Sciences) building this morning, I noticed a sign that there would be a “Town Hall Meeting” tonight to address a number of student concerns raised recently re: the library science program.

The result was a discussion of some issues that I’d be willing to bet affect a number of library schools right now.

Primary issues discussed included class size and the lack of technology classes. The deans’ response to every concern raised was “we’re working on it”. So in the end I guess I’m not sure what the meeting accomplished – 90% of students there will be graduated and gone before any of the proposed improvements go into place.

A concern I’ve raised in the past, and I was pleased to see others do likewise, was the diversity of technological experience crammed into each class. I’m not being egotistical when I say that my technology skills were a few levels above most other people in my Digital Libraries class last semester. Its what my bachelors is in, after all. As a result, we spent so much time on remedial material that it took away from the planned curriculum of the class. I had to do a lot more outside class work on my own to make up for it.

I had similar experiences in every technology class I’ve taken. If my experience at Pitt is typical of your average library school, then we have a big problem here. Not only are technology beginners not being brought up to par, but students with the potential for advancement to more complex topics are being underserved.

As a solution, more professors need to be hired. With them in place class size can be reduced and content more specialized and level-appropriate.

To qualify, I’m not saying that I haven’t received a great education. I’ve just had to do more work towards it myself than I expected.

I was really stretching for a pun in the title, give me a break 🙂

I had my first ever weekend class over the last couple days. To be honest, I thought I was going to hate it. 6-9 on a Friday night, and 9-5 on Saturday do not sound like a recipe for fun. But the topic of Library Instruction sounded too interesting to pass up on registering. I’m so glad I gave it a chance! I learned more this weekend than in some of my entire semester ‘normal schedule’ classes.

Friday night kind of surprised me – we ended up talking mostly about entering the job market. Resumes, portfolios, web presence, interviews, etc. Very practical, and very appreciated by me. I’d never really considered the need for a portfolio of my work to show employers before. It seems a little more focused towards the academic library jobs, which I’m not as interested in as public, but pulling one together can’t hurt. I’ll add it as a link in the upper right of the site when I’m done; probably in a few days. I also got the idea to put a link to this site on my resume, which for some reason hadn’t crossed my mind before.

Friday night concluded with some discussion of different user groups and how their needs from library instruction differ. We departed, and returned the next morning.

Saturday was a wonderful intro to running library education sessions. We covered the basics of lesson planning, some public speaking issues, more about user groups, had a guest speaker from a school library, and a number of smaller topics.

Saturday was one of those occasions where I walk out of the room entirely fired up about being a librarian and helping patrons out. Both professors are practicing library instructors, with a wealth of experience to impart to us. 8 hours is a long time to sit still on a Saturday, but they made it worthwhile.

P.S. Does anybody have any tips on surviving a few days without hot water? My good ‘ol landlords have struck again.

P.P.S. My brother has started blogging! He’s still working up a theme for the content, but the site is up: www.DeuceNet.com

Heh every time I get one conference trip ironed out another pops up that I want to get to.

Internet Librarian is the choice this time. It looks really exciting and interesting, plus I’ve heard nothing but praise for it from the LIS blogosphere.

With a little luck I’ll have a full time job lined up by then (after graduating in August), maybe even one that’d pay me to go!

I can’t remember where I ran across this tidbit this morning, but here ya go. The new President elect of the ALA, Leslie Burger, has a blog!

I’ll be really interested to see how this plays out leading up to and during her term. I wonder if the topic of blogs will ever come up between her and Michael Gorman – that’d be interesting to hear.