Reference Questions, 4/29/2011

Today is the last day of the semester. I've been told that it's been a quiet morning thus far. Let's see if that trend continues.

1. The print assist window was not giving his RU Express account as an option to pay for printing
2. Looking for a stapler
3. Wanted to know if the RU Express machine over in vending took a credit card

This was a slow shift indeed. Just about all of the computers are full but few questions are being asked.

Reference Questions, 4/27/2011

Lunch at the reference desk. Fun times always.

1. (Email) Needed help with searching for sources on gang involvement and the social disorganization theory of crime
2. Looking for headphones
3. Wanted to print in color
4. Wanted to know where his paper would print out
5. Wanted to know if he could print from the computers with scanners
6. All the computers in the ref area were full and he wanted to know where he could go to print
7. Wanted to add money to his printing account

The library is completely full. It's not surprising considering Friday is the last day of classes.

Reference Questions, 4/26/2011

It's Tuesday night at the reference desk. It's the last week of classes. I expect lots of APA and Word questions.

1. Wanted to borrow a pen
2. Wanted to know if we had a USB cord she could borrow
3. Wanted to know where to check out books
4. Needed a guest login
5. Wanted to borrow a pen
6. Wanted to print in color
7. Computer was giving a system admin error when he tried to log in
8. Was trying to scan a document with the printer
9. Wanted to borrow the glue stick
10. Paper was not printing out; he had no money in his printing account and was not switching over to his RU Express account

Not a single APA or Word question. Shocking!

My Shakespeare Experience

Anyone who knows me knows that Shakespeare means a great deal to me, and consumes a great part of my life. In honor of William Shakespeare's 447th birthday (which was this past Saturday), I decided to commit to blog my Shakespeare experience. I recently read The Shakespeare Wars by Ron Rosenbaum. In this book Rosenbaum talks about the critical moments in his Shakespeare journey, moments that changed his life. This got me thinking about what were the critical moments in my Shakespeare journey. I can think of three.

The first one happened in the Fall of 1991. I was in the 8th grade, and took a class field trip to see Julius Caesar at the High Point Theater. This production was put on by the NC Shakespeare Festival. Now I am not exactly sure why our teacher decided to take us to see a production of Julius Caesar. We were not reading this play in class. Whatever her reasoning was, I am eternally grateful to her for taking us to the NC Shakespeare Festival. This was my first exposure to Shakespeare, and I was blown away. I remember thinking that it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. The language moved me in a way I couldn't describe. Granted, I didn't completely understand everything that was being said, but I did understand the emotion that it moved in me. That morning at the High Point Theater lit a fire in me that still burns today. Later that year I would read Romeo and Juliet for the first time and my fate was sealed. I would be a life long Shakespeare fan.

The second defining moment in my Shakespeare journey happened my junior year in college. In the Spring of 1999, I took a class on Shakespeare's Later Plays (ENG 340) taught by Dr. Russ McDonald. Hearing Dr. McDonald speak about Shakespeare that first day of class was a near religious experience for me. He spoke about Shakespeare and his plays with such passion, power and excitement that I left that class completely changed. I had to immediately go find my fiancé and tell him all about it. Of course, he couldn't have cared less. He hated Shakespeare and had no interest whatsoever in hearing about my life changing experience. His attitude never once swayed my passion for Shakespeare. (He would eventually come over to my way of thinking, but that story comes later.) That ENG 340 class was amazing. McDonald brought out an energetic life in plays we read that semester. Each class was an grand show, and I was madly in love with everything Shakespeare. That semester we studied Measure for Measure, Othello, All's Well That Ends Well, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest. The next semester I took ENG 339, Shakespeare's Sonnets and Early Plays. That class was also taught by McDonald. In that class we studied the sonnets along with The Taming of the Shrew, Titus Andronicus, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry IV Part I & II, Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet. In both of those classes we didn't just talk about his plays. Along with our Shakespeare text (the Riverside) we also read The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare which McDonald had recently published. This is a great book that really gives you an inside look at the time period's cultural and historical context. Understanding what was going on during the time that Shakespeare was writing these plays really helps you understand the plays themselves. It also helps to understand the staging conditions that Shakespeare was writing for, which was another topic we covered in depth. Dr. McDonald taught me how to think about Shakespeare and his language. He has forever colored how I approach and think about Shakespeare, and I couldn't be more indebted to him for that. Words cannot express how much those classes meant to me. He changed my life in ways that I could not have understood or appreciated at the time. I would give anything to take a graduate level Shakespeare class from him. Alas, he is now teaching at Goldsmiths University of London. However, if he happens to find himself in this part of the world again, believe me I will be signing up for one of his classes.

The third and last moment came in September 1999. During the Fall semester of my senior year I had decided to take ENG 342, which was called The Seventeenth Century. This class was taught by Dr. Christopher Hodgkins. I distinctly remember that very first class. Dr. Hodgkins came in and started the class saying that in this class we would NOT be studying Shakespeare. If we wanted to study Shakespeare we should take one of Dr. McDonald's classes. This class was going to be about Shakespeare's contemporaries. He also announced that first class that the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express (SSE) would be coming to campus to perform The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont. We were told we should go see the play since we would be reading it that semester. So on an extremely hot day in September 1999, I drug my fiancé to the Brown Building Theatre on the campus of UNCG to see the SSE production of The Knight of the Burning Pestle. This just happens to be one of the oldest buildings on campus, and the air conditioning went out that day. So when the play started at 7:00 p.m., it was about 90 degrees in the theatre. The conditions in the theatre were miserable, but the play was fantastic. They used the staging conditions of the time, leaving the lights on and directly interacting with the crowd. I was completely blown away. Who knew theatre could be like this? This made me look at plays in a whole new light. My fiancé didn't share my enthusiasm, and practically ran out of the building the second the play was over. Granted it was insanely hot in there, but the magic that surrounded that production had given me the ability to ignore the heat. In 2001, I discovered that the SSE had changed their name to the American Shakespeare Center and that they had built a permanent home in Staunton, VA. I begged my husband to take me up there, but he always found some excuse not to go. It took me eight years to get him to agree to go to the American Shakespeare Center. We finally went to a play in February 2009. We saw Henry VI, Part I. My husband completely and totally fell in love with Shakespeare. In the end it wasn't me that changed his mind, it was the atmosphere at the American Shakespeare Center. When we got home from that trip, I sent an email to one of the actresses that was in that production, thanking her for doing what I'd been trying to do for years. (The American Shakespeare Center is home to the world's only recreation of Shakespeare's indoor theater, the Blackfriars Playhouse. They use Shakespeare's original staging conditions, and this means that they make the audience a part of the play. They literally do it with the lights on. :) This is an amazing experience, and I strongly urge anyone who has not had the chance to experience theater this way to do so immediately. You will not want to go back to watching plays in the dark.)

When I graduated with my MLIS, I knew I wanted to move up into Virginia so that I could be closer to the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton. It's doubly sweet now that I can share this passion with my husband. We go to Staunton as often as we can. It's an experience like no other. My dream is to someday get a Master of Letters in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin College, and to be a librarian that focuses on researching and teaching Shakespeare. I know it's a long shot, but who knows it could happen. Shakespeare has brought such amazing entertainment and people into my life, and I can't thank him enough for it. I don't know how I would occupy my time without him.

Reference Questions, 4/25/2011

It's the Monday, 8:00 a.m. shift on the last week of classes. The home strtech has been reached.

1. (Email) Wanted to know how far back we had the New York Times Magazine.
2. Wanted to add money to his printing account, and he insisted he did not have an RU Express account. Everyone has an RU Express account as far as I know, but whatever. I sent him to Walker since they can put money onto your printing account.
3. Needed help formatting a header in a Word document
4. Looking for his color print out
5. Wanted to know how to print in color
6. Wanted to know how to print in color
7. Paper was not printing out; she had no money in her printing account and was not switching over to her RU Express account
8. The computer was not recognizing the scanner. I cut the scanner off and then back on and it worked.
9. Needed help printing one-sided
10. Looking for his color print out
11. Paper was not printing out; she had no money in her printing account and was not switching over to her RU Express account
12. Computer was not recognizing her flash drive
13. Wanted to know how to do an APA citation for an NPR interview; I couldn't find an example of it so I had him use I can't find my example
14. Needed help printing one-sided
15. (Email) Question about quoting in APA
16. Needed help getting a Word document out of protected mode
17. Needed help with her flash drive

This was a rather busy shift. I had lots of printing and Word questions. As far as the students are concerned, it's time to panic. 

Reference Questions, 4/21/2011

The allergies are rearing their ugly head today. Yuck! My head is killing me. Reference endures.

1. Looking for headphones
2. Looking for a manila envelope
3. Needed help removing page breaks from her Word doc. They just appeared and she couldn't delete them
4. (Chat) Had question about creating an in-text citation in MLA for a movie; also had a questions about the author of a website

Now it's on to Muse for turkey day. Woohoo!

Reference Questions 4/20/2011

Most of the computers here in the reference area are taken, and the librarian who was on the previous shift told me that it's been very busy. And on a side note, I will never get used to seeing students walk around the library in slippers.

1. Wanted to know which printer was the color printer
2. (Chat) Wanted to know how to create an in-text citation for a web page in MLA
3. (Chat) Had a question about in-text citations in APA; was using 2 quotes from the same page in 2 consecutive sentences
4. (Chat) Had a question about citing and image in APA
5. Wanted to know if she could print in color
6. Needed help using the scanner

Now I get to go to lunch. Yay!

Reference Questions, 4/19/2011

It's Tuesday night here at the reference desk. I have the final two hours that the desk is open tonight. The library is fairly full, let's see if this translates to questions.

1. Wanted to know where the front door was
2. Needed help printing a pamphlet. We played with the settings. When she was printing from the BW printers you just had to make it flip on the short edge. The color printer was more complicated. I turned it over to the Front Desk. The Front Desk had no answers so I changed the binding setting to top instead of auto. That worked and the student now thinks I'm a super star. :)

This was an insanely slow shift. At least I got some reading done, and I was able to make one student's day. :)

AFBL Weeding

I have finished weeding the AFBL (accounting, finance and business law) section of the reference collection. There were 188 titles in this collection. I weeded 69 titles, and I moved 105 titles to the main collection. This left a total of 14 titles in reference. I made these decisions by looking at usage statistics and examining the collection to see if there was a newer edition or an alternate source for the information somewhere else in the collection. The oldest book I found was from 1924. As I have said before, it was evident that this section had NEVER been weeded.

If my calculations are correct I removed approximately 91.5% of the AFBL titles from the reference collection. That left 7.4% of the titles in reference. 36.7% of the titles were weeded from the collection and 55.9% were moved to the main collection.

I am now moving on to the DATH (dance and theater) section of the reference collection.

Reference Questions, 4/18/2011

I'm at the reference desk first thing this morning.The library is fairly empty. I expect a slow 2 hours.

1. (Email) Student was having trouble accessing databases off campus; she didn't know you had to login using your RU username and password to access them
2. Student was having trouble printing; anytime he selected a printer to use, the computer was telling him that there were none installed. I told him to go to another computer.
3. The scanner was scanning in black and white, not color. The default is B&W so I showed him how to change it to color.
4. Wanted to borrow a pen
5. (Email) Follow-up from previous email: She was still having trouble. She said she was trying to access the database from her My RU page, which she can't do. I walked her through how she should go to the database.
6. (Phone) Someone looking for another librarian that does not come in until 1:00 p.m.
7. (Email) Still can't get into LRC. I sent an email to our electronic resources librarian
8. Looking for a book on wetlands
9. Having trouble with WebCT. I can't help with that. That's the DoIT.

It's always fun when the databases do not want to cooperate.

Reference Questions, 4/13/2010

The semester is entering the final stretch. The last instruction classes are being taught this week. Students are working on finishing up their final projects and papers. We are live at the reference desk.

1. Wanted to borrow a highlighter
2. Wanted to borrow a highlighter
3. Wanted to borrow a pen and some scrap paper
4. Found a flash drive
5. Having trouble scanning a check to a website
6. Needed help finding a book in the stacks
7. Looking for Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
8. Looking for an atlas of North America
9. Needed help finding a book in the stacks
10. Needed help using the scanner
11. Looking for an article on presidential power
12. Looking for a plastic bag and tape
13. Wanted to print something, but she's not a student here

I will return to the desk at 5:00 p.m. EDST.

It's reference time! I'm only here for an hour and then I get to go home. Yay! ;) I had some M & M's and a caramel frappuccino so I am ready for this.

1. Looking for scholarly articles on UNICEF
2. Wanted to know what floor we are on
3. Having trouble printing; her printing account was empty and she wasn't switching over to her RU Express

Time to head home. Netflix is waiting for me.

Reference Questions, 4/12/2011

The library is abuzz with students. Let's see if this translates to questions on this Tuesday night.

1. Needed help scanning a picture
2. Needed to copy a graph out of an article for her research paper; print screen and paint to the rescue
3. Needed help printing one-sided
4. Wanted to know what floor we were on
5. Wanted to know where the group study rooms are; second floor
6. Had some questions about using Word; wanted to know how to add a border to the page, how to center a photograph on a page and how to view the print preview
7. Wanted to know what printer was the color printer
8. Looking for specific books and DVDs on Appalachia
9. Looking for the Dead Poets Society and specific books on homophobia in the classroom
10. Looking for course reserves
11. Wanted to know which criminal justice databases to use when looking for info about human trafficking
12. Was having trouble printing; didn't have enough money in her account

A steady reference desk makes the two hours move quickly. :)

Reference Questions, 4/11/2011

It's supposed to be in the lower 80s here today, and it is warm in the library. I can't wait til they cut the air on in here. I loathe being hot.

1. Looking for the book Fight Club; we did not have it
2. Needed help attaching a file to an email
3. (Chat) Needed to find scholarly articles on Henric Ibsen; referred them to JSTOR
4. (Chat)  Needed to find scholarly articles on Henric Ibsen; JSTOR was a bust referred them to Literature Resource Center

I never complain about a slow shift. :) Now off to the BI meeting.

Weeding the Reference Collection

The library is currently in the middle of a huge weeding project. This weeding project has been complicated by the loss and gain and then loss again of a Collection Management Librarian. Both the reference and main collections are targets of this weeding. Since I am in the reference department, (though technically I am an Instruction Librarian) I will be taking part in the weeding of the reference collection. We spent the past few weeks discussing the best way to approach weeding the reference collection. A plan was implemented during last week's reference department meeting. We decided that each librarian would weed the section they are liaison to and then the remaining sections would be divided up. I am in charge of weeding the Accounting, Finance and Business Law (I am liaison to this department), Dance and Theater, Philosophy and Religion, Nursing and Information Technology. It adds up to approximately 1,000 titles, and we have until August 1 to get these reviewed.

I started working on this on Friday, and I am currently working on the AFBL section. I have made decisions on approximately 80 titles. It is painfully obvious that this section has NEVER been weeded. I am finding books from the 1920s and 1930s. I am weeding based on how important currency is for the subject, (with AFBL very) and if we have an alternate source for the information somewhere in the collection. I've decided to remove approximately half of the titles I've reviewed thus far.

Reference Questions, 4/8/2011

I am so glad that today is Friday. I may need to make a trek over to Starbucks today. I haven't had one in a while. For now though I am at the reference desk awaiting questions.

1. Sent a document to the print, but it wasn't printing. She didn't let the print assist box calculate the printing cost before hitting accept. Maybe someday student will learn to do that.
2. (Email) A student had put a hold on a database (Econlit) in the catalog. I had to email them and tell them how to access the database
3. Student told computer to print one-sided and it printed double; printing is the bane of our existence here in the ref department
4. Looking for a hole puncher
5. Needed help using the database finder and JSTOR
6. (Chat) Needed help with ILL
7. Looking for a color printer

It was a slow shift until the very end, of course.

Reference Questions, 4/7/2011

The coughing librarian has returned to the reference desk. This lingering congestion is going to make my one and a half hour Prezi class this afternoon fun.

1. Wanted to know how many books she could check out
2. (Phone) Wanted someone to check her APA reference list for errors; we are not supposed to do that, so I had to tell her no
3. Wanted to know where to check out her books
4. Wanted to know where he could fax something

Database Finder is down. Oh the joys of technology.

Reference Questions, 4/6/2011

I'm at the reference desk for a 2 hour shift this afternoon. Here we go again.

1. Student wanted to know how to put page numbers in a Word document
2. Looking for a stapler
3. Wanted to know if we had a folder he could have
4. Looking for hole puncher
5. Wanted to borrow a permanent marker
6. (Email) Was having trouble finding 3 articles; it turned out to be 1 article, 1 book chapter and a book
7. Having trouble printing single sided
8. (Email) From #6: guy had deleted my reply and needed me to re-send it. I guess he could go get it out of his trash folder?
9. Having trouble inserting a header title and page number in a Word document; I had her insert the page number (right aligned) and then type the title right next to the page number and then tab the title over tot he left side of the page
10. Computer was saying the printer was jammed but it wasn't
11. Looking for hole puncher
12. Wanted a piece of paper

And to home I go.

Reference Questions, 4/5/2011

It's Tuesday night on the reference desk and I am starting to feel a little better. I'm so glad. This illness has had me down for nearly a week.

1. (Chat) Question about citing (in APA) a work in an anthology where the anthology and each section of the anthology has different editors
2. Printer in Classroom B was jammed
3. Question about APA in-text citations; he wanted to know where the quotes go
4. Question about creating a journal article reference in APA
5. Wanted to borrow a highlighter
6. Question about creating a journal article reference in APA without a DOI
7. Wanted to know where they could rent laptops
8. Wanted to know how to get to our databases
9. Wanted to know where his print out would go
10. Student is on the Student Advisory Council for the library and was looking for the Privy papers that she is supposed to hang in Young Hall; I told her that I was not aware of any that had been left for her here at the ref desk but that she should check with the front desk because I believe that they sometimes have stacks of them there
11. Wanted to know if something was a magazine or a journal, so he would know how to cite it in APA
12. Looking for headphones
13. Wanted to know what time the reference desk closes
14. Student was looking for a CD, but couldn't find it upstairs; after looking it up in the catalog I discovered that it is at the TRC

This was the night of the APA question. Well, it's not surprising. The semester is winding down and students are working on final projects. Final projects that must be cited in APA format.

Reference Questions, 4/2/2011

I have been out 3 days this week with tonsillitis. I'm not entirely sure that I should be here today. I feel better than I did, but that isn't saying much. Well, it's Saturday so hopefully it will be a slow day, unfortunately I'm on the desk for 6 hours.

1. Needed a guest login
2. Wanted to sign up for the APA workshop tomorrow; I told her she couldn't sign up until 2:00 p.m. tomorrow
3. Looking for the restroom
4. Wanted to know if she could put card stock paper in one of the printers; no
5. Looking for reserves
6. Said that there was a paper jam is BW3; there wasn't, the computer told her there was and it's not always right
7. Looking for the restroom
8. Needed help with a table in Word
9. Looking for an article in the January edition of Lancet; I found it and emailed it to him
10. A patron that was logged in as lib-public did not have any printers installed (I really do not understand why they cannot fix this.)
11. Wanted to know if the bookstore was open today
12. The headphone box was empty
13. Student wanted to know if I knew what the group was called that were hired to "de-stress" employees; she thought that they were called human resources
14. Looking for books on underage drinking
15. Said that there was a paper jam is BW5; there wasn't, the computer told her there was and it's not always right
16. Wanted to know what time we close tonight
17.  Wanted to know where to find a book but didn't write down the entire call number and couldn't remember what the name of the book was

It was so very dead in the library today. There were very few students, and even fewer "reference" questions. No complaints here though. I got what I wished for. I just wish the time could have moved quicker.

Reference Questions, 3/29/2011

It's reference desk time once again. I'm taking all questions tonight, including questions about Cityville.

1. Looking for a book that is in Special Collections; must get permission from the archivist to see it
2. Needed a guest login
3. Wanted to borrow a pen
4. Looking for a fax machine
5. Wanted to know if I had any note cards she could have
6. Was having trouble playing a DVD on the computer; the computer was acting strange, it wouldn't let her access her H drive so I told her to restart the computer and try it again
7. Looking for company financials for Airbus SAS; this is an international company so the databases we have did not have the info she was looking for. She was able to search using Google and found what she needed that way
8. Wanted to know if I had change for a $20
9. Having trouble printing; she wasn't waiting on the Print Assist to finish calculating before she hit print
10. Wanted to know how to print in color
11. Wanted to know how to print on both sides of the paper

Another one down.