NURS Weeding

I finished weeding the NURS (nursing) section of reference today. Currency is vital to this subject area, so there were a lot of titles withdrawn. I also ran across several books that we also had ebook copies, so of course, the hard copies of these books were withdrawn . The oldest books I ran across were from the 1920s. I also discovered that several of the books in my list were not in the reference section. After a little digging I discovered that they had already been withdrawn. Obviously this list isn't as current as we have been lead to believe. I wonder who had these withdrawn. It is all a little odd.

Here are the stats for the NURS area of reference. There were 247 titles in this section. Of those 247 titles, 17 of them (7.3% of the collection) had already been withdrawn and 1 was not in reference, but it was in periodicals. I sent 142 of these titles (57.5%) to the main collection. I kept 18 of these titles (7.3% of the collection) in the reference collection, and removed 66 titles (26.7%) from the collection.

That's 771 books down and 212 to go. I have finished 78.4% of the books I am responsible for. I am on the home stretch now and I firmly believe I will be complete before the August 1 deadline. I will now move on to the last section, PHRE (philosophy and religion).

Reference Questions, 6/29/2011

Back at the desk again. GSS = Governor's School Student

1. (Phone) Wanted to know if the library had The Dirty Dozen on DVD. No we did not.
2. GSS needed a public login because her username and password had not been set up yet.
3. GSS looking for The Prince by Machiavelli
4. Student was having trouble printing from D2L. She was trying to print a PDF and was using the print icon in the tool bar instead or using the print icon from the gray bar that appears when you move your mouse pointer over the document. This is going to create a lot of fun come Fall.
5. (GSS) Wanted to know which printer he should print to and where his print out would be
6. (GSS) Wanted to know where the bathrooms are
7. (GSS) Wanted to browse our fiction books. This is always a very frustrating question. I sent her to the PS section.
8. (GSS) Wanted to know where the bathrooms are
9. (GSS) Wanted to know how to login to the computers
10. (GSS) Wanted to know how to search the catalog
11. (GSS) Wanted to know how to print from a public account
12. (GSS) Wanted to know how much printing cost
13. (GSS) Student thought her article had not printed out correctly. She didn't realize it was front and back.
14. (GSS) Looking for a stapler
15. (Chat) A librarian in Jamaica wanted some assistance with writing a collection development plan. I forwarded her request to our collection management librarian.

The Governor's School students are still keeping the questions count up.

Hours on the desk = 2

Prezi and I

I was working on my Current Projects page today when I realized I'd never shared any of the Prezis I've created on my blog. I've been using Prezi for a year now, and I love it. I started using Prezi after a fellow library student suggested that I use it for my job interview presentations. I'd never even heard of it when she suggested it. So I did some research (like a good librarian) and I was very impressed with what I saw. Now I use Prezi whenever I can. (On a side note, I did use Prezi for the interview for the job I have now, and well I guess you now how that turned out.)  I taught 8 faculty workshops on Prezi alone during the Spring semester. Here is the Prezi I use during faculty workshops:


I've also created a Prezi for the UNIV 100 classes we teach every Fall semester. During this class we play a game to help the students learn about the library. This game was previously on PowerPoint and took the PPT and made a Prezi. Here it is:


I am really excited about using Prezi for some of my instruction classes in the Fall. I will keep you posted on how it goes.

APA Modules and my first Jing video

The instruction team at my library is currently working on Online Modules that can be embedded into the campus CMS Desire2Learn. We have decided that the focus of the modules will be to teach the students how to use the APA LibGuide we have created. We are using videos that show the students how to navigate the LibGuide's tabs. We decided to use this approach because it had been our experience, in the classroom and on the reference desk that the students simply do not understand how to use the APA LibGiuide. We are currently working on modules for the Scholarly Journal Article tab, the Websites tab and the In-Text Citation tab. We hope to have these completed by the start of the Fall 2011 semester.

To that end, I have created my first Jing video. This video shows the students how to navigate the Scholarly Journal article tab of our APA LibGuide. Here is the link to it http://www.screencast.com/t/hrbEfyQkAP7. It's too large to embed. (I know, I tried to embed it.) I hate my voice, but other than that I'm kind of proud of this little video. I just wish that Jing allowed you to zoom into areas of the page. I believe that would be effective than me just moving the cursor over them.

Reference Questions, 6/28/2011

It's Tuesday night and the Governor's School is in the house, so business should pick up. GSS = Governor's School Student

1. (GSS) Looking for a book on music theory
2. (GSS) Wanted to know where to check out a book
3. (GSS) Was looking for somewhere to type up something and print it
4. (GSS) Wanted to know if she had to pay for printing; no since she is in Governor's School they gave them $5 in printing money
5. (GSS) Wanted to know when we closed
6. (GSS) Wanted to know if she could check out books
7. (GSS) Wanted to know where the foreign language books are located; call number P, 4th floor
8. (GSS) Wanted to know how to log off the computers
9. (GSS) Governor's School student wanted to know how he could use a computer; use the username and password they gave you
10. (GSS) Looking for headphones
11. (GSS) Looking for headphones
12. (GSS) Looking for a book on the Balkan conflict during the 1990s. I did a search for Balkan conflict in the catalog and found the perfect e-book for her
13. (GSS) Wanted to know where his print out would print to
14. (GSS) Looking for a stapler
15. Student was printing out a 13 page paper but was printing it double sided. So he wanted to know why he was being charged for 13 pages when he was technically print out 7 sheets. I explained to him that when you print double sided it is $0.05 a sheet and single sided is $0.07 a sheet, but you still have to pay for each side of the sheet of paper.
16. (GSS) Had the call number for Kate Chopin's The Awakening and needed help finding it
17. Student was trying to print a Word doc that was larger than 8.5x11 and the printer was not letting him. I showed him how to change the size of the page and rearrange the text so it did not print outside the margins
18. (GSS) Needed help printing from Word
19. (GSS) Wanted to know if printing cost anything. She was with the Governor's School, so she had been give $5 in printing money, so no.
20. (GSS) Wanted to know where their print out would be
21. (GSS) Wanted to know how to login to the computers to use his printing money. He is a Governor's School student so I told him that he should have been given a username and password to use. He had to login with that to be able to use his allotted printing money
22. (GSS) Wanted to know where his print out would go
23. (GSS) Wanted to know if we had a graphic novel section
24. (GSS) Wanted to know where the foreign language books are located; call number P, 4th floor
25. (GSS) Looking for the book You Are What You Choose
26. (GSS) Wanted to know where to check out books
27. Patron wanted to know if Jay was working tonight. I don't know anyone by the name of Jay in the library.
    

These Governor's School students like to use the reference desk. They definitely livened the library up tonight. I haven't gotten this many questions during a shift in a long time.

cpd23: My Personal/Professional Brand

During library school "the personal brand" is something that was talked about a lot. It was always referred to in conjunction with networking and building your professional presence. To that end, during library school I began blogging and posting on Twitter. I also created a LinkedIn profile during my last semester in library school. I thought long and hard about the names I would use for my blog and my Twitter account. After all, these accounts would represent me.

When I created my blog (in May 2009), I wanted a name that would represent me as a librarian and also would reflect some of my personality. So I started with the URL. I chose librarianjenrae for my Blogspot address because it told the world that I am a librarian and it offered a little personality by using my childhood nickname Jen Rae. The title of my blog came from the Library Foundations (LIS 600) class I took my first semester of library school. During one of the classes the professor said that librarians were the gatekeepers of knowledge. This proclamation tickled quite a few of us in that class for some reason. I guess we are easily amused. Anyway, it became a running joke amongst my library school circle, and when I decided to start a blog, I felt it was the perfect title. I came up with the tagline "I am a lighthouse in a sea of information" myself. I felt it described a librarian perfectly. What else are we but guiding lights to our users, pointing them in the appropriate directions for their information needs? How clever I felt when I came up with that. ;) I do occasionally have good ideas.

I created my Twitter account on March 18, 2009. My original username was JenniferWhicker. I kept that for awhile, but I eventually decided that I wanted something that represented me as a librarian and that also showed off my personality. So I decided to use my Blogspot address as my Twitter username. This way I would be identified as a librarian and it would also be "connected" to my blog.

My blog and LinkedIn account both contain strictly professional musings. My Twitter account is a mix of professional and personal posts. (I am always very aware of what I am posting on Twitter since this account contains both personal and professional information.) I also have a Facebook account, but that is reserved for family and friends so I keep the privacy controls very strict on it, and I do not engage in much library discussion there. I have also chosen not to be friends with anyone I work with on Facebook.

This exercise has really helped me to re-evaluate my brand. I have changed the design of my blog and some of the information I have on it. I have also made some changes to my LinkedIn account. I think it is very important for us as information specialists to be aware of the information that is out there about ourselves. We need to constantly monitor what message we send out via our social media outlets and how that message effects our brand.

cpd23: What blogs do I follow and why?

I follow several library related blogs using my RSS feed. Here is a list of the blogs I follow:

• American Libraries Magazine: I follow this blog to keep up to date on news and information from ALA.
• lauren's library blog: This is Lauren Pressley's blog. She is the Instructional Design Librarian at Wake Forest University. Her blogs tend to focus on information and the Internet.
• ACRLog: This is ACRL's blog. I follow it to keep up to date of news and information from ACRL. The blog's tagline is "Blogging by and for academic and research librarians."
• the outreach librarian: This blog is maintained by Lizz Zitron, who is the Outreach Librarian at Cathage College in Kenosha, WI.
• lyndamk: Lynda Kellam is UNCG's Data Services and Government Information Librarian. She does a lot of instruction and attends lots of conferences, and she blogs about it! (On a side note, she was one of my mentors in library school, and I cannot say enough about how much she helped me gain real-life library experience. She is one of the big reasons I was able to get a job after I graduated. This women is a real library rock star!)
• The ALA Learning Round Table Blog: This blog contains posts about conferences, continuing education and professional development for librarians.
• A Ghost of Daisies: I went to library school with this newly minted web librarian. (She graduated this past May.) She blogs a lot about web design and Drupal. I don't always understand what she blogs about, but I try.

These blogs help me keep up with trends in libraryland. I also follow lots of librarians on Twitter. It's great for networking and professional development.

Reference Questions, 6/21/2011

I'm back for another night night at the reference desk. They say it's been slow today...what's new?

1. A very strange Word problem. A student was trying to open a new document in Word and it wouldn't let her. It kept opening the previous document that she had finished and saved on her flash drive. The flash drive had been disconnected from the computer as well. I had her restart the computer and I hope that worked. I guess we'll see.

These long desk shifts with very few questions are rough.

What is cpd23, and why am I participating?

I have decided to participate in 23 Things for Professional Development. (FYI: CPD stands for continuing professional development.) This is a program that is being hosted on a blog (http://cpd23.blogspot.com/), and for 16 weeks this blog will feature activities related to the "topic" of the week. Each week you will participate in the activities listed on that week's blogs and then you will blog about them. It is designed to introduce participants to different tools that will assist librarians and information professionals in personal and professional development.

I decided to participate in this program because, first off, it's free, and we librarians love that word. :) Secondly, I thought it would be a great way to share some of my knowledge about these tools and to gain some new knowledge about the tools featured. I also believed it would be a good way to network with other librarians and to create useful professional connections. Lastly, I thought it would help me blog about something other than the reference questions I get while at the reference desk.

The program began yesterday and this week is all about blogging. Blogging is something that I really need to do more often. Hopefully this program will help me reach that goal. I look forward to interacting with all the other participants in the coming weeks.

Reference Questions, 6/20/2011

I'm back for more.

1. Had found a book in the catalog and wasn't sure how to find it in the stacks. It ended up being an e-book so I showed her how to access it.
2. (Phone) Thought she was calling the bookstore. I gave her the correct number.

That was a rocking 2 hours!

Reference Questions, 6/19/2011

It's Sunday at the reference desk. As far as I can see there is no one in the library. Oh, wait I do see one person on the side opposite where I am, and there's another. OK, there are 2 people in the library who do not work here. Plus, my grad student just called to say that she's not coming in because she wasn't supposed to be scheduled for today. It's fine though because I believe this will be a slow 7 hours.

1. Want to copy a chapter of a book so that he could turn it into a Word document so he could make comments in the margins of it. Thank God for my time working in the NC DOCKS IR.
2.  Had a question about printing when logged in as Lib-public

Two questions in a 7 hour shift. When we staff the reference desk needs to be re-evaluated.

Reference Questions, 6/16/2011

Here goes another 2 hour reference shift.

1. Student needed help submitting an assignment in D2L
2. Student had a question about find the year an article was published
3. Needed help finding a book in the stacks
4. Student was having trouble printing in Classroom A. The printer is still out of order and I had to switch printers.
5. Wanted to know how to add money to her RU Express account
6. Looking for a stapler

We had a little action during this shift. Imagine that.

Reference Questions, 6/15/2011

I am on the desk for 5 hours total today. This first shift is a 3 hour one. Yikes. Here we go again.

1. Wanted to know how to print in color
2. Looking for the book The Color Purple by Alice Walker
3. Wanted to know how to print in color
4. Wanted to know how to get out of the library (the front entrance is closed)

Four questions in 3 hours. That may be a record.

Round 2:

1. Needed help scanning
2. (Phone) Wanted to know if our computers had slots for the 3.25 in. disks.
3. Needed help attaching a file to an email
4. Wanted to know if we would proctor a test. No, but the Disability Resource Office seems to, so I sent her there.

The second shift was only an hour long and was a little more lively. One to go.

Round 3:

1. Wanted to know why the computers take so long to boot up
2. Asked if I'd ever heard of a resume that placed "keywords" at the top. He said that it was for listing his computer certifications, C++, etc. I had never heard of it and when I Googled it and couldn't find it.
3. Student wanted to copy and paste chemistry equations from an online document into her notes in a Word document. I showed her how to use Print Screen and Paint to do this.
4. Wanted to know how to insert the Delta symbol (triangle) into a Word document. I showed her how to get to the Equation menu in Word.

And that concludes our reference programming for today. Tune in next time friends.

Reference Questions, 6/14/2011

I have returned from my vacation, and I am now ready to tackle all comers.

1. Looking for a place to spread out and plug in his laptop. Also wanted to know about our genealogy offerings.
2. Looking for the book 1984 by George Orwell
3. Looking for a children's book about Florida

The slow shifts continue. It is the summer, and really, what else can we expect?

Reference Questions, 6/5/2011

The Sunday reference desk. Chat is down for upgrades so this should be an extra slow 7 hours.

1. Her print out wasn't printing. She wasn't waiting for the print assist window to finish calculation so she could switch over to her RU Express account.
2. Looking for a collection of short stories by Edgar Allen Poe
3. (Phone) Blair called to check on the temperature in the library. It's still not what I'd call cool, but I guess it's an improvement.

It was a slow shift (of course), but I was able to get some good quality work done. Yay productivity!

Reference Questions, 6/2/2011

This heat is terrible. I am so tired. I'm seriously considering going on strike.

And another shift without any questions. Maybe it's me.

Reference Questions, 6/1/2011

Birthday month has begun. Unfortunately the A/C is still not working properly here in the library. We are into week 4 now. It's times like this that I wish I were a member of a union. Working without A/C is illegal on so many levels.

Not a single question in 4 hours. I'm not sure why they staff the desk at night during the summer. It is so hot in here right now. It is misery.