Reference Questions, 10/31/2011

It's Halloween here at the reference desk. Several of our librarians are in costume, alas I did not join them. I'm too much of a fuddy duddy I guess.

1. Looking for a CD for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
2. Looking for Powell Hall

 It was a slow shift, and I even have candy at the desk!

Reference Questions, 10/25/2011

I have 4 hours on the desk today, and tomorrow I leave for VLA. I'm presenting at my first library conference. WooHoo!

1. (Email) Having trouble finding a particular article. I created a Jing video to show her how to find it. I love Jing!
2. Wanted to know how to print in color
3. Had another question about printing in color
4. Wanted to borrow some scissors
5. Wanted to know how to print single-sided
6. His headphones were not working on the computer. I couldn't figure out why they weren't so I had him move to another computer.
7.  Needed help using the scanner
8. (Email) Was trying to search the Wellesley Index and kept getting "subscription isn't valid" messages. It looks like this was a database that we had a free trial of, and the trial has now expired. Free trials are not supposed to be put int he database finder, but for some reason this one was. I suggested the Waterloo Directory of English Newspaper and Periodicals, 1800-1900, to her.
9. Having trouble printing. He was having trouble because he didn't have any money on his printing account.
10. (Chat) Wanted to know how to use Endnote. We do not have Endnote at RU, and I do not know how to use it. They said they didn't go to RU anyway.
11. Looking for a book about the Tinkerbell Effect
12. Looking for a book about writing fiction
13. Needed a guest login
14. Needed to know how to add money to his printing account
15. Needed help finding a book in the stacks
16. Needed help finding a particular book; she had the call number
17. Looking for the book Gregory, the terrible eater
18. Looking for change for a $10
19. Wanted to know how we decide what books to purchase for the library. I explained to him that we have subject liaisons here in the library that work with liaisons in the different departments across campus to decide what to purchase for the library.
20. Needed help opening a file from D2L
21. Wanted to know if something was scholarly was it also peer-reviewed
22. (Chat) Question about citing a speech in Chicago style

Here's the Jing video I created for email question #1. The video I sent to the student was clearer and much easier to see, of course.

Reference Questions, 10/21/2011

WooHoo! It's Friday, and I move into my new place tomorrow. I can't wait.

1. Looking for an open computer
2. Had call number and needed to know where the book would be located
3. Wanted to check out books; sent her to the front desk
4. Wanted to know if the printers printed double-sided

I'm done at the reference desk for the week. :)

MABUG Conference Presentation

I presented at my very first conference on Monday, October 3. The conference was the Mid-Atlantic Banner Users Group (MABUG) Banner in the Blue Ridge Conference, and it was held here at Radford University. My presentation was on Prezi. The session was well attended. There were about 20 people in attendance, and they asked a lot of great questions at the end of the session. I answered questions for over 15 minutes. Everyone seemed really excited about Prezi, and what it can do for their presentations. I even received a phone call from someone who had attended the session the following week. He had a few questions concerning the Prezi Desktop software.

Here is my MABUG presentation on Prezi:

Reference Questions, 10/19/2011

Ok, I'm back after a hiatus of sorts. Let's just say I've taken on too much this semester. Lesson learned.

1. Needed help finding a specific article
2. Looking for the book A Raisin in the Sun
3. Looking for a copier
4. Had question about what the title of the journal was for an article she was trying to create a reference for
5. Looking for books on minerals and mineralogy
6. (Chat) Looking for the APA LibGuide
7. Wanted to know how to cite a photo in APA
8. Wanted to know how to quote a quote from an article
9. Needed help opening a file from D2L. He didn't have PPT on his computer and this is why he was having trouble.
10. Needed help finding a book in the stacks
11. (Phone) Had question about a book they had checked out. I transferred them to the front desk.
12. Wanted to know how to print in B&W
13. Had question about APA in-text citations

cpd23: Things 13 & 14

I have been neglecting my cpd obligations over the last two months due to vacation, then an abscessed tooth, a root canal and a death in my family. Needless to say, my semester has started off rough, and hasn't improved much. Here I am now though to try to catch-up.

Thing 13:
I love Google Docs and Dropbox. I always wonder how we ever lived without these. They make collaboration and file sharing a breeze. I've been using both regularly since grad school. When I was president of the ALA student chapter at UNCG, Google Docs is how the other officers and I did all of our club work. I still use Google Docs today when collaborating across the miles with other librarians. Right now I'm preparing for a conference presentation and my co-collaborators and I used Google Docs to create and edit our conference proposal. I'm sure we will be using it more as we prepare of the presentation itself.

I use Dropbox to share files between work and home and between computers at work. It makes having to work away from you desk a lot less of a headache.

Thing 14:

I have never used Zotero, Mendeley or citeulike. My university subscribes to RefWorks and I am the librarian who teaches the workshops for it. So right now I am focused on the impending RefWorks up date. (I love it when sites decided to completely change how they do things!) I do need to check these other tools out though, and I will...someday.