Internship Hours September 21-22

Time	9/21/06 7:00-8:00 9/22/06 10:00-11:00, 1:00-3:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Information Literacy (virtual)
Activity Summary	Working with Camtasia

Notes

Working with Camtasia in order to get a finished sample to show to Barbara for our meeting on Monday. I worked on getting the video on to the website (using Dreamweaver) and then on tweaking it. The videos are very labor intensive.

Questions

One thing that I had to think about was the wording of the video. How do you keep tone casual but concise? How do you keep wording interesting but meaningful?

Internship Hours, September 19 2006

Time	11:00-12:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Library Instruction Observation
Activity Summary	Watching V.'s Class.

Notes

V. was teaching a class for English Literature students. Similar to J.S.'s class, this was for a specialized group and specialized project. The class' assignment was to do research on an animal and to talk about its symbolism. Because the class was so specialised, there were alot of print resources that were particularly helpful in addition to the typical on-line databases and e-books. V. took time to fully present the books as well at the electronic materials. I think it's the general tendency in instruction to go light on books because they're so individual and the assumption is that many of the students won't use them. V. was sure to display and discuss the books and give them their due weight, particularly in this assignment.

Questions

Internship Hours, September 18 2006

Time	1:30-3:30
Internship Goal Addressed	Library Instruction Observation
Activity Summary	Watched J.S's class.

Notes

J.S. was teaching a class for Art History students. It was nice to see how specialized his teaching was in some places, but how sufficiently general it was in others. Another thing I really enjoyed and would like to emulate was his use of handouts, the chalk board, and the Vision6 software. J.S. used all three mediums to provide different levels of information and to keep the class engaged as he taught. In addition, J.S. did alot of work that was specifically toward information literacy. He talked about the importantance of quality sources and handed out an article on art history research.

Internship Hours September 14, 2006

Time	1:00-3:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Information Literacy (virtual)
Activity Summary	Viewing Library Tutorials

Notes

Today I finished up the map of our library tutorial. I began to question my choices of where the Camtasia software should be used. Camtasia is the kind of program that works well with the internet. That is, you can demonstrate internet searches and software very well with it. So should our tutorial have videos of the internet portions, or the verbal, more boring portions? Should we reorganize the tutorial altogether? I decided that I should probably look at some other library's on-line tutorials and read a few articles to see, so I began looking at sites. Here are some ideas I've had since: Maybe we could simplify the menu? Give them more flexibility? Include pics of the library and an overview of library materials? (Camtasia?) A Camtasia intro to the library? You know what I would really do if I had the chance? I’d make some kind of weird game where you learn about research that way. No, it probably wouldn’t help them, but it would be interesting.

Questions

Internship Hours September 13, 2006

Time	10:00-12:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Reference Experience (Virtual)
Activity Summary	Library Tutorial

Notes

Today I started going through the tutorial. I am creating a map of the tutorial sites to give me an idea of the way the pages fit together. I am also highlighting pages that I think may work as videos. Although this is definitely nitty-gritty work, it will provide us with a guide so that we can move peices around in a non-permenant format to see how they work. I also took a look at another school's library tutorial. The one they made is very different than hours. It seems a little more like an advertisement than a tutorial. Although there is an interactive part to the site it is not nearly so involved; they do most of their instruction through optional videos within the framework of students and faculty's comments about the usefulness of the library. Although I'm sure there's an administrative official out there who likes to hear about how other people use/love the library, I can really see this turning students--the ones the tutotrial is for-- off. I think today's computer user knows when he or she is being sold to; they want to have the information they need quickly and out in the open. In addition, their videos were images and voice without words on the screen. For our videos, I would really like for there to be an audio component, but I think that words that are spoken should be on the screen. Not all of us have headphones on hand, or even like to be taught aurally instead of visually.

Internship Hours September 11, 2006

Time	1:30-3:30
Internship Goal Addressed	Observing Library Instruction
Activity Summary	Watched B.'s PSYCH Research Methods Class

Notes

This class is a very unique situation here at the University. B. has been embedded in a class because both she and the professor felt that library instruction is essential in research methods. As a result, B. meets with the class 6 times this semester and is responsible for overseeing 200 points of their grades. B. had already met with the class before this session in the library. As a result, there was an interesting dynamic in the class. The students know B., and they are less afraid to ask for help than other classes I've seen. In addition she is more familiar with them. She gets to reiterate her point that the library is here to aid them in their academic pursuits. On the other hand, being embedded in the class means that B. has to deal with the more administrative parts of classroom life. She has to take up instruction time going over assignments, etc. There were also some very interesting points she made during the class in terms of information literacy. She asked the students why they cite their sources, and one of them responded (the way I would have responded) to avoid plagiarism. Although this is true, B. pointed out that the whole point behind citation is that in academia "knowledge builds on knowledge." In terms of information literacy, she was telling them about the structure and flow of information. "Knowledge buildes on knowledge" and citation gives us a map of where information comes from.

Questions

One thing about the space that has begun to concern me after the classes I've observed is putting students infront of computers and not letting them use them until the appointed time. Is it worth it? Are the computers a distraction?

Internship Hours September 8, 2006

Time	9:30-10:30
Internship Goal Addressed	Library Instruction Observation
Activity Summary	Helping Sue prepare for her afternoon class.

Notes

I got to watch S. put the final touches on her plans for the Business Policy and Internation Management Classes. This included editing the worksheets for each of the classes. For each activity she checked to make sure the groups' topics would make for effective searches. S. was concerned about which resources she should use to teach from for her students. She has the course guide, the subject guide and a handout to work with. She took some time weighing the options. Each assignment did have to be changed a little from last semester's classes to this semester's. I can definitely tell that planning in advance is a good way to keep awkward moments from happening in the class.

Questions

What resources do you use for a demonstration?

Time	2:00-3:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Library Instruction Observation
Activity Summary	Observing the Business Policy Class

Notes

S. taught the Business Policy Class she had been planning. She did alot of interesting things to keep the class interested and engaged. To begin, she taught at the front of the class and had me operate the computer demo. That way she was not talking to their backs. S. also stuck to her plan of explaining a small portion of the activity and the letting the students do the activity. It divided the class into easily digestable pieces. Another thing I noticed was that she let the students control whether they would watch the demo or not. This gave them the opportunity to go ahead if they already understood the demo. I observed the students while she was teaching. At first I thought some of them might be looking at other sites, but it was just that a couple of students had gone ahead and were doing their searches as the demo was going on. I very much like S.'s teaching style. She gives the students a flexiblity that makes their learning active and it doesn't feel like she's trying make them do anything they can't do. I think I would like to combine aspects of B.'s style and S.'s style in my own, namely B.'s level of expectation and academic fervor and S.'s style of flexibility.

Internship Hours - September 7th, 2006

Time	9:00-11:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Observing Library Instruction
Activity Summary	B. Instructs Core 104

Notes

This session of Core 104 was an honors class, and had mostly first year students. Their assignment was to find books and articles for a paper they will be writing later. The first year students were very different than the upperclassmen! They were less confident, and of course, they knew less about the library and college as a whole. As a result a portion of the class had to be dedicated to the introduction to academic life and integrity. One of the assignments she had them do was simply to look up a book related to their class assignment and go find it in the stacks. Because they were first years, I really wanted to get up and go with them! Sitting at the reference desk all the time means that I've seem alot of students get lost in the stacks, and I assumed this would be no different. On the contrary, many of them came back with a book, and one even looked at an e-book. One of the best things B. said to the students, I think, was in reference to asking questions in class: "You don't get penalized, you get supported." It's important, and will be important when I start instructing students, to keep in mind that we are here to foster the learning experience. I also got to see a little more of the collaboration aspect between B. and the professor of the class. They conversed when they had moments,making sure that every aspect that had to be covered was.

Internship Hours - September 6th, 2006

Time	1:00-3:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Reference Experience (virtual)
Activity Summary	Completing/observing the Library Quickstart Tutorial

Notes

As part of my job I had to update the library's quickstart tutorial--originally the First Year Experience tutorial-- for all the new changes that were made to the website, both our homepage and the consortium's catalog. As part of the internship, I get to see it more as the educational tool it is rather than a journey into the magical world of html and cut-and-paste. It's very interesting how verbal and visual clarity translate into remote instruction. Teaching cues like sound (e.g. keeping interest and attention by modulating the timbre of one's voice) become irrelevant, and the construction of sentences and the creation of clear images become paramount. It's obvious that it's a very delicate balance. You have to be clear, you have to work in the idiom of your audience (which is largely anonymous), and you have to keep it interesting! It also seems like collaboration is an important aspect in all instruction; our tutorial was created with ideas (and permission!) from another library's tutorial. The thing I think I appreciate most about the tutorial is how interactive it is. It has mock-ups of websites (thus the cutting and pasting prior) that have portions that work as if they were the websites themselves (thus the magic of html prior.) I bring that up because later on, B. and I will be working on making the tutorial more interesting by adding video components using software called Camtasia. I've decided I need to be mindful of keeping that interesting interactive aspect when figuring out where the video additions would work best.

Questions

When creating websites, do you use the clearest or simplest path? Are they one and the same?

Internship Hours - Tuesday, September 5th, 2006.

Time	11:30-12:30
Internship Goal Addressed	Observing Library Instruction.
Activity Summary	B. instructed English 301 Class

Notes

The English 301, or American Lit. III class has been give two research related assignments. The first is to study a certain decade, and the other is to study a certain author within the context of that decade. B. began the class by discussing with the students what sources they might use for the assignment. She made sure to point out how important actually looking at the assignment and figuring out its meaning was--an important aspect of information literacy! Then she showed them a clip of a video that would also be a viable resource for their assignments. She then gave out a few handouts; one was a pathfinder, one discussed annotated bibliographies, and one had an outline of MLA citations.Then she gave them a demonstration of Academic Search Premier using the new classroom control software. B.'s teaching style is very familial, and helpful. She also relies on improvisation and on a trusting relationship with the students. She doesn't insult their intelligence, and she gives them challenges and expects them to rise to the challenge. In terms of information literacy, I think this is very important in instruction. Info Lit is a concept that can make an instructor seem very condescending: "The way you think is wrong; the way you do things is wrong, I will teach you the right way." B.'s style circumvents this by saying: "You know how to do this, you've always known, I know you know, you just need a little guidance."

Questions

How do you figure out timing? How do you deal with the collaborative aspect of academic library instruction?

Time	1:00-3:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Shadowing Reference Librarians
Activity Summary	Sitting With S.

Notes

I sat at the reference desk with S. Unfortunately, all the questions asked were ready reference. On the good side, I got to talk with her about her plans for her two library instruction courses this Friday (which I will be attending!) She's going to be teaching Business Policy and International Management. She's taught these classes before, but she is editing her old plans; it's a librarian's obligation (and pleasure, I think) to keep current. We discussed how she started off with the classes. It took her a week for her to make each pathfinder. Understanding the basic concepts in a class in a discipline she was unfamiliar with took time and care. We also discussed S.'s teaching method. She likes to have some wiggle-room in her classes when demonstrating search techniques because part of the learning is the searching. If we showed a perfect search every time, it would not be an accurate demonstration of searching. She also likes to look through her resources before teaching so that she knows what changes have been made to databases. When demonstrating search methods and databases she likes to keep consistent by doing the same searches in each database. This way students can compare and contrast. She also likes to talk for a while and then give them an opportunity to try things out for themselves, then demonstrate a little more. I look forward to seeing how this class goes from concept to practice on Friday!

The History.

In the winter of 2004, I began working full time as an assistant at Princeton University's Mudd Manuscript Library. It was the first job I had where I got to use the knowledge and skills I had acquired as a History and Creative Writing double Major at Bard College. The work was both engaging and inspiring, and since then, working in archives has become my career goal.

In the fall of 2005, I got my second library job: Reference Assistant. It was pointed out to me, on my very first day, that URI was offering a scholarship with a focus on diversity and information literacy. In the winter of 2006 I applied, and I was admitted. I began taking Library and Information Sciences courses in the summer, and this will be my second semester. As part of the requirements for my scholarship, I will be working with my employers as an intern, doing many things my job did not have space for in terms of my skill-level and time constraints.

The purpose of this blog is to document my internship activities and my experiences as a library school student. This will include entries that outline my internship activities as well as more casual entries on my library school experiences and musings.