Corso In Toledo

The Project.

2007-09-26T04:49:00.000-07:00

It's time. I finally have what I think is a good draft of the project proposal. Thanks to help from a very thoughtful fellow scholar, and B.'s guidance, I've decided that I will be researching diversity issues in academic libraries and facilitating diversity issues for the library staff.

Over the coming semester I will be:
Finding an academic advisor for the independent project part of the project.
Contacting the Intercultural Center.
Doing research on issues and putting together a pamphlet.

Internship Project/Independent Study

2007-07-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

With B.'s help, I have determined what I will be doing for my Internship Project/Independent Study. We are loosely calling it a Library Outreach Project. There are three parts to the project: first, I will be facilitating the library's participation in the University's yearly Global Fest, second, I will be working with the University's Intercultural Center to provide diversity training to the students and staff of the library, and third, I will be working with H. in Archives to have an Open Archives day for students. The project will take place over the Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 semesters. Over the summer, I will be writing proposals for each of the parts of my project (as well as the project overall), and I will be communicating with the Intercultural Center and the Library staff to set things in motion.

Archives Internship, Week 1

2007-07-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

This week I began my archives internship with H. H. has been the archivist at RWU for nearly a year now and has generously agreed to let me help her in the archives and teach me what she knows.

H. is the first archivist for the RWU archives. Over the 50 years of RWU's existence, materials have been collected for the archives, but no official organizational or preservation efforts have been made. The RWU Archives contains materials from University offices and departments, the town of Bristol, and The Roger Williams Family Foundation.

Because H. is the first archivist, she is working with largely "artificial collections." Artificial collections are collections whose organization was secondary and is not a part of the collection itself. Therefore, H. must go through the process of surveying each and every item, and then creating a system of organization that will be best for the materials she has and the materials she will acquire in the future. As her intern, I will be helping her create the survey lists and creating a database for her to organize the information she collects so that it can be searchable for her and the public.

This week, H. gave me a tour of the archives and we surveyed an entire range. H. explained her methodology when going through each box, binder and folder. Then H. and I began brainstorming the structure of the database of the archives. We began by deciding what the database would do, and then we talked about what fields or information the database would contain.

Next week, I will be looking through the archives and determining which collection I might like to work on as a project once we finish surveying the shelves. In addition,I will be drawing up a structure for the archives database.

Breaking Down Barriers Conference Notes

2007-06-05T07:05:00.000-07:00

Breaking Down Barriers to Serve our Diverse Communities, May 2007 - New York City, NY.

Session 1: How to Coordinate New Services @ your library: real-life successful cases
	Working with Teens on Detention, Vikki Terrile, Senior Librarian, Central Youth Wing, Brooklyn Public Library	Ms. Terrile gave a PowerPoint presentation on her experiences working with Teens in Detention at Brooklyn Public. Ms. Terrile coordinates a program that allows teens to visit the library, take out books, and have book discussions and writing workshops. The program started small and grew exponentially. Ms. Terrile advised everyone to challenge their assumptions about teens in detention, work closely with the detention facilities and to expect to be surprised. This was an inspirational presentation and you can tell Ms. Terrile finds it very rewarding!
	Serving Persons with Disabilities, Carrie Banks Supervising Librarian The Child's Place for Children with Special Needs, Brooklyn Public Library & Barbara Klipper, Youth Services Librarian, Stamford, CT	Ms. Klipper began with a description of how their collection for parents of and children with special needs was established. She did an internal and external scan for resources, wrote grants, arranged for the training of the staff (which was very well received). She recommended the periodical Exceptional Parent for every library who has or might have children with special needs. Carrie Banks, who was a great resource for Barbara Klipper, then talked about her facility in Brooklyn and issues libraries should be addressing. Both women made the point that services for people with disabilities often begin as separate services but the ultimate goal is to be integrated.
	Yoshio Kishi & Irene Yah Ling Sun Collection of Asian Americana: New Collection at NYU, by Dylan Yeats, Graduate Assistant in Archives, Asian/Pacific/American Institute, New York University.	Mr. Yeats talked about the scope and composition of the collection in the context of what he called "community oriented scholarship" He described how part of the collection was acquired from Yoshio Kishi, who was focused on collecting items in popular American culture relevant to Asian Americans. If the items from Kishi's collection were cataloged as most archives and monographs are, an important part of the collection--Kishi's ordering system--would be lost. He then discussed potential solutions and the plans of New York University for cataloging.
Session 2:Libraries Serving Mutli Ethnic Populations
	Donnell World Languages Collection and Its Services to the Ethic Groups Around the City, Hung-Yun Chang, Prinicpal Librarian, Donnell World Languages Collection, NYPL, and Songqian Lu, Information Technology Librarian, New York City College of Technology Library.	The Donnell World Languages Collection serves the language needs of the New York City community (rather than the needs of the researcher.) That is, they acquire books in many different languages, but not necessarily language studies books. They also hold programs to serve the many different cultures and ethnic groups in their area. These include cultural programs (movies, chorus, music, and dance) and educational programs (internet, office programs and English conversation)
	Putting the World Within Reach: Library Services to Multicultural Communities in Arlington VA, Mariele Aguilar, Librarian, Multicultural Services at Arlington Public Library.	The Multicultural Services Department at Arlington Public Library has many exciting programs for their growing immigrant population. These include family story hour, literacy groups, and a story hour television show. Ms. Aguilar is personally involved and literally goes out into the street and to bring to people to the library.
	Black Heritage Collection at Langston Hughes Library and Community Center by Andrew Jackson, Executive Director, Langston Hughes Library and Community Center and L. Banderman (?), Librarian and Curator, Black Heritage Collection, Queens Library.	Mr. Jackson talked about the history of the Langston Hughes Library and Community Center. The Langston Hughes Library began as a collaboration between the city and the community of Queens to create a library that would be run by the community and would act as a cultural space. Despite many skeptics, the library grew, and is very successful. Ms. Banderman described her work as curator, which includes grant writing, acquisitions, and programming.

Update, 4/18/07

2007-04-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

I currently have a few projects in the air!

Report on Instruction Internship

B. has asked that I create a report on this semester's activities. I am currently working on compiling my notes and reading more about the topic of library instruction.

Planning my independent study

I have begun research for my independent project. In addition to finding websites, books and articles with information relevant to diversity and libraries, I have also begun interviewing members of diversity related organizations on campus. I hope to create a well-thought out proposal to give to B., the dean, and whichever organization I end up collaborating with.

eportfolio update

2007-03-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

My eportfolio is almost done! Unfortunately, the University only gives us 450 KB ( I've written sentences that were larger than 400KB!) for our websites, so the ridiculous amount of PDFS I wanted to use will have to find another home or be converted to images and HTML. I should really just buy webspace from laughingsquid, I just need to come up with a domain name.

Library Instruction, Round Two.

2007-03-08T12:35:00.000-08:00

Today I watched one section of an anthropology class and taught the other. I created the lesson plan for the two sections. Nothing went as planned; in hindsight, I really should have offered to instruct the class with more freshmen and sophomores rather than the class with upperclassmen. The class with freshmen and sophomores were forgiving and engaged. The class I taught just wanted to go home and-more importantly- go on spring break.

I feel like I'm starting to get the beginnings of teaching voice, but that I'm still too casual. I'm still on the level of peer rather than instructor. I've also got too much of my retail training in me. Teaching is about conveying information whethere the recipient enjoys it or not. In retail, it's all about pleasing the customer. Although I suppose either way, you don't want to turn off your audience entirely.

I forgot to tell them certain things, so I was glad Barbara was there to swoop in and make things clearer. There's really no consistent category of information that I forgot. In one case it was defining my terms, in another case it was a larger concept they needed to keep in mind. I think I was nervous and I think I needed to think through the lesson plan more and further in advance to be as thorough as possible.

B. says I'm better when I talk randomly than when I'm trying to remember stuff. I'm sure, eventually, I will get a better hold on all of this and be able to go with the flow like she does.Teaching is really a kind of performance; a ritual act. Once one knows the lines and understands the concepts, one can truly convey the meaning behind them with convincing sincerity.

My next class is on the 23rd. I'll be planning and teaching another Speech class with V.

Problem Based Learning.

2007-03-06T06:01:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, I sat in on B.'s class where she used Problem Based Learning. She had let me be a part of the planning stages. First she studied the assignment and identified the task at hand. Then she created goals and objectives for the class. After that, she researched which databases and books would be most helpful. I also accompanied her while she visited the classes

Because the point of PBL is to get students to use what they already know to learn what they need to learn, the teacher can't do alot of lecturing and hand-holding, which is the traditional approach to teaching. In PBL, the teacher acts as a guiding force. They are the authority, they use socratic methods, they are commanding, guiding and challenging. Unfortunately, in PBL it is very easy for the teacher to become demeaning, condescending, obscure, and bullying.

A teacher engaged in PBL has to be very attuned to the state of the students and how to draw out their knowledge. This class wasn't terribly responsive (I don't blame them, it was 8:00 in the morning). B. did alot of looking at the list of students and calling on people by name. I don't think that's what I would have done, but it's better than the "Hey-you" approach.

What I like about PBL is that it really emphasizes that research is individual but involves learning from others.

First Library Instruction Session

2007-02-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

Today I co-taught two sessions of library instruction with V. The classes were Speech classes, so the research they needed to was fairly general. V. and I took turns demonstrating the databases. I demonstrated ASP and Lexis Nexis.

V. and I also planned the sessions together. We started by looking at plans other librarians had made for the course, and then we discussed what structure the course should take. We based it on a handout B. made a year ago for another Speech class. We decided that because the students would have their topics already, we would not need to show them how to narrow their focus. We decided to show them good general resources to help them with the requirements of the assignment.

I think it went well. V. wished that we had made the class a little more interactive, and I agree with that. What I found interesting was that no one looked particularly interested or engaged, but when we sent them to use the sources, they had obviously absorbed what we told them!

I would like to work on my presentation techinque. I think I need to rehearse more before the classes. I would also like to work on my rapport with the students. For example, before class I happily greeted everyone, but when they started eating or talking while V. or I was talking, I went into my authoritarian-antishoplifter mode back from when I was in retail. It was effective, but I think I lost some of them as a result. I suppose, like in management, we're not there to be their friends, we're there to educate.

Internship, January Summary

2007-02-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

January was largely dedicated to two purposes:

1) Getting me started with library instruction
This semester, B. wants to get me involved with library instruction. We are taking it slow because I have not yet taken Teaching About Information. I have been planning for the classes I'm coteaching, watching others in the teaching process, sitting in on a handful of classes so far and I will be co-teaching with V. this Friday!

I had a breakthrough the other day about teaching. Watching D. teach an English class about the resources, I realized a few things about my teaching style. He was very methodical and transparent about his motives and his method, and I liked that approach. He was also sure to repeat what he said both visually and verbally to get his point across. They way he presented things seemed like the way I would be most comfortable presenting things.

2)Creating an e-portfolio

Over December, B. asked me to collect materials to create a portfolio for my professional career. I've compiled files and I am currently working on creating a website to display those files.

2006-10-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

Joint Conferenece of Librarians of Color 2006, 10/12-15/06

Thursday, October 12
InQUEERY, or Out of the Stacks	Dealt with two genres of LGBT fiction: mysteries and children’s books. Both gave comprehensive histories. A couple of wonderful things about the program: the presenters really loved what they were talking about. They obviously loved the books, and the history of the books and both of them considered the books part of the broader genre rather than a special category. Further, talked about how he believed the mention of LGBT issues should be seamless in books. That is, it should not be “it’s so strange that Donnie has two mommies!” but instead, it should be about the family unit and the love they have for each other, the love that is the same regardless of sexual orientation or gender.
The Lines of Color Aren’t Always Clear	Talked about the issues multiethnic people deal with in general and in libraries. Gave an overview and history of resources for and about multiethnic people. The speaker talked about how multiracial issues are going to be coming to the forefront because of changes in society. I also admired that she didn’t just go through a dry list of print resources, she also searched the Web and “Web 2.0” (a term I was so weirded out by I had been avoiding looking it up for months) and she provided links to YouTube video podcasts and Myspace groups.
Opening Reception at Dallas Public Library http://dallaslibrary.org	Before the reception began, Stefani, Maria and I snuck upstairs to the Children’s room. It wasn’t a room, it was a floor! There was a stage and an entertainment room, imaginatively decorated bookshelves. It really was a world they had created for children and their loved ones. They also has some great programs going on—I loved reading the contestants from the Youth Poetry Competion http://dallaslibrary.org/PoetryCompetition/poetry2006.htm I didn’t stay long at the reception; it was great seeing Dr. Caldwell acknowledged for her work, and getting to hear her speak (maybe we can post the poem she read here?) I also spent a little more time than I should have drooling over their archives floor—they have a Shakespeare folio in its own room!
Friday, October 13
Diversity in Librarianship: Recruiting and Retaining Students/Librarians of Color	Much like Dr. Havener’s program, this was about the results of a specific program trying to recruit people of color into the library profession. They created a really interesting chart by ethnic group, showing which aspects of recruitment each group they surveyed found necessary/appealing. I would have been interested to see a cross section of groups that connected the groups. Single mothers? People paid their way through undergrad versus those who didn’t? How much of recruitment is culture and how much is experience?
LGBT People of Color Resources and Services in Libraries and Archives	I only caught the tail end of this but I got some great articles that they handed out (one about the position of LGBT members in the ethnic caucuses), and I was lucky to be around for the group discussion afterwards. The presentation when I got in centered around academic libraries and creating safe spaces for LGBT students in a university community. A woman from a traditionally black college was asking about how she might get an LGBT group started on campus—not an easy task given the environment around her.
A World of Learning: “Culture Shock” Theories and Information Literacy	This was Dr. Gilton’s Lecture on Culture Shock in the Library. I to show my support and stayed for a while longer than I intended listening to all of the interesting information she had compiled!
Donors and Donations: Collection Development at the Kinsey Institute Library	Although this program was not necessarily about people of color, it was certainly about diversity! The director of the Kinsey Institute Library talked about the structure of her library and they way collection development works there. My favorite part was when she told us one of her most valuable patrons/contributors had called her the “guardian of the unspeakable.” I think the issue of race—which so often goes unspoken—has siblings in other aspects of life, the world of sex and gender most certainly being one of them. Correspondingly, I think the purpose of fighting for diversity is to give the unspoken a voice.
Recruitment and Retention: Preparing Librarians of Color	Dr. Havener, Lesya, and I presented! It was pretty exciting, but also nerve-racking. The audience seemed very engaged, which was great. Thanks to my fellow scholars who were there to show support!
Saturday, October 14
The Best Library Programming Ideas in the Nation/ Tim Tingle Storytelling/Exhibits	I heard this had been happening a lot, sometimes presenters just weren’t showing up at their programs. So when(ironically) the Best Library Programming Ideas presenter didn’t show up after 20 minutes or so, I went downstairs to hear Tim Tingle tell a story and cruise the exhibits. Tim Tingle was excellent. What I really appreciated about his story was that it wasn’t just a tale of the Choctaws; it was a tale of his people interacting with others. He’s a magnificent storyteller.
Latino Information Literacy: Models for Success	This was one of the most enjoyable sessions for me. The people who spoke really loved what they did and had great perspectives. They talked about information literacy for Hispanic students who have just arrived in the US, information literacy for ethnic study departments, and the person who had organized the program gave a great background on what work has been done on this.
Sunday, October 15
Moving Forward: Instruction and Diversity	This was a wonderful, small, roundtable discussion between librarians talking about library instruction and diversity on the whole. The moderator offered well thought out questions about where we came from as a profession and where we are going. People had questions and ideas of their own as well. I think it’s pretty obvious we’ve got a long way to go, but we are coming up with strategies. I think, overwhelmingly what I’m hearing is that collaboration with outside organizations is essential for strengthening a library’s focus on diverse populations.

2006-10-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

Internship Hours Friday, September 29

Time	2:00-5:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Information Literacy (virtual)
Activity Summary	Camtasia Work

Notes

I put the finishing touches on the video. I thought the scrolling I put in was a little too jarring so I added a charming little upside down Roger Williams to lead the way.

Internship Hours Thursday September 28

Time	7:00-10:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Information Literacy (virtual)
Activity Summary	Camtasia Work.

Notes

I had a brief conversation with B. about what additional parts of the results I needed to point out. She added media type. I also moved some things around and decided to get rid of the arrows. It was too much on the page! I replaced them with highlights. One thing B. has been emphasizing with me is the importance of simplicity in explaination. Although the arrows made whatever I was pointing out very obvious, they cluttered the screen.

Internship Hours Wednesday September 27

Time	3:00-4:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Information Literacy (virtual)
Activity Summary	Camtasia Work.

Notes

I started adding call-outs to explain different parts of the results page. I put in a label- for example "clicking on the image of the cover will take you to a page with the table of contents, reviews, and other information, if available" and then I put in arrows to point out what I was talking about. I've decided to use a different color for each point I make.

Internship Hours Tuesday September 26

Time	2:00-4:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Information Literacy (virtual)
Activity Summary	Camtasia Work.

Notes

I began a new video, per B.'s and my plans. This one is an introduction to the results page of the consortium's catalog. I started off by taking video of the process of getting results on the site. I will be labelling different parts of the site as well, so I made a mascot, Super Roger Williams, similar to Super Mario. I think it's cute, but I'm not exactly sure how entertaining everyone else will find it...

Internship Hours Monday September 25

Time	9:00-10:00 1:00-2:00
Internship Goal Addressed	Information Literacy (virtual)
Activity Summary	Working on Camtasia and meeting with B. about Camtasia.

Notes

After finalizing my thoughts on where the Camtasia video should go, I met with B. to talk about how we were going to add the videos. We discussed content, visual issues, and a little bit about the appearance of the tutorial itself.

One interesting thing that came up was the idea that this is definitely a teaching experience, only it's one where the student may be someone you never see or even meet or hear about. There's a method, a pedagogy (andragogy?) involved, that B. certainly (obviously!) has a better handle on than I do.

2006-09-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-09-22T07:28:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-09-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-09-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-09-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-09-08T05:09:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-09-08T04:35:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-09-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-09-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

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.