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Turning the Page is a blog about professional development insights, ideas and opportunities for new librarians and recent library school graduates in Canada. |
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In further documenting my days as a librarian at Red Deer College Library, as part of the Library Day in the Life project, here is how the last two days went. WednesdayWednesday morning I headed to the Black Knight Inn to discuss details about the upcoming RDC Faculty Association social (the Sizzler) I am helping to coordinate for a second year. After, I went to a doctor appointment then rolled into work at 1:30PM. After some class prep, a brief meeting with the Library Chair to discuss what I am up to, and doing a very quiet virtual reference shift, I went to the night class I teach each week. It was a work period so only a few students attended with questions about a project they have to do researching Web 2.0 applications. ThursdayToday I taught an education assistant class all about researching exceptionalities, so much of the morning was devoted to creating a handout and PowerPoint for them. We covered evaluating websites, finding books, and finding articles. Most of the class was hands on, with students needing to explore various resources while answering questions on the worksheet I prepared, followed by a review of what they had learned. It felt rushed, but went well overall. After my class, I met another librarian who had been showing some of his art work in the Library. Together, we took down his pieces and replaced them with some prints of photos I have taken from across Canada. (These images are available on Flickr.) I am a very amateur photographer and am very happy to have the opportunity to show my work. I ended my work day by attending the General Meeting for the RDC Faculty Association then attending the faculty pub the association hosts following each meeting. It was a good time to relax, and sell tickets for the Sizzler. I then went shopping for decorations for the event (including fishing twine to hang decorations, and organza bags) before calling it a day. … started yesterday (January 30) and goes until February 5. Take a look at how librarians around the world are documenting their days using social media by visiting the Library Day in the Life Project Wiki. Or check back here for my own daily updates. To catch up, here is how my Monday-Tuesday of this week went down. MondayI got a drive to work, still basking in the afterglow of a great few days in Edmonton, where I attended the Forum for Information Professionals at the library school at the University of Alberta, as well as Canmore and Banff, where I enjoyed a much needed weekend getaway filled with music, food and friends. I am teaching classes for the Computer Learning @ the Library program at Red Deer College this year, so I started my day by doing my office hours. A few students dropped by to ask questions. I then marked a few assignments, prepared for my Tueday classes, and worked a shift at the Information Desk in the Library. The highlight of the day was receiving an email letting me know my conference presentation proposal for WILU 2012 had been accepted. The presentation will report findings from a survey I intend to send out to health sciences librarians about the degree to which they educate students about open access resources. I will be using Canadian-based Fluid Surveys to create the survey and am really excited to move forward with this project. Tuesday (today)I woke up around 8am, sent a few emails, walked to work, and prepared for a class I was teaching on creating PowerPoints using principles taken from Presentation Zen, as well as editing images using copyright-friendly photography sites and picnik.com (which will unfortunately be shutting down in April). After a quick lunch, I made my way to the two other computer courses I teach every Tuesday. I’d given both classes a work period to complete their projects–one on Web 2.0 and another on basic Word Processing–so these were pretty laid back. At 4:30pm, my classes wrapped up and I headed to my office to drop off my things and join my co-workers at the Long-Term Service Awards ceremony the college holds annually to recognize staff. On arriving home, I signed in to the virtual reference chat service offered by AskOntario. I am in my second year of volunteering for this service, and do a shift for an hour every Tuesday night. Usually I get one or two reference questions but tonight it was dead quiet so I used the time to email an instructor back who had a copyright question. And now I am catching up on trashy TV shows and intending to add myself to the Library Day in the Life Wiki before bed. *BIG thanks to librarian Bobbi Newman for coordinating this bi-annual initiative. It is always a great opportunity to share experiences, and reflect on my own practice and that of others. “Social is just one part of what we do. We think of it as an information utility,” he said, describing Twitter as a personal news service as much as a social network. (Twitter is much more than social: co-founder Dorsey) Twitter is a social networking site I am not ashamed to check routinely throughout the work day. I primarily use it to follow other librarians and people/organizations in similar fields. It’s a great way to find out about tech news, conferences, job postings, interesting websites and articles, etc. Twitter feeds to follow (my recommendations):
Directories of Library Twitter feeds to follow:
In light of the recent Wikipedia blackout, I just wanted to point out some resources that do a good job of addressing recent American anti-piracy legislation (that has thankfully been shelved after widespread protests this week). Check out:
And … PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo. Last June I attended (and presented at) the NEOS Mini-conference at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta. Marketing Director for Edmonton Public Library (EPL), Tina Thomas, led the keynote session entitled It’s a New Day! Rebranding the Edmonton Public Library. I was thoroughly impressed by the new brand that EPL released last year. The Library’s collection of promotional materials–including t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, logos, bus ads, & videos–are simple, clean, fresh, captivating… For more information, take a look at Edmonton Public Library: Spread the words. There’s also lots of great videos on EPL’s YouTube channel. & hopefully the EPL Store will be up and running soon. Early bird registration is open until October 20, 2011 for the Augustana Information Literacy in Academic Libraries Workshop. The event will be held at the University of Alberta- Augustana Campus in Camrose, AB on Thursday, November 17, 2011. I attended last year and was thoroughly impressed with the quality of speakers and activities. This year’s workshop is looking just as great, with the focus of the event centred upon Building the Information Literate University: From Concept to Strategic Change. The only downside is that the Alberta Association of Academic Libraries Fall Meeting is happening the same day, which is another event that I got a lot out of attending last year. In other news, Happy Academic New Year! I was on the plane to WILU 2011 in Regina last week when the woman sitting beside me, also headed to the conference (I am pretty sure the plane was full of library folks), handed me a newspaper article in the National Post entitled Can Wikipedia improve students’ work? It’s a good read. It discusses the merits of Wikipedia as a jumping off point in research, and how it can be integrated into course assignments in a way that challenges students to think about evaluating information and the rigorous work that goes into producing scholarly research articles. While librarians are not mentioned in the article, it sheds light on the type of assignment design we could be assisting faculty with in our efforts to become increasingly more involved in helping students develop information literacy skills. Just some food for thought. Check it out! Don’t Discard the Librarians is an article by Ian Brown appearing in the Globe and Mail. It will warm your heart. Some key quotes: “Here is the case for human librarians: You, the information consumer, don’t want to go insane.” “Librarians know what’s available in a field, where to find it, whether to use it. You, on the other hand, have to write a paper about the self in Hamlet. Try Googling that without the help of a professional librarian: 12.3 million results.” “Nearly 19 million people visit its [Toronto Public Library's] 99 branches every year, and borrow 32 million items (which means every item goes out about three times). Nearly 90 per cent of recent immigrants stop by the library. Many can’t speak English. None of that works without human librarians in the equation.” “‘I think it’s a very exciting time,’ Ms. Moore insisted, contradicting the stereotype of the librarian as a backward-looking shusher who is happiest dusting book jackets. (I have yet to meet an actual librarian who fits it.)” “There’s only an under-allocation of money, and the digital technocracy’s strange distrust of human beings sitting in a public room while communally enjoying the freedom of their own minds.” Take a listen to Jian Ghomeshi’s eloquent plea for the survival of school librarians in his opening essay for Q on CBC Radio 1 today. Bravo! [Posting now closed] If you’re a recent (2010 or 2011) grad of an accredited Canadian library school program I would strongly urge you to apply to the Academic Library Internship Program at the University of Alberta Libraries. I have heard nothing but positive things about this program, and would have loved a shot at this opportunity had it been offered while I was looking for work and still met the criteria. (Also, despite torturous winters, Edmonton would be a fantastic place to live.) Deadline: May 31, 2011 |
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