Sitting, waiting, wishing...

I have been struggling this past week and a half. Working nearly 100 hours, attempting to balance school work, planning a wedding and showing our house has all taken it's toll. So instead of doing my best, I feel like all across the board my work has been mediocre. My project this week has hit a stand  still other than making sure the webpage is as close to perfect as possible. I feel pretty confident about this, I have the LibGuide looking like it could meld perfectly into the rest of the library's webpage. I have also started practicing recording my script for the tutorial video. I am not able to do more until next Monday when I meet again with my librarian.

Dr. Moe, is there anything you would like to hear specifically about since I am not able to blog about my progress on my project?

And go time:

This was the week that my supervisor and I had planned to get the LibGuide up and running. I finally have all of the resources compiled and I feel confident about the layout I have in mind for the page. Unfortunately my supervisor had forgotten about a trip she was to take for a conference on Assessment. So from Monday until Wednesday I worked from home on a few tweaks, had a very sizable meeting with the director of the library, and met with the acquisitions librarian. Which left Thursday and Friday as the days when the project will hopefully be put up. Another hiccup in the plan is the head technology specialist. I had attempted to make a meeting with her to discuss all that she expects from this project and she has not contacted me in return. I also wanted to learn more about how to put a LibGuide up and the best ways she has found to organize a page like this AND to discuss the a time when we could meet to begin the tutorial video process. I am getting nervous about deadlines looming ahead, so I want to finish up the actually project so I can troubleshoot and reflect!

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I am confidently able to say that I am really making my way through this project. I am halfway completed with my website. I have not been able to meet with the technology specialist but I have a set time where she is going to show me exactly how to create a website, the challenges that arise, and the programs to use. My librarian and I spent the entire day configuring how we wanted to make the website work and how it should look. We also looked at a few tutorial videos that have been done to discuss what aspects we liked and how we would like to create one that will be well used. I currently have all of my resources for my webpage compiled, a first draft of the tutorial I am hoping to propose to Dana. Once again my librarian was attempting to add on some additional projects but I requested to put those off until my requirements for my courses have been completed. This next week I will finish my webpage and make a second draft of the script I would like to use for the tutorial video. When I am back in the library in two weeks, I will have Monday through Wednesday to discuss, perfect, and meet with the appropriate requirements for this webpage. I am hoping to have it go live at the end of that week. That Thursday I am going to a CALM meeting with my supervisor, it is at an abbey and it sounds like it is going to be an AMAZING learning experience!

Reflection Questions

      The most important aspects of this project are going to be the effectiveness of the tutorial video and bringing in diverse and reputable resources for the LibGuide. I am going to create a tutorial video that is going to be available for all of the library users to utilize. With in these features I am going to need to meet with the technology specialists, Elaine and Rachel, discuss what are the best programs to use and share our ideas for how to be successful. This is scheduled for Monday at 2pm. Monday morning I am presenting the progress I have made to my supervising librarian. It is at that point that I will need to have the majority of the resources and databases I have compiled. By the end of the next week my goal is to have a draft of my project up and running in addition to a completed tutorial. It would be ideal to be able to share these with the director on Friday. 

       After looking closely at my schedule and that of my supervisor, I am ready to hit the ground running with my project. I am appreciating how much collaborating goes into making a decision at the academic library level. One of my biggest fatal flaws is that I keep focusing on the future and I am now extremely excited about starting to work at the school library level. While an academic library has a different caliber of work, a school librarian has a wider range of responsibility and less of a go around when making decisions. 

Dr. Moe, do we have an internship next semester as well? 

The Starting Pistol

So now I wait! I have collected many of the resources and ideas for resources that I am going to use in my LibGuide. I have watched examples of tutorial videos to see examples that "work" and those that are just a snooze. I have talked to my supervisor about what I am going to do once I arrive back at the school but for now I wait! I am going to be in the library again Monday afternoon and I can't help compare this time to being the calm before the storm! Or at the starting line waiting to hear the starting pistol's BANG so I can be off!

Currently I am most anxious about creating the tutorial video and embedding it into the website. I am technologically challenged so that is definitely going to be the greatest challenge. I want to create a video that students actually use and don't fall asleep during. I am a researcher. I love to find answers to questions but when it comes to technology I am all thumbs. I am also just ready to be back in the library again, the longer I spend inside the library the more I do not want to leave it!

Project potential

This blog posting was written but not published before our discussion on what to do for my project the last class meeting I had.

My project has become a bit of a stressful point between my librarian and I. I had planned on creating an interface where the librarians and faculty of the Citadel could interact. It would give descriptions about the types of specialties each of the librarians. This would allow the faculty to know how to use the librarians as a resource in their classes, which perhaps would give the students more involvement in the library itself. After discussing this idea with the director of the library, my librarian decided we should go a different direction. Which has been a learning experience because librarians, like teachers, have to know how to be flexible.

The last idea we discussed before I left my two weeks in Charleston is the idea to create a LibGuide for the Government Intelligence. This seems like a challenge to me because I have no familiarity with this topic, nor do I have any experience embedding a LibGuide into a webpage. I have already begun looking at the print resources the Citadel Library has to offer on this topic. My next step is to find electronic resources that are relevant to the topics that will be discussed within the perimeters of this graduate certificate.

Ideas, changes of plan, library lessons

I have been discussing my ALAR project with my librarian but it is a very stressful time for her. She is in the process of getting a promotion, starting a book club at the school, and working on a research project with a professor. And my mind has been completely distracted due to the lack of ALA accreditation at ASU. Once I changed my plan to become an Elementary Education teacher and realized I wanted to work in a library, choosing my undergrad was a no brainer.  I did not know about ALA accreditation. My goal was to work in a college library where I could specialize in helping the Education students. I love writing lesson plans and teaching, I would love to work with student's who are learning to do these things for the first time!

Now my plan is to continue on the school library track and work in schools to gain more experience in helping teachers. Then I will go back and get my Phd so that I can work in an Academic library. Having made this decision I am feeling much less stressed. These decisions are ones that will affect my entire life and future in the library!

A fount of information!

Oh how the best laid plans fall the quickest apart! It seems as though every time I have come to terms with a new plan for my future as a Media Specialist things become shaken again.

Now that I have started my internship officially, I am able to have more open discussions with my supervisor. We have started discussing my projects and assignments. She has assigned me several readings about the library and schools strategic plan that she would like for me to read before we discuss the project further. We have scheduled to have that discussion on Monday. As we were discussing the course requirements she asked me THE question. "What future do you want to have in a library?" I then explained many of the struggles I have been having about ALA accreditation. She asked a few more questions and then said she has someone who might be able to answer many of the questions I have about working in an academic library. A few moments later the Library Director walks in! I was honored to meet this man, he has a very strong presence so I was a bit nervous but he was kind and gave me a lot of good information. He did tell me that no academic library would consider me as an applicate but he had me thinking on another level of a solution! Currently my plan is to continue on the school library track and work in a school library for a several years to get experience under my belt. Then I am going to go back to school to get my Phd if I am still of the mind to work in an academic library. This seems to be the most economically pleasing option so far.

As for my project we have discussed several potential options. I might work with the Education department to create the equivalent of a LibGuide for easy to find resources. There is also the option of making a website for the freshmen students to use at the school since they have a very difficult transition year as "knobs". This school has a very different atmosphere and community than most schools, as a military college.

Action Project

I have been looking more into Wikis and my apprehension is growing about making a Wiki connecting the library staff at the Citadel. It will help next week when I am in my internship and feel more confident in my role in this library. I am nervous that any suggestion I make could seem as though I am thinking negative things about their library. I am nervous about making a begining impression as someone overly critical. I believe telling the library about the assignment will help me overcoming htis however.

I feel more confident after speaking in class about this topic. I still want to do something using a wiki-like format where the different faculty members can not only keep track of projects the other faculty members are overtaking but also keeping track of day to day jobs in the library. Perhaps if I approached this as a project that they would be helpin me with it could morph into a project where they become enthusiastic and decide to keep up with the webpage.

Technology Potential at DL

While my time at Daniel Library was brief, one problem which stood out very prominently in my mind was the lack of communication between staff members. This may be a common practice in an academic library but I do not see how it could possibly benefit the library. Daniel Library offers many resources which are available to students and faculty alike but there seems to be a disconnect in the areas of communication. My mentor is one of the resource librarians and yet she rarely collaborates with the faculty at the college. She also was not sure of some of the resource tools which are offered on the library webpage. In once instance I mentioned that there is a "Text a librarian" option for the students to use to receive help and she had not known of this before.

I believe it would benefit the library to have a staff/faculty website which discusses the roles and opportunities each librarian can provide to the faculty. Many of the faculty at the school have not used the resources in the library at all, much less using one of the librarians. Perhaps if the resources and opportunities from  the library were made obvious than more faculty would take advantage. That being said I am not sure I have much confidence that this would make a change for the teachers who are so often comfortable in their familiar teaching routine.

Also for the purposes of recording my progress for this blog, I will be working in the library 2-3 full days a week, 2 weeks a month. The other two weeks I will be working full time. I will return to the library again on the 23rd of September.

Interview

During my first official visit to Daniel Library, I was able to sit with my supervisor for nearly two hours to discuss my action plan as an intern in the library. She allowed me to ask any and all questions that I had, and had planned out questions for me to answer as well. It was important to figure out what I had learned in order to decide how I could best serve the library, while at the same time having the library serve my education. As I transitioned into asking questions about the technology used in their library, she jokingly settled in for the "Question and Answer" session! The information she gave me allowed me to assess the way the library is run, the users of the library, and the library's policy.

Daniel Library at the Citadel uses technology frequently when assisting patrons. The majority of the users in this library are students of the Citadel, though the library is open to the public. The library does provide wifi, which the students can access with their student usernames and passwords. A librarian must log in guests who wish to use the wifi. There are no restrictions to the types of websites or resources the patrons are allowed to access. Many students use the computers that are located on the main floor of the library, public patrons are restricted to the use of the two public computers. The public and students are encouraged to use the library and media specialists as a resource. The Citadel is a holder of Federal Documents for public use, this does not always draw in the public however. The library does use social media to draw students into the library. The library will make posts on Twitter and Facebook to remind the students of upcoming events, notices about the coffee shop, and speakers that are coming to the school. The students are offered "Daniel's Demos" which teach them how to use online resources, bibliographic instruction, and that they really can ask the librarians for help! It is rare that a student asks a media specialist a question without being approached first. Technology has encouraged students to ask for help however through the chat option on the Daniel Library homepage. While this method does not offer the same type of reference interview that a face-to-face discussion would, the librarians at Daniel Library are pleased that this option is being used. Daniel Library also has a texting feature where the students can text the library a question and have it answered in a reply message! Since many of the students hesitate to ask questions, the library has provided How-To tutorials for the students to watch in order to learn how to use the online databases and catalogs on the school's website. I thought it was sad that the students do not actively use the library as a resource. In the age of instant gratification, answers can often be found using a resource like Google and if they are not, many students give up or grow frustrated. I would prefer the first instinct of a learner to be to ask for help, and to go to experts before the internet. While the internet has made finding resources even more wide spread, it has also lessened the quality and reliability of many of the articles students use.

Having "Daniel's Demos" in my opinion, is one of Daniel Library's best ideas to connect to the users of the library. This is how the library is going to share how the technology in the library is used, so that it is not just sitting idle. While variations of this idea are frequently seen in most libraries it is especially important that the academic libraries share ways to use the technology they offer. Academic libraries are to be used as a tool for learners, therefore the learners should be taught how to use the tool so it does not go to waste!