Library
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Media companies and reference service
I seem to be developing a reputation for getting the most random questions through all of our sundry reference avenues. If there was a contest, today would have crushed it. I was sitting at the reference desk fielding the usual when an L.A. call came through. It was someone associated with a media company looking to use our library as a filming location for a tv show. I looked them up. It’s legit. So to that, I ended up calling a number of administrators and gathering a list of contact names to pass along to this guy. I learned a bit more about our institution. And it sure beats the…
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Month five starts
I’ve started my fifth month. Hard to believe that in November I will be half way through my first year. This month I made a tracking device to be able to monitor my work and what I’m spending time on. I’d like to be able to put some metrics to work in my first evaluation. I’m not sure when that is exactly going to be. I will be up in June, so the decision needs to be made before then. Annual reviews aren’t done until June-July. So I’m not sure what the contract determination will be made on or if I will have to go through the process early. In…
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Adaptation in practice
I had done some revision to my lesson plan for today. The last three classes I had taught were workshops and the attendees were self selected and therefore (presumably) had a reason to be there. For today’s class, this was a assigned class period. In terms of teaching, this was a luxury. I had a full two hours and it was written into the syllabus. The ambitious part came when I decided to roll some orientation concepts into a full Pubmed orientation. I had a series of six exercises each building on the previous concept. We covered known vs unknown searching, using boolean to construct, filters, and intro to MeSH,…
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Adaptation
Tonight was the third of three classes. I tried to get a little more attendance from posting informal flyers around the library with reminder sticky notes attached to them. The tactic was successful in the sense that two people dropped in due to them. The third was already registered. One other contacted me about missing the class. He was also registered, but mentioned the notes that he saw. I’m following up to see if he is willing to attend another group or make an appointment. So far the marketing that I am using is either generating more attendance or other consults. So overall, postitive results. I;m tracking them to get…
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Waiting tables
I had a good class this evening. I expected no one and got four attendees, half of which were just drop-ins. Class participation was great. The exercises seemed just enough of a challenge to get them thinking differently. All the material I prepared timed out perfectly. I think everyone had a positive experience. I’ll check the evals tomorrow. But yesterday no one showed. I followed the marketing “tricks” that I knew to gain interest: make it simple and engaging, make it relevant to them, push a reminder, have good signage (and on this I welcomed drop-ins). It didn’t make a difference. I waited 20 minutes and then called it. This…
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Bipolar results
Today was good and disappointing. I picked up an extra class to cover for a colleague. It went well and I felt prepared enough for such short term notice. I’m grateful that I spent the time earier these months to create templates that look good and are easy to swap out information. I usually have a trio: my outline, the class worksheet, and the evaluation. This class was a small group of visiting nursing students, so I found I had to scale back. Better to be over prepared than under. The second class was the disappointment. I spent a week creatig the curriculum for an introductory Pubmed class. The activities…
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Check in with random thoughts
As I look back, my last post was on the 19th of August–exactly 18 years that I was at my previous job. I’m just ending my 14th week at the new job and I find that I don’t think about my old job much. Overall the new job is going well. I turned in my goal targets for the year. These included committee work, expanded liaison work to previously unserved departments, workshops to design, and more. Pretty typical. Interestingly, in the last few minutes of the day, I got an email to be on my first search committee from our UL. So that will be added to the list as…
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Month three
This is the begining of month three. I can feel that the librarians and school is gearing up for a new year. The grounds crew has been fantastic at sprucing p the trees and shrubbery. We are a couple weeks off moving downstairs as they gut our floor for renovation. (I can’t tell you how much I have taken for granted having a restroom and water fountain on the same floor as my workspace). I would detail how my work has changed, except that it really hasn’t. I have spent some dedicated time toward creating outreach materials in the form of flyers, handouts, and other paper based stuff. In the…
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Week 7
Week 7 feels strange. Maybe it’s just today, but I feel that I’ve been here a while, but when I really think about it, seven is a small number. Only today I got my first full paycheck. And yet, I live in a state and work for a state institution where money problems are a concern, so I worry that I may only see ten more of them. It’s scary becaus I want assurances I can’t get. All I can do is work. And that means building a clientele aand docmenting the work that I have done. This week I have a meeting with my supervisor, so tomorrow I will…
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Now working
It’s July 1 and the bulk of my orientation is done. As we discover what we need, we fill in the blanks. The libguides have been turned over to me for my colleges. The interim liaison is off at the ALA conference, and so I’ve been contacting collaborators on my own. I sat in on the interview for the next practicum student. It was strange being on the other side of the table so soon after starting this job. Tomorrow I sit in on a class, and I have to start preparing my own. I feel like I’m beginning to work.