Carolyn soon to be a Librarian

School Libary Learning 2.0

cafagan — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:14:30 +0000

Here is my first experiment with an image generator. To be honest I tried the comic strip generator first and I thought I had created something pretty funny, but I couldn’t get it to load – too confusing! I can see where this could be a lot of fun and could look really cool on flyers etc for library programs, especially teen programs. Now I have to get back to finding some other new tools. I want to find the one that distorts your face. Oh and here is my avatar – I am quite attached to her. And the two sets of glasses are a must – I am always losing a pair. I would like to use her as my reference avatar when working on the virtual reference desk if we ever get one.

The Summer of IST 600s

cafagan — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:38:33 +0000

I took three summer classes this year, one online and two on campus. For me it basically came down to the Summer of Social Media. I actually took both Social Networking in Libraries with Alison Miller and Social Media with Anthony Rotolo. Both classes were excellent and although it was not my original plan to take both, more on that at another time, they worked extremely well together. Social Media set me up with the knowledge of Social Media tools and then Social Networking in Libraries used that knowledge to focus on a library environment.

Both classes reinforced the usefulness of Twitter, something I had never seen before. It made me realize that finding and following the right people opens you up to a great resource for new ideas and current happenings in your field of interest. In both classes I was able to create a video for YouTube and got extensive experience working with iMovie. It was intimidating at first, but I am really happy with the results; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9yO0Mxslng and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbmSS_pR1sk

At the end of the summer I now have a fairly detailed Social Media Strategy for the library where I work and we have started to implement some of those changes. I really am quite fortunate in that I am in a position at the library where I can take what I learn here at SU and immediately put it to use. It’s a great feeling.

The third class I took was Grant Writing with Sari Feldman. Another great class and the work I did in this class really paid off, because my branch is now getting a Teen Room!

My final thoughts on these summer courses are that I can’t say enough about the professors in all three classes. If I was younger and just starting out I would definitely be attempting to get a job with one of these three, there is still so much more to learn from them.

IST605 – Final Thoughts

cafagan — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:33:57 +0000

This course came at a most opportune time for me. When a position recently opened up in the reference department at the Troy Public Library I was offered the job. This would not have happened had I not been enrolled in an MLS program. That was in July and when this class started in September I was just at the beginning of my learning curve for this new position. IST605 was a tremendous help in a variety of ways.

Conducting a reference interview is a skill that becomes honed only with continued practice. Had I not taken IST605 I don’t think I would have even realized that I was conducting a reference interview, or would I have realized its importance. Someone asks a question and you try to find an answer, seems straightforward, that is until I took this class and began to understand all the nuances involved in the process.

The exercises involving the evaluation of reference materials have proven invaluable. The only frustration is that the library where I work does not have access to many of the materials I looked at and found so useful. However as I move back into my position of Branch Manager I plan to be more proactive in the selection of reference materials for my branch, rather than just accepting whatever is sent my way.

I have used what I learned from the LibGuide assignment to place an updated Urban Fiction order for the library. Lastly, the observation of a different library’s reference services is always a good learning tool. I got many good ideas from my observations.

Urban Fiction LibGuide

cafagan — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:22:54 +0000

Here’s my libguide for Urban Fiction. I really enjoyed creating this and still use it for collection development at the Troy Library. Hope someone else finds it useful.

511 Wrap-Up

cafagan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:38:51 +0000

Well it is over. I have to say again that I am not a big fan of the group project, but that said I did take away some positive experiences from the poster session. Plus I would much rather stand and talk to people about a library issue than have to give a presentation. 511 has certainly given me a lot to think about, perhaps an internship in an academic library as a way to explore some of my options. With two colleges and one junior college in the immediate area I think I should be able to find something.

The best part of the week was getting to know the other people in the program. It is going to make the next few years that much more enjoyable having met the people that will be taking classes with me on-line. It was a really great group and I look forward to working with many of them in the future.

Now it is off the read all those library books I have checked out that I have not been able to get to. I am really looking forward to some down time before its back at it in September!

511 – Library Space/Library Ethics

cafagan — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:14:30 +0000

Best Day Yet

Today we listened to another great slate of speakers. Tina Nabinger, Lesley Pease and Jean Armour Polly all bring such enthusiasm and passion to their work that it was contagious. I was particularly interested in Jean Armour Polly’s work at the Liverpool Public Library. The Panera Bread reference librarian idea was one that my group in 601 had explored and it was exciting to realize that it actually had merit. I also enjoyed her slides of the ALA conference in Chicago, highlighting new innovations in the library profession.

The afternoon brought great discussions about the library profession’s values and ethics and how a librarian should expect these to continually bump up against their own personal values. We explored many scenarios where this could happen and what responses it could evoke. For me this was the best discussion we have had to-date.

The evening was consumed with finishing our poster project. We are done and it looks great. Thanks Liz, Marinella and Sierra.

Halfway There!

cafagan — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:54:36 +0000

There are so many interesting ideas swirling around in my head after all the potential careers that were introduced today. From the panel in the morning to the library visit in the afternoon, who knew there were so many options out there? The library systems panel was excellent. The inclusion of a representative from the vendor side, Kellie Conner, Manager of Polaris Customer Operations made the presentation that much more intriguing.

The afternoon trip to Bird Library certainly was fascinating. I envy Professor Lavender, Peter Verheyen and David Stokoe their access to such rare books. Imagine holding in your hands a copy of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense with James Madison’s handwritten notes. Book repair has always been a weak point where I am concerned, I guess I don’t have the manual dexterity, so I have a special appreciation for the beautiful job that they are doing in conservation and preservation.

After the library tour it was back to work on our poster. We accomplished so much today and are closing in on the final product. I am really enjoying our topic, and Deb Lewis’ comments this morning affirmed that we are on the right track.

Academic Libraries

cafagan — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:42:55 +0000

Today we heard from two librarians in the academic field. Both had taken interesting paths to their present positions. Although I have to say that Steve’s experiences of traveling the world helping libraries set up their catalogs seemed especially intriguing. I wish we could have heard more detailed stories about his experiences.

Scott introduced us to the many issues surrounding intellectual property and copyright laws. I say introduced because it was quite overwhelming even at an introductory level. The implications of copyrights are astounding and defining “fair use” is somewhat baffling. The evenings reading was a great supplement to the day’s discussion.

A lot of information was reviewed on using the databases on the SU library website, which was a help in searching for information to use for our poster. Working on formulating a thesis statement for our poster and looking forward to meeting in the morning to get a focus.

Day One – 511

cafagan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:12:22 +0000

We had two great guest speakers today. Kate McCaffrey and Bev Cholcto-Devlin were kind enough to spend some time sharing their experiences of working in a public library. An internship under either of them would be such a valuable experience, unfortunately I don’t live close enough to make that happen. Having worked in an urban library setting I found Kate’s stories an affirmation of this choice.

The afternoon session had interesting information on search engines and offered some excellent hints on how to utilize them more efficiently. We were also exposed to some really great websites. Here they are if you want to check them out:
•   www.lii.org
•   www.archive.org/web/web.php
•   http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
•   http://joblist.ala.org/ The most important one for finding those temporary jobs that I want to fill!

Scott also showed us how to be more efficient in our searches. Watch out TPL patrons I am going to be using you as guinea pigs when I get back.

Now it’s off to finish communicating with my group about the poster project and then finish up the search assignment. Did somebody say sleep?

Books On the Go Rocks!

cafagan — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:38:43 +0000

Well one class down! Although I have to say that I was truly dreading the group project I really enjoyed it. I was fortunate enough to have really great partners and we all worked well together. Everyone participated and brought something to the table. So thanks Penny, Mary, Steve and Mike. This was a good way to get our feet wet and to find out what the expectations would be for graduate school. I enjoyed the lectures and learned a lot from the group project. It truly did give us an opportunity to take the readings and apply them to a real-life situation. I am going to take Professor Heckman’s advice and pursue our idea when I get back home.

The last few days have been exhausting, but I have a real sense of accomplishment now that it has concluded. At the end of the class they asked what would be some take aways from this class, here are mine;

1. Creativity resides in all of us and one of the major blocks to creativity is fear of failure. We must realize that failure only lies in doing nothing.
2. Change is something that I can manage.
3. Five heads are definitely better than one.
4. Innovation comes from observation.

Now I am looking forward to an evening of relaxation, watching a little baseball and regrouping before we dive back in tomorrow.

Check out our PowerPoint: Books on the Go v1.1