CPCP Meeting

Tonight was not a very productive night for the CPCP group. Only Sheila and I were remembered about the meeting. But Sheila and I just made some executive decisions and we're going to share them with the rest of the group through email. We're going to come up with one broad or basic vision statement that collaborates all of our individual visions/goals. We're sortive going by the NCDPI vision statement to how we set ours up. We're to make a few goals for each of our areas. We're hoping to have all of this together and ready to put together in two weeks. Our next meeting is July 9th, at 9:00pm.

S & D answers

On Monday I was able to run over to the Patrick Beaver Library to look for my answers for the S & D project. I had previously found all of the answers to the questions that had websites, so that helped speed up the time. Well I see why we're doing this project. To learn the different styles of references. I actually looked up all the sources in the online catalog first and then I wrote down their catalog number. Silly me went looking for the sources and after not finding many of my sources I realized I was searching in the non fiction instead of the reference section. And I had actually wrote the call number down as REF. Oh well..I know for next time!! I don't get to go to the library when I'm at school much b/c I don't have a homeroom or a set group of kids. It's hard to schedule in a librarian or do projects with our librarian with only 45mins. of class time. Anyways, I wasn't able to find one question and that's b/c the book wasn't at the library. The online catalog said it was there, but it was no where to be found. So we'll see...

CPCP group

Last night I met with my CPCP group. I was late getting to our meeting time b/c we've had camp meeting all week. They scheduled it for 8 and I arrived at 9. They filled me in when I got in there though. We are dividing up different sections that we think needs to be our own personal vision for the 21st Century School. My focus is going to be on literacy. My first thoughts on this when I heard about this project was how we had so many student this year to fail the reading comprehension test. Something needs to be done in our schools today and at homes and with parents to help children learn to read and understand better. The 21st century schools are all about having a more hands on approach to learning. Teachers and parents need to be more active in their own childs ability to read. Children need to be read even while their in the mother's womb to feel the repetition of different sounds. Then the more children are read to out loud the better they will become at reading and comprehending later on. Other areas we are looking at for our CPCP project are technology, parent/community involvement, demographic shifts/the changing classroom, and economy. We've created a wiki to help post all of our information that we found. The NCDPI vision has a bulleted format for their vision and I'm hoping that my group will do something like that. Until next time...

Virtual Reference Librarian

Today I met with my group to do our virtual reference role playing. We were given three questions from Dr. Rob that we had to ask our reference person (our partner) how to find the answers for them. I went first as the reference librarian and Tina asked me her questions. It was really difficult, but I learned some new things. My first instinct was to ask them and tell them to google. After we did our interview, I found out that's what most reference librarians do no adays. That is their quickest ready reference material. Most of our questions dealt with finding things in the information garden in the AET zone. I am not very familiar with the gardens. The one I use the most is the English gardens and the library section. I am good at finding information, but I don't like to search and search and search. Anyways, I sortive feel like referencing is not my area. We'll see...I did learn that if you click on a mushroom then you can email a librarian you question!! We had a tour of the Information Gardens, but I couldn't remember everything. I guess I should have taken better notes! And another thing...my computer is soo slow trying to maneuver through the zone. I kept getting lost! Okay enough whining!

1st Article

Schmidt, A., & Stephens, M (2005, April). IM me. Library Journal, 130(6), 34-35. Retrieved June 17, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database

This article talks about the advantages of using Instant Messaging (IM) in libraries to help patrons with reference questions. Many people today use IM to get a quick answer to have conversations that do not leave some type of trail behind. We can already email our questions to reference librarians, but that may take hours before we ever get a response. Many libraries are hiring full and part time positions where the job description is to help any IM questions. This type of reference is often less formal and very convient if you are unable to get to the library right away. The best way to get people comfortable with using a IM program is to promote the program, and then train them on how to use it. One of the librarians from the article publicized their service through press realeases, local newspapers, distributing flyers, and business cards. Some of the challenges are that some libraries don't allow IM chat, some people don't type fast enough, some don't handle multi-tasking, and some just prefer face to face interaction. The article states that IM isn't going to take away from other forms of communication, but it will help to make reference services relevant to todays users.

I like the idea of using IM for libraries, because it will still be the reference librarian who does the main searches or gives ideas on where to find information. It just would not be a face to face interaction. This type of referencing would be very convient to today's face paced world.

S & D Questions

I was finally able to get to the Patrick Beaver Library in Hickory on Saturday. I spent all day there with Kecia. She just happened to show, thank goodness and we worked and worked all day on this project. Tina and Vern ended up showing up later in the day. I was so glad to see others there because I had done my Bibliography questions all wrong. We all had the worse reference librarian to work with on Saturday. Everytime we tried to explain our project to him, he would veer us in the wrong direction. He was an old man that needed to get up to speed on things! Then on Sunday night when I wanted to post my questions to the wiki, my computer freezes and we couldn't get it back up and running. Finally I get the bright idea to turn it off and unplug the cords. It finally came back on. Thank goodness I don't have to work today so I could get everything posted. This should be interesting trying to find everyone's answers for their topic.

Observation June 4, 2009

After interviewing Betty Riley at Valdese Library I decided to sit and observe around the circulation desk. Thursday afternoons are one of their busiest times, but I think the rainy weather kept it from being as busy as it could be! During the 2 hours that I were there, at least 40 patrons came through the doors to either check-in books, check-out books, or to work on the computers. Approximately the whole time that I was there all of the computers stayed filled. The computer use seems to be the biggest area that younger people come to the library. All ages and ethnicities came through the doors during my observation. There seem to be more of the Asian descent that comes to use the computers more. During half of the time that I was there, there were about 5 -6 people that were working for the public library. Two were working on the summer reading program projects. And two-three were working at the circulation desk. There was one question brought to the circulation desk about reference of a certain topic. The circ. lady did not ask any other questions or specifics to the patron's question. The circ. lady pointed the patron to the correct area. The patron ended up not finding what she was looking for, and ended up leaving. The circulation desk could have done more to help the patron find what she was looking for or ask more questions related to what she was looking for. Other questions were about checking to see if they had certain books available. The head librarian spoke to a parent with a young child and was able to get the parent to sign up for the summer reading program. Overall, the circulation desk operators were friendly and corgul to the patrons.

Librarian Interview

Yesterday, June 4, 2009 I conducted my interview with the librarian, Betty Riley at Valdese Public library. Betty currently does not have an MLS degree, but she does hold an educational masters. She has been the librarian for 11 years and has always been in and around the library because her mother was a librarian. She has not officially worked in a school library, but has helped out numerous times. The Valdese library does have a set of guidelines related to behavioral perfomance. Betty had not heard of the RUSA guidelines, but her guidelines were much like the RUSA guidelines. She does follow a set of steps that is layed out for her patrons and for staff to follow and their are steps to follow if these guidelines are broken. She said they get together about every 2 years to review and adjust the guidelines as needed. They look at each area to see if anything needs to be changed or taken out. If someone does not follow her guidelines they begin with a warning and then eventually to a write-up.

Some of the common questions that she receives the most are things on the computer, mapquest, job searches, financial help, NC Live, and novelist for searching authors. Her first major source for looking something up begins with a google search or NC Live. She does enjoy and directing other to print, but it is always according to what the patrons are looking for to determine the right resource.

I asked about the difficult patrons and how she deals with them. She said to always be corgul and nice, let them know that some information isn't going to be found here and she always tries to point them in the right direction. The most rewarding part of being a librarian for Betty is being able to help patrons and provide information to them. Making sure they have the correct resources to help them learn.

I enjoyed getting to know Betty a little more.

First Class

First post! Just setting up the blogger!