Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

On The Web-Worldcat, Digital Publications, And New Editions, Jake A. Farias

Blogging the Library

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the warmer weather! Despite the real arrival of spring and sun, the Reference Desk is expecting a huge pick-up in the library and in citation and research questions as we move towards the end of the semester and the due dates for final research papers. Apart from regular work at the Desk, I am still working on the Collection Development Project, now in the online section of the project. I’ve been working a lot with MUSCAT and WorldCat, trying to discover how many copies of the Parkin books are available in other …

Weeding... It Isn't Just For Gardens, Jake A. Farias

Blogging the Library

Sorry, I haven’t posted in a while; I’ve been holding out until I got to the finishing stages of the Collection Development project. Yes, that’s right, for the past couple of weeks, when I was pacing up and down the stacks on the second floor, I was not actually going crazy. [excerpt]

Getting My Feet Wet, Jake A. Farias

Blogging the Library

In the past two weeks, I have become much more comfortable at the Research Help Desk. I have been asked a whole variety of questions, from printing to citation to looking for books and articles. Despite a few challenging requests, I feel more confident in answering difficult research questions (which is good, because next week I’ll be working my first solo shift!). I will miss working with staff members at the Desk, largely because I enjoyed chatting with them about research skills, politics, sports, or anything that piqued our interests. [excerpt]

Starting At The Research Help Desk, Jake A. Farias

Blogging the Library

I have just completed my second week at the Research Help Desk and feel as though I am starting to get a good handle of the work. Even after our intense boot camp training, I felt nervous to start fielding questions. But after working through printer issues, citations, and some source searches with patrons, I am feeling more and more comfortable every day. With that said, I still have loads more to learn in the next few weeks. [excerpt]

My Last Post!, Megan E. Fowle

Blogging the Library

I cannot believe that this is my last post. It seems like only yesterday that I was writing my first post about how my training for the reference desk was going. This semester has been truly wonderful and I have learned so much. Through the many projects that I have taken part in and my final project that I designed myself, it has been an amazing opportunity. [excerpt]

Testing The Guide, Megan E. Fowle

Blogging the Library

This past week, I implemented the user test that I had designed for the new History research guide. I enlisted five participants from the history alias, ensuring that I had one participant from each class year so that I could test the spectrum of students here at Gettysburg. I believe that the testing went great! I used a program called Morae, in which two computers are connected over the internet, with one being used by the participant and the other recording the test. The recordings show mouse movements, as well as video and audio recordings of the participant as they …

Designing A Test, Megan E. Fowle

Blogging the Library

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been developing a new History Research Guide. I have spent time digging through all of the databases that Musselman Library subscribes to in order to categorize them on the new site. I was hoping to make the site as easy to navigate as possible so that students can easily find the right sources. I finally feel that I have reached a point where the new guide is ready to be tested. [excerpt]

So Many Choices!, Megan E. Fowle

Blogging the Library

As the semester progresses, I have been working on many little projects to get a feel for the different aspects of reference librarianship. One of the projects that I just finished working on was a collections development project, in which I got to work closer with one of our reference librarians, Kerri. Collection development is an ongoing process, for there are always more books being written and published. [excerpt]

Categorizing History, Megan E. Fowle

Blogging the Library

Since my last blog post, I have become more familiar with the desk and have begun to answer questions that are more in depth and make use of the reference skills that I have been learning. This week, I have even started working the desk by myself! I was a little nervous at first, but once I had my first patron, I realized that I felt confident in what I had learned in my training and I was able to help! [excerpt]

My First Weeks!, Megan E. Fowle

Blogging the Library

I am very excited to work in the Reference Department this semester! I have completed my first two weeks, which I spent training with different members of the Reference staff. I really enjoyed being able to learn from each of them, to see what their strengths were and hearing their pieces of advice. Now that my training is over, I get to start working the reference desk and handling questions on my own! [excerpt]

The Semester Is Over?!?!, Celia M. Hartz

Blogging the Library

Big News! My project for the semester is finally done! After reading through a lot of information on the best tactics for promoting a Reference Desk we finally found. After tailoring to our needs and putting our own flair on it we then had to find the students to help us. [excerpt]

Say Cheese, Celia M. Hartz

Blogging the Library

The last few weeks have been very busy; my project has finally gotten underway! It features several students, and it has been a lot of fun getting them together to take these photos that will be used to promote Reference Desk services. The philosophy is that other students will see these pictures and since it features people they know it will entice them to stop and read the posters or web banners. Hopefully these will be up and around the library the week before finals and students will utilize the Reference Desk more. [excerpt]

#Advertising #Werk, Celia M. Hartz

Blogging the Library

Project: Ask Us. This project that has been in the works for quite some time is finally coming to fruition and I’m very excited about it. At the start of the semester it was very unclear what my project would be in this wide-world of librarianship and how to relate it back to the Reference Desk. Luckily for me the Reference department has been undergoing a sort of marketing revival and I get to help. Admittedly, I knew nothing about how to market the skills of reference librarians but after reading many articles, I think we have a winning strategy. …

Meetings, Weedings, Development.. Oh My!, Celia M. Hartz

Blogging the Library

Hello!! Since the last time I posted a lot has happened and so far, still good. That’s not to say I haven’t needed help on a few Reference Questions but things are going pretty well. I’ve had a few ‘RefWins’ where I’ve felt that I was particularly helpful, one was even over chat! Everything is going great thus far and I’m definitely learning, a lot. [excerpt]

Librarianship Is Neat!, Celia M. Hartz

Blogging the Library

I’ve got a few weeks under my belt now with this Internship and so far, so good. I’ll be totally honestly though, when I first started every time someone came near the desk I got a little nervous because after 3.5 years I thought I knew my way around the Library; nope. BUT, now with three weeks of perusing research guides, databases, asking a zillion questions and rereading everything in my training guide approximately three times, I feel confident that I can be helpful, and that’s great! [excerpt]

Open-Access And The Cupola, John C. Hill

Blogging the Library

I am currently working to develop The Cupola, Gettysburg College’s open-access compliant institutional repository. That’s a mouthful! What, exactly, is an open-access compliant institutional repository? Since I’m a philosophy student at heart, I’ll engage in a little bit of conceptual analysis and explain what each of these constituent terms mean.

An institutional repository is a place where an institution—in this case, Gettysburg College—can store and preserving the research created by its members. The Cupola stores research by faculty, but also students. [excerpt]

At The Desk, John C. Hill

Blogging the Library

During the past few weeks of my internship, I've spent time providing research consultations at the Reference Desk. I initially sat with a librarian during my shift, but I’m now working independently. Since then, I have fielded questions about gender roles in high school guidance offices, the invasive nature of the lionfish species, and the causes of industrialization in early modern Spain. [excerpt]

Instruction And Focus Groups, John C. Hill

Blogging the Library

My internship focuses not only on reference librarianship, but also information literacy and instruction. Accordingly, I’ve been fortunate to sit in on some library instruction classes with Clint. I think that the image of a librarian as a reference resource is pretty well established in our cultural consciousness, at least here at Gettysburg College, but the image of librarian as teacher is perhaps not as prominent. At some colleges and universities, however, librarians are considered part of the faculty. [excerpt]

Introduction Post: John Hill, John C. Hill

Blogging the Library

My first two weeks have been busy and exciting. I have trained with several reference librarians during my shifts at the Reference Desk. Each of them has a different perspective on librarianship, and each of them plays a different role in Musselman Library, but all of them are devoted to making useful resources available to students and faculty and to teaching them how to use these resources. I am excited to practice strategies for answering people’s questions, but I am admittedly nervous to staff the desk on my own. I am confident, though, that with a little bit more time …

Finals Study Break And Final Blog Post, Kelly M. Fullerton

Blogging the Library

I cannot believe that this semester is over, and my internship at the library. This semester has been a immensely rewarding experience for me. From the wonderful librarians I had the opportunity to work with to the different aspects of librarianship I was able to discover, I am so grateful for the opportunity. This experience has made me 100% sure that I want to become a librarian and I cannot wait to get started. I'm filling out graduate school applications over winter break. Fingers crossed to see which programs I get into. [excerpt]

Browsing Room, Research 101 And Finals Study Break, Kelly M. Fullerton

Blogging the Library

Also, more exciting things have happened! I've completed more of the Research 101 guide, and I'm pretty close to finishing it. I have to say it has been a lot of fun to look at what information is the most useful when doing research, and the best way to phrase the ideas so that it is helpful for students. I think casual but informative is working pretty well. Also, images are a great bonus. Too much text and the reader gets bogged down and it is hard to focus on the options let alone absorb the material. My intern supervisor …

Classroom Observation, Kelly M. Fullerton

Blogging the Library

Besides lots of practice for the Book Cart Drill Team (we zombified shirts yesterday, get excited to see) the past few weeks have been mostly working at the Reference Desk and observing classroom sessions lead by other reference librarians. The desk has become more interesting as the semester goes on, and a lot harder. Students and faculty are asking me questions that I do not quite have the answer to yet, which is very challenging but I also like. I learn something myself trying to answer their questions, and it makes me feel smart when I do find information for …

Banned Books Week, Kelly M. Fullerton

Blogging the Library

As promised, I'm going to tell you about what the library is doing for Banned Books Week! I have had a lot of fun planning it. First of all, we're going to have pins with book covers on them so that students can show off their favorite banned book. There will also be snacks, and a comment box where they can write their feelings on censorship which will be posted on Facebook and Twitter, hopefully every day but it depends on how many responses we get. I'm also making up signs so that students can see the title and then …

First Post, Kelly M. Fullerton

Blogging the Library

Hello! My name is Kelly and I am an intern in the reference department this semester, which is very exciting. I was thrilled when I found out that I was going to be working here this semester. This is exactly what I wanted to do during my senior year, since next year I am planning on going to grad school for library science. But before I applied, I wanted to make sure I had some experience under my belt, and that I had some idea of what I was getting myself into. Which, as it turns out, I only had …

Busy Times, Molly Troy

Blogging the Library

Last week was a busy busy week. I had my first solo reference desk shift, as well as one day of filming! My first reference shift went really well. I had a few standard “do you have scissors” questions, but otherwise, real research questions! Initially it was nerve-wracking, but as I was able to successfully help the students, it became less so. All in all it was pretty exciting, and really nice to be able to concretely help someone else. Since then I’ve had some tough questions, but I am trying my best, asking for help when needed, and taking …

And So It Begins!, Molly Troy

Blogging the Library

In the reference office, right above the computer station where I sit, is a painting of the Peterborough Town Library--“The Oldest Free Library in the World Supported by Taxation.” It caught my eye the first day I came in to do work, and I thought how serendipitous it was that it hung there as I began my library internship. You see, this summer I had interned in New Hampshire, specifically in the very tiny town of Peterborough!! While I was there I even went to this library to do work. It’s a promising start to the semester! [excerpt]

Musselman Library Reference Desk, This Is Audrey, How May I Help You?, Audrey H. Schwinn

Blogging the Library

I never thought I would feel this comfortable at the desk. At the end of last week a lot of librarians weren't in the building so I picked up one of their shifts. In January I never would have thought I could just volunteer for that. The idea of being at the desk alone was pretty scary, so the thought of being at the desk when there were very few librarians even in the building would have been flat out terrifying. But it was fine! There weren't too many questions because it was the lunch shift on Friday so for …

Other Projects: Librarians Don't Just Read Books All Day, Audrey H. Schwinn

Blogging the Library

Since I now have four hours a week to sit behind the Ref. Desk, but no more training material to work on, I have been given a couple projects to work on. [excerpt]

First Day Without A Desk Buddy: A Detailed Summary, Audrey H. Schwinn

Blogging the Library

Today is my first day behind the Ref. Desk without a Desk Buddy. I'm glad it's a morning shift because those are usually much quieter and less eventful than afternoon shifts. All of the librarians have reassured me that if I need help answering a question I can just call any of them, but so far I've been fine. I've been keeping a list of everything that occurs at the Desk this morning so that I can properly document my first day out here by myself. So far it hasn't been terribly interesting, but right now I'm ok with that. …

Exploring Library Room 20 - The Library Instruction Lair, Audrey H. Schwinn

Blogging the Library

For the last couple of weeks, in addition to working behind the Reference Desk, I have also been further investigating the Instruction part of the Reference & Instruction Department. While some instruction necessarily happens at the desk, the librarians have a chance to get more in-depth into teaching research skills when professors bring their students into the computer lab classroom in the basement. In the past couple weeks I have observed an English 101 and a 200-level Psych class, and my own Environmental Issues class was also brought in to meet with a librarian. [excerpt]