End of Fall Semester

The Fall Semester is nearly over. I have completed teaching my first full credit course for the Library Technology Certificate Program. I have learned much with the first go around of teaching LIB 103-Circulation Service, and look forward to making improvements for the next go around. I will also be assessing one particular SLO- Student Learning Objective, when teaching my next LIB 10A course as well as LIB 103 next Fall.
With the help of the library technicians, I am tying up loose ends by placing Financial Holds on student accounts that have books that are more than 6 months overdue. This always brings many books back, or at least has the students come in to settle their debts for lost items.
I have also been adjusting the Counting Opinions Survey and learing how to use this service. Once complete I will be able to start sharing some results and data with the library.

CARL program and Counting Ops. cont.

Last Friday I attended the CARL-DIG program focused on providing quality reference service. While the two primary speakers focused on creating a solid, unified reference culture at your library and on how to make yourself available to students, the discussion focused mostly on IM, email, and other Web 2.0 reference topics. This was interesting and helpful as we continue to broaden our use of IM reference through Library H3lp and Pigeon.
I have also received some of the introductory materials for our Counting Opinions survey and will be meeting online with their representative tomorrow morning to begin my training and familiarizing myself with the program.
Wednesday, I will be taking part in a tele-conference entitled "Handling the Most Difficult Conversations with Today's College Students" along with the two Library Technicians who work with me. They had both requested further development in this, as well as other areas, and hopefully this will be a high quality conference experience.
Other than that, the library is preparing for the Holidays and I myself am excited for the break.

Blog, Wiki, and Podcasting presentation

Today I presented a short introduction to blogs, wikis, and podcasting for the PCC Academic Senate. The goal was to present these Web 2.0 tools to faculty members who may be unfamiliar with them and then show them how these tools might also be used in the classroom or for professional development. This blog was used as an example.
I also received confirmation from Counting Opinions that our survey is nearly complete and I will begin training next Tuesday morning on how to use and manage this new service. I will also attend a program on Friday regarding Reference Service. I hope that there will be elements to help me improve my Reference Service and IM Reference Service in particular.

The end of the semester nears

So, we have met with the people from Counting Opinions and will be purchasing their service. I have been designated as the "go-to" person for this and will be the contact between Counting Opinions and the library.
My Library 103 class is winding down and I have learned alot to apply the next time I teach it. As much as I do in the area of Circulation, this class has brought things to my attention that I hadn't thought of previously by making comparisons between public and academic circulation service.
I have also completed all evaluations of employees, having them all evaluated for what appears to be the first time in years. My predecessor never provided any performance evaluation to allow the assistants and supervisors to know how they are doing. This was a positive experience and provided pay raises for some.

IM Reference, Counting Opinions, and other Stuff

For the past two months or so, the Shatford Library has been testing an IM(Instant Message) Reference Service with our students. It has not been advertised heavily, but students are finding the service and I have had the opportunity to answer several questions. As time passes and more librarians come on board with this, we may be able to advertise and use this much more as an avenue of serving students in a way that is useful and easy for them.
I have also been asked to examine a customer satisfaction and performance assessment service called Counting Opinions. This service has already been evaluated by two other librarians and we will most likely be acquiring this computer based service. I am now the head in contacting and setting up Counting Opinions. I have scheduled a meeting and demonstration with them on November 12 and will more forward from there as I learn more.
I have completed evaluation my Student Assistants and will now move to evaluate my supervisors. The evaluation form worked well, and the students were happy to have long missing feedback on their job performance.
Unfortuneately, I have been so involved in my teaching and management of the Circulation Desk, that I have yet to schedule meetings with the Languages and PE departments. This is still a high priority. I hope to have more on this in my next post.

Circulation Mgmt. Time

Having been here for a year, I must now evaluate the student workers at the circulation desk. Over the past two weeks, I have gathered different evaluation forms, read throught them, selected relevant points, and revised the evaluation form I will use. It is important at this time for me to let the students know how well they are doing or if they need to improve. This may also qualify some students for a pay raise. I would like use these evaluations also as a guide for our new student workers to work towards the "Outstanding" classification.
I am also beginning to schedule my liason duties once again. I will try to meet with both the Languages and Physical Education divisions over the next month to remind them of the services available to them through the library.

4 weeks into the semester

We are now four weeks into the Fall semester. I have passed my one year anniversary here. Things are calming down at the circulation desk now that students are familiar with the library system and have found or bought most of their textbooks. I am now forced to change focus and pay more attention to committe work and other librarian duties. Over the last two weeks, I have met with the Faculty Technology Committee and the Student Learning Outcomes Committee as they begin their work this year.
I have also gotten through my first three lessons for LIB 103-Circulation. I have a great class, and my lectures and timing have improved each week. I look forward to the rest of the semester as I have more time to devote to this class.

New Year, still a new librarian?

As I reach my one year anniversary at PCC, the new school year starts. This is my first experience with the beginning of Fall semester, which is crazy. This week has been overwhelmingly busy. We were also short one person through the first half of the week, and you could feel the loss. I do think that many of the changes we made to the circulation desk throughout the summer were beneficial. Many of the circulation assistants are new and still learning, which slows things down a bit, but they are working hard and learning fast. I will now have to follow up with them, as I see many re-shelving mistakes. I think I will give them a short shelving test or quiz to make them aware of the mistakes that they are making.
Tomorrow I will begin teaching my first full credit semester long course. I think I have most of my lessons prepared and as with Library 10A, I expect to make some errors and improve as I go. I do look forward to the student contact. My roster show that many of my students are students I have had in the past in Lib 10A.
Well, I guess Im still a new librarian, just one with a year's experience.

End of the year

Well, I am now nearing the end of my first year as a librarian at PCC.
We are now ready for the Fall semester to begin as well. I have hired 6 new people and started their training. The Reserve Textbook collection is clean and up to date. With the help of Jared and Diana, I have also cleaned and re-organized the entire circulation desk to get rid of all the clutter and make it easier to find the things you need when you need them.
Other than that, I have been preparing to teach my first full credit, semester long class. I will be teaching Library 103- Circulation Services in the Fall and have completed my syllabus and web page. I am now preparing my lectures and completing all of the readings that I will ask of my students to ensure that they are relevant. I have also scheduled our field trip to the San Marino Public Library to allow students to compare circulation services in different libraries.
I must also prepare to meet with the Languages and Physical Education departments again to make them aware of how the library can be of service.
Other projects for the near future are to delve back into Facebook and Myspace as well as work with Leslie to begin offering live Web-chat reference.
Finally I wanted to include the Circulation Policies and Procedures Wiki that was recently completed by Diana and Jared. This is a living document and will change with time, but here is the link for those who have access http://shatfordcirculation.pbwiki.com/FrontPage

Summer moves on.

Well, my excuse for not writing it that summer is here, I've been very busy at work, but have also been busy when off.
So far, I am very happy with the progress that has been made on projects that I had set up for the circulation department. We have nearly completed our weeding of the Textbook Reserves, which was badly needed. We found books that had not been checked out in 5 years, but were still being held on Reserve. This should expedite our service in the Fall with fewer unnecessary items to search through to get to the books students need. It will also portray the textbooks currently being used more accurately.
Jared and Diana have made great progress on the Circulation Wiki, which will include all policies and procedures and make them available online. I am currently conducting interviews in order to hire 5-6 new student assistants to work at the circulation desk in the Fall and then will have to train them rather quickly to be prepared for the beginning of the '08-'09 school year.
All in all, we should be ready for the large number of students we will be serving.
I have also recently completed my move into my new office. This helped me organize all of my circulation documents and my teaching materials for the upcoming year. It also gives me a beautiful view of the local mountains and Colorado Boulevard.
Since I last wrote, I ahve also attended the ALA National Conference for the first time. I was able to meet some of the vendors of our databases, as well as talk with them about functions I would like to see in their products. I was able to suggest to ProQuest that they work on creating an application for use with Facebook being that many other databases are doing this. I have been informed that they are now looking into this and hope to create such an applicaiton. I also was able to see many newer technologies, especially focussing on the different presentations of, and uses of Electronic Books.

Last Week

This is the final week of the semester. The library is preparing to have our entire phone system replaced, so we have had training on using the new phones and such.
I am happy to say that PCC now has a link resolver that allows students to use Google Scholar and link to the resources in our databases and catalogs, as well as any other scholarly materials available for free on the web.
I demonstrated the use of Google Scholar during my interview for my job here, and pushed for its integration. After some initial research, another librarian, Leslie, went through the proper channels to acquire a link resolver service so that our library could participate using Google Scholar. Now it is partially my job to make certain that students are aware of this service, what it does, how it might help them, and its limitations so that it does not go unused.

Spring Semester winds down.

As the Spring Semester winds down, I begin to prepare for the projects I would like to complete this summer prior to the Fall Semester beginning. Diana and Jared, the two library technicians here, will help to weed through our Reserve Textbooks. Diana will lead this project due to her familiarity with this area and being that she has been in charge of the Reserve textbooks. Jared will continue to learn from Diana and will maintain the Instructor Reserves that I recently completed weeding.
We will also need to hire 3-4 Student Assistants this summer and promote one Assistant to a Supervisor position. I hope to train all of these candidates prior to the Fall Semester.
I will use the summer to complete my lesson planning for LIB 103, which I will teach in the Fall, and to perfect and improve the Social Networking pages that I have created with the goal of sharing and advertising them to students in the Fall. One setback may be our network, but hopefully all upgrades will be complete and we will be able to open up the broadband restrictions here so that Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, and other Web 2.0 applications can be used to their full capabilities.

ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award

This week, the Shatford Library celebrated our winning of the ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award. The celebration was short and tailored to thank those who helped the library receive the award as well as the students of PCC. This is a prestigious award and solidifies my certainty of being in the right place.
As far as work goes, I have been learning how to run Voyager reports using Microsoft Access. This will be a large part of my work when Dan is on sabbatical next year. I have also started examining my personnel in order to determine how many people I must hire for next year.
Things are looking good for the Fall semester, although I need to get to work on preparing the Circulation course that I will teach. I also continue to work on specific rubrics for Information Literacy competency to be used by PCC when examined for accreditation.

Professional Development and Involvment Note

I need to take a moment to recap some of the other things that I have done on campus. (This is afterall a blog to help me remember when I come up for tenure.)
I have been participating in the Faculty Technology Committee since my start at PCC. I have presented information to the committee on Podcasting, Facebook, and MySpace. We meet once a month to discuss the Technology needs of faculty members.

I recently served on a panel that examined the libraries self study for the WASC visitation that is coming up to assess PCC's accreditation. As a group, we read, examined, and suggested changes to what will be the official document presented to WASC. I then acted as Secretary and compiled the notes and suggestions in order to present them to the writer of the document.

Finally, I have currently been asked to serve on the SLO (Student Learning Outcomes) Committee. We are examining different rubrics for assessing student's Information Literacy ability, in order to create our own. This too, is in preparation for the Accreditation visits coming to PCC.

Meanwhile, I continue to teach one hour sessions to various classes, prepare to teach LIB 103 (Circulation Procedures), manage the circulation desk and instructor reserves, prepare to hire new student assistants, create the summer schedule, and perform my standard reference and collection development duties. I am also serving on the hiring committee that is working to fill the Library Technician II position that will assist me at the circulation desk.
Well, enough of that, I think that I am all caught up.

Spring Break

I have just enjoyed my first Spring Break at Pasadena City College. Before leaving, I completed my cleansing of the instructor reserves, and must now begin on our text book reserves. I will also be planning another meeting for my circulation staff to discuss privacy issues and fire alarm procedures. It will give us a chance to celebrate getting through the toughest part of the semester as well, with a little pizza. Who doesn't like pizza every now and then.
I must also begin preparing to teach Circulation in the Fall. This will be a 4 credit, full semester course, and will require some serious planning and preparation. Should be fun as well.

Finished teaching my 2nd class.

Well, I just finished grading all of my final projects and final exams for the Library 10A (Internet and Web research) class I was teaching for the Spring semester. Again, some of the students really surprised me with the quality of their work, where others did not. I do enjoy grading these research projects, because students are allowed to research any topic of interest to them. This exposes me to all sorts of interesting subjects and topics I may never have thought of, for example, the Manananggal, Gothic Lolita fashion, and Alan Moore Page, to name a few. You can learn about these yourself by exploring the Wiki pages created by my students at http://lib10aspring.pbwiki.com/ , then click the sidebar and exam the pages of the different students.
As to my project to clean up the instructor reserves, it continues. I have sorted through all professors from A-L, and now must embark on those from M-Z. I think this will help greatly with finding materials quickly and getting more materials into the hands of the students who need them.

Instructor Reserves

Over the past week, I have been working to update the PCC Instructor Reserves behind our circulation desk. I had noticed several items that did not seem to be getting any use and many Professor's names that I did not recognize. Upon further investigation, there were many materials on reserve for professors who no longer teach here and many materials that had not been checked out in the past 5 years. Many of these items are library items that I feel might get more use if they were out in the circulating collection where students might stumble upon them browsing. I have returned what items I can discern have been forgotten, and written a letter to many other professors asking them to examine the materials they have on reserve and determine whether or not they must be on reserve.
Through this process, I have cleaned up and organized the reserves in preparation for next Fall, and hope to hear back from some of the professors on campus in order to complete this project and have only relevant, highly sought after materials, at the circulation desk.

Spring Semester rolls on.

We are five weeks into the Spring Semester, and things have finally calmed down at the circulation desk. This is allowing me to teach more BI's (Bibliographic Instruction sessions). I have had some great feedback from the professors that I have taught for, with one even calling me the "Librarian's Librarian" and praising me with a quote from Benjamin Franklin (That of course I can't remember right now). Instructors are specifically requesting that I teach their sessions, which is very flattering. These are good signs for me now as well, with the budget constraints placed upon the education system in California at this time. March 15th has passed, and I am now certain that I will not be laid off.
I am looking forward to focusing more attention on the "Emerging technologies" portion of my job title in the coming weeks.
Ciao

Shout out!!!

Well, I guess part of the fun of having a blog in the complete control I have over it. I would like to throw a shout out to Zatoichi for being my number one (and only) fan.
The Spring Semester has begun, and I have been swamped. I did hire two new student workers, one of which is working out fantastically. The other hire has yet to begin due to the slow process of processing his social security number, but I look forward to him starting this week.
There have been many challenges as the semester begins. The circulation desk is short one computer, that we are still waiting for repairs on. This has slowed our ability to serve students being that most all transactions are computerized. We have had enough people working, but it has been difficult as the student workers must maneuver around each other to get to the working computers.
Also, the reality of managing the libraries Reserve collection has hit. Many instructors do not plan ahead to have readings available for their students by the first week of class. Then, as they do request items to be placed on Reserve, they expect that they will be available immediately. I do not comprehend the thought process involved in their course planning. As a teacher myself, I make certain that my materials are prepared beforehand in order to provide the best learning environment possible and ensure that my students have the tools necessary to succeed. Well, due to this lack of preparation, I have been placed in emergency mode, processing and preparing reserve materials throughout the day. This leaves very little time for my other duties, but as we hire a new library tech., my responsibilities in this area will be alleviated as I train the tech to handle this.
I have also started teaching LIB 10A again this semester and am very happy with how the final projects turned out last semester. I have made some changes that will improve this semester's crop I hope. To view the projects, go to Library 10A Wiki, and click the different links in the sidebar. Some students may have removed their work, but hopefully some have remained.
Well, adios bibliotecarios

End of Winter Intersession

Well, I have been so overwhelmed with teaching and running the circulation desk, that I have had no time to write in my blog. I made it to the 3 different conferences and am learning more every day. As to work at the library, I have hired two new student workers for the circulation desk, promoted a worker to a supervisory position, and will complete teaching Library 10A tonight with the Final Exam.
Diana and I are ramping up in preparation for the Spring Semester starting next Tuesday, and this keeps us both very, very busy being down one Library Technician. We are still waiting to see if we will be given the funds to re-hire for Ken's position. I have recently finished the new work schedule, have been adding items to our reserve lists, and with Diana's help am training our two new workers and our new supervisor.
As I stated, tonight I will finish teaching Library 10A and unfortuneatly will not have much time to evaluate my work before I start teaching it again next Thursday. I will have to grade the final exams and final projects in order to get grades turned in on time. It appears that using a Wiki for the web page portion of the class is working. More on that when I am certain. If you would like to see, you can check it out at http://library10ahanson.pbwiki.com/ .
Hopefully I will get back to regular updates. My work as a new librarian really took off after the first semester. I realize how much help I was receiving to ease me into the position. Now, I am quite busy and feeling the pressures of my position. I still enjoy it though, most of the time.

Back from the Holidays and settling in.

I made it back from Rome, and was able to prepare myself for the LIB 10A class I am teaching. The first class was rough because I was still jetlagged, but the second class went much better. I have also taken on much more resposibility with the circulation desk. Ken has moved on to his position as a Librarian at a La Canada library, and I have taken on all of his past duties in addition to my other work and teaching preparation. The first two weeks have been difficult, but I think things will settle down this week. There have been no major problems, and we are preparing to hire some new people to help us out in the Spring.
In other news, I will also be attending 3 different conferences/meetings with professional organizations this semester. I will be attending the SCIL works conference put on by CARL, the CARL south meeting, and a user group meeting for Voyager. In addition to this, I am planning on attending the ALA conference for the first time in June.