CRC vs. SCC

Yesterday was my first stint as an adjunct reference librarian at Consumnes River College, another of the four colleges in the Los Rios Community College District.  After teaching at Sacramento City College for around twenty years, I was eager to see what another of the Los Rios schools was like.

Surprisingly, it was a wonderful experience, and I think this semester there will be wonderful.  I'm surprised because I thought I'd be a fish out of water--unable to cope with the questions or students since I don't really have a grasp on where everything is on campus, what each group does, and where to refer students.  In fact, CRC is very similar to SCC in student population and beginning of semester questions asked.



Tonight I return to the SCC library for the first time since the winter break.  I wonder if the number of students needing help will be comparable to those I helped at CRC yesterday. 

Almost all of the questions revolved around finding reserve textbooks for students, some who were very prepared by bringing in their syllabi and some who weren't sure what their instructors' names were, what the title of the textbooks were, or even what classes they were taking.  Consequently, I ended up using the online book catalog as well as the school's course catalog and the online link to the CRC bookstore quite a bit.

Only one student burst into tears, which is a record for the first tense week of school!

I'm relieved, however, that my first day at CRC went as smoothly as I think it did!