Thursday night at the beginning of exam week I'm sitting at the SCC ref desk when a young man approaches.
"I have to find some resources for a paper I'm writing. My teacher said I could write this paper and hand it in for one of the essays I missed during the semester."
"Okay," said I, even as I thought "too much information!" "What's your topic?"
He hung his head and softly replied, "Procrastination."
Do I love an instructor with a sense of humor or what? We found a few books and a few hundred articles on procrastinaation. I hope he actually wrote the paper and turned it in.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Marketing the Library
It's a slow night, so I'm reading posts from The M Word which more or less gives lists of marketing do's and don't's specifically aimed at libraries. The May 5 post, for example, looks at how to promote a library newsletter.
Okay, first off, I'm surprised that ANY library has a newsletter that's in print form these days. I contribute to The Reader, SCC's former newsletter, now blog. While The Reader has some readers, it doesn't have as many as I would wish. And this brings me to my constant dilemma: As a part-time librarian who works two nights a week, should I suggest some ways to promote The Reader and the library? (I was a publicist for a book publisher from 2000-2003, so have some experience in this realm, experience I'm happy to share.)
My answer in the past has been seek out the librarian under whose venue a project falls and to offer to help. My suggestions of ways to improve the library's perceived presence on campus, however, haven't been met with much excitement or acceptance. Although I must admit that The Reader editors have let me suggest and write a few blog postings.
I'm ambivalent about all of this. I'm annoyed that so few instructors and my guess is no students are reading the blog. Few instructors take advantage of library orientations for their classes. Few students know what the library offers and how to access its materials and services. So what should I do as a part-timer? I wish I knew.
Okay, first off, I'm surprised that ANY library has a newsletter that's in print form these days. I contribute to The Reader, SCC's former newsletter, now blog. While The Reader has some readers, it doesn't have as many as I would wish. And this brings me to my constant dilemma: As a part-time librarian who works two nights a week, should I suggest some ways to promote The Reader and the library? (I was a publicist for a book publisher from 2000-2003, so have some experience in this realm, experience I'm happy to share.)
My answer in the past has been seek out the librarian under whose venue a project falls and to offer to help. My suggestions of ways to improve the library's perceived presence on campus, however, haven't been met with much excitement or acceptance. Although I must admit that The Reader editors have let me suggest and write a few blog postings.
I'm ambivalent about all of this. I'm annoyed that so few instructors and my guess is no students are reading the blog. Few instructors take advantage of library orientations for their classes. Few students know what the library offers and how to access its materials and services. So what should I do as a part-timer? I wish I knew.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Dealing with the Clueless
Dealing with the Clueless might just become an on-going feature of this blog. Who knows? At any rate, here's the latest story from the reference desk:
Sitting at the SCC reference desk, librarians get a panoramic view of the lobby as well as the circulation desk and many other interesting library sites. (Okay, maybe not all that interesting!) At any rate, we can see the elevators which are integral to this story.
So I'm sitting at the ref desk about 6:45 p.m. on a quiet night when there's not much noise and everything seems to be humming along rather well.
Approaching the elevators are two women who are talking up a storm--quietly, however. They get into the elevator. The doors close. A few seconds later, the elevator dings, the doors open, and the women get out of the elevator, still talking. They look around, turn, and re-enter the elevator. A few seconds later, the elevator dings, the doors open, and the women step out again. They look around and return to the elevator. The process occurs one more time.
This time they walk over to the reference desk.
"The elevator's broken," one of them announces.
Sitting at the SCC reference desk, librarians get a panoramic view of the lobby as well as the circulation desk and many other interesting library sites. (Okay, maybe not all that interesting!) At any rate, we can see the elevators which are integral to this story.
So I'm sitting at the ref desk about 6:45 p.m. on a quiet night when there's not much noise and everything seems to be humming along rather well.
Approaching the elevators are two women who are talking up a storm--quietly, however. They get into the elevator. The doors close. A few seconds later, the elevator dings, the doors open, and the women get out of the elevator, still talking. They look around, turn, and re-enter the elevator. A few seconds later, the elevator dings, the doors open, and the women step out again. They look around and return to the elevator. The process occurs one more time.
This time they walk over to the reference desk.
"The elevator's broken," one of them announces.
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