Mobius Conference - Embedded Librarian

I am sitting at the first session entitle the Embedded Librarian - hoping to learn new and great things. The speaker is Brian Vetruba, Catalog librarian from Washington University in St. Louis. Right now technical difficulties with the presentation.

Presentation started - via webcast

Started in 2006 holding "office hours" - Official office hours at Main Library underutilized office located off-campus. Departmental lectures and social events became "office hours"

Becoming Embedded
-Regular office hours in convenient setting
-Problem was finding space and computer could use
-2 to 2.5 hours a week in the Dept.

Advertise and Be Visible
-Email, newsletter, signs
-Don't stay put in your office
-Strategically walk the halls
-Strike up conversations with faculty and students

Informal conversations can be productive

Results--Personal touch back into librarianship

***My thoughts is that this is a great idea when you are at a large university, you really need to have that interaction with the faculty and students to find their needs. I was hoping for more information on how to do this virtually which he has not discussed.***

Benefits
-Convenience
-being seen will prompt questions
-good pr for library
-market other services
-collegiality with faculty

Drawbacks/Challenges
-commitment of time
-no print resources available
-space at dept.'s whim

***I'm still thinking that there is a better way to do outreach to other dept.'s and students. In our world of the social web, it would be better to hold virtual office hours. I understand wanting to be "seen" but why not "go" where the students are...Facebook, MySpace, chat, etc. Just saying.***

Suggestions
-have relationship established with dept. beforehand
-walk the halls, meet people

***Presenter is good, but the presentation was not really what I expected. In other words there was good information, but really nothing pertained to what I would be doing in my job.***

Something Has Got To Give

I am on work overload. It is not necessarily that I have too much to do, although I do have a lot to do. It is just that the work that I have to do all have deadlines starting on March 30th and then every week I have something coming due. I am wanting to present at two conferences this fall, plus I am also currently writing an article for submission to a journal. Also if all goes well I will be co/teaching a course this summer. I also have to write a philosophy statement for events that take place in the library (Bolivar campus, not Springfield), order books and media items (which is always ongoing), teach bibliographic instruction to classes, help students with research, and the everyday work that comes up. Now don't get me wrong I am not necessarily complaining. In fact, truth be told, the researching, writing articles, presenting, and teaching are all things that I love to do. My biggest problem is time management and learning how to get everything done.

So if you come into the library and see me looking harried, be assured that it is all the work that I have piled on my desk, not the question that you have to ask. Also know that if my office door is open, then please feel free to come and see me and ask questions. I will more than welcome the interruption. However if you see my door shut (only while someone else is here in the library), then know it is only so I can have some time to try and get some of the many things done that I have on my plate. I am hoping that all this writing and researching will result in some positive changes for the library in the future. This is really an exciting time and I am so happy to be part of SBU and St. John's College of Nursing.

Staying up to date

Well, I said that I was going to do better at keeping everyone up to date, but I haven't. Everyone should check out my blog at: http://hollithelibrarygirl.blogspot.com/. This blog is updated at least once a week and it allows you to see what I am currently doing in regards to new technologies in the library field. It may be a good idea to keep posted because I am hoping that you will see some of these technologies used here in the near future.

Next week is Spring Break and I am ready for the break. I will be on vacation next week and the library will have shortened hours. They will be posted on the door of the library today, but I will go ahead and post them here first.

Monday the 23rd - Closed
Tuesday the 24th through Thursday the 26th - 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Friday the 27th 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

I hope that you all can make it through this week and have a great Spring Break!

Follow me as I take a class

It is not often that I get to take a class and I am enjoying it. You can follow along with my blog for the class at: http://hollithelibrarygirl.blogspot.com/. I am learning about Library 2.0 or social networking technologies that I can use in the library to communicate with students and also to help teach students.

Today I created an account on Del.icio.us. I am working on saving bookmarks that will be helpful to both students and colleagues. You can see the bookmarks that I have currently by going to: http://delicious.com/hollithelibrarygirl. You can always suggest bookmarks for me to add. Also I would appreciate any other comments you might have.

I can't believe it has been a year!

I can't believe that it has been a year since my last blog entry. A lot has happened in that year with birth of my daughter, and the changes in the curriculum here at the Springfield campus. I am hoping to continue my blog and keep everyone up to date about what is going on in the library.

I am currently working on a class that is titled "Learning 2.0: The 13 Things." Basically I am learning about web 2.0 technologies and how to incorporate them into the library. My first assignment is to create a blog. Well guess what? I already have a blog that I just haven't used in a long time. So here I am posting to my blog once more.

What I would like to learn from you the student, or faculty is what types of technologies do you think the library should incorporate? Perhaps podcasts, RSS feeds, wikis, etc. Maybe there is something that I haven't thought of. I welcome all suggestions and feedback.

Slowing Down

Finals week are next week and you can tell that things are definitely slowing down around here. This week started out being one of the busiest weeks since the start of school and is ending as one of the slowest.

I would just like to remind everyone to keep the noise down as students are studying for finals. It is usually not a problem and I thank all of you in advance for being courteous to your fellow students.

Good to luck to everyone with their finals!

Monday

For all of you studying for the A&P test tomorrow, you can take models out of the Model and Slide Study Room. We just ask that you keep the models in the library. It seems that we have had a run on the study room today and at times not all the students that want to study can fit in there. You are more than welcome to study in another part of the library.

Today has been a very busy day to say the least. Just a reminder to those that are still having printing problems - be sure and check the corkboard in the computer labs for instructions on logging into the computers and also on printing. Also you can always ask the library staff or Peggy the IT person.

Kuddos to the students that put their names on the handouts they were printing. It made the printing rush this morning so much easier. Thank you so much for that!!!!

I hope that you all have a good day and good luck to the A&P students!