Weeks 5 & 6 of Project -- Analysis, Design, and Development...
-Collected Requirements from Primary Client and Secondary Client.
-Met with SMEs regarding administrative procedures.
-Met with Student Services to gain Campus Tour script.
-Spent hours on Campus Website collecting URLs.
-Reviewed Staff Employee and Faculty Handbooks.
-Designed "Surviving your First Two Weeks" presentation
-Used Metaphor of Children's Programming to address categories of needs
* Mr Rogers Neighborhood -- people you need to know
* The Electric Company -- essential tasks
* School House Rock -- Academic specific info (grades, courses, textbooks)
* Sesame Street -- Important places on campus
* Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego? -- Putting the department in context
within UNT and the City of Denton
-Designed "Surviving your First Two Weeks" checklist
-Used Timeline structure -- Day one, day two, day three...
-Scheduled meeting with client
September 30, 2008
New Client - Learning Technologies Department
Originally, for my CECS5210 class, I was going to work with a professor to redesign and enhance her Blackboard course shell. Unfortunately, after the analysis phase, this project did not materialize. So, 3 weeks into the project timeline, I found myself starting from scratch, looking for a client. I made my way to the professor's office to explain my situation and hoped that it wasn't too late to still pull out a decent grade in the class.
What transpired next was a boon of fortune. My professor became my client. Before I had time to really think about the implications of having the person grading me also being my client, we were off and running. It appears that much like other places on campus, their department has little in the way of formal instruction for new faculty members. Most of what is learned by a faculty member in their first two weeks has come through finding the right person to talk to, asking questions of several people, wandering around aimlessly on campus being redirected to various locations, and shear luck. (Ok, there is also the official Faculty Handbook of the University but that doesn't address those "where is the library, how do I get email, what classes am I teaching, who's in those classes, and do I have wireless access" questions.)
My new project is "to create a learning tools to help new faculty members survive their first two weeks on campus".
What transpired next was a boon of fortune. My professor became my client. Before I had time to really think about the implications of having the person grading me also being my client, we were off and running. It appears that much like other places on campus, their department has little in the way of formal instruction for new faculty members. Most of what is learned by a faculty member in their first two weeks has come through finding the right person to talk to, asking questions of several people, wandering around aimlessly on campus being redirected to various locations, and shear luck. (Ok, there is also the official Faculty Handbook of the University but that doesn't address those "where is the library, how do I get email, what classes am I teaching, who's in those classes, and do I have wireless access" questions.)
My new project is "to create a learning tools to help new faculty members survive their first two weeks on campus".
September 16, 2008
Branding....
I'm still in the midst of updating usage stats at my new place of work. More will probably come on that as publishers do have a variety of ways of providing this information, even if it's counter compliant.
Today, I realized that one of my former places of work had changed the vendor they used to provide their listing of electronic journals. This itself is not a problem; the main thing to me is that this type of listing is available. What I did notice was the total lack of branding. Once you click on the e-Journal list, there is nothing to indicate which library the list is for or to even navigate back to the library's main website. The main logo is for the vendor! So, the user may not even realize they are still looking at resources provided by the library. And, once a user has done significate searching, they'll either have to use their browser's back arrow (possibly many times) or navigate some other way back to the library's website. If they find what they are looking for, no problem, it will take them to their selected title in whatever database. However, if not, then they're on their own for returning to the library's home page.
Most vendors offer the ability to brand a site - to put your library's name on it and to even customize the look and feel to match that of your library. This gives continuity to the user and subtly reminds them that this is a service provided by the library. It's also key to provide at least a link back to the library's home page for this type of listing.
One of the aspects of my new job is to do that type of branding when possible. It's something I strongly believe in. Yes, it takes extra time, but in the end it helps promote the library and the services being provided to users, which in this day and age of budget cuts is crucial.
Today, I realized that one of my former places of work had changed the vendor they used to provide their listing of electronic journals. This itself is not a problem; the main thing to me is that this type of listing is available. What I did notice was the total lack of branding. Once you click on the e-Journal list, there is nothing to indicate which library the list is for or to even navigate back to the library's main website. The main logo is for the vendor! So, the user may not even realize they are still looking at resources provided by the library. And, once a user has done significate searching, they'll either have to use their browser's back arrow (possibly many times) or navigate some other way back to the library's website. If they find what they are looking for, no problem, it will take them to their selected title in whatever database. However, if not, then they're on their own for returning to the library's home page.
Most vendors offer the ability to brand a site - to put your library's name on it and to even customize the look and feel to match that of your library. This gives continuity to the user and subtly reminds them that this is a service provided by the library. It's also key to provide at least a link back to the library's home page for this type of listing.
One of the aspects of my new job is to do that type of branding when possible. It's something I strongly believe in. Yes, it takes extra time, but in the end it helps promote the library and the services being provided to users, which in this day and age of budget cuts is crucial.
September 11, 2008
Dressing for success...
I've pondered writing this post for awhile now and have decided it's worth mentioning. For as long as I've been a librarian (about 5 years now), I've seen concern about the trend to do away with librarian positions in favor of more paraprofessionals and the lack of respect in general for the degree and the profession.
I just started working in my third academic library. My first two academic libraries were state schools. The dress code at the first was generally business casual with blue jean Fridays for the librarians. For the staff, well, it was whatever they threw on. At my last library, there was no dress code for anyone as far as I could tell. The Director and Asst Director generally dressed nicely, but the rest of the staff pretty much as they pleased. This was librarians and staff. Some dressed business casual, others not so much. In fact, on one day, someone was at work in shorts, a polo top, and flip flops. One person in my department used to take off their flip flops and walk around the office barefoot. Who wants to be in an office with someone running around barefoot? Generally, they were also wearing jeans and a shirt.
What image does this set for the public? Whether we like it or not, how we dress affects how we are perceived. My current place of work has a dress code. Men generally wear slacks, shirt and tie, especially if on the reference desk. Women dress accordingly. I've generally been a slacks and sweater type of girl and yes, I will be adding some new items to my wardrobe (for a couple of reasons). It's actually nice to be back in a place where everyone dresses for the job. It doesn't have to be a suit, but for heavens sake, if you dress at least business causal, it indicates that you are a professional and take your job seriously. In the end, if you take your job seriously, so will others.
I just started working in my third academic library. My first two academic libraries were state schools. The dress code at the first was generally business casual with blue jean Fridays for the librarians. For the staff, well, it was whatever they threw on. At my last library, there was no dress code for anyone as far as I could tell. The Director and Asst Director generally dressed nicely, but the rest of the staff pretty much as they pleased. This was librarians and staff. Some dressed business casual, others not so much. In fact, on one day, someone was at work in shorts, a polo top, and flip flops. One person in my department used to take off their flip flops and walk around the office barefoot. Who wants to be in an office with someone running around barefoot? Generally, they were also wearing jeans and a shirt.
What image does this set for the public? Whether we like it or not, how we dress affects how we are perceived. My current place of work has a dress code. Men generally wear slacks, shirt and tie, especially if on the reference desk. Women dress accordingly. I've generally been a slacks and sweater type of girl and yes, I will be adding some new items to my wardrobe (for a couple of reasons). It's actually nice to be back in a place where everyone dresses for the job. It doesn't have to be a suit, but for heavens sake, if you dress at least business causal, it indicates that you are a professional and take your job seriously. In the end, if you take your job seriously, so will others.
September 05, 2008
What determines usage?
I'm in my first week of my new job as Electronic Access Librarian at a University in Maryland. So, far the job is off to a very good start. It has probably been one of the best welcomes to a job that I have ever had. After my previous job, I'll admit, I was probably a bit paranoid.
One of my first projects is too look at and update the electronic resource usage stats. If you've read this blog before, you'll know I'm terribly intrigued by usage statistics. This project also allows me to become familiar with the holdings of my new library.
Over the past few days, I've come to realize that what I started out looking for, Searches, doesn't necessarily answer the big usage question. What I'm seeing more of, especially for products which host electronic journal subscriptions, is fewer searches than sessions. I've come to realize this is probably from the SFX linking (which I didn't have at my first library job) and accounts for how folks can hit the system but not search. So, now I try and look at the statistics for both Searches and Sessions. I don't think I can truly define a products usage anymore by the volume of searching; those "hits" coming in from the article linker also need to be included.
One of my first projects is too look at and update the electronic resource usage stats. If you've read this blog before, you'll know I'm terribly intrigued by usage statistics. This project also allows me to become familiar with the holdings of my new library.
Over the past few days, I've come to realize that what I started out looking for, Searches, doesn't necessarily answer the big usage question. What I'm seeing more of, especially for products which host electronic journal subscriptions, is fewer searches than sessions. I've come to realize this is probably from the SFX linking (which I didn't have at my first library job) and accounts for how folks can hit the system but not search. So, now I try and look at the statistics for both Searches and Sessions. I don't think I can truly define a products usage anymore by the volume of searching; those "hits" coming in from the article linker also need to be included.
September 04, 2008
CECS 5210 Week 1 Question...
Given what you have read about instructional design, how important is it to what your future work goals are?
My career thus far has always contained a course design and delivery function. My true love is delivering technology education to librarians. No matter how I intend to accomplish this in the future, instructional design is one of the foundations of success to a good course. Making sure to analyze no only the material to be presented but also the audience which will be attending has often been the key factor to the quality of the knowledge transfered. Additionally, I have found that evaluation and closing the feedback loop to be instrumental to improving the effectiveness of not only my teaching style but the reference materials the students retain. I'm looking forward to learning about instructional design in a formal manner, as most of mine has been JIT or on-the-job training.
My career thus far has always contained a course design and delivery function. My true love is delivering technology education to librarians. No matter how I intend to accomplish this in the future, instructional design is one of the foundations of success to a good course. Making sure to analyze no only the material to be presented but also the audience which will be attending has often been the key factor to the quality of the knowledge transfered. Additionally, I have found that evaluation and closing the feedback loop to be instrumental to improving the effectiveness of not only my teaching style but the reference materials the students retain. I'm looking forward to learning about instructional design in a formal manner, as most of mine has been JIT or on-the-job training.
Starting my PhD -- Instructional Design Class
I am pursuing my PhD in the Information Science department at UNT. I live in Austin and will be in Denton two to three days a week. This year I've left the "real world" and dedicated myself to being a full-time student and Graduate Library Assistant over at the Willis Library. I've been in the "training" and "library" worlds since 1994 and am looking forward to formal instruction in Instructional Design. All of my knowledge has been through trial by fire or those professional development course I've been able to take along the way. I've done everything from Corporate Training, help desk support, IT management, to course development, professional development delivery, conference presentations, and website maintenance.
For those of you who have been following this blog a while, you'll start to see weekly updates from me on Instructional Design topics from my course work. For those of you classmates, you'll see occasional non-class posts from me and posts regularly from my very insightful co-author. I encourage you to enjoy them all.
Happy Reading!
For those of you who have been following this blog a while, you'll start to see weekly updates from me on Instructional Design topics from my course work. For those of you classmates, you'll see occasional non-class posts from me and posts regularly from my very insightful co-author. I encourage you to enjoy them all.
Happy Reading!
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