Conference Session: Library Research Consultations: Who Benefits Most?

Program:  Library Research Consultations:  Who Benefits Most?

Presenters:  Allison Faix & Brooke Taxakis (Kimble Library), & Amanda MacDonald (English Department); Coastal Carolina University

Date:  Thursday, October 20, 2011, 2:30-3:30pm, SCLA Annual Conference

Program Description:  Library research consultation appointments can be an effective way to help students develop information literacy skills, but the personalized, individual attention that contributes to the success of these sessions also makes sessions time consuming and difficult for librarians to schedule when demand is high.  This study looks at research consultations from the student’s perspective, comparing underclassman student perception of the usefulness of library research appointments.

-      Inspiration:  Reference and User Services Quarterly article about required reference desk consultation for student papers (Ref and User Svcs Quarterly 49.4 (2010) 333-40)
-          CCU study compared usefulness of freshman and senior individualized library consultations
-          Needed to look at processes because CCU enrollment doubled, library staff and space did not, creating problems with enough space for classes and with staff time for research consultations
-          Compared ENG 102 and PSY 497 (student research) classes.  Very low numbers of students in study. 
-          Had students fill out research consultation request forms
-          Results:
       o   Most freshman consults were 5-15 minutes long
       o   10 of 17 freshmen would do consult again
       o   90% of seniors would do the consult again
       o   36% of senior consults lasted 10-20 minutes; 43% lasted 20-30 minutes
       o   The freshman English class that was required to set up library research consultations had lower grades compared to classes that only had 1-hr group instruction sessions in the library.  The class who was required to set up individual appointments used too many references in their papers and also used those references indiscriminately.
-          Implications:
       o   Research consultations should be modified for every student
       o   Seniors benefit more from consults than freshmen
       o   Faculty/librarian communication is essential
       o   Knowing where to say no is what staff learned
       o   Send freshmen to the reference desk; more helpful than research consultations
       o   Good to have statistics to back up prioritizing senior appointments over freshmen

Conference Session: Wrap It Up: Quick Strategies to Engage Students and Assess Learning

Program:  Wrap It Up:  Quick Strategies to Engage Students and Assess Learning

Presenters:  Amy Edwards and Brent Appling, Thomas Cooper Library (USC)

Date:  Thursday, October 20, 2011, 10:30-11:30am, SCLA Annual Conference

Program Description:  Looking for new tools to engage your students in the classroom but have limited prep time and few resources?  Come join us for this session and learn about some inexpensive, easy-to-prepare tools that can be used in a variety of instructional settings.  These tools take just a few minutes of class time but can provide insight into your student’s learning and into the effectiveness of the instructional approach.

Session notes:

-          Began session with “in a word” game to engage students.  Like $10,000 Pyramid, only harder!
-          Electronic Review Games – create in Prezi and PowerPoint
       o   Why use?  Relatable to younger generation, reinforce covered material, generate good library image
-          Prezi games in practice: 
       o   Easy to design questions to follow along different levels of cognitive process
       o   Inserting visuals is very simple
       o   Can make as easy or involved as you like
       o   Is embeddable in LibGuides
-          What’s Wrong With This Picture?
       o   Self-assessment activity
       o   Try it with a capture of your homepage and alter the screenshot with errors, then have students scrutinize it to locate the errors
       o   To create the error-filled page, use ctrl-alt-printscreen, paste in Paint, try to use pages with a lot of white space, edit using Eraser and Text Box tools
-          Create a Jeopardy Review Game using Powerpoint
       o   Strengths
           §  Info broken into categories
           §  Ask more advanced questions
           §  Adaptable
           §  Motivates students to participate
           §  Keeps students engaged, lives up session
-          Top Five
       o   An activity to add context to the lesson
       o   Slide:  “What do you need to conduct library research?”
           §  Fill in the blanks:  pass around index cards to generate ideas

Conference session: SCSL Digital Collections

Program: South Carolina State Library Digital Collections

Presenter: Amanda Stone, Innovation & Digital Librarian, South Carolina State Library

Date:  Wednesday, October 19, 2011  3:00-4:00 pm

Program Description:  In this session, the State Library presents its new Digital collections, an eclectic set of South Carolina-related online resources.  We will discuss the project history and workflow, as well as explore the historical special collections, online state documents, and tombstone project.

Session notes:

View the State Library’s digital collections at dc.statelibrary.sc.gov

-          Utilizes DSpace repository open source software

-          Amanda discussed 2 collections:  The SC State Documents Depository and the Union County Tombstone Project

The SC State Documents Depository:  online docs created by state agencies & state-supported academic institutions. 

-          Give citizens info about state government, statistics, annual reports, & a variety of topics. 

-          17 state agencies provide content, includes over 3300 documents from 1853-2011. 

-          Documents are searchable by keyword, and can browse by agency, collection, date, title, author, & subject

-          Organization is based on usability for citizens, state employees, and libraries

-          Documents in State Document Depository will be linked to records in SC Lends (this process has just started)

-          Featured collections in depository:

o   School Directories

o   Office of the Governor

§  Executive Orders

§  Governor Messages, Vetoes, Proclamations

§  Inaugural Addresses & State of the State Addresses

o   Legislative Audit Council Audit Reports (reports are done at the request of the General Assembly to ensure agencies are fulfilling their missions)

o   Great Towns (4-page documents touting particular towns, provides snapshot of area)

o   Public Library Annual Statistical Summary

o   Tobacco Reports

-          Quality Control:

o   Each document scanned has two sets of eyes to check errors, readability, and correct OCR (optical character recognition)

o   Save as PDF/A standard – specialized for digital preservation

o   Use IrfanView for multipage TIFs(freeware) – multiple pages in one file

-          Cataloging:  Use Dublin Core metadata for easy integration with SC Digital Library

Union County Tombstone Project:  documents tombstone transcriptions & photos from three Union Co. cemeteries

-          LST/IMLS-funded project, joint effort with Union Co. Library

-          Includes rubbings of gravestones, as well as transcriptions and photos

-          Title field is dead person’s name.  Can search by cemetery

-          Use volunteers!  Easy process:  volunteers take the photos, write the notes on cards, and type them in.  No need for specialized equipment beyond computer and digital camera.  Digital storage space is main concern.

Future plans for digital collections:

-          Handbook of SC, 1907

-          State School Building Survey, 1937

-          Comprehensive harvesting of state agencies’ born-digital documents

-          Add select collections to the digital library

Elections

Many thanks to all who attended the NMRT meetup and session at the annual conference.  It seems as though everyone enjoyed themselves... what delightful people SC librarians are!

18 people attended our Friday morning NMRT-sponsored session.  Elections were held at the conclusion of the program and the following are your roundtable officers for 2011-2012:
Chair:  Amber Conger, Richland County Public Library
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect:  Megan Johnson, Coker College
Secretary:  Hunter Deas, Florence County Public Library

On a personal note, this was my first SCLA conference and I must say, it was fruitful, productive, and fun!  The sessions were interesting and well-presented, the venue lovely, and the people warm and welcoming.  I do hope that more NMRT members can make plans to attend next year's event in Columbia.

Session notes will be posted soon.