Friday, May 27, 2011

Stepping out of the box...How-to

If you thought this would be a how-to guide, my blog title worked and I fooled you just a bit.  I'm actually hoping for some discussion, thoughts and advice.  Here's the context...

This week I was given some more concrete projects on which to work such as finding or creating content for training modules, creating Lib Guides for updated software, and re-thinking how we present hand-outs and guides to supplement our workshops which requires me to research, gather, and decide on effective materials to use - or produce them myself.  It's been interesting to start to see what others are doing with videos, websites and Lib Guides; the difficult part is thinking outside the box and stepping into a new realm of learning using online tools.  In my early research, I've seen some good stuff (on which I'll report in a post later this summer) but haven't yet come across something that really said, wow, this is new and exciting and something I've never seen before and, and, and.  So the question is, motivation?  How to step out of the box?  I'd love to hear suggestions for thinking of new, innovative, and creative ways to make learning fun.

Not that thinking about this and learning as I go isn't fun, because it is.  This is the first "job" I've had where I have the autonomy to think in this way and consider creating new content that has not yet been produced.  It's really exciting, and, what I think being a librarian of the future is all about.

Now, back to brainstorming... :)

Friday, May 20, 2011

Not even going to go there... and here's why.

So, if you are knowledgeable about the "information world," or follow any librarians on Twitter or in the blogosphere, you've most likely seen something about Seth Godin's Monday blog post on "The Future of the Library."  I happened to read this on Monday, and on Tuesday my Twitter feed was full of remarks, comments, posts, responses, criticisms, and so on.

When I originally read the post, I bookmarked it to comment on in my blog this week.  However, after seeing the uproar on Tuesday, I think I learned a valuable lesson... the easy way?  I'd wanted to analyze this blog post, remark on my agreements and disagreements, provide my thoughts on the future of the library.  But then I thought about my credibility.  Just starting to put myself out there, it could be a huge mistake, I realized, to comment on this article without reading responses of my colleagues and those in my networks.  If I want to be viewed in the information and education world as a reliable and innovative source, I absolutely cannot repeat what those who are very visible have already said without adding something new.

Yes, I have thoughts on Seth Godin's blog post.  Yes, they are thought out.  And yes, they've probably already been hashed out somewhere in this vast digital space.  I just cannot, therefore, justify creating a passionate post that ignores what others in the field are saying. 

To me, part of being a strong, successful professional is considering what my colleagues are saying - whether I agree or disagree.  To ignore these people would be to ignore the fact that we all need to work together - on some level - for the success of our field.  To ignore my colleagues would be to ignore what they have learned in their institutions, from their patrons, and from their experience. 


So, before I go running my mouth (or fingers, in this case) about what think, I need to consider what others think.  And, I'm realizing that that takes time, energy, thought, and more time.  To all you who do this consistently - kudos.  And to myself, lesson learned.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Another reason I love my field and the people in it

Librarianship is part of a professional field - the field of information - and while we have the ALA code of ethics it is often up to librarians themselves to to determine their level of professionalism.  In any field this is a balance, but working at a large, liberal, academic library, there is a certain level of freedom in this area.  However, professionalism comes with balance.  In an attempt for a somewhat comical post today, I'll tell my story of how I balanced professionalism.  But the story goes beyond that; it speaks to the good of librarians, the people who use libraries, and the amazing atmosphere of U of M and Ann Arbor in general. 
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On this past beautiful Wednesday evening, I was participating in my recreational women's soccer league as I do every Monday and Wednesday in the spring, summer and fall.  Three quarters of the way through the game, the unexpected happened.  With my toe planted in hopes of scoring our team's first goal, a completely legal side check sent my quad to the left and my shin to the right, with my body immediately withering to the ground in black-out pain.  Having played soccer for 12 years as a teenager, then taking a several year break before picking it up last spring, I was finally feeling strong and good on the field.  So ironically this knee injury would happen now.

However, the irony continued.  I not only live near one of the best research hospitals in the nation, but my primary care physician works in that hospital.  And not only would I try to get an appointment with her that next morning, but I was already scheduled to be in the hospital that next morning at 9:00 sharp - for a website consultation for my job.  Now, while my job is partially instructional technology, we don't often make office calls.  It just so happened that I needed to be at the hospital that following morning, so I decided I would still do the website consult as long as it didn't overlap with an open doctors appointment.  All of my friends thought I was crazy.  "Why are you going to a work meeting - your knee is the size of a grapefruit?"  "Everyone will understand if you cancel..."  I agreed with them, but seriously, if I didn't already have to be at the hospital, I wouldn't have gone to the consult!

So I went.  On the way to the meeting, I called for a doctors appointment.  They had an opening at 9:30 am.   Perfect; it was 8:35.  I got to the hospital, where apparently you can just grab a wheelchair if needed, hopped into a seat, asked the volunteer where I could find the location of my consult, as he cheerfully wheeled me up.  The appointment went just as planned and the woman I was working with even offered me coffee and a  ride to my doctors appointment right down the hall.  She really stood out as a person who was willing to help someone else out and helped me balance that work and life stuff that inevitably happens. 

There was no good reason not for me to go to my consult; it was at the hospital where I needed a doctors appointment.  But I wouldn't have been able to do both the work consult and the doctors appointment without good people.  I know librarians are good people - wanting and willing to work with others when they need something - but this story is really telling of the people who use our services.  This woman went out of her way to make me comfortable and help ME out, when - while it may have looked like I needed it - I could have been OK on my own.  The people at the hospital were all so kind and helpful - making lighthearted jokes and offering to help.  OK, so helping is their job, but the joking and caring tones are not in their job description. 
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This all goes to saying that we learn things every day - I am learning what it's like to be less able.  But the moral of my story is that it is wonderful to be a part of a city and University setting where people use their resources and their privilege for good.  UM is such a large - yet small - community where what goes around comes around.  Over the last two days, I've experienced that first hand, and couldn't be more grateful.

Friday, May 6, 2011

My First (Official) Instructional Experience and Enriching Scholarship

This week at the University of Michigan, Enriching Scholarship consumed my time.  Enriching Scholarship is an annual week-long technology event (FREE to anyone with a uniqname) around the University presented by many departments including Literature, Science, and Arts, the Duderstadt Center, Communications, the Library, and many more.  For a little history on the people who produce Enriching Scholarship, taken directly from the Enriching Scholarship home page:
The TTC is a group currently comprised of staff from these units across campus. An annual initiative of the TTC is Enriching Scholarship, a conference offered for instructional faculty every May, showcasing over 100 workshops and sessions that address the use of technology in teaching and research.
Anyway, Enriching Scholarship is pretty great.  It brings together people who know technology, who want to know technology, and who want to share information about technology.  I attended four sessions - one each day - and learned about Productivity Tips, Tools and Tricks, Embracing Facebook in Your Teaching, Using Everyday Technologies for Teaching, and Find, Use, Remix and Create Open Learning Materials. Each of these sessions brought something new to my work and gave me ideas to move forward as I think about instruction and my professional practice.  


Additionally, I had the opportunity to co-teach one of these sessions: The New Basics: Computing 101.  What a valuable and great experience!  Our session was attended by very receptive folks who gave us great feedback about what they wanted to know and about what they learned in the session. 

While it seems our participants had a valuable experience, I learned a lot too.  Not so much about Computing 101 (though I did learn some tricks and tips too :) but about presentation style, preparedness, and adaptation during workshops.  As this was the first iteration of this workshop, we planned too much (or differently) than the participants wanted or needed.  The first part of the workshop - browsers, bookmarks, tabs, etc., took much longer than expected but it was mostly because people were asking so many (great!) questions.  So, timing of the workshop will need to adjust - either into a Comp 101 and Comp 102 or adding another half hour, or... so many possibilities!

Secondly, I could have been more prepared.  Part of me is always hesitant to actually practice presentations (which I did, but not enough).  I need to get over that and just practice, practice, practice!  Which actually leads to my third point - adaptation.  I had practiced, but only to the point where I could pretty much repeat information - and this did not serve me well when we had to adapt.  I got frazzled and tried to do way too much in the last 15-20 minutes, which I think was confusing for the participants after the first 1 1/4 hours was at the perfect pace.  But, the participants stayed after and asked questions so I think people were truly interested in the topic and glad to be there.

I am excited to reflect on and revamp this workshop with the feedback and observations that were made on Tuesday.  Plus, I got the first instructional experience out of the way and am more confident moving forward knowing what I can do better next time :)