Hi-ho, A Delgado here, reporting to you LIVE from a Saturday afternoon at the library. It's been kinda quiet. I've been working on an eportfolio project for my supervisor at the refolio desk since I got to work at 1. N.B. I like saying "refolio" even though it's a word I just made up. I feel like I'm in Venice or something. Oooooo where are the canals??!!
I helped a student a few minutes ago find a book, a magazine article, and a database source on energy drinks. The student felt that Zhe really, really needed to find an actual magazine and then cite an article from it. I was kind of flummoxed for a bit but gathered my brain cells and used MasterFile Premier to find an article published within the last year in a magazine that I knew my campus library had (Men's Health). Then the student and I went to the stacks for the actual magazine and the student checked it out. For the database source the student used an article from GVRL - GVRL represent, y'all! *fist pump*
And then I was sitting at my refolio desk, work work working away on my portfolio when another student I'd helped a lot in the Spring came by the desk and asked to borrow a highlighter. I asked the student how the class went and the student said it had gone well AND told me that Zhe'd gotten accepted into Texas State where Zhe'll be studying Athletic Training and possibly going on to get a Masters in Psychology. The student thanked me for all my help last semester. I was so pleased and did an inner librarian squeal! Yay matriculation to Texas State!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Fun with Jing! and Opposing Viewpoints
Hi-ho, A Delgado, the librarian here reporting to you LIVE from a Thursday evening at the reference desk. It's been quiet at the desk and when I staffed AskAcademic it was quiet there too. Well, it IS the summer. Perhaps everyone is sitting around at home watching the Olympics? Things will get zippier as the summer session winds down.
Yesterday evening I helped a student try and find positive articles on being a single parent for a speech assignment. It seemed like all the books we found were over 20 years old and all of the articles left me and the student depressed. Seriously! After looking around in Academic Search Complete, it seemed like no one publishes articles about single parenthood unless they're writing about single parents being poor or suffering from mental illness or being the cause of children being in gangs or getting pregnant in high school. Reading through our results list in ASC was like watching bad Lifetime movies. Ugh! Finally we managed to find an article in Opposing Viewpoints that wasn't doom and gloom. Hurrah for single parents!
Today I helped a student find an article on the benefits of single-sex schools (Opposing Viewpoints) and another student find books on the changing role of women in families (Opposing Viewpoints series). Opposing Viewpoints is winning all around, readers!
AND, last week on AskAcademic I tried helping a student find articles on coping with leadership and organization challenges in day care centers. I wasn't having too much luck at first BUT THEN I got lucky with the subject descriptor combo of "professional development" and "early childhood education" in ERIC. Check it out, readers!
Yesterday evening I helped a student try and find positive articles on being a single parent for a speech assignment. It seemed like all the books we found were over 20 years old and all of the articles left me and the student depressed. Seriously! After looking around in Academic Search Complete, it seemed like no one publishes articles about single parenthood unless they're writing about single parents being poor or suffering from mental illness or being the cause of children being in gangs or getting pregnant in high school. Reading through our results list in ASC was like watching bad Lifetime movies. Ugh! Finally we managed to find an article in Opposing Viewpoints that wasn't doom and gloom. Hurrah for single parents!
Today I helped a student find an article on the benefits of single-sex schools (Opposing Viewpoints) and another student find books on the changing role of women in families (Opposing Viewpoints series). Opposing Viewpoints is winning all around, readers!
AND, last week on AskAcademic I tried helping a student find articles on coping with leadership and organization challenges in day care centers. I wasn't having too much luck at first BUT THEN I got lucky with the subject descriptor combo of "professional development" and "early childhood education" in ERIC. Check it out, readers!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Blackboard, Paul Newman, & Penguins
Hi-ho, A Delgado here, reporting to you LIVE from a Wednesday evening at the reference desk. It's been fairly quiet here at work today. No complaints from moi, dear readers, nosiree. I've been catching up on my issues of ALA Direct that I'm pretty behind on and reading professional development related articles on the internet.
Not fade away: on living, dying, and the digital afterlife by Maria Bustillos
Opening up your article on something as potentially dry as the retention of digital objects with a humorous anecdote is the way to go. Go Maria Bustillos, go! I took a class called Problems in the Permanent Retention of Electronic Records in library school and I'm bummed that Bustillos wasn't around to do my homework for me. I might have gotten a lot more out of the class. Ummmm.... er.... I'm bummed that Bustillos wasn't around for me to collaborate with.
ACRL's Diversity Standards: Cultural Competency for Academic Libraries (2012)
I've just skimmed this one so far so I can't provide a right proper annotation yet. But cultural competency, it's an important thing. Go cultural competency, go!
Here and there I've had some reference questions. I showed a student what databases would be most helpful for finding biographical info on Paul Newman (GVRL & Biography in Context). I showed a student how to format a government research paper and then how to upload the paper onto the Assignments section of Blackboard. Another student and I worked on a MLA Works Cited page for a history paper. Oh, AND I helped a student find resources on penguins (books and a journal article in Academic Search Complete) for a speech assignment. Go me, go!
In other news, get this, dear readers, I got the sweetest thank you note from a student last summer session. I'd emailed the student with a link to Rudy Rucker's The Ware Tetralogy made available through Creative Commons. I neglected to include it until now. For your reading pleasure...
Not fade away: on living, dying, and the digital afterlife by Maria Bustillos
Opening up your article on something as potentially dry as the retention of digital objects with a humorous anecdote is the way to go. Go Maria Bustillos, go! I took a class called Problems in the Permanent Retention of Electronic Records in library school and I'm bummed that Bustillos wasn't around to do my homework for me. I might have gotten a lot more out of the class. Ummmm.... er.... I'm bummed that Bustillos wasn't around for me to collaborate with.
ACRL's Diversity Standards: Cultural Competency for Academic Libraries (2012)
I've just skimmed this one so far so I can't provide a right proper annotation yet. But cultural competency, it's an important thing. Go cultural competency, go!
Here and there I've had some reference questions. I showed a student what databases would be most helpful for finding biographical info on Paul Newman (GVRL & Biography in Context). I showed a student how to format a government research paper and then how to upload the paper onto the Assignments section of Blackboard. Another student and I worked on a MLA Works Cited page for a history paper. Oh, AND I helped a student find resources on penguins (books and a journal article in Academic Search Complete) for a speech assignment. Go me, go!
In other news, get this, dear readers, I got the sweetest thank you note from a student last summer session. I'd emailed the student with a link to Rudy Rucker's The Ware Tetralogy made available through Creative Commons. I neglected to include it until now. For your reading pleasure...
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Health Care & Immigration in TX Politics
Hi-ho, A Delgado the Librarian here, reporting to you LIVE from a Saturday afternoon at the reference desk. I spent a large chunk of the afternoon helping a student find sources (the interwebs and Academic Search Complete) about TX political party platforms on two hot-button issues: health care and immigration. I like using the term "hot-button." It makes me feel official and reporter-like. The student chose to discuss the stances of three political parties in Texas: Texas Democratic Party, TX GOP, and the Green Party of Texas.
The Green Party of TX's website made me a little sad because they haven't updated their platform page since 2008. Really, Green Party? 2008? 2008 was a long time ago!
After we found sources we worked together on citing them - the TX political party websites in particular. Websites are always troublesome but you know, dear readers, I THRIVE on citations. I think that I need to update my "About Me" section and include some kind of wacky weapon that has to do with citations. Any suggestions? Mace of citation submission? Cat o'nine tails of MLA?
The Green Party of TX's website made me a little sad because they haven't updated their platform page since 2008. Really, Green Party? 2008? 2008 was a long time ago!
After we found sources we worked together on citing them - the TX political party websites in particular. Websites are always troublesome but you know, dear readers, I THRIVE on citations. I think that I need to update my "About Me" section and include some kind of wacky weapon that has to do with citations. Any suggestions? Mace of citation submission? Cat o'nine tails of MLA?
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