Participant Presentations
| 1 of 3 = Session 1 = 2:30-3:30 (Thursday, October 25) |
| Science Experiments: Reaching out to our Users |
Laura Barrett, Undergraduate Services Librarian/Psychology Librarian
Maureen Nolan, Natural Sciences & Resources Librarian
Matthew Parsons, Map Librarian
Linda Whang, Engineering Instructional Services Librarian
Stephanie Wright, Info Services Librarian/Management Info Librarian
Lori Tschirhart, Natural Sciences Reference Librarian
University of Washington
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| As we all know, it has become increasingly important for librarians to reach out to their user communities and promote the value of libraries. Convincing the faculty and students in the sciences of the value of libraries and librarians can be a particularly “hard-sell” as more and more of their primary journal literature becomes available online anywhere from any computer. Join a panel discussion with five science librarians from the University of Washington as we discuss both the traditional and unconventional ways we have tried to engage our users. Learn how we meet them in their spaces, lure them into ours, and use the middle ground that is the internet, all with creative initiatives that utilize blogs, give-aways, geocaching, and more! |
| 2 of 3 = Session 1 = 2:30-3:30 (Thursday, October 25) |
| Getting Your Students to Market for You: Service Learning and Promoting Library Resources |
Ielleen Miller, Reference Librarian & Coordinator of Instruction
Nadean Meyer, Learning Resources Librarian
Eastern Washington University
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Eastern Washington University recently purchased the RefWorks bibliographic tool for the entire campus. But how should we market it beyond the newsletter, website, faculty workshops, etc.? This presentation will discuss how we enlisted students to prepare and present workshops for other students as their service learning project. Teams of students developed a proposal on marketing and teaching RefWorks. From this service learning project, the librarians:
- Learned what aspects of RefWorks students appreciated and/or found annoying
- Learned different student-centered marketing strategies
- Saw through the students’ eyes the use and process of learning of library resources
- Built a solid relationship with a cohort of students
We will share what the students produced (from flyers to tutorials) and how we will incorporate what we learned into future marketing. It also gave us new insight into teaching students about library resources. Ironically, the librarians ended up “marketing” to the students involved that the librarian is a helpful person with great resources to support them in their academic career. At the end of the presentation, we would like to brainstorm with the audience other ideas on incorporating service learning into marketing library services.
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| 3 of 3 = Session 1 = 2:30-3:30 (Thursday, October 25) |
| Library Promotion and Archival Outreach: Case Studies from UW and UCLA |
John Vallier, Head of Multimedia Services
Carole Svensson, Assistant Director, UW Tacoma Library
Theresa Mudrock, History Librarian
University of Washington
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Librarians and archivists are not always the most extroverted people. We often wait for users to come to us. We may be well organized and assiduous, but when it comes to promoting our work and institutions we frequently have a polite predilection towards modesty.
Without innovative outreach initiatives academic libraries and archives run the risk of losing users. Why would a potential user go to the ethnomusicology archive if he believes iTunes has all recorded music? Why would a potential user go to the library media center if she believes NetFlix has all the DVDs that exist? Why would a user go to the library for reference help if he believes Google has all the answers?
This presentation describes two promotional initiatives that have attempted, in very different ways, to showcase collections and services. The first revolves around a pair of community outreach projects at the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive: Archiving Filipino
American Music in Los Angeles (AFAMILA) and Gospel Archiving in Los Angeles (GALA). These projects not only highlighted existing collections at the Archive, they also provided mechanisms to build them in new ways. The second promotion initiative focuses on ongoing audiovisual advertising projects for the University of Washington
Libraries. We will preview select movies, slideshows, and podcasts produced in-house by UW Libraries. After describing both initiatives we will have an opportunity to discuss the ways in which they both benefit and pose challenges to their respective institutions.
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| 1 of 3 = Session 2 = 3:45-4:45 (Thursday, October 25) |
| Special Connections: Putting the power of Special Collections to Work |
Steve Silver, Library Director
Beth Aydelott, Professor of English
Northwest Christian College
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Collaboration between librarians and professors has always been key to developing students’ information literacy, but the all-too-common practice of defining research as “googling” calls for more than the occasional classroom visit or library orientation. At Northwest Christian College, the two of us – librarian and professor – have collaborated in using our school’s Special Collections to make the library an extension of the classroom, a space where learning takes place and students gain an awareness of text beyond the electronic format.
Examples include displays of Babylonian clay tablets to complement a class on Gilgamesh and first-edition journals of Captain Cook for another course’s study of European exploration. Students examined the texts and answered reflective questions as part of graded assignments. For a “History of the English Language” course, students visited the library regularly to practice their newly acquired skills in Old and Middle English on the school’s collection of rare Bibles.
Student response has been enthusiastic. In this age of ubiquitous copying and downloading, students are fascinated by the notion of original and unique. Their examination of artifacts leads to a deeper understanding of historical context than a textbook or lecture can provide.
In this presentation, we will suggest that librarians can collaborate with professors beyond the usual classroom visit or library orientation. Together they can use their school’s special collections to provide learning experiences that students cannot receive online or from course lectures or textbooks. Following a joint presentation by librarian and professor describing their collaboration on these projects, we will lead a discussion with all participants aimed at discovering what they have in their respective special collections that might make a special connection with a class or course. Our hope is that each participant will return to their library with at least one specific proposal for such a collaboration.
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| 2 of 3 = Session 2 = 3:45-4:45 (Thursday, October 25) |
| Live Fast, Die Smart: Selling Research Workshops to Undergrads |
Anne-Marie Davis, Reference Librarian/Collection Development Coordinator
Kathleen Collins, Reference and Instruction Librarian
John Holmes, Reference and Instruction Librarian
Laura Barrett, Undergraduate Services Librarian/Psychology Librarian
Odegaard Undergraduate Library, University of Washington
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Nowadays, it’s harder than ever to grab the attention of a busy undergrad – in a sea of flashy advertising, cash-strapped libraries need to think creatively when promoting their services. At the University of Washington’s Odegaard Undergraduate Library, we received a small internal grant to market our new series of walk-in workshops and needed to make every penny count. We used catchy workshop titles, unconventional posters, and temporary tattoos to attract student--and faculty--eyes. Collaborating on workshop development and marketing with other campus departments also helped us reach beyond the library walls. In this presentation, we will discuss our strategies for developing and marketing our walk-in workshops, candidly share what worked and what didn’t, and display posters, fliers, and press coverage. Participants will receive their very own limited-edition workshop tattoos (Don’t worry -- your mom will never know!).
Participants are encouraged to bring stories & examples of their own instructional marketing efforts to the discussion.
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| 3 of 3 = Session 2 = 3:45-4:45 (Thursday, October 25) |
| Library Student Liaison: A Model for Outreach to Students |
Julie Miller, Associate Dean of Libraries
Eastern Washington University
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| Eastern Washington University Libraries piloted a library student liaison program in 2006-2007 as a means of providing outreach to students. We hired an undergraduate student with strong leadership potential to: enhance communication between EWU Libraries and the student body; articulate student perspectives on library services and help to determine priorities for student information needs; and increase student participation in library programs and activities. Learning objectives for the student liaison included developing leadership skills through interactions with library management, student groups, and academic personnel, as well as developing skills in project planning, project management, and communication. The student liaison performed activities in support of each program goal. To gain an understanding of library policies and operations, she participated in job shadowing and attended library management meetings and staff development sessions. She developed means of communicating with students via a Web site and pages in MySpace and FaceBook. She spoke to student government, student clubs and organizations, and program managers in student support services (such as the Academic Support Center, McNair Scholars) and academic programs (such as Women and Gender Studies and ethnic studies programs). The student liaison promoted the LibQual+ 2007 survey and held student focus groups to help in identifying student perspectives on and priorities for library services. She also partnered with student and academic programs to increase student use of the library through displays and events. Assessment of the library student liaison pilot program indicates promising effects for outreach to EWU students.
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