Library Gazette

Tuesday and Wednesday Barry and I work on moving four of the ITC lab computers into the Multi-Media lab. This is in preparation of the ITC shakeup this summer. Three multi-media editing stations were combined into one. This station replaces the seldom used Collaboration Station that was in the back corner. The combined station looks really cool. The scanning stations that were in the front of the lab have been moved to the back and the four computers from the ITC lab put in the front. The lab was dusted and carpet vacuumed and is open for business. Come by and take a look.

The annual Employee Recognition Luncheon was held on Friday, May 22, 2009. The theme was ZSR Library Superheroes! Aramark (Posh Plate Catering) catered the luncheon. The agenda: lunch, Lynn read honors from July 2008 to the present, award recipients were announced and team heads gave remarks, played superhero game and gave away 4 door prizes.

Congratulations to all of our award nominees! We had 11 nominations for the Helping Hand Award. 7 nominations for the Unsung Hero/ine Award. 5 nominations for the Outstanding Employee of the Year Award.

The award recipients are:

Bobbie Collins - Helping Hand
Scott Adair - Unsung Hero
Christian Burris - Dedicated Deacon of the Year
Erik Mitchell - Outstanding Employee of the Year

Thank you to everyone who made this years luncheon a success! You are all appreciated!

Students Meet over Dinner in Carswell Hall

On Sunday morning, at 8 am, Erik and I will board a bus with 13 Colgate and 6 WFU students to participate in Angela Hattery and Earl Smith’s fourth iteration of “Social Stratification in the Deep South.” The library first participated in this bi-annual sociology summer travel course in 2007 and we were delighted to be invited back this year. We invite you to travel along with us virtually. As previously, we will be managing the course technology. This time we are introducing a facebook page, twitter and video documentation of speakers and experiences. We would love to have you become a fan. Just visit our facebook page and sign up as a fan. You can follow our “south tweets” also and see images on the course flickr site. Also, be sure and checkout how Colgate is following our trip!

As a result of the staff appreciation survey of what people wanted to do this week, today we held our first Library Quiz Bowl. It was a good time, and we shared many laughs. The event couldn’t have happened without a number of people:

Thanks to Team 1: Steve, Roz, and Giz, and Team 2: Craig, Derrik, and Heather for playing. Kristen very kindly kept score. Mary Beth and Heather loaned us the Trivial Pursuit cards for the game. Mary Reeves provided drinks and Giz provided sugar with Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. ILL and Access let us use extremely entertaining buzzers. Thanks to everyone that came out for the game. The game itself was a team effort!

The game was a close one. Team 2 was in the lead at the beginning. The two teams were tied for a bit, and then team 1 pulled ahead in the end. We had such fun, that Roz read through questions for the whole group after the game. With a room full of library folks, we were able to answer nearly every one!

Today was the final day of the teaching teaching spring class. We’ve been at it since January, and we’ve held 14 sessions. We’ve had 14 hours (less the minutes early I left for committee meetings) to devote some serious time to coming together as a group to talk about our teaching and hopefully learn a few tricks. I started today talking about the design for the course. Roz clearly played a large role, and everyone who participated helped shape the course either through conversations outside of the class or by their participation.

And while we’re talking about participants, we had a large percentage of the library staff attend at one point or another, and most people attended several (or all!). The “teaching teaching” participants were Roz Tedford, Bobbie Collins, Lauren Corbett, Carol Cramer, Ellen Daugman, Craig Fansler, Joy Gambill, Kevin Gilbertson, Derrik Hiatt, Kate Irwin-Smiler (from PCL), Julie James (from Carpenter), Sarah Jeong, Vicki Johnson, Steve Kelley, Mary Beth Lock, Leslie McCall, Carolyn McCallum, Kaeley McMahan, Erik Mitchell, Elizabeth Novicki, Mary Scanlon, Susan Smith, and Giz Womack.

We covered a lot of ground, too! We talked about what Instructional Design is, and the different models of ID that are practiced. We talked about taxonomies of teaching, educational psychology, multiple intelligences/learning styles, teaching styles, learning theory, problem based learning, active learning, classroom management, assessment, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. We’re planning a few summer workshops to bridge a few gaps, and we’re planning a fall program of facilitated practical talks on specific techniques. Keep an eye on your email to see when the next teaching classes will be!

I’ve really enjoyed this project, and it’s been a great semester. As I told the group this morning, having an enthusiastic group of participants made it much more fun (and made all of the planning much less burdensome and far more enjoyable). Clearly, this is an example of the culture of ZSR/WFU. The participants were focused on our mission: honing their teaching skills in order to better position themselves to help our students succeed. I can’t wait to see how this course shapes our instruction in the coming semesters. Thanks to everyone who participated! I really appreciate your enthusiasm and engagement!

If you’re interested in seeing what we were up to, you can see the course blog.