Slow week

Not much happened this week. The librarians meeting was yesterday. There is a plan, mostly set, for the summer session. It cannot be finalized until the budget is determined for next year. Everything else was basic discussions on what needs to be done in the library. Choosing databases, dropping databases, weeding of reference materials, etc. Work on the Libguides pages continues. I thought that I would finish them today. But, I decided to double check pages that were supposedly finished by previous interns and found that not all of them were completed. It was a good thing, as I also found out that the links for the databases on all of the subject guide pages were supposed to be copies of an original link and that they were not. So, now I get to go through all of the pages again and check that. I think that when I do that, I will also try and get a set layout for the pages and make them all the same. Right now, some of the pages have their own layout and it gets a little confusing.

The librarian I am working for went over the instructional video I made for Films on Demand. It is about how to use a Playlist. He liked it. Now I just have to type in the closed captions and get them to sync with the narration. Camtasia is really easy to use once you figure it out.

Nothing really happened on Question Point or the reference desk the last two days. Just the normal questions on finding a reserve book and finding materials on generic subjects using the databases.

A side project that I am going to do on my own is putting the Website into a spreadsheet. This is to help the librarians figure out where and how often pages are internally linked. The Word Doc was easier for me to write everything down, but it is hard to look through

More of everything

Yesterday started off with a meeting that continued from last week. Most of it was spent planning for the summer session. Aside from the fact that no classes are being held on the main campus, the librarians are trying to deal with the new fiscal year starting in the middle of the semester. They do not know what the budget for next is yet and can only make plans that include outside sources (like adjunct librarians) for June. For July, they can only plan to cover everything themselves. To make sure this can be done, they are making the entire semester lightly covered, but as much as they can get away with without losing coverage. They also talked about having to finish making any purchases by the end of next week before the spending freeze starts. This freeze, while normal, is occurring earlier than normal. They also discussed the cost and functions of databases and the credit for one database.

I spent a little time looking through Booklist and Choice for new books to purchase. Booklist occasionally has some good reference materials, but it mostly has leisure reading. Choice has a lot more reference materials, but a lot of that is for upper-level undergraduate or above. Making them not ideal for a community college.

The rest of the day was on the reference desk and QuestionPoint. The desk itself was quite, so I was also working updating the Libguide pages (almost done with that). QuestionPoint was a little busier, but I am a little hesitant to take some questions now after getting a few really bad ones. I took one that looked like a student messing around, only to have them ask a real question. They did however take a long time to make any responses, making me quite a few minutes late getting down to the reference desk.

Today, I finished up one page in the Libguides. Then worked on using Camtasia to make the instructional videos. I feel like I am getting better with making them, almost ready to produce and share one for use. I did discover that using the Narration tool to record the audio track after recording the video (instead of trying to do both at the same time) was a lot easier. Also that the Narration tool set could create the Closed Captioning using a Speech to Text Tool. The problem is that Camtasia only uses the Microsoft tool in the Works program and only certain versions can work on certain operating systems. The Library uses XP with Works 2007 and that is one of the combinations that Camtasia does not work with. Well, I can still put in the captions the old way. Import the doc file or type them in manually.

Then I was a part of a meeting with three Librarians about the Website. They looked over the Word doc that I created that mapped out and evaluated certain aspects of the current Website. They were a bit surprised by the size of the site and the fact that there were pages still up that were no longer being used.

The rest of the day was back on reference. Serious questions from the physical patrons and mostly people goofing off on QuestionPoint. I still have a few little details to learn about the Library, but I really do like working the reference desk.

Camtasia and Libguides

Started working with Camtasia to make video guides for certain tools, like databases or something else that just needs an explanation. It is really easy to work with. The hard part is trying to read from a script and control the mouse. It just does not work out that well. You could memorize the script or just wing it. Memorizing would be the best option, but a little more time consuming. I did figure out that I could record the process, not say anything, and then add in a narration track later. This method will work out well. I just have to make sure that the steps I go through are right and edit the video before actually recording the narration.

Still working on the Libguides. I am getting faster at it, so I am going through more guides in a day. I am not too sure if anyone was really checking the links before. I found one link for a professional association that was diverted to another site. Which happens all the time. However, the association in question disbanded in 2008 and the link was added 2010-2011. Just means that we should double check the links before using them. Also, check them regularly. At least once a year, maybe twice. I found one link that was good 6 months ago, that was no longer good.

A meeting and reference

Part of today was spent sitting in of the librarians' meeting. Most of that was about how to try and plan for this summer when there are no classes being held on the main campus. All of the classes are going to held on the satellite campuses to increase their FTES numbers. The problem is that the main library will still be open, because it has to be so everyone can have access to the materials, while more hours will be needed at the satellite libraries.

Working at the reference desk the rest of the day went well. I answered two QuestionPoint questions. One was an actual question about getting access to the ArtStor database, but that student left without saying that did get in. The second was a student goofing around with the widget. The fun thing was a walk-up student that wanted books on Japanese weapons. The library did not have any books, but he then went with his plan B which was Japanese art and theatre. I was very good and refrained from talking at him for several hours. I did give him several good recommendations for books and authors. It was just nice to have someone seeking out information on a subject that you study for fun.

Some questions

Today was mostly spent working on the Libguides or working reference. The Libguides is slow going. Double checking Websites takes time. The reference desk is getting better. Tonight was a slow night for physical patrons. The virtual reference desk was busier. I answered a call that looked like it was going to be fairly easy. Helping them find some research on a subject. Until they specified the subject. Scholarly websites on the history of line dancing.

I think I spent nearly an hour trying to help them. Hitting up any place I could think of that might have reason to document the history of dance in general. Then I remembered how great the King Library is, with its subject guides. They at least had a link for a directory (one that I have been encountering on my work on the Libguides and evaluation of the Website) that had a lot of links. That seemed to answer the student's question for help. But I still tagged as needing follow up by the school library, just in case.

Website evaluation and other things

I spent most of the last week working on mapping out and evaluating the Library's Website. Mostly just showing where links go, how the pages of the Website interconnect with each other, and if the link to outside Websites should be kept or not. I was doing this work at home, because it was easier and it was also the only time I could work on it. The Librarian did tell me that I did not have to look at the Subject Guides, but I realized that since everything is being converted over to Lib Guides that it would be easier and better to make sure that those links were still good anyhow. That is a very slow process. Trying to judge Websites on good information but are no longer updated, takes a lot of thought.

For today I did a fairly quick look through Amazon to find some books for two new classes next semester. This was not that hard, except for trying to find books that were written for a lower division academic level and not for the average home owner or experienced worker. But considering the subjects were Construction Inspection and Construction Project Management, you should expect the students to know something or be willing to learn the complex codes and regulations anyhow.

For a while, I was the only person from the college manning the online reference desk. It was not that bad, there was only one question. The student wanted to know if they had to have their student ID to check out a reserve book. Simple answer (which actually is that they do not, and I told them I thought they did, well. . . they will need it anyhow) and that turned into helping them find out where to get the ID and then how to find the reserve book.

Finally, the Librarian and I spent a couple of hours looking over Films on Demand Database. We were trying to figure out how to make everything work, what its limits were, and what its features were so that he could then give the college faculty an orientation on it later. Overall it is a fairly simple and straight forward system to use. There looked to be quite a few interesting video clips on a lot of subjects.

Libguides and reference desk

So yesterday I started working on editing the Libguides pages that were made by a previous intern. The plan is to convert the entire Web site over to Libguides. But, the pages that were made earlier do not have the feature to monitor the statistics of each link. So, they have to be redone. This also allows me to double check the links to make sure that they are still operational and actually useful. It is a slow process.

I spent an hour at the reference desk, and it was a busy one. There were a couple of moments when nothing was going on. But when one question was asked, it was quickly followed by another. There were also questions popping on the virtual reference desk at the same time. The most frustrating thing was that the eBook server stopped working. But only for the campus computers. If you used the remote access (off-campus computer or an iPad/tablet), you were fine.