It felt like a quiet month but when I make a list of everything I've done it turns out I was busy. Definitely lots of bits and pieces this month but the meaty workshops get going again in March so this 'quiet' period will be short-lived.
Webliographies - I've been working with a colleague to try and introduce the idea of 'webliographies' (I'm not convinced we should be using this term) to the Faculty that we support. There is much discussion about how students never go beyond the reading list compiled by their tutor and we've been looking at webliographies as tool to change this.
In conjunction with their tutor our hope is that student groups will be set the task of searching for and locating sources (both online and printed) that are not on their tutor-compiled reading list. They then have to add these references to a group wiki. Our aim is to cover searching, using wikis, working collaboratively and referencing. The hope is, and this is dependent on timetabling, that they will be set the task and that I can be available as support either in the library or via email if they get stuck.
We are at the stage of searching for guinea pigs so we are going to present this idea to the academic staff at the next Faculty Staff Development day. I'll post more on this in the future.
Tutorials - lots of staff and student tutorials this month and all sorts of topics covered. For example, men and their perceptions of dance movement therapy; service user involvement; immunisation; ultrasound and pressure ulcers. Although I do not carry out searches for people (it's their degree not mine) I always run a pilot search to make sure I'm giving the right advice about keywords etc so I have a good rummage around the subject headings. I try to avoid the images that pop up in searches - pictures associated with wound care make me nauseous!
In-house task groups - there are a couple of projects going on at work this term and I'm on two working groups. Firstly we are looking at moving a large amount of stock around the building - this is proving tricky to say the least. We solve one problem and then create another. Secondly there is a group looking at new communication technologies. My library is not big on web 2.0 tools but we are investigating whether to use them for communication purposes and how best to use them.
Workshops - I've run a couple of lively workshops this month and the evaluations were good. I've also done lots of preparation work for workshops scheduled in March. I've been busy looking at search examples for "systemic anti-cancer therapy", "reflective practice in nursing" and whistle blowing.
Mentoring - one of my mentees is ready to submit their portfolio to CILIP. As a mentor I sometimes feel like a mother hen - I'm really pleased for them although it will be sad to see them go. I've been really impressed by this candidate - they've put in lots of hard work and even went abroad to gain some experience.
Displays - It was my turn to put something together for a library display that promoted an area of our stock. As we had topped up on study skills books last term I thought that would be an appropriate choice. The display promoted printed books, e-books, items available from the University bookshop and study skills workshops run by the Uni's Student Support Unit. There was also a QR code to direct people to the catalogue but I forgot to track statistics for it's use (I know, I know - total lemon) - still I won't forget to do it next time.
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