Library Cafes

Dear Diary,

There are highly creative approaches to making libraries more customer-friendly. Some include the way that libraries are adapting to what I call the “Borders Bookstore Effect.”

Libraries are creating “Library Cafes,” as a way to adapt to the new cultural preferences of consumers, patrons and users.

Libraries are realizing that change is vital to ensure survival and maintain relevancy in today’s society. It benefits libraries tremendously to employ different strategies as they bravely forge ahead into the uncertain future.

For more information see: http://www.librarysupportstaff.com/coffeelibs.html

How Many Hours in a Day?

Dear Diary,

I graded my first set of assignments over the weekend, it took easily 7 hours.

Today I am preparing for my next class. I also finally was able to edit the IDR website using Macromedai Contribute.

I will need to attend a meeting sooner or later for the IDT team, but realistically I am wondering how much longer I will be able to work on the IDR team. Especially since I am working on the Diversity committee for the Summer High School Program.

Perhaps, I will make a decision this week as to just how thin I can realistically stretch myself. I just cannot possibly imagine teaching more than the one session that I have. I was originally scheduled to teach 2 classes. Yikes!

The way I figure it a typically week for me this quarter will go something like:

Mondays
Mornings = Weekly meeting to prepare for class with my manager usually until afternoon
Afternoons = Grade Papers

Tuesdays
Mornings = Grade Papers
Afternoons = Class and review success make needed adjustments for my class Thursday

Wednesdays
Mornings = Prepare for class, print out handouts and review lecture
Afternoons = Office Hours

Thursdays
Mornings = Finalize class prep
Afternoons = Class and Office Hours

Fridays
Mornings = Diversity Committee Meetings (bi-weekly) & Grade Papers
Afternoons = Practice next week's homework, make necessary adjustments

Naturally in the mean time and in-between time, there are student questions as well, usually on the weekends. So I make time each weekend to answer those.

Road Less Travelled

Dear Diary,

I taught my second class today. My manager commented that my students love me, but mainly because I wrapped up early and dismissed them. Although, we did have a really interesting class. The students gave very encouraging feedback on the worksheet they had. Some comments included:

"We have never used Google to do conversions and calculations. WOW!"

"How can we use our ned defintion retrieved from Google in a regular conversation? "
They were asked to define "Defenestration" which is "the act of throwing someone or something out of a window." That will definitely start a lively conversation at a cocktail party.

But I think the classic line that forced me to say, "Well I can't top that, so class is dismissed" was during the evaluating website portion, they were asked to evaluate a website about the Bird Flu Conspiracy. The student replied, well the author is sorta qualified to speak on the subject b/c he is a Quack. The room burst into laughter and that was a great end to a great class.

I spoke with my managers about attending the Tanzania Library Association Conference since the discuss University and Academic libraries in Africa, I would like to compare and contrast them to ours. Coincidentally I was asked to contribute a piece to an International Newsletter for the American Library Association, today as well. So I offered to write a perspective about the African Conference and that idea was well received.

Although I received mixed feedback from some people, as to the professional value such a conference would have on my career, I feel so strongly about it that I plan to go on my vacation time with my personal funds. http://www.tlatz.org/scecsal2006/scanulecs.html

I have scheduled my next 2 speaking engagements in concert with my co-Resident. The first one will be in Indianapolis and the second one will be in Detroit.

Professor Smith I Presume

Dear Diary,

I am just tickled pink with every email addressed to Professor Smith from my students in my Chem 23202 class. I was pleased at how the 1st week went. The only feedback from my manager was that I favor the right side of the room. I think I looked both ways, but will accept all feedback and make sure I am doing the best I can.

I am in charge of my class and while I plan to keep the two session similar, I have carte blanche with my class. I explained to my manager I personally am more concerned with imparting knowledge to the students as opposed to deducting points for minor mistakes or things that are clearly typos, etc...But I have to balance that desire with ensuring the student's being motivated to strive their best. I ascribe to the Montessori Model Ideals, personally, but again ..."When in Rome...or Notre Dame."

THE MONTESSORI METHOD OF TEACHING:

Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.

- Socrates

I never teach my pupils;

I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

- Einstein

http://www.montessori.edu/info.html

Matching Game

Dear Diary,

I have finished all active learning activities. The last one was a simple Matching Game to identify appropriate databases. Phew! Now I have begun creating cheat sheets for each database.

Tomorrow I will begin reviewing the first few assignments and lecture materials.

On a Roll...I'm So Good I Shock Myself!

Dear Diary,

Yes it is Saturday.

And yes I have been at work for going on 9 hours!

I was determined to complete these Active Learning activities, prior to Monday. So next week I can focus on re-acquaintaing myself with the Chemistry material I was introduced to over the last 6 months. To say it was difficult to absorb completely while working in the law library , would be an understatement. So now that I can focus all of my attention on Chemistry, I don't want to be distracted by thoughts of upcoming activities that need to be planned. And viola.

Today I came up with the following concepts and completed the missing week activities. We plan to repeat some, purposefully. At the end of the semester we will survey the students and see which activities were most well received / helpful.

*Copyright Tic Tac Toe

*Google Crossword Puzzle

*Web of Science
(Scavenger Hunt with Word Find)

*PATENT-ly RID-iculous
(Patents' Scavenger Hunt using Riddles and Word Jumbles)

*Lecture Lingo
(My take on Bingo) instead of listening for B-8 or I-61, they listen for terms

I Think I Can...I Think I Can...

Dear Diary,

I gained access to Contribute, after creating a sample website for the Institutional Digital Repository. I came up with a cutsy title for our project: ND's I.D.

It is a play on words. I used ID as an abbreviation for Institutional Depository, (I've have seen these projects referred to both ways).

But also because the content is a way to "identify" Notre Dame's scholars. Get it?

I found volunteers to do my Active Learning exercises, so I can time them and make any adjustments.

Speaking of "possibilities," I am working on an active learning activity for Patents. And have been researching some of the more interesting ones, yes of course the Bird Diaper. But also

"Form Fitting" invented by: Rikiya Fukuda, A door that fits like a glove!

Fukuda's Automatic Door, designed in Japan, opens just enough to match the shape of the person or object passing through. The nifty motion-detecting portal saves energy by keeping a door from having to repeatedly open all the way. That helps maintain a stable temperature in a room and can prevent dirt and other materials from being swept inside. In addition to people, the new system can be used for small objects, like packages dropped off at a post office, or for larger things, like a car coming through a garage door.

Who Knew Learning Could Be So Much Fun

Dear Diary,

Today I am hard at work on finalizing all of my Active Learning exercises for my upcoming Chemistry Databases class. To that end, I have created an exercise for 8 of the 9 classes we have.

Although created for younger audiences, this website as an interactive educational tool to identify copyright issues and learn how and why copyright law applies to everyone.
http://www.copyrightkids.org/quizframes.htm

I have also developed 3 different Scavenger Hunts for Web of Science, NCBI and Patents. Two begin with Word Find puzzles and the other one begins with a "Riddle me this..." Pretty clever if I do say so myself.

Instead of Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy exercise I have designed a Lecture Bingo, for 2 of the more complex lectures. I chose Lecture Bingo to ascertain who is paying attention and as a way to break up the monotony.

I have created a Google Keyword Crossword Puzzle to reinforce advanced searching options such as the use of a tilde sign (~) immediately in front of your search term for synonyms.

Another exercise reminds the students that Boolean Operator "OR" must be uppercase between search terms.

*I include some interesting asides from their website, such as:

What does "Google" mean?

The name "Google" is a play on the word "googol," which was coined byMilton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. Agoogol refers to the number represented by a 1 followed by 100 zeros. Agoogol is a very large number. There isn't a googol of anything in theuniverse -- not stars, not dust particles, not atoms. Google's use ofthe term reflects our mission to organize the world's immense (and seemingly infinite) amount of information and make it universallyaccessible and useful.

http://www.google.com/intl/xx-elmer/
Searching Ewmew Fudd still retrieves same results as regular Google!

http://www.alltooflat.com/geeky/elgoog/m/index.cgi
Searching elgooG also still retrieves same results, but with a slight Headache!

You can Vanity Google yourself, one of my favorite past times. But I didn't know that Google had an opinion about me one way or the other, until I discovered this.
http://www.googlism.com/index.htm

Google never ceases to amaze me. You can search Patent Numbers, such as:
Patent 5934226 (Bird Diapers)

There is a Handy Dandy Calculator Feature!
To use Google's built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you'd like done into the search box and hit the Enter key or click on the Google Search button. The calculator can solve math problems involving basic arithmetic, more complicated math, units of measure and conversions, and physical constants. Try one of the sample expressions below:

These sample queries demonstrate the utility and power of this feature:
5+2*2
2^20
sqrt(-4)
half a cup in teaspoons
160 pounds * 4000 feet in Calories

Naturally if you want to see who links to a specific website you can simply type in:
link:www.nd.edu

And lastly you can get definitions by typing:
define:umlaut

More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Genes

Dear Diary,

Today I had training on the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) suite of databases, with particular focus on Nucleotides, Proteins, Structure and Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM).

We decided to forego the Wheel of Fortune / Jeopardy active learning exercies due to time constraints. I am finalizing the Scavenger Hunt.

Active Learning

Dear Diary,

Today I began working on Active Learning exercises for Chemistry Databases.

I completed a word find as a precursor to the Scavenger Hunt in Web of Science. 1 down, 6 more to go.

I created a Wheel of Fortune meets Jeopardy exercise to reinforce Boolean Searching, also.