Dear Diary,
Today I attended the weekly Reference Meeting, too early in the morning but I learned some things. We discussed interesting topics such as adding drop down menus from our Ask a Librarian to add subject librarians such as "Ask a Chemistry Librarian" etc...I will spend roughly a QUARTER of my time doing Library Instruction.
We discussed the use of Podcasts at Ohio University for libary tours. It is called "Learning to Speak: Creating a Library Podcast with a Unique voice" and is by Chris Kretz from Dowling College in New York. Dowling College began podcatsting in October 2005 with a monthly radio program entitled Omnibus: http://tinyurl.com/jw37g
The presentation shows how one library approached podcasting to produce a "unique interesting program that would appeal to its various user groups"
I then attended the Electronic Resources meeting. I will spend 3/4 of my time in this department. This should be interesting. I guess the two are manageable, something just is unsettling about being in 2 departments simultaneously. But as always, I'll figure it out and make it happen.
We discussed my working on publicizing our new RefWorks. I suggested we can create a minor stir in anticipation of it using a "Coming Soon" concept since we cannot access it yet: http://www.refworks.com/ RefWorks -- an online research management, writing and collaboration tool -- is designed to help researchers easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies. I found an interesting RefWorks Blog: http://www.lib.k-state.edu/services/refworks.html
In my second meeting we discussed the complexities of counting electronic journals. This e-matrix is made more difficult by changing definitions and criteria. Do you include individual tiltes in databases, or free web-based journals that are cataloged? Do you count each title available or accessible from JSTOR and Project Muse?
There is a lot written about this challenging situation. For more information see the
Library and Information Technology Association LITA Blog:
http://litablog.org/2005/10/07/e-matrix-ncsu-library-eresources-management-system/
