15 Minute Drop-in Sessions

Dear Diary,

Today I finalized my schedule for my 15 minute Drop-in Sessions for Notre Dame's Online Catalog, Online Journal Articles, WorldCat and of course RefWorks! These will contribute to my 25% Library Instruction responsibilities.

My manager for Instruction, said that I am fast and find great graphics like this one I used for my flier.

Aww Shucks!

154 Days and Counting

Dear Diary,

Yay! Today was another great day. I was able to work out a reimbursement plan that effectively coordinated the travel funds provided from the University in addition to the $1,000 I get from ALA for the Emerging Leaders program. Phew! That was no small feat. But everyone was incredibly helpful and patient as I repeatedly filled out the expense forms incorrectly. But that is done so I'm all set for the next ALA Annual Conference in June.
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I cannot believe I only have a mere 154 days left in my Contract! I can't imagine not being here.
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But I see my latest review has been published:

Title: Cuban Heritage Collection
Author(s): Felicia Smith
Journal: Reference Reviews Year: 2007 Vol : 21 Issue: 1
ISSN 0950-4125
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We received encouragement to begin applying for other jobs since our time is coming to a close and there is not currently any positions at our library to apply for.

Today's the BIG DAY!

Dear Diary

The Refworks reference management service was officially launched last week as a joint OIT/Libraries service. As you may have noticed, today is a full-day concourse demo of RefWorks, especially targeted to students.

The RefWorks Commercial is playing on a projection screen in the concourse, but is also a click away from the library homepage in the spotlight area.
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It is also available on YouTube
Click on the word YouTube to access
the RefWorks Citation Cop video.
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My mentor called and asked me "Have you NO SHAME?"
If I had a dime for every time someone has asked me that....Ha! Ha!

Sleepless in Seattle

Dear Diary,

I have the worse hotel in the city. Chalk it up to last minute reservations. I mean no clock, no radio, no cable, only 4 basic television channels and 2 of those are all static, no controllable heat (only a radiator) and no room service, etc...I have the pleasure of listening to car alarms going off all night and it is just all too much!

But my Emerging Leaders program was even more eventful. Someone suggested we walk instead of taking the shuttle and so I did....only 10 minutes...no problem! But they failed to mention it was all uphill! Oh Dear God! Soon after arriving there, we were treated to a fire scare. Complete with 3 fire trucks and so it has been an eventful trip to say the least.

The morning program was interesting but at lunch my group decided it would be a better use of our time to skip the afternoon wrap-up discussion with the other 95 Emerging Leaders and instead attend our Division Meeting and ask for guidance on our project. That was indeed the best use of our time. We bonded over lunch and on the walk to and from the Division Meeting. We were able to meet our sponsors and get very clear directions. We returned to the Emerging Leaders reception and mingled with the rest of the group.

I saw one of my managers and we went for a snack and then I got some goodies at the exhibit hall and returned to my room and tried to sleep.

Emerging Leaders

Dear Diary,

We have a Wiki to replace the Blog.
This was taken during our program, after the Fire! Ha!

Can you find me?
It is not as difficult as "Where's Waldo?"

3rd Times a Charm

Dear Diary,

It is the last day at work before we leave for the conference and we had a last minute re-shoot.
I was scrambling to re re-arrange my day that was already packed with things to do before I go and meetings I'd crammed in. But I made it work and got the re-shoot done. Now we are getting feedback from students. Hopefully the filming is done. Who knew acting was so draining! Ha!

Latest Publication

Dear Diary,

I am excited to see my latest article has been published in the IFRT Report. The Report also discusses my selection for the Emerging Leaders program which I will attend this Friday in Seattle! I am super excited: For your viewing pleasure, click on the IFRT hyper link.

Also it was announced that ALA has an account in Second Life featuring Midwinter information. It is on the info island in cybrary city. I'm going to have to check it out. I have not been visited my Second Life in a while. I told my manager today that this is the funnest job I've ever had. Who said Libraries aren't cool?

Take 2

Dear Diary,

We re-shot the RefWorks commercial. A co-worker correctly said that the reason we call this project Refworks is because it is a lot of WORK! Oh well, I think the fact that we play up the parody angle more is better. Our first test audience had some difficulty with our 2 competing themes. So hopefully it is almost done. We are preparing for the big roll out day and I have a lot of planning to do. Who knew there would be so much involved.

My blog project is coming along. I am working on Automated Usability Tests to present my findings. I leave for my Emerging Leaders program and ALA Mid-winter next week. So I have to be done with all of my Refworks tasks by then because when I return from the conference, our roll out is the next day.

It's Official...I'm a Star!

Dear Diary,

I made my very first movie this morning. We shot our RefWorks commercial. Yipee! Now I can say we are halfway through. It is in editing. I think this may have been the funniest filming session ever. The camera man fell off of the dolly we were trying to create the illusion of moving. There were some who did not study their lines or run their lines as we say in the business....like I had done so we had a few re-takes. It should be noted that the entire commercial had maybe 8 (1-line) scripts. So there was no real need to study the lines. We muddled through and one cast member suggested we keep the out takes and send them to America's Funniest Home Videos or use them in our DVD set as Special Features.

Naturally, I came down the Flu yesterday and had to get up early and be in character... as they say, "The show must go on!" I still think the actor who played the Citation Cop could have played all the characters. We are all quite silly but he is really silly!

My nephew is still on winter break so he had the pleasure of attending the 8 am filming. He is actually an extra in the commercial which he is very excited about. He is convinced that this is a "TYPICAL DAY in the LIFE of a LIBRARIAN! "

I am now able to concentrate some more of my energy on my next pet project, my Blog! No not this Blog, my Blog for "New" Electronic Resources.