Blog Reflection 8

I feel the need to rant! So many people assume that we sit around all day and read books or twiddle our thumbs because the computer does all the work for us. If only I got paid to read. If only computers did all the cataloging, reference and circulation work for us.
When I tell people I work in a library their eyes usually glaze over with a look that says “poor thing” or “oh…that’s nice. I guess”. I swear this happens a lot. The average person just doesn’t get it and I sincerely doubt they ever will. They see a person or two at a Circulation desk and maybe someone shelving and think that is all one needs to run a library.
For instance, teaching is such a large part of what I and fellow employees do on a daily basis. My library happens to have an OPAC available on the intranet only and accessibility to most of our resources are IP authenticated. Day after day we are asked questions that are easily answered with a little training and I have found that I enjoy teaching people how to use our resources. They are so thankful and happy to learn the correct way to do their research or studying and there are different ways we train.
One way we assist people is by participating in our hospital’s monthly new hire orientation where one of the librarians gives a short presentation outlining our library followed by a Q & A at the end of orientation. It is a great way to get people to know we exist and that we’re here to help them.
Our librarians created a PowerPoint tutorial that is posted on our intranet page with step by step directions on using the OPAC, Journal and Book A – Z Lists and Single Search. The tutorial is available to 24/7 and from anywhere in the hospital.
But by far the greatest way we teach people is one on one. Every day I am asked questions that lead to educational opportunities. The number one thing people learn is that they need to use our library’s intranet page to access databases, journals, books and evidence-based resources (among other things).
As I was suggesting before I get a little frustrated from times when people assume that “everything is on the computer”. It is my job to make sure patrons know other wise and to get the word out that working in a library is actually work. I feel better now.

Blog Reflection # 7

At work I frequently have people ask me where they can find information on many different subjects. Although I work in a medical library with a great clinical medical collection I am still surprised that people use Yahoo! or Google for "answers".

Thankfully the majority of our patrons know to use PubMed or one of our subscription databases such as Ovid or MDConsult to do research, but some people still don't get it.

We refer almost everyone to our catalog where there is access to journals from EBSCO & Elsevier, among others. Don't get me wrong. I use Yahoo! and Google to search for many things...but the longer I work in a library the more I understand these search engines do not have all the answers!

I steer people clear of wikis as I don't think they can be trusted to find true, reliable information. After I inform people of the "dangers" of a wiki I demonstrate reputable sites for them to visit. LII.org is good source, as are encyclopedia.com and Encyclopedia Britannica.com (although one has to pay for this resource). If someone needs statistics I think the Center For Disease Control (www.cdc.gov) is a great one as it contains more than just medical statistics and facts.

Library employees are there, in part, to guide patrons to the appropriate resources for their needs and we need to know the pros and cons of various resources to better inform them.

The last few weeks have been a bit crazy. Between work, school and putting my house on the market I’ve been pretty gosh darn stressed out.
This is my first experience with an online class it has been a really interesting experience with my work schedule it is a better fit for me. What can be difficult is finding the time to sit down and complete an assignment. I find that an online course forces me to much more self motivated than a traditional class.
I have learned about so many new, great resources. I had never heard of Bartelby.com or looked at a Factbook before but I have found myself looking up information that has nothing to do with school work. So many people I know (and I’m guilty of this as well sometimes!) use Google or Yahoo! to search pretty much everything. Wikipedia can’t be trusted but I know plenty of folks who get there ‘information’ from them. I try to tell them that anyone can put whatever they want on a wiki without any solid references or bibliographies to back them up but they still use it.
What else can I do but give them a little information and cross my fingers?