library visit assignment 1

     Fortunately, I had the day off for the holiday so I was able to spend part of the day at the Milo Johnson Library at Mt.San Jacinto College in San Jacinto. I spent about forty minutes there and it was fairly busy. The library is the main library for the community college and there is no other library on campus. Most of the patrons are students, but the library is open to anyone in the community.
  The building is a large open one story structure. The circulation and information area is in the front on the library and there are students working at the information desk.
    The basic layout of the library is an open area with a group of library desks and chairs Next to these are the stacks which contain the bulk of the collection. There is a periodical section and a couple of study areas.
     The main reference area is on the south side part of the building. There are a couple of low stack which contain most of the reference materials. There is a reference desk and it is manned by a reference librarian the works all of the hours that the library is open.
  There are two sets of computers. The main lab has about 20 computers and there is also a computer lab in the front which has another 16 computers. Each terminal has a small desk which can be used for writing and looking at materials. One of the nice things that the library has are live tutors which help students with most general education subjects. The tutors are available most of the hours that the library is open and are also available by appointment.
     I ask the reference librarian if there are any workshops or help in using the reference resources. They have a brochure that any student can read. It has most of the resources and information about the library. She also explain that there are orientation sessions that are offered to new students. In the orientation students look up materials and are instructed on how to use the library to look up information. The orientation also gives the students instruction on how to use the computers and how to copy and paste and how to search on line as well as how to use Microsoft to write papers. The library uses the Library of  Congress catalog and there is a section in the brochure on how to find materials in the  various subject areas.
     Anyone can use the internet at the library even non-students. There is a policy statement on the wall. Some  of the policies are that the computers can be used for e-mail and for academic work only. It states that there is to be no social networking or facebook. Also it states that students have priority and when there are classes they have priority also. I have to say that during my visit that these policies were pretty much ignored. I would guess that almost all of the students were either on facebook or watching videos.
      The reference area itself is very large and well stocked. There are dozens of specialty encyclopedias and history books, yearbooks, dictionaries and other standard reference materials including atlases and a good selection of local and California history. Another one of the nice things that this library has is a good collection of periodical and journals The current editions are in a reading area and there is another section that archives bound editions from prior years.
   The library had a very impressive collection of online database, some of these include EBSCOhost , Encyclopedia Brittanica, Lexis, AccessScience and dozens of others. You need a password and used name to use them but the reference librarian can help if you are not a student. The library also has 1673 online periodicals and newspapers. You can find almost anything and view the full text version of the articles. I looked up some book reviews in Library Journal with the help of the friendly and helpful reference librarian.
     The online catalog is easy to use but if you are not familiar with LOC it can be a little confusing to find materials at first.
     My overall impression is that this is a great resource( though I think underutilized) for the students and the whole community in general. The librarian did not have the opportunity to work with any other patrons during my visit, but she was very approachable and friendly to me

blog number 4

I think that the first thing that you should do when making any collection development decisions, especially when you are talking about 20 thousand dollars is to look at your service community. The reference department should serve the needs of the community and should reflect how the users use your library. If you don't have the numbers to support buying online databases and you don't have any way to access how often your onsite resources are being used then it is just guess work or basing your purchases on what the staff prefers.
    If your community needs  databases like tutor.com or online tutoring then that is where I would spend  a larger share of my budget. If patrons use our computers to do most of their research then we would we actually spend more money on laptops or pcs in the library. Also we would need to communicate with our patrons and other members in our community such as schools and senior centers. We need to know if they expect our library to have certain resources in our collection. There are lots of good models to look at from ALA and other professional organizations that can give guidance in developing a reference collection. There are simply some things that a reference collection has to have because patrons have come to expect them. There is no reason to force patrons to rely on a reference system or use materials that they are not comfortable with.
Are print resource becoming outdated or obsolete? I am not sure whether that is our decision to make. Patrons deserve the best reference sources that we can provide and not just the cheapest and the quickest.
 We have a real mix of both print sources and we also have purchased some good databases. The challenge is for us to make it work for our patrons and to always listen to what they are saying. We do questionnaires and also take statistics to find out how are patrons are using the databases. We also communicate as a staff when we help patrons with their reference questions to see if there are any gaps in what we have. Also we try to monitor which database are being used and which ones are not. We have dropped database and have changed others just within the the past year. You can have the latest technology and the coolest databases, but if no one is using them or your staff isn't promoting them then you really have wasted your money. That means that the staff needs to know what resource you have and how to used them. You also need to have them on your Public Access site where they are visible and ready to use. I guess I don't think there is any magic formula that tells you that you should spend a certain percentage on print or electronic resources. If you meet the needs of your patrons then that is the guiding force behind how you spend your money

blog number three

There's a lot to consider when reflecting on this weeks' topic. I think that there isn't one hard and fast answer when considering how students search for information. I grew up without the internet and so it was easy to use print sources. I remember using encyclopedias, the  Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature and bibliographies that had indexes and other ways to find information. It was time consuming, but since it was the only way I never thought too much about it. Now all searching is done online. I guess the google and wiki people are just doing the same background work for today's students that the editors and biographers did for us. I can't say that it is a "bad" or good thing. It is just the way things are done today.
 I am not going to blame students if they want to get their papers done as quickly as possible. If the assignment is nothing more than reproducing words from sources or just copying and pasting text then they would be foolish not to use readily available source such as wikipedia.
   The concern is that students are just taking whatever they read at face value and we know there are real problems with this approach. It also almost assures that the students will not look for opposing or alternative viewpoints and that means they won't become involved with the subject or learn to think for themselves. I think that if the assignment doesn't give the student a chance to think about what they are doing it probably isn't worth doing. This is an unfortunate result of the get it done for a grade culture and that is not likely to change.
  Almost  all of my experience on a daily basis is with older people who are really looking for information that they are going to use to enrich their own lives. I try to end the search with an offer to look for more information on a subject and at least offer a chance to ask us for further assistance if the book or article isn't what they need. Even adults are a little hesitant to do very much online research and prefer books or magazines.
 I am much more proactive with younger students and I almost always recommend at least one book on the topic. Younger students like to look at pictures and if the information in the text is presented in an attractive way they usually like to take the book(s) with them. We have some good websites such as World Book and Facts on File so we can offer a lot online for students up to high school level. I am pleased when I see teacher who makes at least one or more books and two other sources as a requirement for the assignment
  In the end library staff and the schools have to work together to make sure that students go beyond the google and wiki experience. I like having interaction with the school teachers and librarians and it seems that we always know when it is science fair time or the California Missions assignment are due. I don't think that it is a lost cause and I still see students using the library when they are doing research papers and long term assignments