My To-Do List

I am so thrilled to be writing this from beautiful New Orleans, where I’m attending the AISL annual conference for the first time! As I bask, I want to share what I’m sure are just the very beginnings of my to-do list for when I head back home.

Doug Johnson Keynote: “Changed but Still Critical: Brick and Mortar School Libraries in the Digital Age”
To summarize, how does the physical space of the school library best serve students when they don’t necessarily have to walk through the doors to access information, or even to get help from a librarian? How can we create a library that students can feel is their “third space?” My to-do list takeaways:

  • Think about time rather than space as a way to “zone” the learning spaces of the library, especially in a small or one-room operation (like mine).
  • Have a positively phrased list (written and posted) of things that are always allowed in the library (e.g., reading, learning about a personal interest, writing a journal or blog post, getting help with a research need, etc.)
  • Promote as much in-library tech support as I am able to offer

2016 Summer Institute Design Dream Team Take 2! Mary Buxton, Marsha Hawkins, Claudette Hovasse, Melinda Holmes, Laura Pearle, and I shared some of the ways (all very different) that we have used what we learned from the 2016 Summer Institute on Design Thinking in Libraries hosted by Katie Archambault. My design thinking project to-do list:

  • Redesign of our resource guides to be easier for students to use
  • Revisit my version of a “Rx for Research” infographic, evaluate it with students and teachers, and share it more widely
  • Offer lessons, tutorials, and other support to our Entrepreneurial Capstone students in organizing information and developing their PLNs

Solid Research or Stuck in a Rut?: One Librarian’s Research on Modern College Readiness
Courtney Lewis presented some results from her absolutely fascinating research on what college librarians have reported as the research skills and tools that incoming first-year students should be familiar with today. My to-do list:

  • Consider introducing other citation tools more frequently used in colleges for some upper-level courses and/or make sure our students are prepared to use the citation tools available in the colleges and universities they attend
  • Choose and use a discovery service
  • During students’ research processes, deliberately emphasize the importance of research as participation in a “global community of scholars”

Thank you so much to all the presenters, conference committee, and hosts!

I’m sure I’ll be adding to this list for the next two days. These are just some of my takeaway items so far – I’m curious to hear what others would put on their to-do lists from these and other sessions. Please share – what’s going on your post-conference action list?

3 thoughts on “My To-Do List

  1. Isn’t it amazing what you can learn in a day?
    In Doug Johnson’s evaluation seminar, we discussed the idea of determining how many of the students in the school that you teach. If you run rosters with attendance for different courses, this should be pretty easy. I’m looking forward to quantifying that information and pushing for collaborative projects if I realize there are students I am missing.

    • Hi Roxane! Something like EBSCO Discovery Service that basically enables patrons to search all of a library’s print and electronic collections through one interface. Right now, my students have to select the right database(s) for their needs and search them individually. Still a valuable skill, but it sounds like colleges would like first-year students to have experience using these tools.

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