I was not very confident going into my second stint of work placement, this semester at a secondary school. I was worried about how I would relate to the the students, not having had much experience dealing with teenagers.
Well, I need not have worried. Contact was minimal during my week at the school - lending out laptops and two (yes, two) inquiries for books. In fact, the worst problem I had all week was trying to hear them giving me their student code to input into the computer - because very few students actually carried their student cards with them!!
The whole experience was very different from working at the public library in the first semester. Mostly lending and returning the laptops, plus a bit of shelving. The other differences were lending out electronic resources (cameras, videos, etc) to teachers and putting together class sets of books on specific topics.
I was very pleasantly surprised by the breadth of topics in the reference section and the fairly substantial fiction section, including what I would class as adult fiction. Unlike the public library, there was no large collection of graphic novels.
Staff were only busy with circulation duties if there were classes being held in the library, otherwise they were occupied with other matters (including teaching) or backroom work. During my week there, staff were also putting together the school yearbook as well as revamping the school website.
Monday, 17 September 2012
Sunday, 2 September 2012
Trust Me ........ really?
http://www.goscl.com/survey-reveals-librarians-second-only-to-doctors-in-publics-trust/
(viewed 2 Sept 2012)
According to a survey commissioned by the UK Society of Chief Librarians, "80% of the users surveyed ..... said that the support provided in libraries improved their level of understanding of online information and 70% said that it had improved their online knowledge and skills. Users said they would overwhelmingly recommend their public library’s online information to other people."
That seems to be a ringing endorsement for UK librarians - but the survey was conducted for a library organisation, by the government about a government initiative, the “digital by default” online services. A bit iffy????
Probably not, if UK librarians are being trained like they are in Australia - with the emphasis on information literacy and IT skills. In fact, I think that they are ahead of the game, and that the government is now playing catch-up.
Librarians have known for a long time that the digital age is upon us and have been busy acquiring the necessary skills in order to cope. They are now passing on those skills to library users. Trust a librarian .... sure can!
(viewed 2 Sept 2012)
According to a survey commissioned by the UK Society of Chief Librarians, "80% of the users surveyed ..... said that the support provided in libraries improved their level of understanding of online information and 70% said that it had improved their online knowledge and skills. Users said they would overwhelmingly recommend their public library’s online information to other people."
That seems to be a ringing endorsement for UK librarians - but the survey was conducted for a library organisation, by the government about a government initiative, the “digital by default” online services. A bit iffy????
Probably not, if UK librarians are being trained like they are in Australia - with the emphasis on information literacy and IT skills. In fact, I think that they are ahead of the game, and that the government is now playing catch-up.
Librarians have known for a long time that the digital age is upon us and have been busy acquiring the necessary skills in order to cope. They are now passing on those skills to library users. Trust a librarian .... sure can!
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