Thursday, December 10, 2015

December 2015


    Baton Rouge Community College and the academic library community lost a valued member and leader on November 24, 2015, with the death of Shereen Marx.  Shereen earned her Masters of Library and Information Science degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2010 and was a tireless advocate for libraries and reading as a bridge to student success.

   She mentored countless library student workers and prepared them for future careers, served for 6 years as General Services Librarian at Baton Rouge Community College Magnolia Library, and was a longtime member of ALA and many state and national organizations devoted to the preservation and promotion of libraries and archives.

    She was elected to the Beta Phi Mu International Library & Information Studies Honor Society, and her professionalism, energy, and joie de vivre were an inspiration to her coworkers, colleagues, and students. She will be greatly missed.

    In recognition of the significant contributions of Shereen Marx over the course of her career and the mourning of her death we extend our condolences to her friends and family. Especially her beloved husband, Max Marx. 





    Contributions in her memory may be sent to “Shereen Marx Book Donation” care of the Friends of the Magnolia Library, BRCC Foundation, 201 Community College Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70806.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Vol 1 issue 9



The BRCC Library Club is pleased to sponsor the "Toys for Tots" toy drive for BRCC again this holiday season. "Toys for Tots" in an initiative of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, whose goal is "to deliver, through a new toy a Christmas, a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them in becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens."

This year the drive will be taken to all BRCC sites. Look for the festive collection box on your campus and please donate new, unwrapped toys. The BRCC toy drive will run from November 6 to December 4, 2015.




Want to learn your way around puzzling copyright questions, especially those that make you wonder if you can place a book on Reserve for your students?

Want to enjoy an hour with colleagues and friends and refreshments?  Then join your colleagues at Teaching with Copyrighted Materials:  How to Analyze any Copyright Question in Five Steps.

Best of all, you'll earn one professional development point!

This one-hour program will be delivered by Peggy Hoon, J. D, on Friday, Nov. 20 at 2:00 p.m. in the T + LC and is co-sponsored by the Magnolia Library and the Teaching + Learning Center.  Hoon is the Director of Copyright Policy and Education, LSU Libraries, at Louisiana State University.  She serves as a campus-wide copyright resource for LSU faculty, staff, and students, providing education, and assistance for authors' rights in their works.

For more information, call the Library’s Reference desk at 216-8555











As we enter the last few weeks of fall semester, and the beginning of spring registration, it is inevitable to think about retention. In a recent article published earlier this year, Sidney Eng, and Dereck Stadler specifically examined the impact that libraries had on student retention. Their study broke down institutions according to their Carnegie Classification; with graduate schools, 4-year undergraduate institutions, and the 2-year associate's college. Interestingly, there was no measurable impact of the library on graduate school retention. However, and this is what is important for us, in the two-year college it was found that if students were exposed to even one library instruction session, the likelihood of that student being retained rose by 2%. This is something to consider if you have never had a librarian come to your class. Learning how to use the library and its resources is an invaluable skill that will help our students throughout their college experience. You may also want to encourage your students to sign up for the LIBS 101 course. This 1 credit course is offered each semester in either  the first or second seven weeks.

If you would like to read the article in full you can access it though this link:
https://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/article/view/24499

Friday, October 16, 2015

Vol 1 Issue 8




Magnolia Library to Host Research 101






Canvas Library Module

      Don't forget that there are many ways to connect and keep in touch with your library. Magnolia Library has created a course within Canvas to give you direct library access. This course is available in each BRCC students' list of courses. BRCC faculty can also access this resource through your list of courses after logging in to Canvas.  




Architecture Bibliographic Instruction event at Acadian

On September 22, Acadian instructor, Darryl Williams’ drafting class received a customized BI that included information on library services and resources relevant to their course of study along with information beneficial to them in fulfilling a semester assignment.
Librarian liaison Peter Klubek, presented a BI session that included information about the library services in addition to resources relevant in the drafting profession available in the library.


In that the class semester assignment require biographical research on famous or renowned architects, following librarian Klubek’ s BI session, the class was treated to a lecture on  subject architecture and architects by special guest lecturer, Professor Jill Bambry. Dr. Bambry, is a current faculty member from of the School of Architecture at southern University, and recently received her PhD in Architecture from University of Cambridge, UK


   Dr. Bambry also shared several two-minute videos featuring architects and architectural techniques.

Finally, librarian Jacquline Jones also shared some books from the library collection on the topic of drafting and architecture. If you would like to set up a similar event for your courses, contact your library liaison, or the reference desk at 225-216-8555.




Reflections of an academic librarian
Month one


Elise Silva
Reprinted from College and Research Libraries News. Vol. 76 No. 8 September 2015 
      
The day I submitted this essay to C&RL News this spring, I’d been a librarian for one short month. You read that right, a mere 31 days. Because I am working on my MLS, yet carry the title “assistant librarian” I inhabit a strange, liminal space that affords me both a growing familiarity with academic libraries and the objective eye of an outsider.
These liminal spaces can be difficult to occupy—awkward and bumbling. (“Sorry guys! I accidently sent that email to the whole library listserv! Don’t mind me!”) Yet I’d like to think that it affords me a fresh enough perspective on the academic library to have something worth saying. I should disclose that I’ve worked in academia before, teaching literature and writing courses as a full-time faculty member at my current university for several years. Since my switch to the library, however, I’ve noticed several things that I find intriguing, surprising, and even confusing about my new field. I’ve recorded these observations here and wonder if you seasoned readers will agree with my forming opinions.
I’ve been observing the workings of the academic library (as opposed to my native English department) for 31 days now and have noted the following areas as intriguing, surprising, or confusing. I wonder if you seasoned librarians will agree with my observations.

Librarians break stereotypes

      I suppose this shouldn’t come as a shock, but the diversity found within the walls of the library is astounding. The library is made up of all sorts—not only are the faculty as diverse as their fields, the administration, IT folk, instructors, archivists, and catalogers bring a breadth to the library experience that has been eye opening (in a good way). The multifaceted experiences of each member of the library body speaks volumes to the important work that happens here. It also further shows the importance of the ability of the library space to bring us all together, and significance of librarianship in creating a cultural and intellectual community, as well as a shared vocabulary. This is especially important with such varied personalities, job types, and skill sets all working together.

Academic libraries are…academic

      With academia comes competition, bureaucracy, and assessment. These things are not new to me, having come from another area of campus, but I find they are just as prevalent here in the library. Though the structures of libraries vary from institution to institution. I have noticed that there are a lot of hoops to jump through to get things done, and many items to check off the list before moving forward with a project. And that takes time. So if academic librarians are worried about fitting in with their professorial peers, they shouldn’t be. If you’re having a hard time connecting to a faculty member, I’d suggest bringing up issues your experience with organization and bureaucracy in the library. Chances are the same issues will exist in the faculty member’s department, too (though terminology may differ). And shared woes can help spark a co nversation that could end up changing things for the better—or at the very least communicating in a way that your library services are highlighted. No way to make friends better than by complaining together, right?


Collaboration is encouraged

      I’ve been most impressed with the prevalence of collaboration in the library. This might be specific to my institution, however, it should lend itself nicely to other academic libraries, as well. Because the library is an interdisciplinary space by nature, it would follow that library professionals would work together to solve complex problems, publish, and tackle day-to-day issues.
In my previous academic experiences collaboration happened when forced, but wasn’t as natural as it seems in my new library setting. I find this encouraging in a world that seems to be more and more categorized and narrow. Finding shared areas of interest promotes productive dialogue and mutual understanding. Collaboration is desperately needed in academia, and society, at large. Libraries seem like the ideal place to do this.

Culture of protectiveness

      I find that librarians and library staff are very protective of the library. Library space is fought over tooth-and-nail, and those who work within the library are protective of, and revere, the materials they work with. What surprised me most was that this is true of people, as well—hiring someone without an MLS (like I was) can be quite a challenge because those of us not possessing an MLS when applying may be seen as opportunists, a forever outsider, or not truly cut out for librarianship. Like I said, this varies from person to person, and institution to institution, but I think most would agree that the feeling exists.

Remaining relevant is a concern

      This was both confusing and surprising to me—and here I’ll show my cards. A new MLS student not immersed in the world of academic libraries for long, relevancy never crossed my mind. Of course the library is relevant, I thought. Of course libraries will always be around. Of course research matters. Of course librarianship as a profession is an integral part of the university. Having talked with librarians here at my institution, as well as immersing myself in studying and reading up in these areas in the field, I see the numbers and understand where the anxiety comes in.
If librarians are anxious about remaining relevant themselves, I’d say, from a newbie prospective, to make yourself relevant. Building relationships with faculty (and yes, you are peers—don’t feel like you aren’t—even if you don’t have faculty status) will be one of the most important areas of outreach and relevancy you can attain. Because when you reach out to peers, you reach students, too.


Closing thoughts

      I imagine those of you who are still reading this article may have differing views from mine—that is to be expected given your experience in the library and maturation as a professional. I wonder how your perspective differs, but I wonder even more, how it overlaps. Do my observations make sense? Will they change as I, too, grow into the librarian I hope to become?
Perhaps my thoughts can help some of you as you mentor and help newer staff and faculty within the library. Correct our misconceptions, but also listen to our ideas. A fresh, objective view might do more to create innovative programs than you might realize.

© 2015 Elise Silva