Week 7: Sharing Slide Presentations

I think that slidesharing would be useful for bibliographic instruction, and could also be used just to share information about the library or news or special events being held in the library. Since I'm interested in its use for bibliographic instruction, I did a search for this topic and found a presentation entitled Bibliographic Instruction 2.0: Using New Technologies to Market Your Library's Resources and Services to Freshman Students. This presentation was developed by a librarian named Fiona Grady at Stony Brook University. The link is http://www.slideshare.net/fgrady/bibliographic-instruction-2-0-final

In addition to discussing many of the items we've been covering in 23 Things, such as blogging and social networks and virtual reference, Ms. Grady includes information on a program that is available to students at Yale University. At Yale, each student has his or her own "Personal Librarian." This librarian is assigned to students in their freshman year, and continues with students through their sophomore year or until they declare a major. Once they declare a major the Personal Librarian introduces them to a subject specialist, a librarian with an advanced degree in their discipline, who will help them with the research they do for their major.
I checked an old issue of the ALA Directory in our library, and it indicated that Yale had 138 librarians with a MLS degree and over 60 non-MLS librarians. When you have a staff of this size, you can provide a service like this. The librarians send a letter to freshman before the semester begins, and also provide ongoing communication via email throughout the year. It's a way of establishing a personal connection with students. Providing a personal librarian acts as an icebreaker and reduces library anxiety. It also serves as "proactive introduction to the library before students arrive on campus."

With all the emphasis on new technologies, Grady reminds us not to forget about "Old School" outreach: "Don't underestimate the importance of a random act of kindness to a new student on campus."