I was honored to be a guest on Steve Thomas’ Circulating Ideas podcast. Steve and I discussed social media and innovation in libraries. Circulating Ideas: The Librarian Interview Podcast, Episode Twenty-Three: Troy Swanson. As I mention at the beginning of the podcast, I owe much to Michael Stephens and the Tame the Web community. I am very appreciative! Troy A. Swanson is Department Chair and Teaching & Learning Librarian at Moraine Valley Community College. He is the author of the book, Managing Social Media in Libraries. You can follow him on Twitter at @t_swanson.
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Call for Chapters: Not Just Where to Click: Teaching Students How to Think About Information Editors: Heather Jagman, Coordinator of Library Instruction, DePaul University, hjagman@depaul.edu Troy Swanson, Department Chair of Library Services, Moraine Valley Community College, swanson@morainevalley.edu Publisher: Association of College and Research Libraries The editors are seeking chapters written by librarians or faculty members focusing on theoretical approaches, projects, assessments, instructional sessions, or curricula that teach students how to think about information. This book will focus on pedagogies that challenge students to dive deeper into authority, connect to prior knowledge, and construct knowledge in a world of information abundance. This […]
Higher education has been abuzz about the potential behind service-learning opportunities for many years. The logistics behind service-learning can often be a significant obstacle. Connecting volunteer and social justice efforts to the classroom and also accommodating students’ busy lives can difficult to say the least. Our library has supported a significant service learning project on our campus, ActOut Now!: Education Through Action. This is a project organized by one of our writing faculty and his students. Our library offers the space for them to hold a volunteer fair where local nonprofit groups, students, and activists come together to discuss issues and build […]
If you are involved with managing a library website or social media, usability studies should be vitally important to you. My library has conducted several usability tests over the past decade, which provided input for major website redesigns. I thought it might be useful for those new to usability testing to post my library’s documentation for our most recent usability study, MVCC Library Usability Study Documents. If you follow this link, you will find a PDF that includes: Study Goals Procedure Outline Calendar Testing the Test Test Materials Web sites Reviewed Participant Forms Moderator Script Study Questions I always approach usability […]
Last month, someone contacted me about creating social media plans in libraries. From our email exchange, I think she was a bit surprised when I said that I think social media plans often get in the way and are a waste of resources. I told her that I could not send her a sample social media plan or a list of best practices for writing a social media plan. I told her that my suggested best practice was to not write a plan at all. When I think about a “plan”, I mean a systematized set of steps that guide […]
Right now is our busiest time of the year. Last week was especially crazy. I hosted an author event featuring our One Book author Tony Horwitz (http://www.morianevalley.edu/confederates), I chaired a department meeting, co-chaired a cataloing meeting in prep for RDA, attended a House of Delegates meeting for our union, met with our director of assessment about our annual assessment plan, and taught a couple of classes. But, out of all of this, the coolest thing I did all week happened at the reference desk. I was doing my normal reference shift, and a student came up to the desk. He […]
Today, my blood started to boil as I sat through a presentation on my campus. The speaker actually did a good job. He was detailing information about a nation-wide survey called CCSSE (the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, http://www.ccsse.org/) in which our campus has participated for many years. Engagement is much more than a buzzword within community colleges. The higher education literature is very clear that the ways that students build personal and intellectual connections with a campus (the ways they engage) have a major impact on the success of that student. (See Unmasking the Effects of Student Engagement […]
I am no longer reading the book 1493 by Charles Mann (see my previous post about Mann’s earlier book, 1491, here). I was reading it but it just disappeared from my iPad. I had downloaded it via Overdrive from my local public library. My two-week loan period is over, the book vanished, and I am now back on the waiting list. I am at a point in my life where I just don’t have time to read for fun. I just don’t have time to curl up with books any more. Young children, work responsibilities, side projects, homeownership, and the […]
Following the inspiration of TED (actually, copying TED), our library partnered with our campus’ Center for Teaching & Learning to create a special event that highlights our campus’ faculty and staff. This event which we affectionately called TLC: Teaching & Learning Community event, featured five faculty and staff members who gave mini-lectures on a range of topics. Our goal was to host a program in our library that produced web-ready content. We purposely limited each speaker to 15 minutes per presentation. Our Goals Find teachers, innovators and leaders who are able to inspire us with “ideas worth sharing.” Create a […]
Each month, our college has a show on one of the local public access television station (PHTV 4 in Palos Heights, Illinois). I was invited to participate to discuss libraries and librarians as well as help spread the word about services we offer to our local community. I saw this as a chance to do some local library advocacy, so you can judge how well I pulled it off. This was definitely something new for me (my segment starts at minute 3:33). Meet with Moraine (June 2012)