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LIS 620 Fall 2017 Showcase
Academic Libraries
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Presenter: Andrea Tomlinson Practicum Location: Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley Bancroft Library allows both affiliated and non-affiliated UC Berkeley individuals to access material. As such, patrons range from professional to unprofessional researchers and therefore, users have a different level of understanding of the library and material. Nonprofessional researchers, especially undergraduate students, are often not as comfortable using material and therefore, do not always fully engage with items. Much literature has been published regarding the benefits of exposing nonprofessional researchers to special collections and suggestions for how to do this through different instructional activities. These activities enable researchers to more fully engage, understand, and appreciate special collection material and libraries. |
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Presenter: Linda Bagley Practicum Location: Mills Music Library My project was based on the problem of organizing special collections of music materials, which can contain many different formats and be complicated to organize. I mainly researched organization schemes used for three different special collections: the Ricasoli Collection, the Hirsch Library, and the Simon Bucharoff Collection. I concluded that common strategies for arranging music special collections are to arrange them by material type, alphabetically, chronologically, by genre, or in rare cases by acquisition number. Looking for these different elements within a collection could be used in the future to help speed up the process of organizing special collections owned by Mills Music Library. |
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Presenter: Megan Adams Practicum Location: UW-Madison College Library UW–Madison Libraries are moving to a tiered model of reference services. To adequately prepare for the transition, College Library is planning an evaluation of its point-of-need reference services in the Spring of 2018 via a transcript analysis of chat reference interactions. Based on the existing literature in the field, how can College Library design a chat reference assessment to study the competencies needed to provide high-quality point-of-need assistance? This presentation discusses the literature review, methodology selection, and category development stages of planning a chat reference assessment. |
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Presenter: Carissa Hansen Practicum Location: Digital Preservation and Repository Technologies department of the University of Minnesota Libaries The Digital Preservation and Repository Technologies department of the University of Minnesota Libraries (Minneapolis, Minnesota) provides digital preservation expertise for the University and beyond, working on outreach initiatives across the state of Minnesota. Part of my practicum at this site included learning how to communicate with the public about digital preservation. In creating educational handouts, I asked: how should digital preservation educators scale outreach tools and classes to meet the needs of as many community members as possible? Research suggests educators should integrate digital preservation into existing library services whenever possible, make digital preservation easily recognizable, and use more than one format or approach. |
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Presenter: Lijun Xing Practicum Location: The Information School at University of Wisconsin-Madison SLIS Data Curation Project is a project that to develops digital collections through an online platform named Digital Mappa (DM). Through this platform, the staff could carry out the work at any time and in anywhere, as long as he/she has an authorized account and the internet to access DM. This kind of working environment is known as Virtual Working Environment. Although it has advantages like lower office costs, fewer meetings, and a 24-hour workday, the disadvantages it causes cannot be ignored. To address the issues, two aspects need to be considered: ensure the productivity and keep lines of communication open. |
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Presenter: Megan Adams Practicum Location: College Library UW–Madison Libraries are moving to a tiered model of reference services. To adequately prepare for the transition, College Library is planning an evaluation of its point-of-need reference services in the Spring of 2018 via a transcript analysis of chat reference interactions. Based on the existing literature in the field, how can College Library design a chat reference assessment to study the competencies needed to provide high-quality point-of-need assistance? This presentation discusses the literature review, methodology selection, and category development stages of planning a chat reference assessment. |
Archives
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Presenter: Emily Shultz Practicum Location: Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center The Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center uses volunteers and unpaid labor as a resource. As information professionals, archivists must be mindful of the advantages and disadvantages that volunteers can offer. Volunteers are useful, especially in smaller archives that are understaffed. However, volunteers might not always be dependable, and are often viewed as a time commitment. Archives must comprehend all benefits and limitations to volunteers and, when appropriate, effectively integrate them into their repositories by using best practices. |
K – 12 Schools
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Presenter: Amanda Dillon Practicum Location: Albany Schools The school library in Albany, Wisconsin, strives to provide students with books to read for enjoyment or for research. In Albany, students rely on the librarian or the catalog to find titles in the Dewey organization of the library. This lack of autonomy frustrates students; thus, it is time to reconsider library organization. Genreficiation is a popular organizational structure, and both public and school libraries are seeing positive results after reorganizing their collections. Research shows that creates an enjoyable environment where students can browse the shelves to find the just-right book they seek, which is a change Albany needs. |
Public Libraries
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Presenter: Lacey Partlow Practicum Location: State Library of Iowa (state government) The State Library of Iowa, housed in the Ola Babcock Miller Building and the State Capitol building, determined a need for removal of one of their physical reference desks due to decreasing walk-in reference questions and alignment with their five-year strategic plan. Re-imagining of library spaces and reference services will allow for a more streamlined reference approach for patrons while enhancing the services and minimizing some budget concerns within the State Library department. |
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Presenter: Jess McCarlson Practicum Location: Public Library, Middleton Public Library In my experience, the Middleton Public Library successfully carries out their fine-free late policy. But is this just a library fad or should other libraries consider replicating these policies? This is the problem I chose to explore for my position paper, looking at the purpose of fines, the unintended consequences of these fines, positive outcomes from going fine-free, and ways libraries can transition into fine-free policies. My position is that late fees are truly a problem in public libraries, and should be solved through critical examination of policies and serious consideration of steps to take towards becoming fine-free. |
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Presenter: Erin Dedin Practicum Location: Middleton Public Library The Middleton Public Library hosts a bi-monthly book club called ‘Let’s Talk About Texts.’ While it does not specifically target millennials, due to its mischievous name, off-site location, and its advertisement on MeetUp, it is the library’s desire to host a younger audience. This paper explores my researching into what a public library could do to specifically target and create an off-site book club just for millennials. |
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Presenter: Gabrielle Draxler Practicum Location: Sequoya branch of Madison Public Library At the Sequoya branch of the Madison Public Library, I worked to research the early literacy practices most effective and engaging for babies and caregivers in order to develop an educational and entertaining “Book Baby” program. I discovered that there were challenges in cultivating librarian research and finding effective ways to share that information with caregivers. I developed a way to ease professional development and outreach education efforts. By creating a “Feedly” about child development and early literacy skills, librarians can share information and examples with caregivers in order to extend early literacy development beyond library programming. |
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Presenter: Emmon Rogers Practicum Location: Central Madison Public Library As part of my practicum work at Madison Public Library (Central) in Madison, Wisconsin, I decided to explore affordable, hands-off programming that would benefit those experiencing homelessness and began researching the practice of creating tranquil, centering spaces in libraries. It quickly became clear that the benefits of such a space would range far beyond this population and could potentially benefit all types of library users. The result of the research was a proposal to regularly set up an “Unprogramming Room” to be used as a space for reflection, prayer, and meditation. |
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Presenter: Mariah Smitala Practicum Location: Black Earth Public Library While doing my practicum at the Black Earth Public Library I discovered the struggle small libraries have of developing their collection with limited shelving space. I isolated two main problems, that their is no room for new materials being ordered, and that traditional weeding does not free up enough space for these new materials. After researching possible solutions I determined the three most practical options for Black Earth Public Library are reverse weeding, shelving inventories, and reallocation of shelving space. |
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Presenter: Mindi Popovich Practicum Location: Sun Prairie Public Library During my time in the teen department at the Sun Prairie Public Library, I realized that the experiences that I found most rewarding were the times in which I had the opportunity to work with teens who have disabilities, even though these situations generally came about because the teen disrupted the program in one way or another. I decided therefore, to research ways that librarians can make teen programming accessible for teens who have disabilities, including making sure that the programs run smoothly for all the teens taking part. Through my research and my own experiences at Sun Prairie, I discovered that three particularly important aspects of providing accessible services are: building relationships with teens, listening to their specific needs, and making room for them to be themselves. |
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Presenter: Tiffany Reichard Practicum Location: Sun Prairie Public Library This paper was inspired by my work in the adult services department at Sun Prairie Public Library. After working on weeding projects in the library’s adult paperback collection, I was interested in studying weeding criteria, policies, and best practices in public libraries. The research suggested that librarians be open to collaborating on weeding projects with other staff, seek staff members with special interests and knowledge in specific areas of the library, and follow a weeding or collection development manual specifically designed for staff that complements the library’s mission and collection development policy. |
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Presenter: Yesi Herfeldt Practicum Location: Verona Public Library The Verona Public Library website is cluttered and its design is outdated. The information organization of the website does not always make sense, and users have to click too many links to find specific pieces information. Users are faced with complicated paths to basic information. Additionally, VPL does not employ responsive web design, which puts mobile users at a disadvantage. However, VPL can ensure its website maximizes its usefulness by adding search tools, organizing information in an intuitive way, implementing accessibility features, and moving to a modern interface. |
