It isn’t very often that librarians get applause — I got some today! OK, so it was contrived, since my introducer said “let’s welcome her” and then “let’s thank her”. But the thanks I got were genuine.
My uplifting experience occurred at Wabasha-Kellogg school where I did 2 in-service sessions. My humble side says — all I did was show you what you already have. Indeed, I was in your district several years ago to tell you this very information. Unfortunately, at that time y’all weren’t sitting in the computer lab, with fingers itching to try what I was showing you.
In one hour, I whipped through 2 online catalogs (the SELCO iPAC and MnLINK ZPORTAL), and sample searches in the Kids InfoBits, Discovering Collection, EbscoHost, Biography Resource Center, and ProQuest. Whew! Let’s see, after a 10 minute introduction to regional services, and 5 minutes on each of the 7 aforementioned resources, we still had 15 minutes to play. Although the second of the 2 sessions (one primary, one secondary faculty audience) started 10 minutes late, so we didn’t really have time to play at all. The best affirmation a presenter can have is to be asked questions — and they certainly did ask questions.
The teachers were excited. It was like I’d given them a gift — and I hope I did. The gift of insight into what I hope they will give their kids. That’s what this multitype library thing is all about.
Now, if I can only package and sell this epiphany to the deep pockets who need to keep paying for it, so the citizens of Minnesota can keep using it.