Browsing Room, Research 101 and Finals Study Break

Also, more exciting things have happened! I\u27ve completed more of the Research 101 guide, and I\u27m pretty close to finishing it. I have to say it has been a lot of fun to look at what information is the most useful when doing research, and the best way to phrase the ideas so that it is helpful for students. I think casual but informative is working pretty well. Also, images are a great bonus. Too much text and the reader gets bogged down and it is hard to focus on the options let alone absorb the material. My intern supervisor Clint and I have been working on cleaning up the page and using more images to make it more useful. Personally, I think it looks great. I learned how to use image catching tools too- the programs that let you take an image of your computer screen and add arrows and stuff to it. Definitely a very cool program to know how to use. I should finish the guide fairly soon and then the revised version will be a subject guide option on the Gettysburg library page. I\u27m really excited to finish it. The guide will be a physical representation of all the work I have been doing, and it makes me feel official to have something people will be able to look at. [excerpt

First Post

Hello! My name is Kelly and I am an intern in the reference department this semester, which is very exciting. I was thrilled when I found out that I was going to be working here this semester. This is exactly what I wanted to do during my senior year, since next year I am planning on going to grad school for library science. But before I applied, I wanted to make sure I had some experience under my belt, and that I had some idea of what I was getting myself into. Which, as it turns out, I only had some idea of. Library science and reference are harder than I thought. There is a lot of technology involved as well as a thorough knowledge of research techniques and the library catalogue itself. It may look easy when you see a librarian finding a book or pulling up information, but it\u27s not. There\u27s a reason I have to get a degree to know how to do it. The more I work, the more excited I am to go to grad school and experience it myself. [excerpt

Finals Study Break and Final Blog Post

I cannot believe that this semester is over, and my internship at the library. This semester has been a immensely rewarding experience for me. From the wonderful librarians I had the opportunity to work with to the different aspects of librarianship I was able to discover, I am so grateful for the opportunity. This experience has made me 100% sure that I want to become a librarian and I cannot wait to get started. I\u27m filling out graduate school applications over winter break. Fingers crossed to see which programs I get into. [excerpt

Banned Books Week

As promised, I\u27m going to tell you about what the library is doing for Banned Books Week! I have had a lot of fun planning it. First of all, we\u27re going to have pins with book covers on them so that students can show off their favorite banned book. There will also be snacks, and a comment box where they can write their feelings on censorship which will be posted on Facebook and Twitter, hopefully every day but it depends on how many responses we get. I\u27m also making up signs so that students can see the title and then turn it around to see the reasons why the text was banned. A lot of them are really interesting, and maybe books you might not expect. [excerpt

Classroom Observation

Besides lots of practice for the Book Cart Drill Team (we zombified shirts yesterday, get excited to see) the past few weeks have been mostly working at the Reference Desk and observing classroom sessions lead by other reference librarians. The desk has become more interesting as the semester goes on, and a lot harder. Students and faculty are asking me questions that I do not quite have the answer to yet, which is very challenging but I also like. I learn something myself trying to answer their questions, and it makes me feel smart when I do find information for them. They are usually really grateful too, which makes working at the desk even more fun. Also being a student while doing this internship is interesting as well. Sometimes my friends come to ask for help at the desk which is kind of odd but enjoyable. In terms of my own work, this internship is helping me a great deal. I have a better understanding of where to look for material for my courses, and all of my research assignments are a little more manageable than they used to be. [excerpt