Much of today was spent working on the Social Work 285: Novels of Social Protest LibGuide. SW285 students have an assignment for which they choose one of 8 preselected novels of social protest to write a paper on. The LibGuide has a tab for each novel. My job is to do preliminary research on each novel and put up suggestions for finding resources. The information I've added includes these categories:

• Welcome - purpose of the guide, a picture of the book and a brief synopsis
• Links to appropriate databases
• A box from which the student can search Credo Reference
• Keywords and search strategies
• How to narrow a search by year
• How to find print resources in the library

Some novels are easeir to resarch than others. I've been workig with Robin to get guidance on the best way to build the guide.

Today I also met with Eric, who is an Instruction and Outreach Librarian. A newer part of his job is to maintain and develop the library's social media present through Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. The main purpose of this presence is to make connections with users, the majority of which are students. Sometimes library staff are able to answer questions through this interface by responding to status updates and tweets. These social media outlets are also good ways to promote the library's services and events. It's a nontraditional way of getting users to engage and ask questions.
Eric's main job is to teach students how to use the library as a liasion to the social sciences departments. He taches information literacy classes to these students, and is always working on new ways to reach out to faculty who haven't yet taken advantage of the library's instructional services. Sometimes it can be a challenge -- he uses a variety of channels, including email, print letters, phone calls and in-person meetings with faculty.
Another task that Eric considers an important part ofhis job is staffing the reference desk. Some feel that staffing the desk with students and paraprofessionals is sufficient, that librarians don't need to be there. But Eric (and the other librarians here) feel it's important for librarians to be on the desk. It allows them to interact with students and become approachable to them; it also allows the librairans to learn. Eric stressed the importance of always learning. While at the desk, librarians learn about new assignments and new ways to meet user needs.
Eric stressed the importance of the user -- meeting with users, especially students is his favorite part of the job. He has an open door policy where he welcomes students to stop in whenever he is in the office.
I mentioned to Eric that I'm currently taking a library marketing course. He said that he'd be interested in finding out what I'm learning, to see if it could be applied here at McIntyre.

Next I met with Stephanie, who is the Periodicals and Electronic Resources Librarian. She supervises one paraprofessional (Kevin) who in turn supervises two student workers. Kevin and the students do a lot of the technical work with the print journal collection - cataloging, barcoding, arranging for binding, etc.
An on-going project for Stephanie (who has been here for only 1 year) is to thin out the print journals. This involves checking to see if the journals are available online in a user-friendly and cost-effective format. If a subscription to an online database is cheaper than a print subscription, a lot of times Stephanie and the committee who helps make these decisions will cancel the print subscription in favor of the database. Stephanie also examines usage data of print and electronic journals to determine what to keep. With collection budgets remaining static, or reducing, it's important to eliminate resources that aren't being used, so that money can be allocated elsewhere.
A big part of Stephanie's job is to review contracts and negotiate with vendors for the best price. She also uses these skills to help faculty review their publishing contracts, and aspect of her job she really enjoys.
Stephanie also handles a lot of technical database issues, and works with Bryan in technical services in this capacity. Sometimes she troubleshoots with students, faculty or other librarians when they are having trouble accessing a database or a resource within a database.
Stephanie has a masters degree in women's studies, and is an affiliate to the UWEC Women's Studies Department. When there is overload teaching available in this department, she will teach those classes. She also meets regularly with the department.
I found it very interesting that Stephanie had a background in the private sector (high-end retail) and commercial information centers (at a library in a pharmaceutical company).