1/3 there

As of tonight, I'm now 40 hours through my practicum -- one-third of the 120 required. One-and-a-half months down, two to go.

making a difference.

Ok, kids, so I've been "practicum liz" for a month now, long enough to come to this uncontested realization:

Being Practicum Liz is wonderful when I can help people, and is far less than exciting when I'm sitting at a cubicle working on my project.

I came to the library an hour early tonight -- which I'm thinking is certain to become a normality for my Wednesday shifts -- because I've found that leaving campus at 10 p.m. doesn't work well for me. Nine o'clock is FAR more palatable.

Anyway, for the first hour of my practicum liz shift, I was at the reference desk answering questions for people at the library and over the phone. In an hour, I gave helpful, meaningful assistance to no less than four people, inspiring people to say things like "You have no idea how much you've helped me," and "Thank you SO much!" Things that make me feel like I've just made a difference in someone's life. Things where I know I've just alleviated someone's library anxiety. In short, the reasons I love this whole practicum hoopla.

I'm now back at a cubicle (though I've snagged a workstation that at least makes me look like staff, instead of just another student), and can feel the 2 hrs 45 mins left of my shift stretching ahead like a bad movie. Not so unpleasant that you'd scratch out your eyeballs rather than watch, but definitely not your favorite way to spend your time.

hrm.

So, maybe I'm just expecting too much.

Maybe I work too fast.

Maybe I pick practicum time slots poorly.

But whatever the reason, I'm consistently finding myself here at the Reference area at my practicum with not much to do and too many people here to get to sit at the desk.

So I get on a computer in the reference area and try to peek over the cubby wall, to listen or watch for people who need help ... but let's face it, I look like every other student who's sitting at a computer doing homework or research. Nobody's going to approach me and ask for help as long as I'm tap-tap-tapping away at this or that while doing research, you know?

I'll be honest, I'm starting to get frustrated by how *little* there appears to be for me to do. Maybe I'm not asking for new stuff? Maybe they feel guilty giving me stuff because, not only am I *not* getting paid for these 120 hours, but I'm actually *paying* to work these 120 hours?

I really don't know.

One of the student assistants is leaving at 6:30 (it's currently 5:30), so I'll have 2 1/2 hours at the desk. And that's good. I've found I *really* like the desk time... it's fun, and I genuinely feel like I'm helping people.

lesson #4: sometimes, you can't do it all for them.

Today is my first Sunday shift as Practicum Liz, which is happening strictly because I have to get 120 hours in before May 5, and the math dictates I've got to get more than my 8-hours-a-week in to make it. So, I'm signed up for four Sundays, today being the first, of four hours at the desk.

I've already been here for half my shift, and I cannot believe how quickly it's gone by. When they told me Sundays were fun, they were right -- because it's BUSY! I've been helping several people, especially one undergraduate student who's working on a project wherein he has to find 3-5 citations under a given topic.

What I've discovered with this particular patron is that he's a little frustrated I won't just GIVE him the answer to his questions ... but, c'mon, the point of his assignment is to go through the *process* of research. So, the deliverable (his assignment) is a narrative description of how he picked a topic, developed a search strategy, did an initial search, modified it based on what he found, etc. I know that this is a frustrating thing for people, trying to do the whole research process planning stuff, but it's essential. Once the student finally told me what his research topic was and how he was planning to search, THEN, I was able to help. But when he just said, "the pros and cons of plastic surgery," well, that's not so helpful. I'm not going to do your search for you. Sorry.

I could feel his frustration -- it was palpable. I felt bad for that, and tried to allay his frustration by pointing out that his assignment was the process, not the product. I'm not sure he understands me even now ... but perhaps, when he turns in a killer assignment (assuming he listened to me after the many times I repeated myself, pointing to the assignment all the while), he'll appreciate then the help I gave him today.

lesson #3: sometimes, you just have to go home

Last Wednesday when I arrived for my weekly nighttime shift, I had been having the worst day in a week that was generally rotten. The fact of my practicum shift was bothersome, though I knew the shift itself wouldn't hold a candle to the horror of my workweek. And, sure enough, it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared; I began the evening hoping to make it two hours, and in the end I held out for nearly three. Still, I had to excuse myself around 9 p.m. to go home for a little mental health break. If I knew one thing, it was that a tired / worn-out Liz would do neither the library staff (and patrons!) any good, nor the university on Thursday when I had to drag into work.

SOooo... I did get to help one patron in particular to track down full-text articles from some citations, but otherwise I found the night to be pretty slow. (And I wasn't even trying to ignore people!) And then I went home, got some sleep, and took Thursday afternoon off. It was lovely.

lesson #2: overstaffing isn't fun

Today's my third Monday at practicum, and what I've discovered is that I find this experience to be more fun and more meaningful when -- like every other sphere of my world -- I'm needed. Wednesday night, the librarian on duty (LOD) was teaching and it was just me and the student assistant at the desk most of the evening. Today (like other Mondays), there are two student assistants, two graduate assistants, AND the LOD on hand. And then, there's me. So these Monday afternoon shifts seem to be the time when I'm supposed to get my non-desk work done. Still. It's far less fun to be sitting at a terminal in the reference area plugging away at my own independent research projects than it is to be at the vortex of all things reference, answering questions, troubleshooting problems and generally being of use to someone other than myself.

SO ... guess it's time to work on that independent research project, eh? I'm lagging somewhat because I'm waiting on the Blackboard shell for my bibliographic instruction session to be set up, and it's not yet. {sigh} Meanwhile, it's hard to sit and think about what I'm *going* to do much more ... really, I'd rather just *DO* it.

hours

What do you think it means that, two weeks into my practicum, I already figured out how I'm going to accomplish 120 hours on the job?

Because I know this is riveting stuff for you, here's my unofficial/unapproved/tentative practicum schedule [Excel spreadsheet].

lesson #1: the pitfall of the narrow search

Last night, my most interesting reference-desk question came from a student of Dr. Shannon Rich (who I know only by reputation and picture, as she was one of the faculty members we interviewed for our much-delayed / now cancelled image campaign at work) ... this student needed two article citations to turn in the next day for a research project they're doing all semester long. The student's topic, as she described it to me, was investigating the distractionary qualities of cell phones in college classrooms. Sounds plausible, right? Except she had been searching EBSCO "for hours" and couldn't find anything. Latoria (the student assistant on duty last night) and I got to work looking ourselves, and I spent most of the evening answering random questions from this student as she attempted to find a couple of articles. Eventually, I had the presence of mind to suggest ERIC, which yielded several articles that will work for her.

I found many things interesting about this particular student. First, the librarian on duty was teaching, so I got unmediated access to the reference process and that was REALLY COOL. It presented an actual learning moment for me, in terms of conducting a "reference interview" all on my own and figuring out how to help this person best. Also, it gave me a chance to struggle a bit, which -- when it happens without interference -- is always how I learn best. Plus, since it was pretty quiet at the library last night, I got to spend quite a bit of time with this person in little chunks spread over the evening. That was nice as well.

In the end, she left with four or five potential articles and I finished up with a very good sense of satisfaction AND an article I kept for myself relating to how IM usage among students living in dorms with high-speed internet access correlates to their academic performance. (Not surprisingly, my initial glance through the abstract and article suggests that as IM usage goes up, academic performance goes down.)

The librarian on duty, Greg, and I also had a chance to talk before the evening was out, and I shared the student's topic with him. He immediately started talking about the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project report he'd seen about search engine usage. We spent some time cruising their Web site and found some fascinating stuff, including the search engine users report, a report about usage of IM, and some info about usage of the Internet by Americans in their daily life. I just LOVE the Pew Trusts and all they do. And, their offices are maybe two blocks from my old COF stomping grounds. I think Pew should hire me. Seriously. Can you think of a better place for me? :)

your chance to eavesdrop...

Since I have to keep track of when I'm here and what I'm doing anyway, it seemed a novel idea to create a Practicum Liz blog. I mean, why not? Plus, I can do this from the library and it even sorta relates. Blogs are an emerging-enough technology to almost be academic in terms of library school. Right?

Anyway, here I am at the reference desk at Blagg-Huey Library, serving my first evening shift as Practicum Liz. I've been here 15 minutes and have successfully helped at least two or three people without help, so that feels like an overwhelming success. I'm still amazed by how comfortable I feel at the reference desk even though I feel like I have no justifiable reason (other than a lifetime in the stacks of various random libraries) to be. I don't really *know* what I'm doing, I don't think, I just pick up new things quickly and have a general awareness of stuff. And, at least when it comes to things that aren't dates or times or exact quotes, I seem to have a steel trap for a memory when it comes to learning new information/skills. Who knows why.

My only regret tonight is that I have to miss the SOTU live. But, Daniel suggested he would set TiVo to record CNN for the 2 1/2 hours of SOTU coverage (including post-SOTU interviews by Wolf Blitzer), so if that's the case, I should be OK with watching it a day late. 'Cause Lord knows when I get home at 11:00 tonight, I ain't watching nothin'.