Practicum Log #2: LibGuide Creation

This is the LibGuide I created during my shift for a course called Roadside America. I gained experience in using the backend of LibApps and working with content provided by university professors to create resources for the students taking this particular seminar.

Tuesday, May 28th from 10:00-11:30 and 12:30-3:00

Emily Thorpe and I met on Zoom from 10:00-11:30 am because Southwestern University is undergoing some electrical and water repairs on campus. During our Zoom call, Emily walked me through the LibGuide platform, and then she showed me the process for updating and creating new LibGuides for different courses. She demonstrated how the library uses the LibGuides for their First Year Seminar Courses, which are courses required for incoming freshmen to the university. We also spent time getting to know each other better and introducing our cats to each other. Emily offered encouragement and advice for walking through the LibGuide process.

Emily and I also talked through her role in social media and marketing for the library, and we talked through ways that I could research library social media. She offered to send resources to accounts she follows and ways I could connect with the academic library world through Instagram and Facebook groups. We planned a way for me to make flyers for an upcoming event as well, so that I could get practice with that.

After our conversation, I started work on the Roadside America Course offered at the university. I created a banner for the course in Canva and uploaded it to the new page. Then, I worked on finding book resources to add to the book section of the LibGuide. Additionally, I found book lists on Goodreads that would be relevant to the course, and I looked at possible databases that would be helpful for the course as well. Finally, I searched the internet for additional resources outside of academic journals that students could use in the course. Using a template from previous courses made creating the LibGuide easier because I didn’t have to create things from scratch.

Full Schedule: l will be working 10:00-2:00 from May 28th to June 7th, M-F online. (The campus is undergoing some construction right now and all of the librarians are working from home.)

Then, from June 10 - July 19th, I will be working 1:00-5:00 on campus at Southwestern University. I will more than likely finish by July 12th, but I'm adding a week for wiggle room. This should lead to 128 hours.