ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ A p ril 2000 / 295 news Co l l e g e & R e s e a r c h Li b r a r i e sJo b Shadow Day 2000 Recruiting to the profession by Margot Sutton O n February 2, 2000, the divisions of the ALA jo in ed forces w ith associations across America in support of Job Shadow Day, an event that partners junior high, high school, and college students with w orkplace m en­ tors. ALA Divisions Job Shadow Day is a new initiative for ACRL and holds great promise as a strategy to improve recruitment into our profession. ACRL applauds the participating libraries for introducing more than 125 young people to th e p ro fe ssio n o f librarianship and help­ ing them un d erstan d firsthand w hat librar­ ians do. Sharing our experiences To help you plan for the 2001 ALA Divisions Job Shadow Day, ACRL w o u ld like to sh a re summaries from six of this year’s participants. A shadow listens inte We hope their stories University staff mem illustrate how easy it is to become involved in the event and encour­ age your library to participate in this exciting initiative. • F ra n cis M arion U n iv e r s ity —F lo ­ ren ce, South Carolina. The entire staff of the James A. Rogers Library hosted five stu­ dents from Hannah-Pamplico High School nt be and five students from H annah-Pam plico Middle School. After a brief introduction to the library and a guided tour, the shadows, w ho w ere chap­ eroned by their high school librarian, were assigned to library hosts. The shadows helped check out books to patrons, shelved books, searched the online database, filled interli­ brary loan requests, and examined archive materials. After lunch, the day concluded with a casual wrap-up. Linda Becote, catalog librarian and Job Shadow Day coordinator, com m ented that “Job S hadow Day w as a smashing success at the James A. Rogers Library and a day enjoyed by all. We look forward to do­ ing it again next year!” • N o r th e r n A ri­ z o n a U n i v e r s it y (NAU). NAU h o ste d three students during their shadow day. NAU ly to a Francis Marion librarians show ed the r. shadows how to help stu d en ts w h o visited the reference desk and emphasized that an­ swers and information can be found in a va­ riety of ways and formats. The shadows were then put to the test w hen they w ere instructed to find similar materials in the print collection, on the com ­ puter databases, and on the Internet. About the author M argot Sutton is ACRL professional development assistant e-mail: msutton@ala.org mailto:msutton@ala.org 296 / C&RL News ■ A p ril 2000 I learned th at the library is not ju st books and being quiet, but it is about learning new things. —Kia Drake, a ninth grader attending Job Sh ado w Day at Wayne State U niversity • Queens B orou gh Public Library. Li brary Director Gary Strong kicked o ff the day by greeting the 27 high sch ool students par ticipating in the shadow day. T h e shadow s listened to presentations from a young adult librarian and the film/video division, partici pated in a tour o f the gallery, and then w ere paired up with librarians. T h e shadow s spent 1½ hours with librar ians at b o th public service and non-public service worksites. During lunch, the shad ow s’ received applications to apply for page positions and volunteer w ork. Nick Buron, coordinator o f young adult services and J o b Shadow Day coordina tor, stated that “the shad o w s ’ e n th u sia s m w as very special and, com bined with the dedica tion o f the Q ueens B or ough librarians, m ade for a very positive pro gram .” • U niversity o f Illi nois at Chicago (UIC). T h e R ich ard J . D aley Library at UIC hosted six S tu d en ts from Price students from the Will Falls, Io w a, visit Ro iam J o n e s A c a d e m ic versity o f N orthern M agn et H igh S c h o o l. The Jo n e s high sch o o l librarian accom p anied the students. All o f the participating shadow s w ork in their school library and belon g to the sch o o l’s library club. Four o f the UIC m entors w ere reference librarians, on e w as a system s li brarian, and on e w as a person n el librarian. T h e lib ra ria n s ad a p ted th e su g g e ste d schedule in the planning n o te b o o k to a half day program (three hours), sin ce the students w ere not free to spend the entire sch o o l day at UIC. About h alf the time w as spent in three d I N ick B u ro n , c o o r d in a t o r o f Y o u n g A d u lt Services, sh o w s s h a d o w s t h e Y o u n g A d u lt room . large-group sessions. T he first session pre sen ted an overview o f w hat an academ ic li brary is; another session exp lain ed the d ocu ments departm ent; and th e final session e x plored com puters, system s, and electron ic resources in the library. T h e shadow s spent the other half o f the time o n e-o n -o n e with a mentor, in the m en tor’s w ork area, or visit ing specific parts o f the library. Linda Naru, director o f ad vancem ent and UIC J o b Shadow Day coordinator, provided this planning tip: Prior to the shadow day, li brarians should contact t h e i r lo c a l p r e s s fo r n ew sp ap er and televi sion coverage. • U n i v e r s i t y o f N o r th e rn Io w a— C e d a r Falls. J o b Shadow D ay at Rod Library was ad ap ted to a c c o m m o date the fact that the two p a r t i c i p a t i n g J o b Lab School in C ed a r Lib rary a t t h e U n i Shadow D ay hosts w ere ow a. lib ra ry a d m in istra to rs w h o s e jo b s an d days d o n ’t readily reflect the “average” librarian’s job. T h e librarians m ade sure the shadow s understood administrative responsibilities, but also had shadow s spend time in the various departm ents o f the library to s ee m any o f its functions. Marilyn M ercado, associate dean o f library services and J o b Shadow D ay coordinator, stressed that shadow day participants realize they are able to modify and tailor their day’s (continued on p a g e 311) C&RL N ew s ■ A p ril 2000 / 297 FOCUS ON SERIALS The recent mergers and acquisitions taking place in the industry have caused some con cern and questions to arise regarding the current situation o f serials vendors. Several members o f the library community have asked EBSCO to explain our position amidst all these changes, and we are pleased to do so. W e’re stable, reliable and here to stay. This well describes EBSCO’s position now, in the past and in the future. We're here, doing exactly what we planned to be doing before any of these major changes to our competitors were announced. Our position hasn't changed and w on't change. EBSCO is a finan cially strong, stable company with a Dun & Bradstreet financial strength rating of 5A1, the highest possible. We are privately held; we make decisions for the benefit of our customers and employees. We listen to our customers and deter mine what we need to do to grow our company and our services based on our long-term mission of maintaining profitability while providing the best service possible for our customers, as we know the two are inextricably tied. C ustom er service is our strength. Throughout EBSCO’s history exceptional customer service has been our hallmark. We've combined good people with good systems and backed them both by a strong commitment to serving our customers' needs. Our managers, field representatives, account services man agers and the customer service representatives who handle the daily contact with and problem solving for our customers all operate at the regional office level — always have, always will, because it works. We are sensitive to the unique requirements of individual libraries and take a serious role in the man agement of our customers' serials collections. The same concerns guide the development of our electronic services. Just because a process is automated doesn't mean it has to operate like a cookie cutter. O ur plans are sim ple — to serve our customers’ needs. We do this through partnerships with customers, publishers, other vendors and the library commu nity as a whole. EBSCO’s long-term goal is to offer a true “one-stop” source for a library user’s complete research needs. As we further enhance our electronic services, we recognize that technology must not impose on — and certainly not take the place of — the personal service for which EBSCO is known. Our immediate objective is continuing the integration of our Web-based services. Entirely new services are also strategically scheduled for months and years to come. And we won’t bring those to the marketplace until they’ve been thoroughly thought through, developed and tested. So this is our position. We believe our management philosophy, our network of offices and personnel, our tradition of excellence and our financial strength — all necessary to make and honor commitments — assure us and our customers of success. SUBSCRIPTIOBCOSEN SERVICES F. Dixon Brooke, Jr. A part o f the EBSCO Information Services group Vice President, General Manager Telephone 205/991-6600 • Fax 205/995-1636 • http://www.ebsco.com http://www.ebsco.com 298 / C&RL News ■ A p ril 2000 C&RL News ■ A p ril 2000 / 311 tra n sp o rta tio n in E u ro p e, an d lo d g in g and b o a rd fo r a p erio d n o t to e x c e e d 14 c o n s e c u tiv e days. L arson plan s to u s e th e grant fo r travel to R om e an d Paris to g a th er re s e a rc h at th e V atican Library an d P arisian arch iv es fo r his study, “D o c u m e n tin g th e D issem i n atio n o f th e G reg o ria n C alen d ar R eform in F ra n c e D u rin g th e Wars o f R e lig io n .” Jo h n Cullars, ch a ir o f th e W estern Eu r o p e a n S p e cia lis ts S e c tio n (W E SS), said, “J e f f r y L a r s o n ’s is a f a s c in a tin g b i b li o g ra p h ica l study that w ill b e o f in terest to historian s o f th e R efo rm atio n and C ou nter- R efo rm a tio n an d o f R e n a is sa n c e F ra n ce, in clu d in g h isto rian s o f s c ie n c e an d o f s o c ia l a ttitu d e s , th e lib r a ria n s w h o a s sist th e m , a n d t h o s e w h o a s k th e m s e lv e s , ‘W h e re did th e m issin g te n days o f our ca le n d a r go?”’ H e has serv ed as th e ed ito r o f th e R o m a n c e L angu age s e c tio n o f R e feren ce R e views Europe, an d is th e fo rm er ed ito r o f the W ESS N ew sletter. T h e aw ard w ill b e p r e s e n te d at th e W E SS G e n e r a l M e m b e rs h ip M e e tin g o n M onday, Ju ly 10, at 1 1 :3 0 a.m . d uring the ALA A nnual C o n fe r e n c e in C h icag o . ■ ( “J o b Shadow Day … ” continued fr o m p a g e 296) a c tiv ities to a fo rm at that b e s t w ork s fo r them . • W ayne State U n iversity (WSU)— De troit. WSU’s undergraduate library hosted 60 middle- and high-school students. This initia tive is especially important for the Detroit area since current hiring data revels that minorities only represent 9% o f academic librarians and less than 12% o f all students enrolled in Li brary Science programs. The students spent the better part o f the day at the library. The librarians at the Under graduate Library thought this was such a suc cessful event that they are considering pre senting their summary in an extended format, such as a poster session at an ALA or ACRL conference. Jo b Shadow Day participant Kia Drake, a ninth grader at Detroit’s Martin Luther King high school said, “W hen MLKing’s 9th grade CPLA (College Prep Liberal Arts) students at tended the Wayne State Undergraduate Library trip, at first I thought it was going to b e boring, but w hen w e got there it was interesting to see all o f the college students at work. I learned that the library is not just books and being quiet, but it is about learning new things. I learned how the library runs all o f the time and how much fun it would b e to work there. I had fun playing on the Internet looking for different references. This trip was fun and I would love to go again.” It’s not too early to start planning As the ALA Divisions Jo b Shadow Day contin ues to develop, w e hope that the groundwork shared by this year’s participants will b e use ful for an increasing group o f library partici pants. ACRL encourages all libraries to start plan ning n o w for n ex t y ear’s J o b Shadow Day on February 2. T h e J o b Shadow Day Plan ning Kit d ev elop ed for this y e a r’s partici pants will b e updated for 2001 and will re m ain o n our W eb site at www.ala.org/acrl/ jobshadow .pd f. Q uestions should b e directed to Margot Sutton, ACRL J o b Shadow Day coordinator, (8 0 0 ) 545-2433, ext. 2522; e-mail: m sutton@ ala.org. ■ (Why am I dream ing … continued fr o m p a g e 3 0 1 ) end . (S in c e you c h a n g e th e p a g e, it is easy fo r o th e rs to su g g est w o rk fo r y o u .) Finding a balance b etw een bein g over w helm ed in W ebm aster land, and actually thoughtfully improving the page is a difficult part o f the job. Check out our “perm anently unfinished product” at http://library.uncwil. edu. A lth o u g h w e h a v e c h o s e n to ta k e a s lig h tly h u m o ro u s ta c k o n th is s u b je c t ( w e k n o w , y o u a re u n c e r ta in o f th e h u m o r ), it is r e a lly a g r o w in g a r e a o f s e r v ic e a n d d e s ig n in e v e r y a c a d e m ic l i b ra ry . P le a s e s h a r e w ith th e g r e a te r lib ra ry c o m m u n ity y o u r sto r ie s o f W eb s u c c e s s e s a n d fa ilu r e s s o th a t a ll c a n b e n e f it fro m y o u r w o rd s o f w isd o m . ■ http://www.ala.org/acrl/ http://library.uncwil