Comments on: Courses I Wish They’d Offered in Library School

By: Andy Burkhardt

Andy Burkhardt — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:52:08 +0000

Scot, I really like your site and I actually just tweeted it as a great resource. Some of the signs and other materials you created and talk about are really visually pleasing and are exactly what the kinds of skills I was thinking about when I wrote this post. Thanks for the link to your website.

By: 4 Reasons Librarians Should Join A MOOC | Information Tyrannosaur

4 Reasons Librarians Should Join A MOOC | Information Tyrannosaur — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:40:23 +0000

[...] can’t learn everything in library school and there are other things I wish I had learned there. But luckily librarianship is the ultimate extensible profession. We are good at learning [...]

By: Scot Sterling

Scot Sterling — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:27:00 +0000

Hello Andy,

I’m discovering your entry here about six months after its posting and thank you for your links; I thought they were interesting and valuable. Since your entry is asking about library graphic design and promoting library events, I’d like to invite and welcome you and your colleagues with a link to my blog that is dedicated entirely to the design and development of promotional materials for library events and services. I hope you will find it helpful for generating ideas and in the development of your own promotional materials.

librarygraphicdesign.blogspot.com

At my blog I give examples of my work as the sole graphic designer for the Alachua County Library District in Gainesville, Florida. I show samples of my work, add some commentary about the project requirements and development of the pieces, mention occasional obstacles encountered, and share production tips, ideas, and where to find helpful resources.

I’m happy to receive comments and to strike up a dialog with librarian staff who might be looking for inspiration, information, and advice.

Thanks for your posting and potential interest to join me over at Library Graphic Design.

Best,
Scot Sterling

By: Make Your Own Learning | Information Tyrannosaur

Make Your Own Learning | Information Tyrannosaur — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:34:07 +0000

[...] weeks ago I wrote a post about courses that I wished that they had offered in library school. There were a lot of great comments from folks about knowledge that they wish they had. These were [...]

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:51:49 +0000

I just finished my first semester at GSLIS at U of I, and they are starting to add marketing classes as well as talk about demonstrating value in classes across the board.

That being said, I once heard our advisor recommend to a student that wanted to learn to use photoshop that she should take a community college course in graphic design, since their courses would be much faster, much less expensive, and more applicable to our needs than a masters level graphic design course.

By: On library-school curricula | Gavia Libraria

On library-school curricula | Gavia Libraria — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:01:16 +0000

[...] Loon invites current and former library-school students who feel hard done by because they haven’t been spoonfed everything imaginable to put on their adult undergarments, [...]

By: Why “What I didn’t learn in library school” doesn’t really matter, with a caveat | Semantic Library

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:35:50 +0000

[...] of topics and specialisms that could be offered, if only for time, money, student numbers, and hindsight. There will always be more to learn. There will always be content that while in school, seemed [...]

By: Andy Burkhardt

Andy Burkhardt — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:26:27 +0000

Katie, classroom management is still something in which I wish that I had more training. We were just talking about that the other day at our teaching librarians meeting. I took a class on instruction, but it was more about theory, pedagogy and presenting. The intangibles of classroom management are key. I’ve seen some tips, but I wonder if they only come from experience and practice.

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:42:13 +0000

Marketing, yes. And event planning would also have been awesome. As someone who works specifically with children and teens I would have loved to have taken a couple of education classes, especially to learn about classroom management. There’s nothing like taking 1 programming class and 2 literature classes and then being thrown into the world of storytimes, afterschool programs, and teen programs…

By: Sarah Harris

Sarah Harris — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:00:47 +0000

I agree with all of these suggestions for classes. I am a first semester library student, and just took a management course and a foundations in library science course with Dr. Ismael Abdullahi. He is adamant about the need for librarians to market and demonstrate value as well as be innovative and entreprenureal. I find it interesting that these are two of the courses you suggest, and this is something we are talking about every week. Discussing these issues broadly is great, but I do a whole course on each of these issues would be beneficial for all library concentrations.

Personally, now that I am a library student and people ask what I do many times someone will shoot down my career choice instantly telling me books are dead and no one goes to the library. While I see the importance of libraries and will alway cherish them I have realized that many people do not value their libraries and it is our responsibility as a profession to be advocates.

The suggestion for research methodoligies courses is great. I took this course doing a Masters in English, but I think it would be great for an MLS student. It was extremely helpful in researching humanities and I have used skills from that in my reference courses now.