Research and Instruction Services, Summer 2022 Report
Our library director Jennifer Govan gave a wonderful picture of the breadth of our public services during this past term in her Public Services+ Report, and I would like to take this opportunity to expand on some of our particular research and instruction projects during the season. Summer in the air-conditioned haven of Russell Hall during the hottest days of the year brought much planning, reflection, and preparation for our research and instruction offerings. This was accompanied by a celebration of our fantastic Senior Librarian Allen Foresta on the occasion of his retirement—it is his work and service that has served as a strong foundation of research services in the library for many years.
Having started my work as the Research and Instruction Librarian in the middle of the 2022 Spring semester, Allen introduced me to the world of Gottesman Libraries, Teachers College, and the wider Columbia community. His retirement on July 1st marked a fantastic 37-year career as a librarian at TC, leaving an indelible legacy of providing consistent and engaging information services. Allen’s particular talent in creating connections and elegantly illustrating his deep knowledge of the university and of librarianship is well demonstrated in past reports, including the Summer 2021, Spring 2021, and Fall 2020 reports. Thank you for all your wonderful and inspiring work, Allen.
I would also like to offer my congratulations to Rachel Altvater on her new position as a school librarian, who in her years of working in the library has served in many capacities to provide incredible reference, instruction, and information support. Though we miss her at Gottesman Libraries, she is no doubt creating a wonderful experience for her new students.
The main project of the summer that I began with Allen was the development of the Research Guides Collection: a central repository for key library resources for each major program at Teachers College. This collection was created in LibGuides, a Springshare product used by many academic institutions to create Library Research Guides. There are a total of 49 program-specific guides published currently, and more will be added on specific topics to help support research in a variety of areas. The current guides map out some of the top resources (databases, books, web resources etc.) specifically related to the content of each program. While we are proud of this collection of resources, it is just the beginning of their development. These guides form a foundation on which we can grow and continually seek to accurately reflect the library resources needed most in classes and research. If you are a faculty member, staff, or student, please view these guides as yours to shape—your feedback and suggestions will be incredibly valuable in continuing to craft these living documents. If you have any comments or feedback on your program’s guide, please submit a ticket.
Along with the program specific guides, we are also using the LibGuides platform to create guides that compliment some of our workshop offerings. This brought about a chance to reflect on our offerings for Reference Management and work with the Digital Futures Institute to consider how to best address this topic. Currently we have a Reference Management Research Guide that covers what reference management means as well as getting started with the various software available including Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote. These workshop guides will allow us to connect asynchronously with students who are not able to attend or need to refer back to content from the session.
Speaking of workshops, we continued to offer some of our most popular workshops throughout the summer including Research Basics, Cited Reference Searching, and Advanced Searching. We sprinkled in some specialized topics as well, including Exploring Children’s Literature, Accessibility in Research, and Understanding Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources. Through these workshops as well as consultations with students and faculty (see a sampling of the topics we have worked with on the Public Services+ Report) I have had many engaging and productive conversations on the innovative research happening across disciplines at TC.
Another big development in our services includes our social media platforms. We are reinvigorating our twitter presence and complimenting this with a brand-new Instagram account: you can find both @tcgottesman on their respective platforms. Throughout the year we will be trying out lots of new ways of engaging via social media that can help you connect with the library from anywhere.
Our summer services concluded with an influx of students to campus for New Student Orientation, and it was wonderful to meet so many excited learners in one place. I have learned so much in six short months as the Research and Instruction Librarian at Gottesman Libraries, but I know my learning and reflection is just getting started. As the Fall term gets into full swing, I look forward to learning together with everyone at TC and providing information and instruction support in new and exciting ways.
