problem solving and decision making

I had to miss the seminar on problem solving and decision making because of a conflict with another meeting, but Pat was kind enough afterward to show me his PowerPoint and talk about his approach  to problem solving and decision making. He has impressive experience with leading groups in big time problem solving, and it is always fascinating to hear him articulate the theories that he applies. He is something of genius with this, and I hope I will remember his advice.

Prezi

It's great to have web-based software that competes with PowerPoint. I looked at a presentation titled Sweet Recipe for Solving Problems. I liked the graphics. They were all included in a comprehensive sketch of what could have been an abstract Google Earth street scene. All of the points were illustrated by a quick zoom to the relevant point.  I liked the use of humor. On the other hand, I didn't like a presentation titled Spanish Verbs. It had little information, and the animation was boring. I quickly tire of zooming/flying into text and zooming/flying out again.

Inclusiveness - a core value

Inclusiveness is a core value for everyone who works in our library. We go out of our way to provide a "welcoming environment [that ] fosters respect for all individuals and points of view." Throughout the month of November we have tried to be particularly aware of inclusiveness, and many of us have taken steps to increase our awareness of the rich diversity available to us on campus. Last night,  I attended the "Find Yosef a Holiday" fair in the student union, a fun way to learn more about holidays and customs that I already knew about and quite a few that I had never heard of.  A special treat was meeting one of our Library student assistants who was volunteering to work at one of the booths.

Twitter for Academic Libraries

Twitter is the Library's best communication connection to a huge number of students. We have to keep that connection open if we want to provide information services to those students.

RSS

Trying to keep up on developments in higher education assessment, I've subscribed to RSS feeds for the Journal of Higher Education, Educause, and libraryassessment.info.  I'm not sure I'll be able to follow up on  this.

Library Assessment Blogs

I'm looking for practical, up-to date information about library assessment. After sampling entries on four or five blogs about assessment, I found several good links to information that will be useful, but this was a time-consuming process. I didn't find any single blog that I would want to check frequently although I will probably follow two: laurenpressley.com and libraryassessment.info.