Blended Services Training Programme

• Trial Assessment
• Trial Assessment with Answers (Unit 3)

A few notes about the assessment:

1. There are three parts to the assessment: Technology Unit consisting of three activities; Reference Interview Unit consisting of two activities; and a Written Unit (includes multiple choice questions, short answers and matching answers to questions).
2. You will be given the following amount of time to complete each unit:
   • Technology Unit: 30 Minutes/ 3 activities
   • Written Unit: 45 Minutes/
   • Reference Interview: 30 Minutes/ 2 activities
3. In the sample assessment you will find five Technology activities. There will only be three activities in the actual assessment. We have given you five activities in the trial assessment to better cover the material on the Technology Checklist. For one activity, you need to ask your manager for the USB key. (And if you don’t know what I mean by USB key, now is the time to learn!)
4. In the practice assessment you will find four Reference/Instructional activities. There will only be two activities in the actual assessment. We are giving you more opportunity to practice what you may find in the assessment. For the Reference Interview Simulation, you will need to grab a partner and take turns asking questions of each other. This would be a good opportunity to use your mentor to assess your customer service skills and your reference interview and instructional skills.
5. Answers for the Written Unit will be posted by May 15th. The multiple choice answers are already available on the Blended Services blog.

Do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns.
Good luck practicing!

A few  items to update you on:

1. Today marked the last in-class session of the Blended Services Training Programme.
2. The trial assessment will be sent out to you tomorrow (April 29).
3. Your mentor program will be in place until the end of May.  I encourage staff to continue relations after that date. Unfortunately, we cannot set aside the same amount of time as we have through the program. I do hope you continue building these relationships.
4. Challenge of the Day has been put to rest and will rise again on the 1st of May as Tip of the Day. These are not mandatory but should be treated as value added information.
5. Please feel free to join the Drop-In Sessions for extra help.
6. Vendor sessions are happening throughout the month of May.
7. Shadow, shadow, shadow as much as you possibly can.  Speak to your manager about being scheduled on the Mills Research Help Desk to shadow if you wish.

Need help with anything related to blended services training?  Consider attending one (or more) of the drop-in sessions being offered below. Use the time to review session materials, work on exercises and ask questions.

Date: Thursday, April 30, 2009
Time: 10am – 12 noon
Facilitators: Karen, Nora (10-11), Rhonda

Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Time: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Facilitator: Regina

Date: Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Time: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Facilitators: Amanda, Lynn

Date: Thursday, May 28, 2009
Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Facilitators: Jeannie,  Rhonda,  Lynn

The twenty-second (and last!) Blended Services Session will deal with the referral process.

The session will be offered twice:

Date: Thursday, April 23, 2009
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon
Location: Mills Wong e-Classroom

OR

Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Time: 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 pm
Location: Mills Wong e-Classroom

Session Materials:

• Referral Slides
• I.T. Help Desk Routines
• Peer Helper Program
• Liaison Program Pairs Librarians with Faculty
• Activity:  I.T. or Me?
• Reading:  Morgan, P.J. and McDaniel, J.A. (2009). Referrals. In Training paraprofessionals for reference service: a how-to-do-it manual for librarians (2nd ed., pp. 18-20). New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers.
• Key Science and Engineering Reference Sources
• Top Science and Engineering Databases
• Key Business Reference Sources
• Top Business Databases
• Core Business Databases by Information Type
• Activity: Liaison or Me?

The assessment date has been set for Monday, June 1, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. Only staff at Thode and Innis are required to take the assessment at this time. The assessment will consist of three components:

1. A multiple choice/written short answer unit. Approximately 45 minutes.
2. A hands on technology unit. Windows laptops (not Macs) will be used. Approximately 45 minutes.
3. A simulated reference interview. Approximately 20 to 30 minutes.

Location: Mills Library – exact location to be determined.

As promised, we will distribute a sample test to all trainees at the end of April. Please feel free to contact your manager,  Karen or Joan if you have any questions.

The Challenge of the Day is on hold until the first of May when we are done the in class instruction.

The twenty-first Blended Services Session will be a review session along with some discussion on managing information. The Reference Sources session (originally slotted for this time) will be rescheduled once the assessment has been completed.

For  this session, we will ask you to anonymously submit your “Top 2 Puzzlers” (topics you still have questions about) in class, so please come prepared with these.

The session will be offered twice as follows:

Date: Thursday, April 16, 2009
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon
Location: Mills Wong e-Classroom

OR

Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Time: 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: Mills Wong e-Classroom

NOTE:  This session will also be the final Information Fluency training session!

Session Materials:

• Permalink Slides
• Puzzlers with Answers

This Blended Services Session will deal with the technology skills set and checklist. Please send Rhonda or Lynn an email if you have specific items  you would like to see addressed in the session.

The session will be offered :

Date: WEDNESDAY, April 15, 2009
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon
Location: Mills Wong e-Classroom

Session Materials:

• Technology Slides
• Email Netiquette Guidelines
• Technology Assignment | Answers to Assignment Included in Slides
  

Students from all faculties sometime need legal decisions. Lexis is a great place to go, but sometimes you don’t need to use an aggregator.  Check out these sites for Canadian legal decisions. Both are very useful. The simple subject guide for the Supreme Court of Canada is very useful. For example, choose “Patents” in the Subject guide to see all cases that our Supreme Court has heard and passed judgment on pertaining to patents.  CanLII includes decisions from Federal and provincial Superior Courts. Take a peek. Use for work or your own personal interest.

Supreme Court of Canada Decisions by Subject:
http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/subject.html

Canadian Legal Decisions (CanLII):
http://www.canlii.org/en/index.php

This is one of my favourite sites:
Newseum - http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/
At this site, you can view today’s newspaper front pages from around the world. Choose “Sort Page by Region” and then choose “North America.” You can see the front pages of North American Newspapers including my sentimental favourite, The Toronto Star. Great for current news and perspectives but the site also includes archived pages for more retrospective research. It is fun to see how the world is reporting on itself. It is also great for users looking for news coverage of historical events such as Barack’s big presidential victory. The site provides more than just text, photos and graphics, plus allows the reader to see what news was given front page coverage and A1 prominence.