Service Learning Journal: Entry 6

Service Learning Journal: Entry 6

11/15/2012

Here I am at the end of my Service Learning experience, and I have to admit that, even though the assignments were sometimes difficult, the knowledge I have gained from this experience is vital and incomparable to just reading the material in a textbook.  Since my last journal entry, I have completed the selection tools process, which led up to a more tedious assignment that required us to use selection tools to identify 10 resources that replace weeded materials or fills a gap in the collection.  This assignment was time consuming to say the least, and quite challenging at first.  I had difficulties locating two credible reviews for a lot of the materials I wanted to replace.  I eventually came to the conclusion that I should search the databases by topic or subject matter instead of searching a particular title.  While this required me to be a little more open-minded, I found it much easier to locate quality material with several reviews that was more than likely a better a choice for my library.  I did have a little trouble locating reviews for media resources, but feel the two I selected were good solid choices. 

I feel like all of the assignments supported each other, and the order in which they were presented was important and enabled me to be successful.  This project allowed us to get our first look into a “librarian’s world.”  It’s amazing to see all the responsibilities the library demands.  I feel like one of my concerns about librarianship is similar to my student teaching experience- not getting enough hands on experience in the actual library setting.  This assignment, however, allowed me to experience processes that I will be responsible for as a librarian, and I hope the remainder of my two years are filled with these sort of learning opportunities.