2008 Woodie Awards
Library workshops set students up for a successful semester
Katie Kniest, Guest Contributor
Issue date: 2/12/08 Section: Features
The school library not only offers free books to students but also free educational workshops.
The workshops, put on by the literacy instruction program in the library, teach students to use Articles, Books & Beyond, iMovie, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and more.
Senior Ian Bridges had no idea that the library held informative workshops, but would consider using them.
"I really just use the library for books and studying," said Bridges. "But I would go to the workshops if they covered something that interested me or that would help me with an assignment."
While it may be news to some students, Instruction Librarian Erin Bower says the workshops are not new to the library and have been around for many years.
"The Library has always had workshops in some form or another, whether it be on how to use a specific resource or how to approach the research process," said Bower. "Over the past few years,?the workshops have evolved to be more general in nature, rather than very specialized. We find that general ones tend to reach a wider audience and tend be more useful for students."
Bower says typically around 800 students will attend the workshops in a semester. Scheduling is key when it comes to the amount of attendance at the workshops.
"We have to think strategically about our scheduling because that affects the ability of students to attend the workshops," said Bower. "We move around workshop times each semester to offer a variety of times."
Even though this semester's workshop schedule has been completed, Bower is open to useful workshop suggestions from students.
"We're always looking into options, but we also have to balance the perceived demand with the actual demand," said Bower. "Right now, we're really interested in thinking about potential formats for online workshops, as well as potential for short-format technology tip workshops."
Bower feels the workshops are a great learning tool for students at a great value.
The workshops, put on by the literacy instruction program in the library, teach students to use Articles, Books & Beyond, iMovie, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and more.
Senior Ian Bridges had no idea that the library held informative workshops, but would consider using them.
"I really just use the library for books and studying," said Bridges. "But I would go to the workshops if they covered something that interested me or that would help me with an assignment."
While it may be news to some students, Instruction Librarian Erin Bower says the workshops are not new to the library and have been around for many years.
"The Library has always had workshops in some form or another, whether it be on how to use a specific resource or how to approach the research process," said Bower. "Over the past few years,?the workshops have evolved to be more general in nature, rather than very specialized. We find that general ones tend to reach a wider audience and tend be more useful for students."
Bower says typically around 800 students will attend the workshops in a semester. Scheduling is key when it comes to the amount of attendance at the workshops.
"We have to think strategically about our scheduling because that affects the ability of students to attend the workshops," said Bower. "We move around workshop times each semester to offer a variety of times."
Even though this semester's workshop schedule has been completed, Bower is open to useful workshop suggestions from students.
"We're always looking into options, but we also have to balance the perceived demand with the actual demand," said Bower. "Right now, we're really interested in thinking about potential formats for online workshops, as well as potential for short-format technology tip workshops."
Bower feels the workshops are a great learning tool for students at a great value.