Meeting of MnObe Reference/Instruction
Librarians at St. Olaf College [return to Minutes]
May 27, 2003
Present: Edi Thorstensson, Anna Hulseberg, Barbara Fister and Michelle Twait from
Gustavus Adophus; Susanne Nevin, Kasia Gonnerman, Mary Sue Lovett, Bryn Geffert,
Nick Dimassis and Elizabeth Hutchins from St. Olaf; Jean Beccone and Dave Collins
from Macalester; Mollie Freier, Colleen McFarland and Carolyn Sanford from Carleton;
David Malone, Jeffrey Hutson and Tom Nichol from the College of St. Benedict and
St. John's University.
The group approved the tentative agenda sent out on May 21 with the addition of
Mary Sue Lovett's proposal (details below).
Tom Nichol was appointed convener of the group for one year. Mollie Freier (Carleton),
Barbara Fister (Gustavus Adolphus), Elizabeth Hutchins (St. Olaf), Jean Beccone
(Macalester), and David Malone (CSB/SJU) agreed to serve on the Steering Committee.
Tom Nichol will prepare a form to accompany these minutes requesting all interested
MnObe Reference/Instruction Librarians to submit their email addresses, telephone
numbers, postal addresses, liaison responsibilities, and areas of special interest
or expertise. Future minutes and other communications will then be sent directly
to those who have submitted the form, as well as to the directors of the MnObe
libraries. In the future the group may also establish an online discussion group
to enhance communication among its members. Attendees at the May 27 meeting are
kindly asked to alert their reference/instruction colleagues to the contents of
this present set of minutes.
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Please note: The form is now available at
http://www.csbsju.edu/library/forms/mnobe.html . Please fill it out at your
earliest convenience and invite your reference/instruction colleagues who were
not at the meeting to fill it out as well if they wish to participate in the group
and/or receive future mailings.
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After attending to these preliminaries, the meeting of the whole divided into
three interest groups: one to work on Mary Sue Lovett's proposal to form a group
of those who work extensively with literature and visual art (those who mind their
P's and N's :-) ; another to focus on marketing, drawing on Colleen McFarland's
background in the area before she leaves Carleton; and a third to work on program
planning for the 2003-2004 academic year.
After meeting in groups for about forty minutes, the groups reported out:
The P's and N's are planning a meeting at St. John's in the second or third week
in July to focus on resources of choice for literature and visual art. The group
also hopes to establish a format that could be used in meetings focusing on other
academic areas. The group will send out an email to announce a specific date.
The Marketing Group is planning a workshop which will take place on two non-consecutive
dates in the second half of June and the first half of July. The content of the
first day's session will focus on who our student customers are and what services
and products we offer or could offer them. The second day's session will focus
on promotional campaigns, the preparation of materials and implementation plans.
The Marketing Group will also communicate via email.
The Program Planning Group proposed three half-day meetings for the whole group,
the first in October, the second in late February, and the third in mid-May. The
proposed topics are Assessment of Student Learning (to be held at Carleton, coordinated
by Carolyn Sanford and Mollie Freier), Peer Mentoring (to be held at St. Olaf,
coordinated by Elizabeth Hutchins and Barbara Fister), and Teaching/Learning Styles
in Library Instruction (to be held at CSB/SJU, coordinated by Jean Beccone and
Tom Nichol). The order of the Assessment and Peer Mentoring meetings depends on
the availability of speakers. The Teaching/Learning Styles meeting will be the
third in the 2003-2004 series.
Thanks to St. Olaf for lunch and hospitality!
Minutes respectfully submitted by Tom Nichol