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Special Interest Group Archive: Reference SIG 12/22/2020

These are the notes from meetings dating back to 2015.

December 22, 2020 meeting

The meeting was held via Zoom and was convened by Kristin Charles-Scaringi of the Town of Esopus Library.

Notes from the meeting

What would you like to leave behind in 2020?

CBG – Dusting, cleaning, and wipes

K – Heaviness of 2020

S – Eating after 9pm

C – Corona Virus

H – Bad stuff

N – Working from home

V – Zoom

K asked how are we dealing with burnout and information overload?

S – Turning off and watching less television news.

K – Bonding with dachshund and looking at pictures of otters.

H – Ignoring stuff on facebook and trying to weed out student questions.

S – Using vacation messages to limit google chat burnout. Students will wait until the last minute and chat at 4am.

V – Using PC Reservation System to time people’s computer sessions and end them when the allotted time is up.

K – Using Iphone messages to handle offline situations.

H – Likes using zoom in reference situations so she can share the screen and share links.

She feels that she can provide more access by working from home also commute shorter.

K – Is practicing mindfulness and recommended the book “Renew Yourself”

As well as the facebook group called Renewers by Katarina Kendrick

K asked how are we teaching patrons to use digital resources?

K – recommended gffree.org

V – mentioned niche academy

CBG - mentioned Jessamyn West’s newsletters https://medium.com/tilty she is expert at teaching seniors or anyone digital access.

K asked how are we connecting?

K – Microsoft 365, Roadblocks helpful for younger readers.

V – Google classroom

S – Google chat, facetime and not seeing co-workers face to face for a few weeks.

K asked Ready Reference vs Real?

H – There is a clerk who answers basic questions but she will answer research questions on zoom. Not too many walkins mostly taking appointments and the last week of classes has been very quiet. Bending the rules for some students in the library because of their burnout.

K asked how are you planning on dealing with “Covid fatigue” during the holiday break?

H – Watch movies, play video games and snuggle with her dog.

C – Play video games

K thoughts on working from home?

K – thinks it is a bit of a mixed bag – blessing and curse to work from home. She was able to do more professional development from home.

N – Does not want to wrap up her career like this and misses being in the library in the company of patrons and other librarians.

CBG – Every day feels the same from home. The next few works are an opportunity to get stuff done.

K asked what are you trying that is new?

K – knitting, puzzle, connecting with colleagues and the calm app is 60% off.

V – Spanish on Duolingo

Southeastern NY Library Resources Council
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Phone: (845) 883-9065
www.senylrc.org