New Student Orientation

The students are back on campus and I am loving the energy! Our campus uses the Clifton StrengthsFinder as a tool to get the students talking about being successful in college. I always volunteer to facilitate this session at new student orientation. One of the benefits of doing this is that it allows me to meet some of the new students in a more informal way. I’m hoping that through this interaction, some of them will be more comfortable asking questions at the library as they start writing their research papers.

I also worked at the library’s booth at the resource fair. I’m always amazed at how many conversations happen as I’m moving about the campus walk. I ran into the guy who runs the activities at the commons, and he started asking me whether it would be possible for the library to extend its hours. He mentioned that several students had asked him about this. I was able to tell him that he should initiate a conversation with our director about it.

I got to work the booth with our director. He mentioned that he was glad I was there because he knows I’m good at talking to people. I seem to have a talent for finding myself in conversation with strangers and I am sort of hoping that I can find ways to utilize this talent either where I currently work or in my next position.

I really think it is important to find ways for librarians to gain more visibility on campus.

Just for fun, here’s cartoon I drew of a funny conversation I had at the library’s NSO booth.

I showed this cartoon to some of my friends. One of them commented that the latin text is indeed the state motto of Kansas. Who knew?