Slides for the guest lecture I gave for an online science reference course at the University of Illinois - Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

1. LIS522LE: A
glimpse into my
science
librarianship
Laksamee Putnam
Research & Instruction Librarian
Towson University
lputnam@towson.edu

2. Hello!
 Laksamee Putnam
 Research &
Instruction Librarian
at Towson University –
Albert S. Cook Library
 Graduated from
GSLIS – May 2010
 Started at Towson –
January 2011

3. How did I get here?
 B.S. – Environmental
Biology from University
of Colorado – Boulder
 Spectrum Scholarship
 ARL Scholarship
 Assistantship with ITD
 Practicum/Alternative
Spring break
 Career advisors
 Focused Flexibility
 Luck

4. How did you get here?
 What’s your interest in science
librarianship?
 Do you have a background in science?
 What are you hoping to hear about from
me today?

5. About Towson University
 http://www.towson.edu/
 Towson is 8 miles north of
downtown Baltimore
 I have not watched the Wire
 20,000 students
 15,000 undergrad
 3,000 grad
 Second/Third largest public
university in Maryland
 Originally a teacher college
 We are Maryland’s largest
producer of teachers

6. About the Albert S. Cook
library
 http://cooklibrary.towso
n.edu/
 5 levels
 Houses the Baltimore
Hebrew Institute
Collection
 Most computers on
campus
 Majority electronic
collection
 More current materials–
Dependent on USMAI

7. What do I do now?
 Liaison to: Biology,
Molecular Biology,
Chemistry, Forensic
Chemistry and
Environmental Science
 Teach roughly 20
library instruction
sessions a semester
 Present/write within
library academia
 Reference
 Committee work

8. Liaison work
 Collection
development
 Books
 Journal/Database
subscriptions
 Current discussion
on Scopus vs. Web
of Science

9. Liaison Work
 Meet with faculty
 More than just emailing them updates
 Go to orientations
 Go to campus events
 Embedded librarianship
 Market library instruction sessions
 Plan faculty workshops
 Help them with their research
 Ex) Cell membrane biology reviews in the last 6
years
 http://bit.ly/cellmembio

10. Liaison Work
 Roving Reference
 Marketed the
same way
 Various locations
for each liaison
 Towson
Opportunities in
STEM (TOPS)

11. Library Instruction
 The first two months
of every semester
 Integrating
information literacy
 ACRL standards
 Develop critical
thinkers
 Range of levels
 TSEM – Freshman
 Graduate Students

12. Library Instruction
 TSEM/Freshman
 Introduce the basics
 Evaluate
 Currency Reliability Authority Accuracy Purpose
(CRAAP)
 How to use the catalog
 How to use a database
 Boolean operators
 Peer Reviewed
 How to create a citation
 Example: http://bit.ly/GERO101c

13. Library Instruction
 Upper level/Graduate Students
 Basics refresher
 More in-depth discussions on plagiarism
 Intellectual property vs open access
 Bibliographic Management
 RefWorks
 More subject specific databases
 More in-depth database searching
 Example: http://slidesha.re/z8DeQm

14. Library Instruction
 Utilizing Universal Design and emerging technology
(aka making it interesting)
 Google docs
 Poll everywhere
 http://bit.ly/cosmicpoll1
 http://bit.ly/cosmicpoll2
 Mind42
 TED videos
 http://bit.ly/z25XIY
 Wikis
 Creative projects
 Video mashups
 Glogster

15. Library Academia
 Promotion and Tenure track position
 One of my papers published in Issues in
Science and Technology Librarianship was a
paper I wrote for a GSLIS class
 Local/state presentation – MILEX
 ALA Emerging Leaders program
 Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC)
 Association of College & Research Libraries
(ACRL)

16. Reference
 At the desk
 How do I print?
 Where are the bathrooms?
 I need a book about….
 I need an article for….
 How do I cite this?

17. Reference
 I was looking for assistance finding
scholarly articles on HFF and HT-1080 cells
because I am not familiar with the
database.

18. Reference
 I am currently working with Dr. H on
determining the elemental composition of
vanilla using XRF and using discriminate
analysis to determine origin. I had a few
articles recommend to me, but was given
very little information and was not very
successful in finding any of them, and was
hopeful that you may be able to help.

19. Reference
 I hope all is well with you. I am
administrative assistant in the Molecular
Biology, Biochemistry, and Bioinformatics
Program and the program director, Dr.
Larry Wimmers, wanted me to find review
articles on the topic of cell membrane
biology that was published in the last
six years

20. Reference
 I am currently trying to find information for
my Microbiology paper, and I am having
difficulty finding what I need because
everything seems to be too complex. I
only need background information on
Mycobacterium smegmatis or it's lifestyle,
not any research involving this bacteria. If
you have any suggestions, please let me
know.

21. Committee work
 Library Marketing
committee
 Display
 3rd and 4th Floor
 Video
 http://youtu.be/X
Hd2tCWFXoA

22. Committee work
 Search Committee
 APALA literary
awards committee
 New Members
Round Table
 ACRL – Science
and Technology
Section

23. That about sums it up
 Other things I do
 Tweet - @LibrarianLaks
 Blog - http://librarianlaks.blogspot.com/
 Go to webinars
 Attend conferences
 Mentoring
 A bunch of other stuff ….
 Questions?

24. Thank you for your time!
 Good luck with your future careers!
 Feel free to contact me with any further
questions – about science, about job
searching, about collaborating