Callie B. McGinnis
Associate Professor of Library Science

Position:	Dean of Libraries
Contact information:	Office: Library 111 Phone: 706-568-2080 FAX: 706-568-2084 E-mail: mcginnis_callie@colstate.edu
Education:	Master of Library Science, Louisiana State University, 1969 Bachelor of Arts in English, Rhodes College, 1966
Liaison Areas:	Art, Theatre

The Teaching Library

At Columbus State University's Schwob Library, the emphasis is on teaching:

• Teaching students how to search for information and how to evaluate the information they find
• Teaching students and faculty about the best resources in a particular subject area
• Teaching students and faculty how to take advantage of information-related services that can help them in their research and teaching (things like interlibrary loan, scanning, CD-burning, etc.)
• Teaching faculty how to effectively utilize distance learning technologies such as WebCT and GSAMS
• Teaching faculty how to create web pages and work with multimedia that will enhance their teaching

Back in the pre-web era, the academic library was viewed as a warehouse of information that stood in the center of campus waiting for students to come make use of it--a very passive image. With the advent of electronic information, librarians soon learned that students and faculty needed a lot of help. Physically, it was less taxing to sit at a computer and call up screen after screen of information then it was to run around the library searching various shelf locations for books and journals. However, to get to the "best" information was not so easy. Students and faculty needed assistance in identifying certain databases and typing in their searches. As computer workstations began appearing the reference area, librarians became aware that they were going to be spending more and more time working with patrons at the computer. They decided to take control of the situation and become proactive in teaching information retrieval skills and concepts to students and faculty.

To this end, Schwob reference librarians devised a plan that would take them off the reference desk and give them time to teach. Implemented in 1996, the plan, called "tiered reference service," utilized more trained students and paraprofessionals at the reference desk. It required librarians to work the reference desk on nights and weekends, but their daytime desk hours were greatly reduced.

With their newfound blocks of free time, librarians took on a number of teaching activities, including:

• Teaching subject-oriented classes in computer labs (i.e., offering hands-on experience to students with specialized databases)
• Working with faculty to devise special assignments that would sharpen students' information retrieval skills
• Teaching at least two sections per semester in the Fall and Spring of LIBR 1105, Introduction to Library and Information Science
• Offering workshops on GALILEO, the University System of Georgia's premier collection of over 150 databases
• Creating a library website that provides access to a wealth of information resources
• Creating subject resource guides for mounting on the web page
• Creating an online tutorial on using electronic resources

At the same time, staff in the library's Media Services Department, saw the same thing happening: technology was changing the way they did business. Their department had been responsible for scheduling and delivering AV equipment to classrooms across campus, maintaining equipment (film and slide projectors, microfilm readers, overheads, etc.), and creating photographs and graphics for faculty to use in classroom presentations. By the mid-1990s Media Services changed its name to Instructional Technology Services, because that was their new mission: providing the technology faculty needed to instruct effectively. And with the technology they provided, they also had to provide training--lots of training. Now the ITS department offers workshops and one-on-one instruction in the use of a wide variety of technology tools--from Adobe PhotoShop to WebCT.

Today the Schwob Library is still a warehouse of information. We still have books (and we hope that students and faculty will continue to read them). We are still a place (a place on campus that hopefully students and faculty find comfortable and friendly). But, more than anything, we are a collection of information-related instructional services that will assist and facilitate students and faculty in their information retrieval endeavors. We are a teaching library.

Areas of Interest/Expertise

I have served a library director since fall of 1998. I guess I would have to say that leadership and management are two of my current areas of interest.

The majority of my library experience (15 years) was spent in the area of cataloging, but I have always enjoyed working with people. Back in graduate school, I hated cataloging, and would have laughed if you had predicted I would end up in that niche! But when I fell into the cataloging position at Columbus College in 1977, I actually enjoyed it--I found satisfaction in ordering chaos! Over the years I developed some level of expertise in cataloging, MARC, automated cataloging systems, serials and even interlibrary loan.

I am also very interested in Archives. Related to this field is my interest in the history of the book.

Outside the library, I am a genealogy buff. I have been doing genealogy on my family since 1977. It is my favorite hobby. I also teach basic and web genealogy courses with my colleague Sandra Stratford. Out of my love of genealogy, I have developed an interest in cemeteries and burial lore; I give cemetery lectures every year to humanities students at a local high school.

Some of my favorite links:

Libraries:

sunsite.Berkeley.EDU/Libweb/ — an index to library web sites

Archives:

www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html — an index to archival repository web pages

Universities:

www.utexas.edu/world/univ/state/ — an index to university web pages

Genealogy:

www.Cyndislist.com — a fantastic resource for all areas of genealogy

www.familysearch.org — the Mormon site for looking up individual ancestors

genforum.genealogy.org — a great site for hooking up with other genealogists doing research on you lines

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The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author and are not necessarily endorsed by Columbus State University.