We kicked off National Gaming Day a little early last week with a gaming event on Friday night. Since we ran the event past midnight, we were able to help kick off National Gaming Day @ your Library.

We had a variety of board games brought in by our local Green Bay games store: Gnome Games. Students brought in materials to play Warhammer 40k. And we had various video games going: Goldeneye on the Wii and Halo Reach and L4D2 on the 360 played in each of our classrooms. And students even brought in a PS2 and N64 to hook up in our smaller study rooms. It was a good turnout for our first game night.

The students' overwhelming response was: "When can we do this again."

National Gaming Day @ the Mulva Library from Paul Waelchli on Vimeo.

Over a month and a half since my last post.  I’d like to have some wonderful story to go along with my absence, but the end of a semester at a new institution brought a number of unexpected surprises.  But the end my first semester came with a number of good results too. 

A 100% increase in the number of instruction sessions taught from Fall 07 to Fall 08.  Granted we started with a tiny number compared to what I was doing at the University of Dubuque.  UD’s 450 plus sessions for a student body of 1200 is an amazing number.  But still I managed some good growth and have hopefully laid down a foundation for future semesters

An initial campus assessment of some information literacy skills was conducted during the semester.  888 students from across all four grade levels (an easy 222 class average) answered a series of questions dealing with evaluating sources, identifying keywords, and plagiarism.  The results we mixed, good in some areas and identifying areas of need in others.  This initial round of data gives me numbers to work into conversations with faculty about their students and the benefits of information literacy.

I organized and ran a student study break on the Sunday before finals week.  There were snacks and sodas for the students along with board games and Mario Kart Wii.  We had a very successful night  and ran out of soda within the first 20 minutes.  I hoped for about 100 students and ended up with 192.  Hopeful the good buzz generated by this event will lead to good things this coming semester.

My one disappointment with this semester was the lack of involvement with the general education committee.  They are changing the curriculum and the chair was vocal with me and the library about supporting information literacy.  While I may be disappointed in the progress, it is a committee working toward change – change moves slowly.

My goal and dream for this semester is not only to continue to build on the success of the fall and to push myself and the library with the changes in the general education.  Therein lies my dream.  My ticket out of hit or miss one shot instruction.  A curriculum where information literacy is tied into it.

We’ll see.  But until then… welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.

Now that I've promoted the open position at my current library and the library has announced my replacement, it is time to talk about my new position.

I was offered and accepted a position at St. Norbert College in De Pere, WI. The college is just outside of Green Bay and is about 2000 students. You can learn more about the college here.

My new position is Information Literacy and Instruction librarian. The Todd Wehr Library has an exciting director who is moving the library forward in new and interesting ways. The staff is full of dedicated and eager people, whom I'm looking forward to working with. The campus has also just broken ground for a new library. St. Norbert College also recently announced a new President. There are a lot of changes happening on campus, and I'm excited to have the chance to be part of them.

The focus of the library is to grow and formalize their instruction program. My new position was created to build their instruction program, develop an overall plan, implement information literacy across the curriculum, and assess the program. I will also be helping train and update the library staff in pedagogy and instruction. The position has the support of faculty, the dean, and the writing center. I'm looking forward to working with them all to successfully build and jump start their information literacy program.

I'm already starting to think about the position and I will be writing about the ideas here. The chance to help jump start a program with video game strategies and pedagogy is exciting. The library staff are interested for my experience with video games and student engagement.

It is an exciting position with many challenges, but I know that what I've learned at the University of Dubuque will help me bring this same level of quality service provided by the Charles C. Myers Library to other students. I have the opportunity to help serve students and help contribute to their overall education.

While I'm shifting positions, colleges, and cities - my focus, research, and instructional application of video games in information literacy will continue. I hope that you will join me in this new application and adventure.