Interesting ideas for Library Orientation

[Jenny Power]

Dear all,

'Down under' we are enjoying our summer holidays, although it has been very wet and quite mild this year.  As the rain pours down, I've started to think about the start of the school year.  Does anyone have exciting ideas to introduce the students, particularly the Year 7s, to our library.  An exciting Library Orientation? I have been thinking along the lines of a scavenger hunt but wondered if there are any 'proven to be fun' ideas out there?  All suggestions will be gratefully received! Thanks all.

Jenny

[Martha Hickson]

We've had good luck using a scavenger hunt, which gets kids up and moving around the library. We have kids work in teams to find the items and usually offer a prize (small bags of chips or pretzels) to the team that finds all of its items most quickly.

 

My goal during orientation is simply to get freshmen acquainted with the library staff and the facility's physical and virtual space. The kids are usually so overwhelmed at the start of the school year that they don't remember much of what they are told. I really want to make the kids comfortable with the library and the staff so that they will come to us with questions when they need information. I save information-literacy instruction for later in the year when I can deliver it within the context of authentic classroom tasks.

 

This year, we were short-staffed at the start of school, so I needed to figure out a way to streamline the orientation for 450 freshmen. I compressed the "rules and regulations" information into a quick 8-minute video that students watched on their own before coming to the library with their English class for a single 40-minute period. While watching, they completed a "fill-in-the blank" style note-taking guide and then used those notes to take a Moodle quiz about the video content. Then when students arrived in the library, I was able to spend time showing them the library web page, using the catalog, and answering questions. Here's a link to the orientation materials: http://www.nhvweb.net/nhhs/MediaCenter/electronic/pathfinders/engli...

[Jenny Power]

Dear Sue,

I really appreciated your video ideas for the orientation.  I can see some possibilities for making a video to orient the students to our library.  I wish I'd thought of asking the Library Adviser student group to script something before the end of last year.  Must remember to do so in future.  Thanks again for your video. Much appreciated,

Jenny

[Jenny Power]

Dear Martha,

Thank you for posting these ideas.  I thoroughly enjoyed the video and might have a go myself at making one.  I think the notetaking guide is a great idea so that will be a must whether I use a video or a presentation.  I'm astounded at the number of students in your freshmen intake.  There are only 135 students in our intake group, so I will be able to work with each of the classes.  Thanks again for posting all the materials.  I will add mine to the collection when I decide just what to do. 

So glad I asked for suggestions.  Much appreciated,

Jenny

[Jenny Power]

Opps