Outreach

One of my weak spots as a solo librarian is outreach. By nature, I am an introvert, so it takes a lot of effort for me to put myself out there. When I do, I get a lot of positive feedback and, as a result, I feel really good about myself as a professional. I wish I could remember that when I'm stressing about sending that send button after finishing a newsletter! I have made a goal of sending out a very short newsletter via e-mail to my entire division once a month, which contains, typically, some type of tip, an interesting website, new tool, etc. Maybe 3 or 4 things total. Today I sent one that included basically an advertisement for myself, offering to set up search alerts for anyone interested (this isn't the first time I have offered this, but I haven't advertised it in a while) and have already gotten one response. I need to remember that we are ever-growing, and the newer faculty members aren't aware of what I can do for them!

RSS

I'm exploring RSS feeds for all the tables of contents I receive via e-mail (yes, I know, better late than never). Of the ones I've seen so far, most just have feeds for their current issue, but the American Journal of Roentgenology really has a sophisticated set of feeds. Not only do they have a feed for their current issue, they also have a feed for recent issues, as well as feeds for specific content areas, such as chest imaging, etc. Pretty cool!

A little radiology humor for a Friday morning, courtesy of Get Fuzzy

Praise comes easy sometimes

It's funny how something that seems so clear to us never even occurs to those we serve. Take for instance my most recent reference question. A faculty member was looking for information on a particular grant. She had the grant number and a general idea what it was about but couldn't locate the description. Surprisingly, she had even already searched the NIH grants page. So, what do I do? Take the grant number, put it in quotes, and stick it in Google. Bam! First result was exactly what she was looking for. And I'm "AMAZING" for thinking of that. Yes, yes I am.