Morning, day four

Today is my last day of teaching. I finish early too (1pm), and am thinking I might just have to squeeze in a trip in the afternoon, to KLCC to visit my favourite bookshop, Kinokuniya. I can’t come to a Kinokuniya town and not visit!

It’s been a very interesting visit, and has given me a lot to think about, in terms of the services we (the library) offer to offshore students – students who are enrolled in the university but based overseas and looked after by a different educational provider. I think we’ve always assumed that students, being younger, are more tech savvy, and will be able to navigate their way through any online resources we offer, but I don’t know if this is the best assumption to have. I think the students here could really use a lot more guidance and ongoing help – how are we going to provide it to them? (I’m not assuming we will be able to come back every semester – finances being the main issue – it would definitely be good if we could, though!) I was quite amused at how attendance at my class was somewhat low on the first couple of days, but by the last day for Curtin students, we had to shift a class from the 25-seater lab to the big (80 seats? 90?) lab because all the students decided to turn up (word of mouth that what the librarian had to say might be worth listening to? I like to think so anyway)!

I’ve been impressed by the level of service and dedication the tutors here give their students, and am now wondering what we in the library can do to help improve their access to resources and more importantly, their knowledge of these resources. I met quite a few of the tutors and they had no idea of the range of resources and services that were available to them, and their students. The tutors also have a lot of issues with merely getting access to the resources – accounts not valid and so on – and I am going to have to see if this can be improved for them.

It’s also been really good to actually meet people after emailing them for a while – makes all the difference when you can put a face to the names.

Two more sleeps (sad, but I can’t help counting down, I miss M!).

Time for breakfast.