Pubalick Liberry

(I think that's how Ulysses pronounced it in Saroyan's _Human Comedy_).

I was definitely impressed by the library itself, but not by the library's reputation. For me, having an extensive database of online journals is the second best thing after having a rare books department (which I doubt we have). But an impressive database doesn't help students if they can't access it with some sort of knowledge or level of comfortability. For the first research assignment, I had a large percentage of students come to me saying that they really couldn't do research at the library because they have had frequently bad experiences with library staff--especially the reference staff--saying things about library staff as being "scary, contradictory, unintelligable, demeaning, etc." If I'm getting more than five students saying these things, I think that there may be a problem. I think, too, that there is a commonly held notion that library research involves butt-loads of time and energy (which it can), and that you have to set aside entire weekends to research.

So, to counteract, I want to find a way to show my future students that library research actually cuts down on research time while turning up better research. I've heard that "mystery" research assignments can help students get a feel for library research beyond what they learned in Perspectives. And, on another level, I can't necessarily tell library staff to "be nicer," but I can tell my students to "get over it"--maybe I'm just being too nice.

Grading. Blech, ergh, argh, blah, erp, phbbt.
Are we all feeling uncertain about this topic? I am having the worst time developing a concrete system. I know an A paper when I see one, and I know a C paper when I see one, but I'm having issues assigning points for specific qualities within a paper or project to reflect that grade. (Did we ever mention grading scales or systems during orientation?) Fortunately, this is just the first shot--I have all of winter break to revamp my grading system (and I'll buy drinks for anyone willing to help me out).

In terms of commenting on student projects, I feel okay. I too, can't help but make marks on all the grammatical sludge and rubble, but I am getting better at stopping after the first page or two. If I find rough drafts that are utterly depraved and despicable, I suggest that the student read through his/her paper with another student. I also allow class time for revising and editing--usually one major peer edit for each project--and that usually helps somewhat with issues of readability, which gives me one less thing to have to comment on. Right now, the issues that I have are dealing with papers that are well-done. I'm trying to figure out ways to not load the paper with empty praise, but to point out specific things that the good writer does in order to reinforce their good writing practices--because otherwise, the rough draft and the final draft may end up being the same draft, and there's no point to developing a process of revision.