Scanning Workshop

Time: 11 AM to 3 PM
Hours: 4

Today I attended an educational workshop about scanning. I was surprised at how much I learned. I hadn't expected to be introduced to that many new things, but I was wrong. Besides me, there were two older gentleman that were professors.

First we went through how to scan a text document and create a PDF out of it. Then we learned how to take a paper document, scan it, and use a program to make editable in electronic form again. This would be useful for documents created before the time of computers or for printed materials that the original electronic media was lost. Will also explained what resolution settings would be ideal for the type of item you are scanning.

Next we scanned a picture into Adobe Photo shop. Will explained the different settings for resolution and image quality. He also noted that image size was important to keep any eye on, otherwise we could crash or slow down a computer. He showed us how to reduce an image size, as well as resize it.

Finally we learned how to scan slides and stick them into a Power point presentation.

I liked the workshop because I learned a lot of little things about image sizing I'd been curious about, but never had a chance to figure out on my own. The tips for photo shop were especially helpful since I'd always been confused on how to properly reduce an image size. Now I know it has to do with the screen quality, not how big the actual image is in pixels.

After the workshop, I returned upstairs to the Reference department. I started to clean some shelves and move sections of materials that Claire had already weeded. As I was working, people kept coming through and it was a little inconvenient. I decided to continue this particular task at a time later in the evening when the Library wasn't so busy. I sat with Clair for a little bit and observed while she helped a student find information. I was particularly interested in the process today because the OPAC was down for updating. It should have been up hours ago, staff was exclaiming. I wanted to see how she helped students without their usual resource available to them. She used WordCat, which listed the materials owned by Kutztown University.

At 2:00 PM, I was allowed to attend a Reference meeting. In attendance were Claire, Ruth and Krista. They were discussing how to update the reference area of the Library website, and even asked my input about titles for the sections. Their meeting was very casual, but they kept on topic. They all agreed, however, that having some silliness and humor is what keeps the job interesting and fun. Unfortunately I had to leave early for class, but I was still glad to be part of the event.