2 Library Instruction Classes During the First Week of Classes

It was unusual that during the first week of the spring semester I gave two classes. On Thursday I gave lecture to Chemical Engineering 396 as I have done for several semesters. There were 3 parts to this lecture:

• Introduction to the literature of chemistry and chemical engineering
• Scifinder Scholar
• Scopus and other resources

For the first time since I first taught this course, the professor attended most of the lecture. I suggested that she do this since last semester the students were very inattentive. I had two “Murphy’s Law” moments during this lecture:

• The computer installed the Windows Update and rebooted during the lecture. I was able to continue the lecture without the Powerpoint during the rebooting.
• The training passwords for Scifinder Scholar did not work and I had to contact Chemical Abstracts who reset the passwords.

All’s well that ended well at least. The students seemed attentive and interested in my lecture.

For the first time I taught a class to students of Science, Technology and the Environment. Their assignment is to find information on the environmental effects of the Keystone Pipeline. There were about 100 students in the class making it by far the largest group that I have ever addressed. It was the first time I used a microphone during a library instruction class.