Introduction to the Class: Heather Hawley

I received my Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Oregon, where I majored in Psychology and minored in Women’s Studies. I am originally from the green state of Oregon, but have lived in the Tucson desert for two years now. Currently, I work at the University of Arizona, College of Optical Sciences as the student librarian in the Fred A. Hopf Library. I have worked in the Optics library, which is a special collections library (not affiliated with the UA library), for one full school year, plus this semester.

At work my responsibilities include using a Microsoft Access database which drives the information in the OPAC, I regularly update the library webpages using Microsoft Frontpage, as well as performing reference service for optics staff, faculty, and students. I am also responsible for the physical maintenance (upkeep) of the library, shelving books and library materials, cataloging (includes some original cataloging), and donor relations. After I graduate in December, they will be looking to hire another SIRLS student, so let me know if you are interested or have any questions about what it’s like working at the Optics College. I have learned so much working there, both about the library and optics fields.

As I have mentioned, I am getting ready to graduate from the SIRLS program; this is my last semester. Besides this IRLS 571: Introduction to Technology course with Professor Glogoff, I am also taking IRLS 588-794: Medical Online Searching, which is also a hybrid course. About half of the classes I have taken here at SIRLS have been virtual (online) courses, so I am not new to this format, but I have only worked with the D2L system.

To access my course’s online resources, I mainly work from home (although I admit to doing some homework at work when I have downtime, which is rare.) Both of these locations have broadband connections (I can barely remember using the old dial up, screechy and slow, modems!) My home computers are a desktop and a laptop; the desktop CPU is an AMD Athalon XP (I’ve never heard of this brand before; my dad gave it to me when he heard I was going to graduate school. He is a computer geek, so he souped it up for me. Thanks Dad!) The desktop is about three years old; the laptop is an Averatec and is about one year old. Both of these computers have Microsoft Office XP operating systems and are protected by MacAfee security software for virus protection and ZoneAlarm for firewall protection.

Besides my computers, I own (and love) the Motorola Razr cell phone, which has a digital camera, can take 30 second video clips, has instant messaging and of course, text messaging. I honestly bought this phone (or at least convinced my husband we needed to buy it!) to practice with these technologies and now I’m hooked. I also own an iPod mini which I used to listen to the first course podcast while I was stuck in the Pima County jury duty pool on Tuesday. I do not own a webcam, or PDA; nor do I have any experience with video conferencing.

I do have an anonymous personal blog (very boring, I can reassure you) but it’s too embarrassing for me to link to it here, for everyone to see. Let’s just say that it’s similar to a diary; I like to post random thoughts in it, especially when I have a raging case of insomnia. I do however plan to setup a Blogger account to keep a copy of this blog, so I can link to it from my SIRLS ePortfolio (since this blog will be deleted at the end of the course.)

My Skype contact information is: heather.hawley You are welcome to add me to your contact list for your Exercise 3.