POLKcast: Being SLIC with Chris Fullerton and Jarrod Jones

Posted on by Polk Newsroom

Key:

MF:        Madison Fantozzi

LB:          Leah Bartholomay

JJ:           Jarrod Jones

CF:          Chris Fullerton

– No one punches you in the library aside from your library director.

 

– Is this an HR issue, though?

 

– No.

 

– HR is not listening.

 

– Right.

 

[Theme Music]

 

– Welcome back to POLKcast. I’m your host, Madison Fantozzi.

 

– And I’m your co-host, Leah Bartholomay.

 

– Wow!

 

– I know, right?

 

– It’s exciting.

 

– So we have to let everyone know that we’re now a traveling podcast. We’re here in the library today and we’re joined by Chris Fullerton, Director of the Winter Haven Campus Library and TLCC, and librarian, Jarrod Jones. Thanks for joining us today.

 

– Woo-hoo!

 

– Thanks for having us.

 

– In our own place.

 

– Yes.

 

– Oh yes.

 

– Thanks for hosting.

 

– It’s perfect.

 

– We should be welcoming you.

 

– Yeah, welcome, welcome to the library.

 

– Welcome to the library.

 

– We’re glad to be here.

 

– Thanks guys.

 

– They’re here with us today to share some of the services and resources available to students here at the library, including the Student Learning Innovation Center, better known as the SLIC room. The SLIC room opened last fall and allows students to create multimedia projects through different technology, software, tutorials, and assistance from staff and peer collaboration. And so, as everyone knows, this season of Pollcast highlights services and resources available to students at Polk State and the library and the TLCCs are pretty much the hub for so many of those services and resources. So, we wanna hear from you guys what students can expect when they come over here to the library. So, for starters can you tell us a little bit–

 

– You never know what to expect when you come.

 

– That is correct, you never know.

 

– For starters, can you guys share with us some of the resources and services that students can have when they come here?

 

– Absolutely. Well I think our most popular service these days are the group study rooms, probably.

 

– Especially nursing–

 

– Nursing students, any–

 

– Physical therapy assistant–

 

– Any course that requires a group project. Math classes, students that like to study together. We get quite a few different types of groups, but we got about four group study rooms and they’re constantly coming in for those. In addition to that, you can check out books, it is still a library.

 

– Of course.

 

– And laptops, headphones, those are still pretty popular.

 

– The library was renovated a few years ago, wasn’t it? So can you talk a little bit about what’s so exciting about the new space?

 

– We went from 1965 to–

 

– Literally 1965, literally.

 

– Oh yeah, especially the students that were here and staff and faculty, the year before. And then when they came, just people walk in, they’re just amazed and they ask like, “Is it bigger?” No, it’s the same space. We couldn’t really go out.

 

– It’s a little bigger.

 

– Is it bigger? How is it bigger?

 

– It’s a little bigger. We got a little bit more space. And it’s, the design is much more efficient.

 

– Okay.

 

– So I think that also combined with that extra four inches of space.

 

– Also you got a skylight.

 

– That makes it bigger.

 

– Three skylights.

 

– Whoa.

 

– Yeah.

 

– Lots of light. It’s beautiful, it is perfect.

 

– The light makes it bigger.

 

– Yeah.

 

– It’s a little bigger. We used to have the rare book room. The rare book room is gone. It’s like manifest destiny. The doors just kept moving outward, right?

 

– Well, talking about the space, can you tell us a little bit about the SLIC room and how that came to be?

 

– Sure.

 

– I think the funnest thing to me about this development of the SLIC room was we sent out surveys just, you know, the idea was, well, the idea was people were coming in and students saying we didn’t have anything and so Jarrod was letting them use his iPad, whatever, to get things done in his office in a chair.

 

– I was supplying Apple products.

 

– It was nice, under the table. He had a code, so– So he sent out a survey to students and a survey to the faculty and the faculty surveys came back and they said, “Oh yeah, that’s a great idea. “And students are gonna need instruction “and classes and all this.” And the students’ surveys came back and they said, “Yeah, don’t tell us . “We just want toys. “That will work.”

 

– “Give us the stuff.”

 

– “You can show me like where does it turn on? “Leave me alone.” And that’s pretty much who we listened to. And we set it up like that and it does, it works. I love it. But there’s still people there, “Hey, this thing isn’t doing what I want.” Or, “Can you show me how to make this do what I want?” And that’s what we have. Sandbox.

 

– That’s perfect. So what sort of equipment do you guys offer?

 

– So, currently in the SLIC room we have two 27-inch iMacs. We’ve got a Apple TV and a large–

 

– Which, I was looking for the TV a long time ago, thoroughly confused.

 

– monitor for editing. So the Apple TV’s a little box, she was unaware of that.

 

– We learn by doing.

 

– She was like, “Where’s the TV?” And I’m like, “Well, it’s an Apple TV. “It connects to the TV.”

 

– Then I had him program my VCR, and…

 

– Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got two green screens for recording purposes, of course, and then we’ve got a few iPads as well, so you can check those iPads out, and we’ve got these accessories called padcasters. We probably should’ve had one of those…

 

– Go get one, Leah.

 

– Okay.

 

– All right.

 

– But essentially, you put the iPad in it and it turns into like a tripod video recording studio.

 

– We basically stole everything that the TLIC had so that it would make sense to faculty.

 

– Yes, yes.

 

– Right.

 

– It is sort of a rip-off of the TLIC.

 

– And for students who don’t know the TLIC is basically the faculty version of the SLIC room, so…

 

– Also affectionately known as TLIC.

 

– Oh.

 

– Really?

 

– Yes.

 

– So what does SLIC stand for?

 

– Student Innovation Center.

 

– L?

 

– Learning.

 

– I was like…

 

– Student Learning Innovation Center. I say it so much that it’s…

 

– It’s the Sick Center.

 

– It’s the Sick room.

 

– That’s totally what we should do!

 

– I like it.

 

– Sick Room.

 

– Could we get one that can be the DOPE Center? It’s so dope, it’s so sick.

 

– So what was the first project that a student worked on?

 

– All right, so. The first. The very first.

 

– Or an exciting one.

 

– Yeah, the most exciting.

 

– Well, the most exciting collaboration for me thus far has been working with the environmental issues courses. Professor Whitcomb and Professor KT Moran. Their classes essentially have to, their final projects– used to be they wrote a research paper about an environmental issue local to Polk. So they changed that into a video project. So they’d make a five to seven minute video on the aquifer, or water issues. You know, just different topics. And so they came in and we basically broke them up into groups of six and I took them into the SLIC room, taught them how to use iMovie for video editing, and then they went out and they captured photos, videos, they did interviews, and they put together these pretty cool projects. So we’ve done that for two semesters now. And that’s been the most exciting thing for me. We also get YouTube ranters, which are great. I enjoy those.

 

– That’s cool.

 

– So.

 

– What sort of reaction have you gotten from the students? Are they excited? Are they learning a lot about something that maybe they wouldn’t have done before?

 

– Most of the students, I would say the overall feeling is excitement. That, “Oh, it’s not a stale research paper.” Right? A lot of them are camera-shy, so you get this interesting thing where it’s like, “Okay, well, I want to write the script.” “Okay, well, I want to…” And then you got the person, “I want to be on camera.” Then you got the person, “I want to edit.” So you get to see the personalities sort of come out.

 

– That’s cool.

 

– And then so it’s interesting with a group.

 

– So, I know you said that a lot of the students just wanted to be able to go in and do their own thing, play with all the awesome stuff. But what sort of services do you offer if they do need a little bit of training, or help with the software and the equipment?

 

– So what we currently offer is if you want to use the SLIC room, and let’s say, “Oh, Final Cut. “I’ve heard of that. “I want to video edit. “I’ve never used it before.” You can definitely either call in to the library, or drop by the front desk, and just kind of schedule with me. Because I’m not always available for the SLIC room, so we kind of do it around my schedule. But, yeah. And from there I’ll show you how to use Final Cut. I’ll show you how to use iMovie or Adobe Premiere…

 

– And he’s been training the staff too, so they can spread out.

 

– Yes. Yeah.

 

– We need a good intern, if anybody’s listening out there.

 

– All PCs, because that’s all Jarrod’ll work on.

 

– No.

 

– Incorrect statement. Oh man, yeah. And then I love the crossword puzzles, and it seems like you always put coloring books out for stress week.

 

– Lots of coffee at finals.

 

– One of our new librarians, Kristen, she’s technically our outreach and events person, she’s kind of the driving force behind a lot of the new style of displays that you’re seeing. The coloring one being one that I enjoy as well.

 

– Yeah. And puzzles.

 

– You should never stop coloring. It’s great.

 

– No. It is great.

 

– It’s a stress reliever, yeah. Calms you down.

 

– I notice you enjoy the chess as well.

 

– I’m learning how to play chess. We have a chess board up, and I’m gonna challenge Laura at the end of the summer. She also doesn’t play.

 

– Why did you pick Laura?

 

– ‘Cause she also does not play chess.

 

– Oh, good.

 

– She also has no interest in playing chess, so it’ll be fun to get her to…

 

– So you might win.

 

– So your odds of winning are pretty high?

 

– Yeah, I don’t think she cares. She cares about winning a lot.

 

– Oh.

 

– She does not care about that specific game.

 

– You know, that was funny when we put the chess board in. I mean, you think, “Oh, what’s a nice quiet game we can put “in the library that will be pretty and…” It was like stadium seating,

 

– Yeah.

 

– these kids.

 

– Really?

 

– It was like full combat…

 

– We do some interesting…

 

– To the death chess!

 

– Interesting games. Like people come in and watch. It’s kind of like in the movies,

 

– Bobby Fischer?

 

– You see like chess in the park

 

– Yeah.

 

– and a crowd starts to come around. That just organically started happening.

 

– I was gonna start selling like popcorn and beer…

 

– That sounds intense.

 

– You should’ve.

 

– Yeah.

 

– It’s pretty funny. Well, next you’ll have to put Risk in here.

 

– We got that long– maybe bowling. Lawn bowling?

 

– We got Battle of the Sexes. We have a few games available for checkout for students to use.

 

– Oh, that’s fun.

 

– Don’t ask me what they are.

 

– What are they?

 

– Definitely Battle of the Sexes, definitely chess, definitely…

 

– Go, Trivial Pursuit,

 

– Chinese Checkers.

 

– Yeah, you do know that list.

 

– So, you seem to have a great relationship. Like you hate each other.

 

– More than life itself.

 

– Cool.

 

– She’s my library aunt.

 

– Nice.

 

– Auntie.

 

– We affectionately refer to her as Auntie Chrissy when she’s not around, and when she’s here it’s Director Fullerton.

 

– Oh nice.

 

– Very official.

 

– So we got that going.

 

– Well, so what is the craziest thing that you guys have seen in the library? Something that’s safe for our listeners to hear at work, but…

 

– Crazy and safe.

 

– Yeah, crazy safe.

 

– Sugar glider was good. I liked that, checking out books to someone and they had like a purse around their neck and it was kind of, whatever, if that’s how you want to wear you purse, whatever. And like, “Oh, you want to see…?” whatever its name is, “Seymour.” “Huh?”

 

– So it was a sugar glider?

 

– Sugar glider.

 

– Aw. Cute.

 

– I don’t have very many crazy things, but I do have a wish list.

 

– Yes?

 

– I can share that.

 

– Love to hear.

 

– Miniature horse.

 

– Yeah.

 

– We haven’t got that yet, but I’d love that.

 

– You have to get a doctor’s note and then you can have your miniature horse, I told you.

 

– Well, someone will have it as a service animal and they’ll come in to check something out and it’ll be great for the staff.

 

– Oh, you want to check them out. I thought you wanted your own.

 

– No, he wants to see one.

 

– No, I want a student to come in, who has a service…

 

– Yeah, don’t listen to him.

 

– Animal. Particularly a mini horse.

 

– What if it was little Sebastian?

 

– Little Sebastian.

 

– That’s the dream.

 

– Okay, you got anything more on that list?

 

– Anything else on the wish list? Celebrities. That would be cool.

 

– Yeah, any in particular?

 

– Anybody local to the area. Tracy McGrady, maybe? Mike Berto, we might could pull that one off.

 

– We could spar.

 

– She’s already punched me on camera.

 

– It was an accident once.

 

– Wow.

 

– It’s on YouTube. She hit me.

 

– Wow.

 

– Call HR.

 

– Well, so going back to talking about the technology that’s come in over time and learning about the Apple TV and how the library has been improved, it kind of went from 1960s to now, what are some of the changes that you guys have experienced? Or what is it like experiencing those changes? Especially for you, Chris, who’s been here for the whole…

 

– I think one of the funnest things for me, been here 20-something years. And I’ve heard the same thing for 20-something years, “Oh, libraries are going away. “Nobody’s going to need a library.” And I swear, the more technology that comes around, the more cool stuff, the more questions. The more people are coming in, “Hey, do you have one of these? “Can you get me one of those? “How do I use this?” Yes, we started with one stand-alone World Book Encyclopedia CD-ROM on a thing, sitting out there in the middle, being all cool. “Whee!” And now we have hundreds and hundreds of database access things that you can get to. But that just makes more questions. People calling, you know, nurses. “What is a peer review journal? “What does it look like online? “I can’t cite this, because I don’t know what ‘it’ is.” You know, the basic stuff. So we may not have as many live bodies. Although, actually we do, when we count them up, statistically speaking. More questions. More questions, more varied questions. And, luckily, we have a really good crew with a varied background and interests to really… If we don’t know the answer, somebody else, “Oh, let me get Jarrod. “Let me get Chris.” Somebody will have it, which I think is great.

 

– Yeah, so I came into librarianship about 10 years ago? And so that was a common question I would get, “Why would you go into that? “Aren’t libraries going away? “We got the internet.” And so that’s one of the things that I came into the profession with. Knowing that, no, people don’t know how to use the internet, for the most part. There’s just a lot of stuff. And the more stuff you put on there, the more questions folks will have about the content that’s on there, like, “Okay, so, how do I get to the good stuff?” Or, “Why would I use a library database over this? “Why would I go to the “Oxford English Dictionary

 

– I will punch you right now.

 

– “In the database collection?”

 

– ‘Cause it’s the best.

 

– Over just doing websters.com and searching for the word.

 

– We’re not cutting OE, no.

 

– The library actually offers access to the Oxford…

 

– And will continue!

 

– As we should, because everyone logs into the databases.

 

– Every day.

 

– To go to the dictionary.

 

– I check it.

 

– Yes.

 

– Instead of just asking Siri.

 

– Correct.

 

– Well, what’s the step for that?

 

– So, first, you go to polk.edu/library. From there you go to Articles/Databases. Once you click on that, you must log in with your credentials, your student ID number is the borrower ID, the pin is the last four digits.

 

– If it was easy everyone would do it.

 

– And then you scroll down to the Os, you click on Oxford English Dictionary, once that comes up you search the page, or you find that little bitty search box that exists there, and you type in your term.

 

– I’m just gonna get my own personal account.

 

– Once you type in your term, a page will populate with search results. You will not easily find the definition there. If you’re there for etymology, good luck clicking.

 

– Wow.

 

– Yeah.

 

– Bugs.

 

– But it is a wonderful resource that we are just so thankful to offer.

 

– Of course.

 

– I’m shutting down right now.

 

– Chris is powering down. Well, why do you like it so much?

 

– ‘Cause you have to have it. It tells you where the words came… Except for Dutch.

 

– Can you speak into the mic?

 

– What database do you love? What’s your favorite database?

 

– Probably a history one.

 

– Probably a history one? Name two.

 

– History…

 

– You play the video one, right? No words, just pictures.

 

– The African American History one’s amazing, I don’t know if you’ve seen that.

 

– Yes, I have.

 

– The timelines are great.

 

– Everyday I look at it.

 

– And the history one for EBSCO,

 

– The timelines again.

 

– I use that one a lot.

 

– Pictures. He’s not gonna read anything.

 

– I’m from the audio/visual generation. Show me the YouTube video, don’t make me read it. Not all librarians read.

 

– Interesting.

 

– I do read.

 

– What did make you decide to be a librarian?

 

– Oh, this is a wonderful question. How much time do you have?

 

– Well, we like to keep our podcast 20, 40 minutes.

 

– All right, so. I’ll do this as quickly as I can, because this is a question I get a lot.

 

– We’re gonna need snacks and drinks.

 

– So, I went to college, didn’t know what I wanted to be, so I picked what my aunt majored in. She did computer science, so I said computer science. Realized quickly I don’t want to program, I don’t want to be in a cubicle, I like people. From there…

 

– What kind of librarian is that?

 

– History became my interest, so I thought, “Oh, I’ll be a history professor.” Got really good at the research process, and I said, “Wait a minute. “I don’t want to research one thing for my entire life.” But, in doing so, I started working in the special collections department, which is an offshoot of the library. And from there, I said, “Ooh!” Spring break every year, winter break every year, summer’s a little slow. This is it. And I get to research, which is kind of my gift and curse.

 

– Cool.

 

– That’s perfect.

 

– That’s how I fell into it.

 

– I thought you were going to be a boxer at one point.

 

– I did want to box and I saw Mike Berto spar and I was like, “No one’s touching my body in that way.” So, no.

 

– So librarian it was.

 

– Career development choices.

 

– Yeah, I’m not built for punishment. No, no, no.

 

– How about you, Chris? What made you want to be a librarian 85 years ago?

 

– 85 years ago I was an art major. And I got a degree in sculpture. And that was really fun. That was the best time of my life, ever. It’s like having a degree in woodshop, and then you live in a warehouse, and then I had a child. And I was like, “Hey, I’ve gotta get a real job.” And I took a part-time job in a library, and I think, like you were saying, you don’t think about that as a career choice oftentimes.

 

– It’s, oftentimes

 

– You just have your fireman,

 

– a second career.

 

– your nurse, your teacher, that’s all anybody can be. And then as you start kind of living in the world, you find your spot, and you’re like, “Oh. “This is an option? “You can do this? “Okay. “Yeah, this could work.”

 

– I’m pretty sure there was a librarian card in The Game of Life. Wasn’t there? Wasn’t that one of the occupations?

 

– Oh, the spinny, yeah.

 

– So, it exists. People do it.

 

– Yeah, but that…

 

– Not very…

 

– What they’re thinking of…

 

– You should’ve seen me in library school, like I was one of four people that were like 21 years old. Everyone else was like 40 with kids and two jobs, and they were like…

 

– And they probably looked very much like me. A bun in their head, on their head. Not a honey bun.

 

– Lot of buns. Lot of glasses. I have neither of which, so…

 

– Sensible shoes.

 

– I am known as the guy in the library. Sometimes, what was it? A math tutor? I got that once, which is fascinating. I’m not good at math.

 

– Weren’t you accountant?

 

– I got accountant.

 

– You were the library accountant. Because people just couldn’t fathom that he could…

 

– I don’t have a man-bun. If I had a man-bun and glasses, that would probably, I’d get the librarian thing a little more.

 

– I think Leah has the librarian look down.

 

– Yeah, look at that!

 

– The bun, the glasses. Sensible shoes.

 

– Putting us to shame!

 

– My podiatrist told me I had to start wearing these.

 

– Nice. Especially in the library.

 

– Yep.

 

– Yeah.

 

– Well, the library here, you guys are a fun crowd. You guys are really good at promoting the services that you guys offer to students. Students are very aware. What do you guys do to keep students engaged and coming back to the library? I know you guys have weekly contests, and displays that you guys do. Do you want to share some of those things that are going on?

 

– Sure. So, those are the main things. Displays, contests, games. I primarily provide jokes.

 

– Oh dear.

 

– That’s how I keep

 

– That’s nice.

 

– People coming back.

 

– You do sound hilarious.

 

– Yeah.

 

– Wonderful jokes.

 

– Consistently.

 

– Very… consistently hilarious.

 

– But it kind of sells itself a little. Most people know, “Okay, I have a research paper. “My professor has said I need resources from the library.” So that kind of funnels most folks in, and once they get here, sometimes there’s a little bit of an intimidation factor approaching the reference desk, but once they do that, they go, “Wait, they’re not making me feel stupid. “They’re teaching me how to…” And so we get regulars from that.

 

– And there’s definitely a perk, and you see the difference in students that come in with a class. If their instructor brings them in, that sends a message.

 

– Yes.

 

– That this is important. They see Jarrod talking to people, or I’m talking to their instructor. That, “Oh, you can talk to people, you can ask questions. “It’s really easygoing and they’re here to help.” That makes a world of difference, people bring their class in.

 

– That’s awesome.

 

– Shout out to those folks.

 

– Shout out to the faculty.

 

– Yeah.

 

– I like that.

 

– Go faculty.

 

– Do you want to shout out individual faculty members? Maybe push them over their 40 minute…

 

– What am I, like Romper Room with the magic mirror?

 

– Well, where can students find you guys? Are you guys on social media?

 

– Yes. The library has several social media pages. We’re on Facebook. If you type in Polk State Winter Haven Library and TLCC will come up. We actually share that page with the TLCC. We also have a Twitter page. Polk State Lib is our Twitter. And we also have a YouTube page, which, that’s really where it’s at, guys. Fascinating tutorials, two minutes long.

 

– My voice…

 

– All this voice.

 

– Almost exclusively, right? So it’s a great sleeping aid.

 

– Or if you have anxiety and you just need to calm down.

 

– Yes.

 

– He’s like lavender and chamomile.

 

– We’re thinking about making some of those ASMR videos, as well.

 

– That’d be nice. Get on that.

 

– So, pickle noises, all those cool things.

 

– Definitely. You should do that.

 

– Yeah.

 

– And so how can students reserve time in the SLIC room or with you to get some multimedia lessons?

 

– You can do that both in the library at our computers, or just on your phone, away from here. You can reserve up to a week in advance, a two-hour slot.

 

– Sweet.

 

– Very popular.

 

– All the kids are doing it.

 

– Anything else?

 

– All the kids are doing it.

 

– All the cool kids are doing it.

 

– All the cool kids are doing it.

 

– All the cool kids are at the library.

 

– Well, thank you so much for joining us. And so, everyone that’s listening, you should just stop by the library. And whether you need to check out a book, or play with some of their toys in the SLIC room, they’re here.

 

[Theme Music]