Information for Students

Process	Pre-Placement Form
Introduction	Arranging Field Work
Goals	Forms for Student and Host Library
Prerequisites	During the Placement
Length of Placements	At the End of the Placement
Schedule	Prior Learning Assessment
Field Placement Sites & Supervisors	Contact Information

Process

1. Carefully read and consider all information provided here.
2. If you meet the prerequisite requirements for either Field Work I or Field Work II and you can complete a placement within the time parameters of a 14-week session (dates shown below), complete a pre-placement form and send it to the Instructor.
3. The Instructor will complete the lower portion of the pre-placement form and return it to you.
4. Based on this information, contact one of the agreed-upon libraries and make tentative placement arrangements.
5. Notify the Instructor of your arrangements so that she can confirm with the library.
6. When you have access to the online course area, log on to print and complete the forms for the Student and the Host Library, and return them to the Instructor before the placement starts.
7. During the placement, read the information in the online course area, and send the Instructor a mid-placement report.
8. At the end of the placement, email your evaluation form to the Instructor, and confirm that your Host Library has done so as well.
9. Once both of these forms have been received, and the placement is seen as successful by both the student and the Host Library, the Instructor will submit your mark (successful placement = 100%).

Introduction

Two field placements are required as part of the library and information technician program at Mohawk College. Paid work cannot be used as a field placement. Click on the following links to access course outlines for Field Work I and Field Work II (documents in PDF format).

Goals and Objectives

The goals of field work in Mohawk’s Library Technician program are to provide you with the opportunity to:

1. have your work evaluated by a professional librarian, library technician or teacher-librarian
2. broaden your exposure to different types of libraries (e.g. public, school, academic, special), and different types of library work (e.g. public services, technical services, administrative services), as per CLA Guidelines, quoted below
3. practise acceptable workplace comportment, e.g. punctuality, reliability, proper attire, etc.
4. develop the insight needed to wisely select future optional courses that are related to identified career interests
5. develop an ability to advocate for libraries, and verbalize the role and importance of libraries in this technological age
6. understand the importance of professional development and lifelong updating to maintain knowledge currency
7. begin to assemble the building blocks of a career as a library and information technician

Prerequisites

It is preferred that you undertake your field placements during the second half of your studies in the program. Following are the prerequisites for each of the placements:

Length and Schedule

Field placements are normally 105 hours (equivalent to 3 weeks work @ 35 hours per week). The length of field placement may be reduced for students who have extensive library experience at a high level of responsibility. This will be determined after you submit your pre-placement form to the Instructor.

Field placement hours may be worked on a full-time or part-time basis, as long as the schedule is acceptable to both you and the host library. However, the placement hours must be started and completed within one 14-week field placement session.

Field Placement Sites and Supervisors

Field placements cannot be done in your current or previous place of employment or within the same library system. It is also best to do placements in a type of library/information services setting that is different from your previous experience. Consider public, academic (college or university), school, and special (corporations, government departments, etc.) libraries.

The field placement supervisor at the library must be a qualified librarian, library technician or teacher-librarian, with the appropriate educational background.

Pre-Placement form – PDF format or DOC format

Arranging Field Work

Once you and the Instructor jointly determine some appropriate libraries for your placement, you normally make the first contact with the library to see if they would be willing to host your field placement.

Once you have made tentative arrangements with the host library, email the Instructor your field placement supervisor’s name, library name, email address, and your planned start and end dates. The Instructor will contact the field placement supervisor to confirm arrangements and explain the College's expectations.

Guidelines for Approaching Libraries for Interviews and Field Placements
- prepared by Dolores Harms Penner, Program Manager - Dec. 2008

Courses in our library technician program quite frequently require that students have contact with a local library or information service. One of the reasons for this is that the delivery method that we use for our courses is distance education, and it is felt that in-person contact with the staff and/or resources of a library is essential to our students’ learning experience.

For some course assignments students should be able to use the resources of a library self-sufficiently, or they may request brief assistance from reference staff to assist them in using library resources. In the latter situation it is a common courtesy to identify yourself as a student, and to ask the staff person to assist by pointing you in the right direction. It is not appropriate to expect the staff person to find the answer for you.

The following guidelines are for situations where students need to approach a staff person in the library in order to request an interview for a course assignment, or to determine whether the library would be interested in hosting a field placement for the student.

You may wish to check with your instructor for guidance regarding who in the library would be best to contact first – for example, the person at the reference desk, a department head or the chief librarian. Be prepared for the fact that this person may refer you on to someone else within the organization.

Guidelines:

• when you visit the library, have a copy of the assignment instructions with you
• always remember that library staff are not obligated to agree to your request; their response may depend on the time that they have available and their circumstances, however their response may also depend on how they feel that you presented your request to them
• contact the staff person well in advance, not at the last minute
• use good telephone etiquette; for example, give your name and the reason for your call immediately, or if leaving a message, do so briefly and clearly
• be courteous; for example, say thank you and promptly return phone calls and emails
• be professional; for example, arrive on time and dress appropriately
• be tactful and discreet; for example, don’t ask questions about internal workplace matters which your interviewee may not wish to answer
• be as flexible as possible in setting a time to meet; for example, the person you are arranging to interview may not be available evenings or weekends, or may need to work around other staff schedules
• be well-prepared and respect the staff person’s time; for example, don’t ask questions for which you could easily find the information elsewhere
• it is a nice gesture to follow up afterwards in an appropriate way, such as with a note or email to express your appreciation

Remember that you are serving as an ambassador of our program. Your contact person may assume that all students in our program will conduct themselves in a manner similar to you. Please do your best to be a good representative of our program.

Forms for the Student and Host Library

Forms must be completed by both you and the host library, to finalize the placement, and returned to the Instructor. You need to register for course WORKLT290 (Field Work I) or course WORKLT490 (Field Work II) with Mohawk or your registering college, for the appropriate session (dates listed above). At Mohawk this must be done by printing out the registration form and faxing it to the Instructor at 905-575-2381. Once successfully completed, the field placement shows on your academic record, together with all other courses taken.

At the start of your field placement session, you will be given access to an Embanet FirstClass online course area for field placement. There you will find a number of forms that you will need to print, complete, and return to the Instructor before your placement begins:

• Student Placement Agreement (must be signed by host library)
• Acknowledgement Form
• Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Waiver
• Release Form

In addition, a Work/Education Placement Agreement/Post-Secondary form from Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities will be mailed to you, as it is a multi-copy form that is not available electronically.

During the Field Placement

During the field placement, you will have access to an Embanet FirstClass online course area for field placement. One of the items of information in the online course area will be a reminder asking you to contact the Instructor part-way through your placement to ensure that the placement is proceeding satisfactorily. The Instructor will contact your field placement supervisor at your host library to check in as well.

Some recommendations for you during your field placements:

• maintain a professional manner in all contacts with library clientele and staff
• act as a responsible employee, e.g. be punctual, notify your host library if an absence is necessary
• dress according to the acceptable standard within the host library

It is a nice touch to send a thank you note to your host library at the end of your placement.

At the End of the Field Placement

At the end of the placement, both you and the host library complete evaluation forms that are returned to the Instructor. Your evaluation form will be posted in the online course area.

In the unlikely event that your field placement is determined by the host library supervisor and the Instructor to be unsuccessful, you will only be permitted to repeat the placement once.

Prior Learning Assessment for Field Work

For students who register at Mohawk College, only WORKLT290 Field Work I may be challenged through the Prior Learning Assessment process at Mohawk College. This option may only be used by students who have extensive library experience in several different types of library settings, at a high level of responsibility. Contact the Instructor for more information.

Students who register at other colleges, please contact your registering college for information on Prior Learning Assessment.

Contact

Program Manager contact information is available at left, if you require more information.

Information for Host Libraries

Introduction

Two field placements are required as part of the library and information technician program at Mohawk College. Paid work cannot be used as a field placement. Click on the following links to access course outlines for Field Work I and Field Work II (documents in PDF format).

Length and Schedule

Field placements are normally 105 hours (equivalent to 3 weeks work @ 35 hours per week). The length of field placement may be reduced for students who have extensive library experience at a high level of responsibility. This will be determined after you submit your pre-placement form to the Instructor.

Field placement hours may be worked on a full-time or part-time basis, as long as the schedule is acceptable to both the host library and the student. However the placement hours must be started and completed within one 14-week field placement session.

Field Placement Supervision

Our requirements are that the overall supervision of a placement student must be done by someone with the educational qualifications of a librarian, library technician or teacher-librarian.

Arranging a Field Placement

If you agree to host a field placement, the student will advise the Instructor who will give you a call to confirm and answer any questions that you may have, before the placement starts.

Forms for the Host Library

Before starting a field placement, the student will provide you with a number of forms. These include:

• a Student Placement Agreement
• a letter stating that WSIB (workers’ comp) is covered by Mohawk College for placement students from our program
• a Work/Education Placement Agreement/Post-Secondary form from Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

During the Placement

There aren’t specific requirements for field placement tasks because every library/information services setting is different. However we ask that, as much as possible, placement students be given the same type of work as is/would be done by library technicians who are employed there. Hands-on work is encouraged. Also, we ask that, as much as possible, students be exposed to different types of tasks and functions within the library, rather than being assigned to one project for the duration of their placement hours. We feel that this is a better learning experience for our students.

However, we recognize that host libraries need to balance the demands that placement students make on staff time and we don't expect host libraries to engage in large amounts of training of our students.

Many students in our program are people who have current or previous work experience in libraries, so they come with some practical experience as well as the knowledge that has been gained through our courses. Thus they normally adapt to new library/information settings fairly quickly.

After the Placement

There is a brief evaluation form that we ask the placement supervisor to complete at the end of the placement, and share with the student, before returning it to the Instructor.

Contact

Program Manager contact information is available at left, if you require more information.