Laura Karas Portfolio: Welcome

My teaching and LibGuide philosophy is much the same: offer the students several different ways to see and learn the materials and one just may stick.  As a visual learner, I learn more with images than words so much of my teaching involves info-graphics and pictures.   I know that much of the research refutes the position that someone can be a visual learner, but I also know I remember images much better than words spoken or written.  The current school of thought is that learning is a multi-sensory approach so to that end I try to embed videos for auditory learners and text for those who learn from reading.  My LibGuides are usually packed with information for students to refer back to.  I like to think of it as the "Mall Map" philosophy, not everyone going to the mall will use the "Mall Map" but for those who need it, it is there and helps them.  Having the information at the point of need helps students to combat frustration.  Repetition is also something that helps me retain information.  Many of my guides refer back to other guides or embed a guide such as the "APA Citation Styles Guide" within a course guide to train the students to look for those guides in the future.

My entry into Librarianship like many in the field is a circuitous one.  I began with a dream of being an Interior Designer, but once I had my degree the field was so saturated I could not find a job. I had worked in the slide library at Savannah College of Art & Design as a student, and when they offered me a full-time position I jumped at the opportunity.  While working full-time in the slide library I began taking classes in Historic Preservation, only to find once I had a degree I didn't enjoy the work.  I realized that I so enjoyed my work organizing and categorizing materials that I realized that librarianship was the career path I should follow.  

I believe the partnerships between academic librarians and the rest of the campus are vital to ferry the students from their first visit to campus all the way to their graduation, and beyond.  Librarians have the opportunity to help make the leaps between the theory in the classroom and the practical exploration of information.  Being an advocate for the students and their information needs creates an atmosphere of lifelong learning. 

I was a curious child. I would flip my doll pram upside down to see how the wheels were attached how the springs made it bounce, I took the toaster apart to see the insides.  I was encouraged by my parents to explore the world around me.  I helped my dad fix things around the house and I helped my mom cook.  I needed to see how things were put together, how they worked, to understand them. As I got older my dyslexia often frustrated me, I couldn't just read about things, but I continued to take things apart and learn visually how things worked.  I learned that if I DID something I would understand it.  

When I was in 3rd grade I was tested in school for both the gifted program and for learning disabilities. I was told I was both gifted and dyslexic, but I could only take advantage of one program.  Much of my education was shaped by my mother's choice to put me into the gifted program which was essentially a Montessori program.  This showed me that I was not dumb (even if the traditional classroom and my learning differences often made me feel this way) but I just needed a different way to learn.  Reading was not my strong suit but I could learn and the adage is true, practice makes perfect.  I am now a voracious reader and have turned my need to figure out how things work into research skills.  I have retained the desire to know how things work, now I have learned how to search and find the answers and this drives my desire to help others find the answer.