New librarian makes changes

A new face brings along many new opportunities for the Meyers Library’s online services.

Caleb Puckett has been added to the staff of Meyers Library as Instruction Librarian.

“We are really excited to have Caleb here because he brings a new face to the Library,” Jan Lee, librarian, said. “He is adding new technology to benefit our students and their academics.”

Before coming to Ottawa University, Puckett worked at Emporia State University as a reference and instruction librarian for three years. He has also taught English for ten years at the high school and college level.

Puckett applied for the job at Meyers Library because he found the position attractive and could see great potential in the program.

“I liked the idea of being able to work where I had been working previously,” Puckett said. “The job lets me develop a university wide program to help students and faculty overall, not just at the residential campus, but the university as a whole.”

Gloria Creed-Dikeogu, director of library services, was pleased to have Puckett join the team.

“We hired Caleb because we believe students have not been getting information they needed to help them,” Creed-Dikeogu said. “We felt there was a need to develop a program.”

What Puckett has been working on since he arrived is creating library guides linked onto the Meyers Library online page. These guides will benefit students writing in the MLA and APA styles and also assist with finding credible resources.

“Caleb has re-organized some of the materials in Meyers Library online to make them more useable for the students,” Lee said.

One of the newest things Puckett has been working on along with Creed-Dikeogu is creating a virtual librarian, where students can ask quick simple questions and get an answer right away.

“Gloria and I switch up every week answering students’ questions on the virtual librarian,” Puckett said. “Everything I have worked on is not necessarily new; KU, K- State and other schools have already been implementing these tools.”

“The whole face of the library has been changed by adding Caleb to our staff,” Creed-Dikeogu said. “We hope students take advantage of this new technology.”