TEL Trainer of the Month Archives
August 2009 TEL Trainer of the Month: Polly Potter
by Jennifer Wooters
TEL extends heartfelt thanks to Polly Potter for her dedication to teaching. Polly is the Assistant Director of the Nolichucky Regional Library Center in Morristown, TN. She has done extensive TEL training in her region, not only for her staff but also for public libraries and other communities. Polly is passionate about TEL. She says, “When you have lived with the pre-TEL limitations all your library life, the opening of a service that has so few limitations motivates you to tell as many people as possible about this resource.”
Polly has done just that. She says, “Since Tennessee taxpayers pay for TEL, I want them to have the fullest value for their money. That requires I learn whatever will benefit the citizens. Since library staff are usually the persons who introduce citizens to TEL, I need to give library workers the best training possible so they can help their customers find whatever is desired.” Teaching is fun for Polly, because it gives her opportunities to learn new things about the databases. She says, “In every class, someone will ask for information that I've not been asked about before, so I get to play detective trying to find the particular database that will help them. I love the adventure of exploring the databases to meet someone's need.”
Polly is a good teacher because she knows how to make the topic relevant to learners. She notes with a smile that, “Every time I would ask the learners do a search for Vioxx, I would lose their attention for many minutes while they researched their parents' medications. Since it is always good to find a search pattern that is of personal interest to the learners, I now make a point of picking a medication that is currently controversial and that might be used within the learner's family.”
Polly’s favorite TEL features are What Do I Read Next in the Gale databases and LearningExpress Library. She notes that What Do I Read Next is useful because “Librarians very much like having the lists of suggested titles for genres and age groups in the Awards, Bestsellers and Other Lists Search function.” LearningExpress Library is valuable because “Libraries have limited shelving space that can be devoted to books about test prep, home schooling, parent's guides, preparing a resume, and job interview skills. All of these subjects and many more are available in the ebooks section of LearningExpress Library. This one feature extends every library's collection.”
Polly’s passion for TEL and her extensive knowledge of TEL’s databases and features are an inspiration to us all. Thank you, Polly, for making Tennessee’s libraries better with your committed, enthusiastic work!
