End of the Semester Review

As this is the final week of classes and I'm one paper away from finishing the semester, I believe it's appropriate to write a blog post reviewing the semester. I began the semester completely in the dark about Library Science. Now, I can't say I learned everything about library science in one semester; far from it. In fact, this semester has showed me that there's sooooo much to learn that it's even more overwhelming about how little I know. But this semester I did learn some basics and it helped me get some idea about my future career choices.

1. I could never become a professor. I don't want my library science experience to be all about writing books, publishing papers, and grading papers. I would rather get my hands dirty doing the work I'm training to do.

2. I could also never be a cataloger. I learned TONS from Barbara Kwasnik's class and cataloging is a noble and necessary aspect of librarianship. However, it's not really my cup of tea.

3. Right now, I'm highly interested in reference. I enjoyed Megan Oakleaf's class and I learned a lot from the assignments in that class. I love working with people and it's very thrilling to be the one that gets to answer the questions (maybe that's because I'm a control freak, haha).

Regardless of the fact that my interests may change throughout my time in this program, I feel that I have a grasp of what I'm doing and this semester erased my doubts about whether I had signed up for the right program. I've made great friends and some great contacts and I'm eager to see what next semester brings! No worries, I plan on continuing this blog in the future, so get ready!

And here's a librarian cat meme for your enjoyment.

Special Collections and Book Repair

The class tour of the special collections and book repair/preservation/conservation sections of Bird Library was very eye-opening. As a librarian-in-training, I was completely clueless about the behind-the-scenes aspects of the library (besides the cataloging and technical services). I'm now more cautious about how I treat books; I've never been picky about whether the spines on my books crack and I always bend the pages. However, I only do those things to my own books, and never to a library book. I also now understand why I'm always cold in the library; it's because the temperature has to be monitored in order to keep the books in excellent condition. The whole session about book repair intrigued me but when I heard that it takes about 6 years to get the experience and fulfill the requirements, as well as the fact that the pay isn't that great, I was kind of put off. But now I definitely have a greater appreciation for the staff's ability to keep Bird's large collection in great condition. My favorite part of the tour was the Special Collections. As a student wandering Bird, I haven't seen many signs about the Special Collections section of the library. I tried once to go to the 6th floor but got very nervous and confused about the elevator set-up. But getting a chance to see a sample of the Special Collections from Ken Lavender was really exciting. My favorite book was the personal copy, belonging to Queen Elizabeth the First of the history of the Roman Empire. That would probably be my "fire book" too.

Over Break

While on my break from school I heard some disappointing news. I recommended a book to my grandmother; she asked me if she could just buy it at Barnes & Noble. I said of course she could, but I also told her that she could look for it at her library. She frowned at me and said she does not use her library. When she makes that face, I know not to ask anymore about it, though I was itching to know why she wouldn't use her library. I understand why she would refuse to try out a Nook (which she most crankily did) because of the challenging technology (my grandparents' house doesn't have wifi). However, I couldn't understand why she refused to use the library. As a senior citizen, and living in this troubling economy, I know money is tight, and yet she would keep on buying books at B&N (which aren't cheap like a second-hand store). Luckily, she has no problem with passing on books to friends and relatives when she's done with them. The last unsettling  moment was when my grandmother told me that she picked up a book (not knowing what it was about) and realized that the romance novel was about a gay couple. Well then she proceeded to throw it in the trash with disgust. If she had borrowed the book from the library, she could have returned it and saved the new book from meeting its early end.

Also, my family's pursuit of the traditional Black Sunday shopping made me miss the opportunity to visit the Corning Glass Museum Research Library. One day I will go back to visit the library instead of shopping around for pricey glass.

Misc.

Lots of things have happened in the past week. One of the most startling things was a story my sister told me. Apparently when my mother heard that my boyfriend had bought me a Kindle, she panicked and told my mother that they needed to start saving up for a wedding. I was surprised to hear this because I have never discussed getting married with my mom. I also do not understand why the Kindle purchase led to a wedding. While I love my Kindle a lot and it's definitely the best gift given to me in a long time, I did not have the same thought process as my mom. It's true that books are the best way to my heart (besides food) but it was just a hilarious story. My friends seemed to find it funny to and suggested I write a story entitled "From an e-book to marriage".

Speaking of my boyfriend, I've been thinking about my career path. After graduation I plan on working in a military library or a library on an Army base. As far as internships, I have been doing some brainstorming. I think that this summer I may go back home and try to find an internship on the Marine Corps Quantico base. I'm having a difficult time trying to find internships. I have also thought about working as a community college, so I may start looking for internships in that area.

I've been working on about 4 projects this week. I've learned a lot and there's no way I can discuss all of them but I just wanted to say that having 4 projects due in one week is definitely a good representation of how Library School is definitely not easy, and yes in fact you definitely deserve a degree for the hard work that happens in this program.

Library Lock-In

Friday night I volunteered at a library lock-in/scavenger hunt at my university's library. My job was to monitor one of the floors, to provide assistance (not giving away answers of course) and to make sure people didn't walk away with books (which almost happened). First of all, it was quite difficult, as a librarian-in-the-works, to tell the groups that actually I couldn't help them find answers. I'm currently taking a reference class and so when I was asked to help find certain call numbers, I was itching to help them. The only help I was allowed to give was to explain to an international student that "correspondence" usually meant "letters". Previously, I never really had an interest in reference, but after this experience I think I could really enjoy it. I truly wanted to help these students because so many were frustrated and confused by the library. I find this really sad because these students couldn't be more than 4 years younger than me. I can now understand, however, why so many students avoid going to the library all together. Parts of the library are poorly marked, maps and signs aren't placed in obvious spots. Also, many students do not realize that the reference call numbers are in their own section on each floor. The scavenger hunt was very eye-opening for me and the library staff members. It's true that librarians view the library in one way, but sometimes the users see it in a different way and that's why many aren't able to access what's hidden right in front of them. I love that the library put together this event because at least the 40 students that participated have a better understanding of how to navigate the library.

Getting Practice

While this week, due to Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy's "appearance" in New York, I did not do much that was library related, I did experience a moment with my roommate that convinced me that I am learning how to become a top notch reference librarian. My roommate is currently taking a class in Music Research. She had an assignment in which she had to find print sources for a research paper. While I was holed up in Bird Library working on an assignment, she came to me for help. I led her over to an available computer and we explored the library website. I explained to her the purpose of the subject guides, and after looking through them, we could not find anything she needed. We then looked through the Catalog (Advanced Search of course) and she looked through her options while I merely stood there to guide her. Through trial and error, and by using appropriate keyword searches, we found some print sources. She wrote down the call numbers and I told her that if she needed help finding them, I'd be willing to help. After 5 minutes she came back with a handful of books. She smiled and said she was glad she had such a good librarian to help her. While this experience may not seem that significant, it helped me to practice my reference skills and it also gave me satisfaction that a lot of people do truly appreciate the help of a librarian.

Video!

Now I'm no expert at making videos, but I didn't want to edit actual film, so I created my video on "You Need a Degree for THAT?" by using PowerPoint. It was a lot harder than I expected due to all the timings of animation and incorporating music as well. I did have a lot of fun making the webcam pictures. The audio quality is not perfect, but I'm clueless about how to fix it. I hope you all enjoy! Also, open the video up to full screen and turn up the volume a little bit!