Journey thru Library School

2007-11-10T11:28:00.000-08:00

Hello! (echo)

I'm back. Guess it must be school work time because I'm blogging. Should be doing that, but this is much more fun. I'm working on a presentation that I'm excited to do, but am not sure what my focus is. Usually I have more preliminary work done before I jump into the paper or presentation, but my deadline is looming. I'd like to spend less time on this than what I need.

Well, I'm only taking on class this semester. Taking it easy. I'm glad I decided to do this because I'm pregnant. Having a child is a huge life goal realized, but that's another blog entirely. I'm not completely sure how this will affect my library degree goal. I'm trying to remain flexible. I'm remaining positive that this goal will be realized, but I'm also putting it down on the priority list.

In the meantime, I'm getting back to this presentation because I don't want to spend all weekend at the coffeeshop. Well, that wouldn't be such a bad thing...

2007-08-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

A.
A.
A.

yes. three A's. well deserved. i worked hard.

***

I took the personality test. I am an ENTP. I used to be an ENFP. Guess I go with my head now more instead of my heart. Yup, I have a hard time following through on all the extreme ideas I generate.

I talked with a fellow student this morning about this class. He did not have good things to say about the teacher. In a way, I'm looking forward to the challenge.

***

Forgot to tell you that my prof. called from one of my classes, the same one who made me redo an assignment, to have me resend her my final project. She off-handedly said that she believed that I had already sent it--As if I didn't! I sent in the POS. She gave me full credit. Killer. I'm not complaining. (See above grades for how the rest of the classes came out.)

2007-08-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

took a look at the syllabus for my class this fall. not good news so far. I've printed about half of the articles the teacher wants us to read. half of the FIFTEEN or so. not to mention the couple of books she's tossed in. one being written by her. oh. and i've gotta take a personality test. weird. i hate those things. after minoring in psychology in my undergrad years, i just can't take one more psych test. it's so fundamentally full of bull s***t.

so, yeah. my attitude is sucking. i still need a few more weeks of laying around, doing nothing, before i get so bored that i feel like doing school work.

2007-07-29T20:09:00.001-07:00

i'm done. i'm done. i'm done, i'm done, i'm done.

2007-07-28T23:20:00.000-07:00

working on my last paper for the semester. cannot wait to be finished. am enjoying the idea of this project.

2007-07-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

I had to redo an assignment. Erg. I am hating school right now. Hating it. I can't wait to be done with this semester. I can't wait.

I am so stressed out right now. It doesn't entirely have to do with school. But if I didn't have school. I would be cool. Something had to go. School is easiest.

One class next semester. one class next semester...one class...next...semester.

***

Hey! Do you like my new librarything dealie on the right side of the page? Cool, isn't it? Cool, cool, cool. Comment. Tell me what your reading. What should I read? I'm reading HP6 now. No, not 7. Gotta read 6 first. Tell me, tell me, TELL ME!

2007-07-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

Degolar asked if I've learned anything.

Well...yes, I suppose. It will all be applicable in due time. I am enjoying the conceptual part of library school. That is, looking at the library through a world view and understanding aspects I'd never considered before. While I knew that I enjoyed the research part of the job, I am finding preservation to be an interesting idea too.

I have one final project due. In about a week. I've begun preliminary brainstorming about where I'd like to take it.

In non-course-related news, I have decided to take a break next semester. I'll only be taking one class. This summer has been tremendously difficult. Some of it because I took three classes and some of it for personal reasons. As always, life is unpredictable, but I must make the best decision for myself and my family.

Don't worry, I'll be reporting here throughout...as if anyone reads this...

2007-07-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

I've caught up on sleep, but I've got another project, not school-related that I need to finish quickly.

In the meantime, I've been doing my online postings and working on my final assignment for my young adult class. Easy, but time-consuming.

For my other class--visual collection development--I need to do some more small assignments and a big end project. Let's see...I've got two weeks to do that one. Hmmmm...maybe...

vacation is looking better each and every day.

Well, I should be glad that I'm making it through even if I'm driving myself crazy. My friend dropped all of her classes because she said she had too much going on. Could be there. glad i'm not.

when's vacation? did I already mention vacation? vacation....

2007-07-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

It really has been "goodbye weekends". This whole month I've been in overdrive--as I expected. It's always worse when you're in the middle of it. School isn't my only project which makes my life more of a problem. Something has got to give. I rank school as a high priority so it probably won't be the first to go.

Since I wrote last, I've completed an entire class. I've read most of a book, participated in several online discussions and written a paper. So easy, you say...NO. No, it was not. It was not fun at all, but it is done and that is why I took the class.

I have just one large project and a few small discussions to finish up for another class. Simple enough.

I can't even wrap my head around the project for the other class. The teacher has jacked up the syllabus so much that I'm trying to piece together exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. I'll figure that out later. I've got more important personal stuff to work on in the meantime. Just tell me when the next assignment is due and I'll turn it in.

In the meantime, I'm finally going to catch up on sleep. I'll see you in a week. I'll be hibernating.

2007-05-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

school's back in session. I had my first ever conference call for a class. It was not too difficult to discuss. Although it was mostly the teacher asking for introductions and explaining the syllabus. I have much more work to do for this class. More than I can think of now. Goodbye weekends...

2007-05-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

Back at the library today. Another week where I'm here six days. It's actually relaxing to be here, but not working. I forgot how much I enjoy people-watching, relaxing and scouring books. That is the downfall of working in a library. You forget why you fell in love with it.

I'd like to make an estimate that I'll be done with my project by the time the library closes, but I just don't see it happening. I really don't want to miss yoga tomorrow night to work on this, but I'm so exhausted from camping.

Alright, I'm getting back to work now...

2007-05-04T06:16:00.000-07:00

I'm working on my final project for my last class for this semester. I really wanted to be done before I left work this afternoon so I wouldn't have to come back from my mini vacation to homework. But this is the price one pays for procrastination.

Procrastination that gets me into the library even before it's open to work on homework. I am here at my place of employment before we've opened the doors to the public to peruse reference resources. Thrilling.

Actually, it's quite helpful. I am learning a lot. But mostly just about art resources since that's the library I chose to base my essential reference source collection around.

That has made things tricky. I had to make a special trip to a library which is a half an hour from my house to peruse their reference collection.

I was appalled that they didn't allow food or drink or cell phones in their library. Before you think that I violated all those rules. I did not. I asked. So much for making the library a comforting place for students and people in general. No wonder no one was hanging out there. I wouldn't want to be there either if I couldn't chill.

Guess I know how I'd run the library if I was in charge, but, oh, I didn't get that job, now did I? Bitter?

I'm probably a little testy now because it's Friday morning before 9 a.m. I'd rather be in bed asleep.

And I should be working on this project instead of blogging. Bye!

2007-05-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

I had class this past weekend. I didn't spend much time paying attention, although I probably should have. It was print resources so...I've done that job for five years already. I think I know a lot. I'm not saying I know it all, but... The weather was nice. I was mentally checking out.

We visited the library I worked on Saturday so I visited the library six days last week. Not the first time.

I was part of a group that did a presentation. I spontaneously started the presentation with a cheer which the teacher liked. Woo hoo.

I still haven't started the last project which is due this coming Monday. We're posting to a wiki which I've never done before, but looks interesting.

Here's to the finish of the semester!!!

2007-04-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

i finished my paper. I wrote about the mission of a local academic art library. nothing too exciting. i have a bigger paper due in two weeks, but I want to finish it a few days early so I can go camping without the worry of completing that.

this paper is similar to the bibliographic paper I had to do earlier this semester--dry and boring.

tuition is due. $1000 this time. I'm taking 5 hours. One of that is a ya lit update so that should be fun. two hours of more global information. i know I complained about the class this sememster, but I've got a good idea for a paper. i think i can work that in. Besides, it's all online. also taking a visual archiving type class. sounds cool. i hope it's not a pain.

2007-04-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

I'm in the midst of writing a paper. It should be an easy one to knock out, but I can find so many distractions--from housework to blog-reading to daydreaming about road trips.

2007-04-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

and here I am meeting my group at the library...where I work. ick.

i've been playing snood instead of doing my homework. don't tell my teacher. but I've gotten a lot of TV watching done. I'm sure that can be used in my papers.

2007-04-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

My presentation went well--book talks for teens. There were about 40 people in attendance.

I goofed and read the wrong chapter for my group assignment. Good thing I realized that now before we met. I had to go to the library on my day off to get a couple of books for a paper for the same class. So bothersome to go on my day off, but it was on the way to the coffee shop...

2007-04-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I was not offered the job. Ah, well. Like I said I've got a good thing going. This experience has made me aware that I should be open to possible job opportunities, especially those outside my library system.

My group is meeting next week--a good sign. I have yet to work on those papers that are due...

I'm presenting at my state's library conference on Thursday so I have to buckle down and finish my booktalks. They involve a Ouija board so that should be fun :)

2007-04-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

I'm on hiatus from schoolwork for a little while. I tried to schedule a meeting with my group for my print resources class, but I've had no luck yet. There's another paper due at the end of this month. It'll be an easy one to knock out. It's the final paper that unsettles me. It's a review of reference materials for a collection. It's akin to the bibliography I had to do for my previous class. Not fun.

I e-mailed and phoned my advisor a few times trying to get enrolled for summer classes. She finally called me the other day. Turns out that she hadn't even opened one of my e-mails. Dear god! If I have to spend this much time trying to enroll myself, do they really want me graduating from their program?

No job news. I wish I could say one way or the other, but I'm relishing in the in-between moment. It's so much like a new relationship--"Do they want me?" and "Are they interested?". That sort of stuff that's sooooo cutesy and sickening. I want the job. I wouldn't have gone to the trouble to send in my resume and interview for it, if I didn't. Just let me know. Quit playing games with my heart. Ah, well. I'll let you know. No worries.

2007-04-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

S reminded me that I hadn't posted here for awhile. The following is an update.

---

After many long grueling dreaded hours, I called it quits on that stupid bibliography I had to write. Yes, the topic I picked was interesting to me--drug trafficking, but that didn't make up for the tedious work it took to finish the sucker.

Last week while IMing with a friend from school, he admitted that he'd heard that our professor doesn't even read our papers. The GA checks to see how many entries we have on our bibliography. Then assigns grades accordingly. Really? Really?!!! This is graduate school. There should be some quality control here. I admit that I only wrote 12 out of the 15 entries assigned, but I just couldn't hack it. I know the professor's GA fairly well so I'm hoping she'll have mercy on me and give me a decent grade.

How many more years of this???

---

With my other class, I observed a local academic library which led to a job tip off. More about that later. So, I sat through an instructional class taught by the director on online databases. Nothing too exciting. I finished my paper for that yesterday morning. Ahhhhh...feels good.

I have a group project for this class which usually isn't a problem, but I've had one of the group members in a group for another class. She didn't participate until the very last second. Frustrating, but this assignment shouldn't be too hard to pull off. It's a presentation and a two page paper. I could do it myself in my sleep.

The cruddy thing about this class is that the above is not all the work. I've got two more papers to write! It's endless. Really, it is. This semester I have been the least motivated.

---

job: I applied for a job at the library where I observed because it's a totally awesome library. I'd applied there before when I was last looking for a job about two years ago--same position which is now open. When I observed, the director asked me how I liked my current job. I told her I like it. I do. It's a great job. I am so comfortable here. The director mentioned that the job I'd applied for before was open again. She'd noticed I'd applied when the position was open before.

I gave it some thought. Updated my resume. Sent if off. Now I'm past the interviewing and waiting for an offer or rejection. Wow! Completely new direction. We shall see. Like I said, I totally love my job now so it would be a difficult decision if I were to get an offer.

Anyway, wish me luck. I am feeling great. I am in an excellent position.

2007-03-03T18:34:00.000-08:00

It's the first weekend of my print resources class. I'll write more about it later. First I wanted to do this 'cause it's fun and literary. Thanks, Cagey.

What have you read?

In the list of books below:
- blue the ones you’ve read
- purple the ones that are your personal favorites
- italicize the ones you want to read
- red the ones you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole
- put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf
- and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of.

If you decide to join the fun and play along, let me know in the comments!

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)--
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. *Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)--hate, hate, hate this one
28. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. *The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. *The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. *The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview with the Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. *Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. *The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. *The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. *Not Wanted On the Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbecck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. *Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)--
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)--
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. *The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. *Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. *Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. *In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)--
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S. E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. *A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)--

2007-02-27T16:52:00.000-08:00

Those dreaded online class discussions are over. Thanky-thank-thank. I wasn't nearly as wordy as my classmates so I'm doubting my grade on that portion of the assignments. I did open my mouth a few times during the actual class meetings so I've got that going for me.

I've done preliminary research on my bibliography. I've got a couple of books, some websites and some articles. I'd like to have a few cool sources like a blog or online video, but I'm not sure they lend themselves to my topic of drug trafficking. Best not to think too hard on this stuff.

In more important news, I've not read one lick of the text I need to for my class this weekend. I have about six chapters and two articles to read. I'm not motivated in the least. Does praying work? Maybe I should try that.

2007-02-14T17:56:00.000-08:00

I traveled out of town to spend the weekend in class a couple of weeks ago. The professor was interesting. He is originally from Austria. I dug the accent. He told many stories, barely touching upon the subject of the class. This made the time flow nicely. The discussion was rather stilted. He tended to disagree with everything anyone said.

This week I've been meeting online with the class to post answers to discussion questions. It is a clumsy format. The upside is that nearly half of my grading will be finished by Sunday.

The larger assignment is a bibliography of sources on a global information subject. I've chosen drug trafficking. Partly because I like the topic. And partly because my professor likes the topic. I'm confident I can find 15 sources (videos, articles, books, etc) on it.

---

I have my first class meeting for my print resources class in a couple of weeks. As always, I'm hoping I like the professor's teaching style. I looked over the syllabus--a little daunting. About four unique assignments requiring hours of observation or interviewing. While this might be the best way for me to apply the material, it is time consuming.

We shall see.

2007-01-31T21:17:00.000-08:00

welcome. you have made it to my new library school journal. please check back for more entries.