Tales from the library! And library-esque tales!

I recently sat down with an advisor and made a plan of work to get me through school. The LIS program recommends students do this after completing their first semester, which I think is a bit unfair. I can't decide what I want to do! I have to follow rules, though. I was assigned an advisor who was on sabbatical last semester so I took it upon myself to switch advisors and I picked a professor that I had a class with, assuming I would feel more comfortable with her because I knew her.

We had to reschedule the appointment two times because one of us was not feeling well each time. Luckily, this gave me extra time to come up with a more coherant plan than "I dunno... I just want to touch books." I hadn't really thought about my experiences at the Opera House as something I would want to do for real but the whole time I was scanning things I kept thinking that there had to be better methods to doing this. I have very minimal scanning experience and even less experience with photo software (like Photoshop or the like). On a whim, (well, a friend said I should take this class with her) I enrolled in a Digital Imaging class for the winter semester. It's only offered every other year and I'd heard awesome things about the professor. This is my favorite class I've taken in the program so far. We're learning all kinds of information about proper scanning techniques and about the retention schedule of digital files. Our group project this semester is working with the Charles Wright African American History Museum. We're helping them digitize some of their random collections for a future web collection.

So I'm officially going into Digital Archiving. This means that I'll be focusing on technology and building web collections for things. I'm really excited about this. I think that this will really help me after I graduate. I'm hoping that I can work for the Library of Congress doing something similar to the Flickr project they have. I also came across a job posting for the CIA that needed archiving experience.

The other news is that I'm going to be given more responsibilities at the public library I work at. I mentioned to my boss how I liked my cataloging class because to me, it's about fitting data into a puzzle and formatting things the right way. She decided that she wants me to learn how to process new books and do minor repairs. I've been feeling annoyed at that job because I don't have anything to do except help people at the circulation desk, so I'm glad that she's giving me a project. I have realized that I'm not sure I could ever work at a reference desk in a public library. I would really love to make the library I work at better but the director is super back-in-the-past and doesn't care about improvements. The reference librarians are all older and seem to like the job stability the most. There are also some annoying patrons I can't stand. I'm fine with chit-chatting and there are som patrons that I absolutely love, but I could really stand not to hear about which pet food is the best and did you know that Obama wants abortions for the whole world? It's totally true, the internet told me. I did manage to create a piece of art based on a patron's hair. He was an older gentleman but was going for that Bob Dylan-my-hair-is-its-own-entity thing. Here is what I produced in MS Paint:



I obviously need to learn Photoshop.

interview, schminterview, i nailed that!

I had an interview today at the Southfield Public Library. I basically forced myself upon the library a couple of weeks ago when my class visited. This is the most beautiful library I have ever, ever seen. I had applied for a Library Aide position there a few months ago so after the tour, I talked to a woman who worked there and explained my situation and could I apply for the Intern position they had? Because it's a Youth Intern position, she gave me the name of the Youth Services Director. I decided to call a few days later, while being frustrated with my job. I scored an interview! They still had my resume on file!

I went down during my lunch hour for the interview and was a little late. The library has this massive parking lot and the offices were up on the third floor so I sprinted toward the entrance and up the stairs. I scared this woman ahead of me because she was trying to walk at a normal pace and I just charged up behind her. I was totally out of breath as I walked into the office but I tried to calm down as best I could. I apologized for being late and the librarians were the nicest ever. I feel pretty confident that even if I didn't get the job, this was the best interview I've ever had. This internship would give me a huge opportunity. I would be responsible for maintaining an aspect of the collection, giving school tours, and a million other things. They did ask me how well I work with children and I was completely honest. I said that I've been getting better at relating to them but that I've had minimal experience dealing with them in real world settings (read: babies kind of scare me). I was completely serious when I said that I would love to have more experience with children and that although I am not super wonderful around kids, I'm really passionate about the library field. Even if it turns out that I don't want to go into Public Librarianship, I know this would be good for me.

Because it's becoming winter and the season is effecting my mood, I've been a little more contemplative about my place in this world. I am very glad that I decided to join this program. It's funny because I've loved to read since I was little but never seriously considered librarianship, as far as I know. During the interview, they asked me why I chose this field. I said that I originally wanted to get my MFA but there was a set back (read: I got depressed after not getting accepted right away) so I chose Wayne. I think that I am way happier in this program than I would be as an MFA student. I feel a lot less self-conscious and I feel that this is really something I could be good at. I'm getting an amazing amount of support from my friends, relatives and Boyfriend. It just feels right.

Library story

A young kid, about four, comes into the library with his father.

Father: I want to get my son a library card.

Son: I want a pink one!

Father: You want a pink one?!

Me: Well, all we have are blue ones, is that ok?

Son: Yeah...

Father: Blue is for boys anyway.

Son: Pink is for girls!

I'm learning to be more tolerant of young kids while working at the library. Especially when they're adorable like this kid. Although I'm not sure if I should put "has a new fondness for children" on my resume. Too creepy...

ugh

This was the first weekend in... I can't even remember how long, that I didn't have homework or a million things to do. So I relished it and didn't do anything. Except make food and hang out with Eric. And watch a lot of ridiculous television. The thing about not having cable is that when I feel like just zoning out in front of the TV, it ends up being to something like "Antiques Roadshow". Seriously. And I sometimes think it's interesting. Maybe this library program is getting to me. Or I just really want to own a piece of furniture that's 200 years old. Anyway, to make up for not posting for a couple of days, I'm going to post a few times today. I have some weird stories from the library. And some boring cat stories. Maybe I'll save those for a really slow news day.