On Being a Newb

I’ve started grad school!  Having decided to triple up with three courses a semester, rather than the suggested two, I’m planning to bang through this thing by May of 2013.  MS in LIS from Florida State University, here I come!

Attending college entirely via the interwebs (100% distance learning program) is…  interesting.  Here are my observations after a week:

1. There’s a whole language involved here – and nobody to really clue you in.  Sink or swim!  There’s Db’s and Bb and DL and asynchronous versus synchronous class meetings.  There’s Elluminate, MSDNAA, and a zillion different tools with funny e-names.  Not to mention all the library lingo I’m seeing tossed around (of course, a lot of that is thankfully quite familiar after a couple years on the scene).
2. If you fall asleep during a voice chat class meeting, there is no one to politely cough, kick your seat, shoot you a dirty look, etc.  I don’t know whether to say “uh oh” or “whew!”.
3. Group work online is the stuff of teeth-gnashing and hairpulling.  Can’t say I ever felt group work was beneficial in the past, but this is definitely even less productive given the limits of technology.
4. Advisement is a bit hard to come by.  Thankfully, the school posts a lot of info online you might get in a face-to-face advisor meeting.  It seems like if you know exactly where you are headed, you will probably do just fine with the resources provided.  Those who are uncertain about their path and desired future job description might find themselves a bit lost.  I’d say this is probably the case in general when it comes to online grad school.  You have to be motivated and confident to navigate this terrain.
5. My professors are pros at distance-teaching.  I’m impressed by the quality and clarity of what has been presented so far and how the courses have been laid out.  I think as long as I skip the obvious duds (as judged by overwhelming majority on Rate My Professor, of course!), I will have a challenging but enjoyable experience!

Overall, I feel very happy with my decision to pursue this degree at FSU, despite my reservations in the past about library school.  I’m proud to be an FSU student – seems to me it’s one of the most practical Library Science programs out there which is precisely why I selected it.  I’m relieved to report the experience so far matches the glossy descriptions.  More than half of my classmates are already library professionals – many heading up branch libraries or working as paraprofessionals.  It’s nice to find myself among peers I can really relate to.

Of course, it’s more than my classmates I can relate to and/or commiserate with at this time of year!  Today in my library, my youngest patrons were characterized by a certain brand of nervous energy or worn-out apathy when they visited after the 3 o’clock hour.  “First day of school?” I asked.  There were nods all around, a few smiles, and some consternation concerning first-day homework assignments.  Today I felt a kinship with these industrious young students, entering a whole new year and way of being with only teetering stacks of books and the requisite sharpened number 2 pencils to bolster them up.  It didn’t feel at all condescending to roll my eyes or tut tut in sympathy and say “oh, I know it!”  I’m there too I guess – at the start of the thing, feeling the nervous energy of the first semester of “big-girl” school!  It’s pretty exciting!

The Adventure of the Baby Beaver

Living in the country, while not entirely new to me due to a stint at a rural college, is still a challenge from time to time.  I mean, come on – no sushi within a thirty minute drive?  Tragic!  But in all seriousness, adjusting to village life has been a work in progress for me.  I think I’m about as adjusted as a city-girl is ever going to be – I’m prepared to get a little mud on my shoes when putting out my red OPEN sign, I can successfully manage the mildly tipsy, blue collar patron fresh from the pub down the street, I purchase requested books whose politic I might not agree with in the slightest, and I can even shoo large, errant spiders back outside when necessary (I admit to still doing a bit of squealing along the way).

As accustomed as I may be for the day to day out here in the glorious and messy not-quite-wilderness, it’s the unexpected moments that still get me.  Say, for example, when I was walking my dogs around the Library premises early this afternoon.  Equipped with terrier-nimble, acute hunting instincts, one of my two little ladies has made it her mission in life to violently dispatch anything soft and cuddly that might chance upon her well-sniffed path.  It’s no surprise then, that she spotted the bundle of fur along the driveway before I did and made right for it.  Being on the leash, she didn’t get very far, but she did get my attention anyway.

After my initial assessment of “Ummm, who left their fur hat out here?”, it quickly came to my attention this was not an article of clothing, but rather a small, fat critter. A tiny face made an appearance, along with a pair of bright little front paws.  My first instinct was to get out of there, seeing as the creature was not running away, and in fact looked remarkably intent on me and my pups.  Rabies? Why else would this unidentified furball be just sitting there, looking fearsome, but not fleeing the scene?

The answer, it turned out, was that the little guy could not run away – somehow, he had managed to get himself entirely stuck in the chain-link fence between the library’s property and our neighbor’s yard.  His face and front feet were on our side, his tail and back legs on the other.

I really couldn’t tell what he was – his face was too skinny to be a woodchuck, but he had that kind of overall chubbiness.  His tail was flat up against the wood pile on our neighbors side, so I couldn’t get a good look at that either.  Settling on “unidentified large rodent-thing”, I dropped my dogs back at our apartment and set about opening the library whilst calling everyone I could think of who might be able to help get him unstuck.  Apparently, our municipality skimps on the animal-control front, opting to only hire on a dog catcher.  Advice from various sources ranged from “call the sheriff” to “call these numbers for pest control guys”.  I opted for the latter.  The pest control guy came and went, successfully freeing (for a fee) the little guy from the fence.  Apparently, he was a baby beaver and escaped from his predicament unscathed.  He’s off to be released, and I do hope he’s old enough to care for himself in case he finds himself in unfamiliar territory, although I wouldn’t be surprised if the pest control guy saved some gas and just dropped him back along the banks nearby – his natural habitat, no doubt.  In any event, he’s freed of the fence at least.

And thus began my day at the Library!  I guess I now have that box checked on the “what do you do when…” list!  We’ll see what Nature decides to serve me up next!

“New” Labels (and Other Unsticky Stickers)

So, I was going to post a hot tip for you circ stars out there I learned from a coworker back in my academic library days.  When taping on “new” stickers, fold one end of the tape over to make a little tab.  This makes processing new items down to the regular collection a breeze, as the tape and stickers can then be peeled off with aplomb and efficiency in one satisfying go (versus the frustrating alternative of trying to peel little bits of tape off at a time, as occurs without the handy tab).

So I was going to tell you all that, but then as I was dreaming up this blog post, it occurred to me just how incredibly ridiculous it is that “new” stickers need a layer of tape on top to stay put in the first place!  Why in the world do they make them as stickers, if we are going to have to tape them on anyway??!  Do they make “new” stickers with wings?  How about “new” stickers on a roll, interspersed between bits of book tape?  Somebody steal my idea, quick, so I can buy it from you!

Roots and Routes

I’ve been tossing around the idea of starting a blog for a while now, but after reading a number of entries on the Library Routes Project, I realized I could do double duty by both starting off my blog with some background information, and contributing to an interesting project!

Library Roots
I have always been a voracious reader.  As a child, I devoured every manner of book for my age group and often beyond.  I particularly loved going to the library because the selection at the branch we frequented was excellent and I could leave the library with a whole milk-crate full of books.  The milk-crate as dedicated-home-for-library-books, by the way, is an excellent tool for parents of readers who will otherwise lose half of the monumental stack checked out each week or month to the wilderness of a cluttered bedroom or play area!

Growing up, I was also prone to fits of moderately adult-confounding questions, and the library was often the go to spot for finding out just how deep the Hudson River actually is, for example, or sorting out a debate about which dinosaur is which.

Libraries and I just got along, from an early age onward.  They made sense and felt both useful and predictable in an otherwise tumultuous world.  While I never considered the library as a possible career choice growing up, I always felt at home in these spaces and it comes as no surprise to many longtime friends that I have landed in libraries as a career.

Library Routes
Fast forward a few years to my college days.  By the time I rounded out the last few years of adolescence, my reading habits had taken a turn toward the intrigues of non-fiction.  Studying painting and art criticism as an undergrad, my academic library book count was verging on the obscene due to research needs and random, interesting new book hoarding, and I was always in the space anyway, so I pursued a part time job in one of my campus libraries as a desk attendant.  This allowed me even more access to the many glorious books (and to my own account)!  Shortly thereafter, another job came along as an assistant in a special collections environment of the other campus library, mainly digitizing slides and working with the art history department, which was both engrossing and tedious work (I liked the job for both qualities).

After graduating, I entered an extremely depressed job market.  As a painter, I needed a day job to keep afloat.  I briefly searched for arts-related employment, but there were very few jobs available and none I was particularly qualified for.  Broadening my search to bank on my job skills, I eventually found a part-time position in the circulations department at a local college library.  I found the job a natural progression from the work I did as a desk worker in college, so the fit was good in that respect (and the large art book collection didn’t hurt).  I found the job to be a bit overwhelming at first, since the training was minimal and my role as a customer-service agent necessitated a thorough knowledge of just about every aspect of the library.  I was for a time, a perpetual deer-in-the-headlights.  Within a year however, I found myself rather bored, having moved into a more senior full time position and mastered just about everything put before me.  I had good ideas and sympathetic ears in management, but the college itself was in a bit of disarray and overarching institutional issues were a constant problem.

It was in this environment that I stumbled across an ad for a small-town Library Director in Residence position.  The ad was skimpy on the details, providing next to no information about the job itself, but I exceeded the basic minimum requirements and I was very keen on the “in Residence” portion of the ad, which mentioned a spacious, on site apartment, so I made my application.  A few interviews later, and to my surprise and delight, I landed the job, which I have been working ever since.

Working as the director of a small village library has been an incredible learning experience.  I feel as though I have really come into my own as a person and as an information specialist.  I can actively pursue and promote initiatives I could have only dreamed about as a circulation specialist.  Despite the many additional layers of responsibilities, I rely on my circ experience the most often as I run the desk, enforce policies, and work with patrons.  As a reader, frugal shopper, and social individual, I also have great fun figuring out my patrons’ tastes and providing new books and media to meet their needs.  I think what makes working in a library the best fit for me is that I get to use so many different aspects of my abilities, quirks, and skills.  Being a village Library Director is for me, a kind of whole-person job, which you don’t find in many other careers.

That said, I feel ambivalent about whether I will pursue further, formal education in the field.  I think I am learning far more hands-on and from conversations with other professionals, than I ever would learn in an MLS program.  While the pursuit of work in other library settings might eventually motivate me to pursue this education to improve my competitive edge, for the time being, it seems that total, whirlwind library-immersion has been and continues to be my most successful teacher!