Lycanthropology:

I wish that library organizations would spell out their full name at least once in each listserv listing or American Libraries Direct article. Some acronyms are fairly obvious, but others are not so much. It's very easy for people in an organization to forget that not everyone is involved, and not everyone can keep all the acronyms straight. It's a little frustrating to get an email that says "Want to join the leadership board of ____ (insert some 3-5 letter acronym)?" Well, how would I know if I want to join the leadership board if I don't know what the acronym is for? And yes, I could do a quick search online, but my employer, though perfectly content to let me check email, is a little less permissive of other internet use. It would just be so much easier if organizations could follow professional writing process by spelling out the whole name at the first mention of the organization. :/ Ok, sorry to vent. I just had to get that off my chest.

I just voted in the Special Libraries Association name-change vote. SLA is voting to see whther members would support a name change to make us the Association of Strategic Knowledge Professionals (ASKPro). I thought the name and acronym were pretty clever, and that the name is very inclusive of librarians and other information professionals. But I am a little conflicted about leaving behind the Librarian moniker. So I gave it a lot of thought and then voted my conscience, and I'm really curious to see how the vote turns out. I think I can be happy with either outcome, though if ASKPro doesn't make the vote, and people are still determined to leave SLA, I don't know of any other options.

I picked up a great book at the library this week called "I Can See You Naked": A fearless guide to making great presentations. It's by Ron Hoff, and it takes a lighthearted approach to preparing people for public speaking. I haven't gotten to read it straight through, but have been perusing it on my breaks. So far, I love it. It seems to have a lot of great advice, and keeps a positive attitude without being too preachy.
One of the great gems of advice that it offers is not to tell your audience that you are nervous. Now, I generally avoid public speaking because I am very self conscious and nervous. Since going into Informtion Science, I've gotten a little more brave and even volunteered for public speaking opportunities in front of small-medium crowds. I usually tell my audience that I am nervous, because I feel it mentions the proverbial elephant in the room. I mean, I figure that *I* know I'm nervous and *they* know I'm nervous, so let's just get it out in the open and move on. But the book brings up a great point in that once the audience knows you are nervous, they worry for you. They are not as focused on what you say, because they are concerned for you. Isn't that nice of them? :) But it is true-- everytime I know that a speaker is nervous, I start to worry for them, and hope that they just survive the presentation. So from now on, I am going to do my best to put the audience first by focusing on their feelings and perceptions rather than dwelling on my own nervousness. I think it will be a win-win. I can't wait to get more tips from this great book! 

In library news, I wanted to write about an experience I had a couple weeks ago in which I met with an information professional from Oak Ridge Associated Universities. It was neat, because it represents the first of what I hope will be many success stories with the social networking site, LinkedIn. I was contacted on LinkedIn by Meredith Goins, an info pro at ORAU. She reached out to me, I guess because I am a UT SIS alumna, and because I work at the research library at Oak Ridge National Lab. She offered to meet with me to show me what she does in her profession. I met her at ORAU and have to say that I am very, very impressed. Meredith was so great to offer me some mentorship and some professional development advice while showing me the great resources that ORAU uses to meet users' information needs. Talking with her really opened my eyes about practical aspects of competitive information, government operations, grants, and more. It was neat to see practical applications for concepts we discussed in Dr. Pemberton's class at SIS. In addition to being amazed at the variety (and amount!) of work done at ORAU, I was personally impressed by Meredith's openness, candor, and energy. I'd really like to strive to be more like her my professional activities: she is active, proactive, and reactive all at the same time! I'm so glad that LinkedIn affords people these opportunities. I am going to make it a goal of mine to reach out to others in the same way as I climb the gently sloping ladder of librarianship. :)

Lastly, in personal news, my hubby and I bought our first home. We are participating in the recession by taking advantage of the first time homebuyer's tax credit. It's a huge step for us, and one that we've been thinking about for a long time. In some ways I think that maybe it would've been wise to wait a little longer, but the tax incentive did what it was intended by encouraging us to take the plunge and affording us the opportunity to do so. It's been fantastic so far! We've been in our new (well, 30 year old) home for about a week and we *love* it. Our dog and cat love it, too. It is nice to have the feeling that our "rent" money will be working for us now, and it's great to see a tangible representation of the fruits of our labors. I want to thank everyone that helped us move and that made this possible.

I recently joined the social networking site LinkedIn and like it so far. I've solidified some connections and am getting my feet wet in the waters of professional networking. I joined a couple groups, mostly for library-related stuff, like Special Libraries Association, American Library Association, the ALA New Member Round Table, etc. One of the groups that I joined recently had a discussion that interested me: a young lady, a recent graduate of some MLIS program, posted to the discussion board that she felt duped by getting into this profession. She seemed to resent her MLIS program for not being upfront with her about the bleak job outlook. Her post seemed motivated by frustration. She wasn't lashing out in anger, necessarily, but she was calling for sympathy, and wanted others to come forward and say that they, too, felt duped.
It really made me thing: was I duped? It is undeniable that I'm having a hard time finding a full-time academic or special librarian position, but there are reasons for this. In my case, I am limited by geography. I have a family here that is unable to relocate at the moment, so I am looking for library jobs in a town that has a library school. There's not a lot to choose from, and there is a lot of competition for the few openings that arise. Additionally, the economy is struggling. It's hard to find a job in most fields right now! I feel so blessed, so fortunate, to have 2 great part-time librarian opportunities to help me make ends meet while I look for something more long-term. (Heck, in a perfect world I'd take a full-time gig and keep my part-time evening librarian job! But would that be a little greedy?) Even though I don't have that full-time dream job, I am gainfully employed in the field in which I was trained. I was not duped.
Should the school have come forward and said "thank you for being students here, but we should warn you: there are no jobs to be had." No, that is not their obligation. There are no guarantees in life, and for someone to expect that type of confession is unreasonable, in my opinion. It's a superfluous disclaimer. If the school decided to take a break in offering MLIS degrees, what purpose would that serve? Educating new information professions is part of what keeps the profession alive!
I feel so relieved that I was not duped, because no one wants to feel that they were a fool, or that people were maliciously set against them. But will I feel a little better when that full-time offer comes along? You bet! :)

Well I haven't updated this blog lately because I've been very busy. I thought that once I graduated I would have tons of time, but now that delusion has worn off. :) I am still working 30 hours a week at the research library at the local national laboratory. This has been an amazing experience because I've gotten to work with some really skilled librarians. Also, my experience has been incredibly varied. One minute I'm helping to ship documents or scan and deliver articles for interlibrary loan, and the next minute I'm making charts in excel to reflect our lab's citation statistics! I've gotten to track publications on our internal system, learn about grey literature, get tons of time on the reference desk, help with little collection develop projects, and even edit catalog records. I am so grateful to all the great folks I've gotten work with. If only this were a permanent position. Sigh. I have hopes that I might be able to transition into some sort of full-time position at the lab, but I'll just have to see what happens. There is also an Archivist/Assistant Professor position opening up at UT that I am tempted to apply for. Even though I am not currently an archivist, per se, I do have a couple years of experience working as assistant registrar at a museum. I think all the digitization, artifact handling, and records management aspects of the museum position would translate well. Plus I am intrigued by the opportunities to publish and collaborate. So wish me luck on that. :)
Speaking of collaborating, I am working with some great folks from the Tennessee Lib. Assoc. and our chapter of the Special Lib. Assoc. to write a proposal for the 2010 TLA conference. We're trying to get a speaker to come talk about her experience using her storytelling background in her current position as a librarian at a correctional facility. I think it would be amazing to hear about her job and all the great services she is providing, so keep your fingers crossed on that, too! :)
In addition to my 30 hrs at the lab each week, I'm also still working 20 hrs a week as the evening reference librarian at a small private college. I work in a library that serves our medical students. We have 2-year, 4-year, and graduate programs, so I get to help a wide variety of students. We're also on a quarterly system instead of a semester system, so it feels pretty fast-paced sometimes. This position has been really interesting because most of the time I am the only librarian there. That gives me a lot of responsibility and a lot of opportunities to try new things and interact with students. I am their one connection for 4-5 hours each night, and I've got all the duties: reference, circulation, instruction, technical troubleshooting.... It is also a new experience for me to work in a private school. My past experience at the University of Tennessee and at Pellissippi State Technical Community College have prepared me in a lot of ways, but private school is so different!
Anyhow, that's what I've been up to. That's why I haven't been updating. Everything is good, and hopefully it will continue to be good. :)

I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I just finished my second week of work at Oak Ridge National Lab's Research Library and it is AWESOME! I million thanks to Amber,a classmate and SIS student orgs member that referred me to the job. I'm getting tons of great experience. I only wish it were a long-term position!

Soon I'll be working at the reference desk by myself. I have lots of little duties (shelving, etc), but my main tasks include sending items through our interlibrary loan service and correcting/updating catalog records in ALEPH for our ebook collection. All of this in conjuction with my night job as a reference librarian at a private college make me feel like I am finally a "real" librarian. I feel like my education prepared me well for the things I will be doing when I get a full-time position.

All in all, I am so thrilled that I was able to get this summer internship at ORNL. You can bet that I'll be keeping my eyes and ears open to see if any full-time opportunities arise. I have been so blessed to have such great working experiences.

Oh yeah, one last thing...  Even though my work at Hodges Library (at UT) has mostly come to an end, I am getting the opportunity to train the new graduate students on how to work the Research Assistance desk! I'm so stoked to get to stay in the loop with the awesome people from RSC. I'll be working a few hours across the next few Sundays starting tomorrow.

Ok well that's enough for now. Hope everyone else is doing well and enjoying this beautiful summer!

I was reading through emails from all the different listservs I am on, and came across this article about the Tenure process, particularly as it applies to digital scholarship. It discusses how tenure decisions have been outsourced to university presses: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/05/26/digital

In other news, for the past month or so I have been working part time in my first "real librarian" position. I am a Reference Librarian at a private college. I work in the medical library, so I'm going to get to utilize skills from Martha Earl's fabulous Health Sciences Librarianship class. So far I've done some reference, a lot of circulation, some techinical troubleshooting with the world's most evil printer, and lots and lots of APA citation help. It's really neat to finally be able to call myself a Reference Librarian, instead of a "student assistant" or something like that. Soon I will begin doing some instruction and orientation sessions. I'm nervous, but looking forward to it as well. I wish the position were full time, as health insurance would be nice. However, on the plus side, I am going to get a wonderful opportunity: my part time schedule is allowing me to accept a second part-time position! This second position is a temporary student position for summer, but it's at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Research Library! :) I am so excited. I get to start that position on Monday. I'm really looking forward to it. Not only is it a very prestigious place to work, but I'll get to try my hand at a variety of duties, including indexing, cataloging, bibliographies, and some hard-core science reference.

While a full-time job would offer me some security, I feel really blessed to be given these 2 part-time opportunities that will strengthen my skillset. I'm going to get a lot of valuable experience, and hopefully make some good connections.

Today is graduation day! Although I wasn't able to walk through, or attend the hooding ceremony, I am trying to reflect on my experiences at SIS. It's been such an unreal journey! I have gotten a lot of great experience at different jobs and with a variety of projects. I am still holding down a couple part-time jobs as I look for The Job: a full-time (with benefits!) position with reference and instruction duties, hopefully in an academic setting. I've got interviews coming up, and applications going out, but it will really feel like I've reached a milestone when I find a full-time job.

My time at Pellissippi came to an end this week (at least for now!). It was bittersweet. I didn't want to leave! Everyone there has been so great to me, and so supportive. My boss gave me the most beautiful flowers, and many people had some kind and encouraging things to say. I've been so fortunate; so blessed.

One tiny regret that I have was that I didn't attend the larger graduation ceremony at UT today. I didn't go to my graduation for my bachelors, or for my first master's degree, or for this degree. However, this ceremony could have been different, because UT was awarding Dolly Parton her honorary doctorate. Apparently she sang, and was her usual smart, funny self. I would've liked to have seen that, cause I ♥ Dolly!
Well, onwards to the future. Time to boldly go into the strange new world of professionalism! Wish me luck! :)

This past weekend I got to attend the Tennessee Library Association meeting. I presented at the conference on Friday morning (Good Friday!) with Rick Bower (a librarian from Pellissippi) and Emily Ellis (who used to be at Pellissippi and is now a librarian with Knox Co. Public Lib.). We had a pretty good turnout for 9am on a holiday! There were about 40 people there, including some of my awesome SIS classmates. Our presentation was called "Using LibGuides to Share Information with Users in a Web 2.0 World." I was really pleased with the turnout-- people were attentive and we got some great questions and wonderful participation. Feedback was good as well. I was pretty nervous since this is one of the larger (yet not the largest) talks that I've done.
The conference was great-- I got to meet several people whose names I knew. I saw some great posters, but missed out a lot of really interesting presentations that I had wanted to see. Originally I thought that I wouldn't get to leave for Nashville until after my night shift at Hodges. I was kind of bummed about that. But then my awesome supervisors at Hodges let me off work and covered the reference desk for me so that I could get on the road early. What an amazing team. :) As a result of their kindness, I was able to leave for Nashville 3 hours earlier than I had expected, which gave me time to practice with Rick and Emily the night before our talk.
One scary part of the trip was getting caught in some really awful weather on the way back. On Friday, my team and I stopped to eat at a great restaurant in Lebanon. Once we left, I heard on the radio that there were bad storms a-brewin'! Emily called to let me know about the tornado warnings. I did some crazy white-knuckle driving back to Knoxville. I felt as if I was outrunning tornadoes all the way home! Cities I had just passed were coming across the radio as tornado warning areas. What a mess. I was glad to make it home safely.
Oh, I also met Martha Gill, who is the head of the Friends of Tennessee Libraries group. She gave me an awesome license plate frame for my car that says "Suppor Tennessee Libraries." I think I'm gonna stick it on my husband's 1988 Porsche 924S so we can support TN libraries in style. :D

In other news, I'm still trying to find THE JOB. I mean, I've got a few part time jobs right now with libraries and institutions that can't keep me forever. :( Which is sad cause I love all my jobs, particularly the library ones! But it's time for me to graduate and move on. I have had a few interviews. The one I am most excited about is for a full time instructional librarian position at a 2 year college outside of town. The only downside to it is that I am competing with classmates that I really like. So it's kind of bittersweet for whoever gets the job, but at least there would be no hard feelings. So if you read this, cross your fingers and say your prayers that I can get an on-sight interview. Peace out!

I've been trying to figure out what to do about the future, now that I'm about to graduate. Things are getting hectic fast! My work at McClung Museum will end as my assistantship draws to a close. I am sad, in a way, because I will miss many of the great people. I dare say I might even miss the database. But I suppose I can try to stay in touch with people.  My work at Pellissippi State is contract-based, so I need to see if I will be able to work during the summer. I expect they won't need me, since things slow down so much in the summer. One of the chief reasons I was hired was to work at the Circulation desk on Saturdays, and the library is closed on Saturdays during the summer, so I might not have any work there. As for Hodges, there is some work to be had, but I'm not sure yet just how much.
Today I interviewed for a part time evening reference librarian position at South College. I was really impressed with the librarian that interviewed me. She seemed so passionate about her work. I will have to wait and see what happens. It would be great to have a job, but since it is part time, and conflicts with at least one of my current jobs, I don't know if it can work out. I felt pretty good about the interview, and really liked what little I got to see.
Also, Knox County Schools posted their openings today, so I applied for some school media/library positions. It would be nice to have something full time. To work in a school, however, I would need to get licensed. So I am considering whether I ought to sign up for some more classes. I went ahead and registered for a couple, but my ability to take them will depend on my work schedule. :) Ah, life is so beautifully messy!
I find all of this incredibly exciting, exhilerating, and terrifying. Interviewing for jobs is not my strong point. Is it anyone's strong point? Is there anyone out there that gets a natural high from the job hunt process? I can't wait to see what the future holds!

Want to hear some Special Librarians talking about their careers? The president of our student chapter of the Special Libraries Association has uploaded the audio from last semester's SLA brown bag luncheon. You can listen to it here: http://www.sis.utk.edu/organizations/sla
Sarah Wright, our president, got this done for us, so I want to give a special shout-out to her. I also want to thank all the librarians that participated: Amy Disch, Martha Earl, Mark Dickey, and Leslie Duncan.

Also I wanted to say how stoked I am that my decisions are impacting my library's collection! At Pellissippi, I'm getting to continue my collection development assignment from the summer. Basically this means I'm picking out graphic novels to add to our new Graphic Novel collection. It's so much fun trying to pick out things that people will like. Since I work part-time in Circulation, I am also happy to see these items getting used! WOO HOO!

Ok I'd better get back to work. I've got to read some more of "Peter Pan" for my children's literature class, and study for comps. Still waiting to hear about the Tennessee Association of Museums meeting, but I'm definitely attending (and presenting at!) TLA. I submitted my travel request last week so it's a done deal! I hope if you read this you're doing well. :)

Things are going great for the most part, but I've got so much on my plate. The SIS technologies lady is working on getting last semester's SLA talk posted to the website, but it's taking a little longer than I expected.
This week I'm doing a little presentation with some classmates (Lisa M. and Sarah S.) for the East Tennessee Libraries Association meeting. We were going to do it on homelessness and libraries, but ended up going with the topic of youth programming. So I'm kind of nervous about that little talk, but it should be a good experience.
Also, I can't remember if I mentioned this, but I'll be presenting at TLA in April! Rick B. and Emily E. will be presenting with me- we'll be discussing Pellissippi's use of LibGuides. I am REALLY nervous about that, but excited too, because this will be the biggest presentation I've done so far! I went to TLA last year to represent SIS at our booth, but it will be neat to actually see more of the conference this time around.
I am also hoping to go to the Tennessee Association of Museums conference. It's going on during UT's spring break. I have discussed some possibilities with Joan M., the outreach educator at McClung Museum. Then, my supervisor, Bob, suggested that I apply for the TAM scholarship. So I sent that letter off and I'll cross my fingers that it works out.
I've been working more at Hodges' Research Assistance desk, and I've gotten some really hard questions! So I feel like I'm really getting challenged and gaining some good experience. I'm really enjoying my time there, and I like meeting all the Librarians. Still doing my Pellissippi work at the circ desk, as well as my assistantship at McClung. I'm starting to feel pretty tired, but since I graduate in May, I feel exhilarated also! I've started to study for comps, so it's like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I've really enjoyed the SIS program, and have met some really great people. The only real advantage to graduating is that I can *hopefully* find a "real job"-- a 40+ hour per week job with benefits. I'm hoping the economy will shape up and afford me the opportunity to find some good work.

I'm going to divide this post into 2 segments, so people can read the library or non-library stuff as they see fit. Here goes:

Library Stuff
I'm still on break from Pellissippi, waiting for my new spring contract to start, and waiting to see what my schedule might be like. I've been working some hours at Hodges Library at UT to get hours in towards my practicum. I'm hoping things will work out so that I can take a part time GA position at Hodges as well. It would be great experience, and it would help subsidize my income since I don't have money from Jewelry Television anymore.
I'm working on a little research presentation with some classmates, Sarah and Lisa, in which we are going to discuss homeless library users. It's kind of neat, because I am supposed to cover academic libraries, Sarah is going to cover public libraries, and Lisa is going to cover school libraries. We're hoping to discuss services and use statistics. Unfortunately, I am not finding too much about academic libraries! I have found a little, and have lots of anecdotal information, but I'm not finding too much hard research. I spoke with a UT police officer this morning about trends he has observed in usage, and was really surprised at the attitude towards homeless folks. I guess it shouldn't surprise me, but it does. :( Anyhow, when I met with Sarah and Lisa to discuss this little project, we discussed our job prospects. I felt a little like a Jane Austen character, as they were excitedly discussing their school media prospects and I realized that I don't have a solid plan. No occupational suitors, I guess. So they told me about all the openings in School Media, and as I considered the prospects, and the similarities between what I want in an academic library and what is available in a school library... well, you can probably see where this is going!
So I met with Dr. Welch, who is one of the SIS folks that handles licensure. Now I am considering getting licensed after I graduate. It just seems like a great option, and I'm not thinking of it as "just a fall-back plan"-- I mean I am seriously considering it as a viable option! I have already taken approximately half of the course work. If I wanted to prolong my MLS experience, I could stay another year and then be licensed and graduate at the same time. However, I think I want to start in the work force ASAP.
So the plan, as it stands right now, is to take a couple of the classes that I need for licensure in this upcoming spring semester, and graduate in May as planned. I'll look for a job, and if 1)a job and I don't find each other, or 2)I find a job in the local school system, then I'll get my license.
Now the trick is to see how many classes I can squeeze in between jobs. Will I get the GA position, and if so, will it effect my course load? Will Pellissippi work around my class schedule to allow me to take an extra class? Only time will tell. You'll find out with my next blog update, I'm sure! :)

Non-Library Stuff
Christmas was Merry. It had its ups and downs, like always. Car trouble almost broke my Christmas tradition of going to mass, but my family pulled through and managed to pick me up and drop me off. I was glad not to break that tradition. My husband and I made the rounds from his family to my family and back again. We got to see friends. We played games, ate too much, and experienced a little less financial stress this year. Thanks to some agreements with very understanding friends, we let ourselves exchange heartfelt cards instead of gifts. I hope we can continue that tradition in the future. Charles (hubby) finally finished off all of the Chex party mix- I think it might be his favorite part of the holidays! We also made homemade thin mints according to Laura's recipe. Thank you, Laura. :) Charles got me many of the Star Wars Galactic Heroes toys that I didn't yet have (I collect them- I know, I'm a nerd!). I updated my resume, started watching Macross Frontier, continued reading a great book about cadavers ("Stiff: the Curious Life of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach), took a break from donating plasma, and started to learn how to drive a stick shift. Boy, am I tired! :) It was a great break, but I also got a lot done. That's the best kind of vacation!

I hope that if you read this, you had a very merry Christmas, and I wish you a happy and prosperous New Year!

I only really learned about Web 2.0 in my Information Science classes-- I had never heard the term before, but it started coming up a lot in my first semester of my MLS program. I have had a LiveJournal for a few years, and barely know my way around the atrocious MySpace, but it wasn't until my MLS when I finally realized that social networking was more than just a time-sink.

Students in my classes were communicating with Facebook, so in an effort to fit in, I signed up. The facebook climate is relatively friendly. Some of my classmates had even befriended professors. I mostly stuck to friends and academic aquaintances, but I have to confess that it changed my perspective on a lot of things. Status updates on facebook made it possible to update everyone with insignificant events. To some, this might seem like a hassle, but to me it offers a glimpse of what others are going through, without having to commit to an entire blog post. For instance, if you have a blog, and you post on this blog just a single sentence about how your day is going, you would be viewed as petty, self-absorbed, or even "emo". But this is what tools like Facebook and Twitter are for; as a result, the pretention is removed! It's quite uplifting, when you are struggling to make progress on a daunting assignment, to log in to Facebook and see that others are having the same trouble. Without Facebook, my peers might not take the time to send an email or post a blog to voice these relatively minor frustrations. However, it's made all the difference in my progress towards my MLS degree.

As cheesy as this sounds, Facebook, Twitter, LiveJournal, and IS wikis have all helped to keep me from feeling so isolated. Social comparison really seems to help people through ambiguous and stressful situations, but before social networking, this comparison was hard to come by.

Networking possibilities are another great benefit of Social Networking Sites. It's kind of the point, afterall. People that I might not know well enough to call or email can become part of my social network, opening up opportunities for interaction, and exposing me to new people. One significant occasion comes to mind, in which I made a comment on my site about someone I admired. Even though I did not comment to that person, she found out about my comment and requested to be my Facebook friend! How amazing is that? My tenuous connection with someone was solidified, in some small way. Every time my friends or acquaintances post something, I get a little more insight into the daily lives of others. These others include my peers, and many people that already hold academic positions similar to what I am striving for. What a privilege it is to get a glimpse into what my future might be like if I stay on the path that I am on.

It is particularly inspiring to see that so many Academic Librarians are happy with their work. Without Social Networking, I might wonder if I'm doing the right thing. Instead, I have confidence that I'm taking a path that suits me well.

Social Networking is also helping to keep me informed. I see updates about how Obama is using Creative Commons Licensing, or how a bailout plan might affect people like me. I see photos of developing hot spots in Info Science, I hear of job openings. I travel through a virtual world with people that I've barely met but would like to know, and see how their quest for tenure is affecting their home life. It's tremendous to have such accessibility!

I guess the point of this is that I am really excited to be going through my MLS program with people that are willing to share how their experience is going. It's a form of social altruism. I really feel connected, and it's making my experience much more rich, and much less lonely.

The practicum is going really well. I am working some extra hours this week and next week, as it is final exam time and Hodges is open 24/7 during that time. Yesterday I got to work at the Information/Referral desk. It was crazy- one of the jobs there is to check out laptops and other equipment. It was a bustling place! I also got to work at the Research Assistance desk where I normally work on Sundays, and I got to work a little in Circulation doing "PCR's". PCR's are when a Patron Claims they Returned something, and we don't show it as being returned. So I got to travel in the stacks. I only found 2 books, but still, that's better than nothing. Today I worked at the Research Assistance desk and got to do the chat reference for the first time. That was neat. I did more PCR's, too. I will work more tomorrow and Friday, as well, so I'm well on my way with practicum hours! I am so impressed by how nice everyone is! Teresa, Allison, and Erin are so great to work with. I've gotten to talk with Donna and Jeanine, too, about professional development. I've gotten to meet 2 Gregs, both of whom are very nice. Tahira, Jane, Rita... the list of super nice people goes on and on! So far I haven't met anybody that isn't nice, so I guess the niceness should quit being so surprising after awhile, but everyone is so outgoingly helpful. There's an atmosphere of encouragement and enthusiasm. Right now, because of the extended hours, there are some tired people, and the library seems a little shortstaffed, so people have really been appreciative of my being there. It makes it a pleasant place to go to. :)
On Sunday I got some psychology reference questions, so it was nice to finally be able to use some of my knowledge from my previous degree. It makes me feel like it's not going to waste, which is a great thing.

Well, I just got home a little bit ago. I'm sore from shelf-reading at Pellissippi, but I guess that means I'm getting a good workout! I had pizza for dinner and now I've got to make some more progress on my Collection Development paper that's due tomorrow. The topic is Open Access and the Tenure and Promotion process. The tenure process really interests me- this is my second paper on the topic because I find it so fascinating. Hopefully I can get this done and then move on to my group Drupal assignment and my User Instruction lesson plan!

If you're reading this, I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. :)

"End of Semester Crunch" sounds like a Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream flavor, but actually the phrase refers to the frazzled state of my existence at the moment. :) I am taking 3 classes this semester, and 2 of those have already had the last class meeting. It's hard to believe the semester is almost over. And yet, I still have to finish:

- a 5 page paper for Collection Development
-a lesson plan, complete with slides, script, and activities for User Instruction
-a group project that involves making a website with Drupal, and
-a presentation to accompany that project. (for Information Technology)

I have a little time yet, but there is so much to be done! My classes this semester have been interesting. I feel like I've gotten a lot out of each of them. The skills we're developing in my Info. Tech, class are really valuable. If I learn how to really use Drupal, that would be a great asset to bring to a job. I am a nervous public speaker, so User Instruction is helpign to give me a stronger foundation that will balance out my nerves. The projects/papers in Collection Development are really forcing me to think critically about how libraries really work. I think they will all prove valuable in the long run, but let me tell you, they are really exercising my brain!! :)
I think that as soon as this semester is over, I'm going to treat myself to some well-deserved R&R. I'm going to exercise, read, play a little World of Warcraft... and then prepare for next semester.
I can't believe that next semester is my last semester in the SIS program! I've met so many nice people and learned so much! Next semester I'll just be working on my practicum at Hodges Library and auditing Dr. Normore's class on Human-Computer Interaction. I think that class will really join my loves for information seeking/literacy and Psychology. And I *love* Dr. Normore's classes.
Well, I guess I'd better get back to work, but I wanted to chronicle the end-of-semester crunch, so that later I can look back and see what I survived. :)

Yesterday, my student chapter of SLA co-hosted the Haunted Hoskins Tour with the student chapter of SAA. We had a pretty nice turnout- over 20 people. Maybe 23 people or so? I lost count. :) I was not expecting too many people to come, since the Howard Baker Center was having opening festivities at the same time. Their guest speaker was Sandra Day O'Connor, so that was quite a show to compete with. But despite the scheduling competition, we had a nice turnout. Nick Wyman, from Special Collections, took us on the tour and told us about encounters with the Evening Primrose, or Primrose People of Hoskins. It was a little spooky, but it was mostly just fun. Got to see Hoskins Library for the first time and was very impressed. I definitely need to go there to study sometime- it's one of the few remaining quiet places on campus!
After the tour we had refreshments. I even got to meet a classmate from one of my online classes. :) I consider it a success. Next up is the SLA brownbag lunch on Nov. 5, so I'll post an update after that! :) Happy Halloween! :)

Today was a big day- it was my first day at the Research Assist Desk in the Commons at John C. Hodges library. It wasn't too busy, but it let me get my feet wet a bit, so I was appreciative for the slow but steady volume today. My practicum supervisor, Teresa, came by to check on me. She's super nice and is being really flexible with my schedule and all the things I want to accomplish. I'm pretty nervous about the user instruction aspect of the practicum, since I'm naturally a shy person. But I am grateful for the opportunity to practice instruction. After speaking with several librarians, I see that instruction will most likely be a large part of whatever jobs I apply for, so even though I'm nervous, I know it's for the best.
Anyhow, I got some interesting questions- many of which I was able to answer. I had a couple that I just couldn't: people looking for articles that we don't have (too late to interlibrary loan, since the paper is due tomorrow), and a problem with SPSS (I have used SPSS but can't troubleshoot it...). But for the most part I was please with what I was able to do. It was almost a self-actualizing experience. ;)
After class I came home and ate dinner with my husband, then hopped on to Centra for an online meeting with my teammates for a group project. Tomorrow we have to do a presentation on a paper that we wrote for class. I think this is possibly the best group I've ever worked with in terms of people eagerly sharing responsibility. The conversations all basically go like this:

Me: I'll do this task.
Teammate 1: Well thanks! I'll do this one, then.
Teammate 2: Gosh, you guys are AWESOME! How bout if I do this and that?
Me: That would be fantastic!
Teammate 3: Well don't you guys take all the work- let me do this and this and that!

It's pretty much the best team ever. Hopefully our professor will agree. I have never worked with so many enthusiastic teammates. After tomorrow's presentation we'll have another project to do together, and I'm kind of looking forward to it now. I'm not usually a fan of group work, because it's hard to be fair, and it can be hard to come to a consensus without hurting someone's feelings. This, however, has been smooth sailing. Hope we get a good grade on the project! :)

It's going to be a busy week. I have the presentation tomorrow night, and this week I'll also be speaking to a Communications class about SLA and how awesome it is. On Friday, SLA and SAA are teaming up for the Haunted Hoskins tour. I've got to get some refreshments for that.
2:00 at Hoskins Library at UT- take the tour and enjoy Pumpkin Bread with us. :) Seriously, if you can read this, you're invited. :)

Recently I met with some super-kind librarians from Hodges Library at UT to discuss the possibility of doing a practicum there in the Integrated User Services department. My advisor was the one that suggested doing a practicum at Hodges, and initially I didn't think that I'd have the time to do it. However, after careful consideration and some creative planning, I think I've found a way to make it work. And boy, am I glad that I did! I got to meet three of the librarians that work in IUS. All of them are so bright, kind, enthusiastic, and helpful! I really think it's going to be a positive experience for me, and hopefully I'll get to help them out, as well.
This week, I met with a librarian to go over some training things. I have turned in my notice at my other part time job, and starting next Sunday I'll be working at the Research Assist desk! I am really thrilled for the opportunity to get some additional experience. The thing that I'm REALLY hoping to get out of the experience is some confidence. I am naturally on the shy side as a person, and I've been working hard to overcome this. Hopefully this practicum will give me more of a chance to interact with students, and as a bonus I'll get to meet more librarians. I'm constantly impressed with the kindness that has been shown to me. I feel like I've really lucked out. Maybe after this experience, I will be able to handle professional environments with a little more grace. It's not that I'm a total clod or anything, I just blush and perspire and talk too fast. ;) Hopefully I'll develop some poise and learn some skills that I can take with me into a job. So that's my goal. :) 

I'm taking a break from working on one of the more challenging assignments in the program so far. I am writing a selection policy and bibliography for non-traditional publications in the fields of Social Work and Psychology for an institutional repository at UT. Wow, that's a mouthful! This assignment is really demanding, but that's actually a good thing, as I normally get more out of demanding assignments. I really didn't know what to expect from this course on Collection Development, but so far I'm really enjoying it. I was definitely not expecting the concentration on scholarly communication, but it all makes sense when you think about it.
Anyhow, for this assignment I have scoured all of the Social Work and Psychology webpages at UT. It's been exhausting, but since my background is in psychology, it's also been enjoyable to see what everyone's been up to! I also hope to one day work as a subject specialist in an academic library, so this is very relevant experience. It's interesting to me that before this program I had never heard of an institutional repository, and now I'm really thinking a lot about them!
Well, I'd better get back to work!
As a sidenote, I went to "donate" (read: sell) plasma today (part of the funding for my graduate education!), and they sent me away because I'm running a slight temperature. I was at 99.7, and the cutoff is 99.5. I think it's good that they have high standards, since they're using my plasma to make medicines for people with immune disorders. On the other hand, I really could've used that money. I wasn't even feeling bad, so I wonder why my temperature would be high? Oh, that reminds me: the reason I wanted the money is because I'm quitting one of my part-time jobs. I'm quitting it so I can do a practicum at Hodges Library at UT. :) I am so excited! I got to meet with some librarians there and I really like everyone so far. I am going to go in for some training on Tuesday, then start after I've worked out my last 2-weeks at the part-time job. I will miss the money, but the experience will be invaluable, and hopefully it will come in handy when I'm looking for a job in the spring! So when all is said and done, it's for the best. Hopefully I'll get my temperature back to normal, though!

Today I had an interesting day at the museum. I am not sure if I mentioned this, so I'll give a brief recap, but basically I have a graduate assistantship at the Frank H. McClung Museum on the UT campus. I am the Registrar's assistant, so I spend a lot of time working Bob Pennington, the registrar, on managing the collection. It's pretty cool, because I get experience in a wide variety of fields- we do physical work and mental work as we try to inventory the existing collection and accession new items. We work with curators to orchestrate loans and exhibits. Today, however, the primary task was to go to an administrative building on campus and inventory items that belong to the museum. Many administrative offices are decorated with paintings, prints, and pastels that belong to the McClung Museum, and I got to help track them down! I got to work with our multi-talented outreach coordinator, Dr. Joan Markel, and our curator, Elaine Evans. It was kind of exciting to go through all these administrative places that I would otherwise not be allowed in. :) We found a lot of what we were looking for, as well as other things that we didn't expect to see. I spent the rest of the day working on a spreadsheet to help us inventory our Audubon bird print collection. I am really grateful for all the experiences and opportunities that my assistantship provides.
Tomorrow, I am back at the museum for more inventory work. Then, on Saturday I get to go back to Pellissippi to work at the circulation desk. I really enjoy my Saturdays there. They are a little slower than weekdays, but it's kind of a nice change of pace.  When things get slow, I get to work on LibGuides or read for my classes.
Oh, and an update on the SLA brownbag talk that Sarah Wright and I are planning: I heard back from Leslie Duncan from the Amputee Coalition of America (the Limb Loss Center representative that I was hoping to contact), and she's interested in speaking to our group. YAY! I think it's going to be very interesting. The talk is tentatively scheduled for Wed, Nov 5, and we're hoping to record the sessions so people can play them back later. I'm so pleased that everything is coming together so well. This semester is flying by, and I'm busier than I ever thought possible, but it's quite bearable when one is overwhelmed with positive things. :)