The last week of library school

Yes, that’s right.  I’ve finally made it.  This was a longer road than I had anticipated but it was worth it just the same.  I learned much more than I ever thought there was to librarianship.  It’s not just putting books on a shelf it’s customer service, accounting, managing, training, cataloguing, researching and being technologically savvy.  You have to know patrons, staff, leaders, collection, resources, policies, databases, procedures, laws, communities, schools, etc. etc.  That book you check out at the library was chosen for you and is available to you because of a librarian who worked hard to research it’s value, gather funds for it, catalogue it, get that book into the collection, and send it off to whatever library branch you chose.  I’m glad that I learned so much and know there’s a lot more I need to know once I step into the library as an employee.  I also was inducted into the Epsilon Omega Epsilon honor society last week, which is something I never thought possible. 

I’m finishing up my final Personal Management Theory paper which is “In some ways this paper is the scholarly culmination of your diary” that we’ve kept all through the term regarding our readings and personal experiences or initial reactions.  Therefore, with the diary already worked through and the outline finished, this was much easier than I thought because there was a lot of re-using quotes and references and merely restating my reasons for including it in my theory (or definition as we called it in the diary) of Library Management.

Anyway, I’ve just submitted my final paper now and I don’t see any other assignments I need to turn in.  I think I’m done.  My final grades will post on May 19th and then I’ll be official.

With that said, I’m not sure how much I can keep this blog up these days.  I’ll keep applying for jobs and posting any new, interesting developments I run across (or find a completely new way to use the site) but, sad as it is to admit, I think my “grad school blog days” are coming to an end.  For now at least.

I’ll post my regular goings on at The Tales of Missus P. instead.  Thanks for everyone who’s helped me out thus far on my endeavours in librarianship.  I’ll be in touch!

Catching up on library school

I’ve been on Spring Break the week before last, then last week marked our mid-point in my Library Management course. (Yes, it does seem like longer).  I’m the discussion board moderator for these two weeks about Managing People.  Reading from Herbert A. Simon’s book Administrative Behavior I inserted this quote:

"The major problems of organization today are not problems of departmentalization and coordination of operating units.  Instead, they are problems of organizing information storage and information processing -- not division of labor, but factorization of decision-making.These organizational problems are best attacks, at least to a first approximation, by examining the information system and the system of decision it supports in abstraction from agency and department structure" (p. 248-9).

My questions posed are:  What issues have you witnessed or heard of regarding problems in communication?  What could have been done to solve the problem better?  As a manager, how would you have dealt with the communication in the (library or other) organization?

I’ve found some pretty interesting comments.  I figured that was going to be a hot topic for many people.  There are public and school librarians who say that there are issues within the departments that aren’t expressed to other departments or that instructions aren’t clear and concise. 

Aside from my discussion board moderation, we have a Stakeholders Analysis project for the Dallas Public Library.  I’ll be taking on the local colleges and the City of Dallas itself for my part of the project.  We’ll get the first draft done by April 11th, then the final draft done by the 27th.  Aside from that I’ll have to do my final Reflective Diary for weeks 5-10, plus outline and complete my Personal Theory of Management paper.  That’s a lot of work to turn in by May 4th but I’ll be glad to have it under my belt.

Right now I’m still leaning toward the idea that I won’t be joining up for another online program anytime soon.  Granted I’m not working (still) and I have time to do it, I’m just burned out.  I’d like to do something in Education, but then again I’m not sure.  I think it’s best to just enjoy the Spring, look for work, get back to writing (and blogging) and try to get into a program later on when I can be in a face-to-face setting for a higher degree.  Or, better yet, if my workplace would pay for it!  I was looking through tons of online programs and then after moving and getting settled, I decided that more time in my real life was more important.  Granted I feel more enlightened and accomplished when I’m learning in a class but I can always do some online Webinars or courses through the ALA or YALSA. 

Married life is just way too good to worry about homework! (And you can quote me on that.)  With that said, I’ve got to get back to my cooking…

Analysis for YA Book Shelf

Children’s Literature class discussion

I’ve been checking out YA Book Shelf for a while now. I started chatting with the blog author on Twitter when I started studying the YA Books for my Collection Development class. She (Melissa) always has lots of interesting book contests that intrigues her readers. She’s very well read and gives great insight and suggestions on new and old (classic) books to read. As you can see from her most recent post on the YA novel Hush, Hush she really tries to get involved in her own review of the book as well as how it is received in the public. You can tell that she really loves what she does and reading her posts you can see what new books are coming up, including events online regarding books. She’s very willing to discuss the books with you. She has a very modern website and includes all sorts of links plus book trailers if anyone wants to see more examples. This website really inspired me to create my blog that I started and will now use for my class book reviews.

http://www.yabookshelf.com/

http://twitter.com/YABookShelf

In other news:  9 days left until the wedding!

Homework for September

Classes have started as of last week and I’ve been getting myself acquainted with my classes.  This Fall term I have Children’s and YA Literature as well as Information Sources and Services.  For Children’s Lit I pick books from suggested lists and create blog posts about them.  I’ve decided to use my attempted blog project at Unfinished Book Reviews to create such posts.  For Info Resources, I’m learning about becoming a Reference Librarian.  Both classes are extremely beneficial because I really don’t know what kind of librarian I’ll become.  When I was asked what track I was going to be on for the program, I told them I had no intention of choosing a track yet because how do I know where I’ll end up? 

When it comes to finding a job, especially once I’ve moved, I’ll have to start working where ever I land a job and then work my way up through experience.  That may be at a Public Library or a University Library.  I’m not singling anything out right now because I really feel like a fish out of water in this career.  Granted, when I started interning, I was interested in how the library worked and I felt like I could do a good job in such a position.  I was just disappointed with the Public Libraries running the risk of being shut down so easily.  So, again, the job that lands in my lap will be the one I take on.

Granted, my English Lit. background is helpful and I do miss that kind of discussion in the classroom.  But I could always end up a Reference Librarian and running Book Clubs and computer classes.  I’ve looked at more English Lit. graduate programs but I’m not sure I want to get into that again.  The pretention of English majors (generally speaking – if you’re an English major you know what I’m talking about) is just not an arena I think I can get back into.  Feeling superior because I’ve read big books was fine when I was 20.  Now that I have a new focus in life, I’m not sure I have any interest in that aspect of the field again. 

As for teaching, yes I loved teaching Comm II.  I loved going to college and I loved teaching at college for the same reasons - I can get prepared, have my class and walk out of the room.  There’s no being stuck in a tiny room with 20-30 other people all day.  But teaching at the college doesn’t pay anything unless you’re tenured.  At the community college level they tell you that teaching high school is a better bet for money and benefits.  Since I don’t have an Education degree my problems that I had as a new teacher will continue on no matter where I go in the US.  I would still have to go to school to get teacher status in the UK.  So that would be 40+ hours of work with planning, being stuck at the school for 8 hours, then doing after school activities, meetings then going to my own classes?  Nope.  I will be a wife and want to be at home with my husband.  Having this library degree and going to work each day and working my way up to gain experience is my best bet.

But then again I may not find any kind of job other than secretary or a salesgirl at the mall.  Whatever, as long as I’m bringing home a pay check.

Since this blog was made primarily for library entries, I created a personal blog that I can email entries to.  Yes, yes Wordpress has the capability of email posts and there are apps but I really need to scale things down.  I’m not going to have this iPhone for much longer so I needed to make something I can update easily on the fly.  I won’t even go into how much this iPhone drives me crazy now.  It was fine for a year but now after the updates nothing works right; the camera is slow, it randomly reboots, apps won’t load, calls can’t be made, texts can’t be sent, touchscreen freezes…  I’m going to go the used Blackberry from Ebay route for a while until I can get a Droid or something. 

And on my final and most exciting note:  the wedding is in two weeks!  I’m so excited but blissfully calm all at the same time.  Having a small, private wedding is such a much better option.  There was enough hassle in finding the dress that I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to set up a big wedding party.  I’m just happy to be with Steve for our special day.

Almost finished with Spring 2010

Collection Development class discussion

Short essay by school librarian - do you agree?

Bringelson , Carin. (2004). On intellectual freedom. School Libraries in Canada, 24(4), p.57-9

I really liked this passage in the article, "My job was not to take a position on the book, but simply to provide concrete information about the title and sometimes perspectives on the broader issue or issues involved. My work gave me the opportunity to think about the reasons why people challenge materials. While these reasons were many and varied, among the concerns that came up repeatedly (for many different titles) were objectionable language, sexuality, and violence.”

I would find it hard to not take a stance on a book, especially something I felt strongly against. I feel like a lawyer, trying to defend a client whom I thought shouldn’t walk the streets. I think this is probably the hardest part of our job, but I sort of see it from a parental sort of view to. (Granted, I have no children yet, so my views may change later when I do.) But, it seems like if you give kids the ability to be taught at home what is acceptable and what is not, then allow the kids to decide on their own if they think something is too much or inappropriate. Maybe it’s like drinking. If you tell them that it’s restricted and off limits and then on their 21^st birthday they put themselves into a stupor, it’s because the whole thing was so out of their underage reach.

What is the difference between selection and censorship?

How can librarians avoid self-censorship?

Can you provide an example of self-censorship? This one can be real or made-up. Just provide a "case" for us to talk about. If real, do not name the library's name or the librarian.    

I'm not sure if things are fairly similar in small towns in Texas as they are in Florida, but I live in a very conservative place.  The school where I use to teach had a very nice, Sunday school teaching librarian and he was totally against having the book Wicked in his library.  But, as he pointed out, the kids wanted to read it so he put it on the shelves.

I honestly would have a hard time with self censorship, I admit, especially if I were working in the Children's Library.  Our jobs as librarians are to allow children to read whatever book they want to on the public library level. That’s a hard pill to swallow. Now, as for school libraries, I think it’s going to be even more tricky. As we’ve discussed, there are plenty of parents who are against Harry Potter novels yet the school libraries have them. I’m glad to know that, as our Power Point notes state, “Children – Lesser, but substantial protection, Parental control, ‘Harmful to minors’ statutes, Not all minors are the treated the same -5 year-old vs. 16 year-old.” But, if there is a YA book that has something a parent doesn’t like, it doesn’t mean the book will be yanked off a school or public library shelf. Again, I think it’s the toughest part of our job, quite honestly, to keep our own personal beliefs and convictions out of the selection process.

Class work

I have to finish shining up my website for Web Development class.  I’ll add some library events and tweak the fonts some, but otherwise it’s a basic website and that’s all we need.  (Well, it has that dreaded CSS stuff in there too…)

I also have to write my final Reflection paper and turn that in for Collection Development.  Everything, for both classes, is due on Friday.

Personal stuff

I finished teaching my day class on Monday, and now I have to finish up grading their Lit. Criticism essays and Annotated Bibliographies as well as their Final Exams.  Tonight I go to school for the last night class to collect the same work from those students.  Then I’ll put the grades in by next Monday and be finished with everything and officially on break for a while.

I’ve been jogging and swimming at the gym, so that’s giving me something else to keep me busy each day.  I also started up my new project called Unfinished Book Reviews that I may or may not keep on blogspot.  It seems the easiest right now to use Blogger for this stuff since so many library, librarian and education blogs are products of Blogger.

23 days until Steve and I begin our vacation!

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My own Wiki

Collection Development class assignment

You will create a marketing visual to advertise your new collection. This can be a flyer, bookmark, web page, blog page, handout, etc., but it must be visual, graphic, and eye-catching.

http://schultzstm.pbworks.com/Young-Adult-Readers-%40-the-Titusville-Library

Since we've been talking about Wikis so much in this class as well as my other courses, I decided to try my hand at this.  I found a local librarian who has a Wiki for her YA Collection (http://sbateensread.wikispaces.com/)  while doing my Collection Development Project.  I used a lot of her ideas, then changed the information to reflect what my collection contained.  I'm not really good with this yet, as you can see, but I tried to make it sort of like I would a blog.

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Collection Assessment

Collection Development class discussion

This question focuses on different collection evaluation methods. The textbook and the articles talk about different methods to evaluate collections. Please pick one method and talk about it. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each method?

Circulation studies seems like a fairly easy method to deciding if the materials on the shelves are something your patrons are interested in. If you have a collection with books that have not been checked out in several years, maybe it’s time to add that to the library book sale next time and look for books that will be of more interest. However, if we look at the circulation as “the adequacy of the book collection is directly related to its usage” idea, then we may be weeding out some valuable, classic literature that just hasn’t been checked out for a while (Evans 326). That is not to say that a student in the near future will not want to do a project on Mark Twain and will be interested in checking out his works (for example).

This module is all about collection evaluation and collection assessment. For the collection that you are developing in this class, what are the methods you would use to assess your collection and why?

For my YA serialized novel collection, I would definitely have to keep tabs on the circulation of each book. Even if it’s something I view as good as an expert (choosing something recommended in Booklist or something I saw at the bookstore that seemed interesting) that doesn’t mean my teen patrons will be interested. I would try to “push” a book like that through the Book Club and Teen Space website, but if that fails, I would look to see the use of other libraries statistics. If the book is doing well at another county library, then I’ll keep the book on the shelf for longer in hopes the interest will pick up.

Teaching

The semester is almost over and I keep getting late work turned in.  This weekend will be all about me getting these last grades in for their Drama Unit and then by next Wednesday all the Literary Criticism work (and the inevitable last minute work) will be turned in.  I’ll also have to give them the Final Exam that day too.  Then finals will be done, grades will be put in and everything will be done for the term.  It’s been fun.  I’ve enjoyed working BCC quite a lot. 

Personal stuff

Once school is over, I’ll be doing mad cleaning and getting ready for Steve to arrive.  Then it will be Disney vacation time!

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Whilst waiting at the Post Office

Collection Development project is organized and I know what to do. It's the taking the notes and putting them into my fancy Word document, tables and all, that is what I have to spend this week doing. We have to find two justifications for each book or material we list. So that's the main part that gets complicated - I've used actual "Booklist" magazines to find recent YA books that have good reviews. Then I have to find a second positive review by using "Books in Print" for example. But, again, I have a clear grasp on the whole thing, it's just the organization of it. And I love organization and book shopping so it's actually quite fun.
My classes will be doing their own Literary Criticism projects in the library this week. By May 6th they'll have their Finals done and the term will be over.
Our vacation is all arranged and I'll just have to get our Disney tickets before Steve gets here. We're both excited.
Okay, out of line at the Post Office. There had to be 20 people in there waiting!
Off to the store...


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Location:Barna Ave,Titusville,United States