Library School: Semester 2

I'm not sure if anyone who reads this blog is at all interested in a librarian's education. But I know that when I was trying to decide whether to go to library school or not I had lots of questions about what it would be like. So I'll add my two cents, in case anyone is in a similar pickle. Short answer: Library school is awesome! Read on for the long answer.

I'm now officially halfway through my two-year program at UNC. Woot! First semester wrap-up is here. This semester I took:

Human-Information Interactions You might be thinking, what the hell does that mean? Well, I was asking that too. This is the basic information science theory class that we're all required to take. Basic questions covered: What is information? Why and how do people seek information in different contexts? How do we assess and evaluate information? I was dreading this class because it sounded abstract and theoretical and horrible. But I actually really enjoyed it. Good professor definitely helped.



Organization of Information This class was a giant headache, though I did learn a lot about how information professionals organize information (not only bibliographic info, but all kinds, including business). Our semester-long project was to invent a system of organization for any kind of "document" we wanted -- a classmate and I did board games, which was pretty fun. If that sounds interesting, you can see the whole project here.

Management for Information Professionals This class was a bit of a joke. I understand why it's a requirement (as librarians we will probably all have to supervise people), but it all seemed very much common sense to me. But it was a really, really easy class, so I'm not complaining. My final project was a website about work-life balance (beware: it's quite bull-shitty).

Web Development My favorite class this semester! I completely love making websites. We learned XHTML and CSS (and whoa, was I creating some seriously non-standard and messy HTML before this class). We also did a little PHP, which about made my head explode because I'd never had any programming. But I think I got the important bits. I created two websites for the class (both completely HAND-CODED, oh boy!): Body Systems (a pretend gym equipment company) and Durham Speaks (a prototype that may actually be used by the Durham Public Library for their oral history project).



So next year I get to take 7 more classes, write a master's paper, and find the perfect job. Hmmm. That's several months away, though. :)

This summer I'm continuing with my job at a branch library at UNC. And I also got a really cool internship georeferencing historic maps (so that we can overlay a historic map on a current google map and people can see how areas have changed over time). It's really fun!



I've got catch-up book reviews that I'll post soon. :)

More beautiful library photos here!

What's my deal, you ask?

Hi everyone! So it's been a while since I blogged, hasn't it? But I have a good reason! A very good reason. In August I started library school!

Some things I have discovered:
1. Most people don't realize you need a master's degree to be a librarian.
2. Most people don't have any idea what you'd learn in library school.
3. Being a librarian is way more complicated than it might seem.
4. Library school is a lot of work. At least my program is.

But I'm really loving it so far. I decided to do my MLS at UNC's School of Information and Library Science. It's a 2-year program, so I'm taking 4 classes each semester and working 20 hours a week. It doesn't leave a lot of time for fun reading. I'm not giving up on the blog, though. I am determined to limp along here - but I doubt I'll get posts up all that frequently.

This semester I'm taking Information Tools, which is basically technology for librarians. We're doing UNIX, XHTML & CSS, Java, and databases. It's actually my easiest class because I know a lot of it already. Though now I can say HELLO in ASCII (01001000 01000101 01001100 01001100 01001111). I'm such a dork. It's awesome.

I'm also taking Reference (helping people find the information they need), Collection Development (deciding what should go into a library collection), and Preservation (keeping a library's materials in usable shape for as long as possible). Collection Development might kill me, because the professor seems determined to fill my every waking hour with reading, writing papers, and doing group projects.

I haven't made the rounds through my blogroll in a while. Anything interesting happening in blogland? Any new books that everyone's talking about?

I did manage to read Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief and loved it. Will hopefully blog about it sometime soon. :)

Coolest program evah!

A friend at work put me on to this really cool downloadable software called Library Books. (Here's a write-up and here's where you can download.) It's a little program that automatically links to your library's catalog and retrieves your account info (what you have checked out and when it's due). It's so cool! And really unobtrusive. Here's a screenshot of my desktop's right upper-hand corner. See the little star and the 4? That means I have 4 books checked out.


Then if you click on the star, a little menu drops down listing all your books and when they're due. The icon apparently turns red when you have items overdue.


And there are links to your library's webpage too.


I may never have to pay fines again. Mom, you might even be able to start using the library again! Or have they banned you for life? ;)

Oh, this program is for Macs only. But apparently there is something called Library Elf for PCs.

Why I don't have the brainpower to blog...

I'm in week two of my library job, and it's going really well. I'm slowly getting the hang of the intricacies of cataloging (okay, well, really I'm just learning the basics, but hey, you have to start somewhere).

So here's my excuse for my lack of posts lately--

Take a look at the online catalog page for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:


Fairly easy to read, very straightforward, right? Doesn't look like creating a catalog record and entering it into the online catalog would be so hard. But we don't get to use such a pretty, user-friendly interface. Oh, no. We get to do it in MARC (machine-readable cataloging):



Yeah, looks like a bunch of gobbeldy-gook. And that's for a simple book. Nonfiction can get even hairier, with extra authors, series information, many more subject headings. Then you get to do it for a book in German. Or Croatian. Or Bicol. (I'd never heard of Bicol until today. It's an area of the Philippines, don't you know.)

Okay, I'm complaining, but actually it's kind of fun. Like a puzzle to figure out (yes, I am a dork). If anyone else is a dork, you can learn about MARC here. Or if you really want a headache, check this out.

But after cramming this stuff into my head all day, writing a book review that manages in any way to be at all thoughtful has proved impossible. But I will get back to it soon. ;)