Since it's about the middle of the semester, at least according to my syllabi and to people I know at other schools who have fall breaks, I've decided to do a couple of mid-semester inventories. This will be about the distance learning experience, which is entirely new to me.
What do I like about it? At Syracuse, courses are taught in an asynchronous format, which was a great selling point to me, because it means I don't have to be at the computer at any particular time. (If I take an online course from another school through WISE later in my program, which is certainly a possibility, I will have to conform to the requirements of whatever school offers the course, so this might be different in the future, at least for a semester.) This was a huge selling point of the iSchool for me; I have a two-year-old daughter and I do most of the childcare in our family, at least for the time being, so I appreciate the flexible schedule. I particularly like the asynchronous format of discussions, because I can give more time to formulating my contributions and considering those of my classmates than I would in a traditional class, and this gives quiet people such as myself an opportunity to speak (or write) more. Nobody sits in the front or back of the classroom, and while I can go a day or two without posting, I know my absence will be noticed. I've also found my instructors engaging and accessible, and assignments are well thought out--I've spent a lot of hands-on time at my local libraries, both public and academic, observing librarians for reference and examining books for information organization.
What's hard? Well, time management is paramount, and it's always been a skill I need to improve; it's easy to go a day or two without getting anything done when real life intervenes, and nobody I see in my daily life is involved enough with my coursework, as on-campus classmates would be, to remind me about the project that's due next Tuesday. It is also, I am not going to lie, really a challenge with a kid. I know I'm not the only one in this situation by any means, and thank goodness my primary responsibility outside of school is child care and I don't have a paying job on top of that (wow, gratitude for no income!), but two-year-olds require a lot of attention and mine is no exception. So I do most of my work during naps and after bedtime, and during those times when my wonderful and helpful husband watches her for an afternoon so I can go to the library and work or interview a real live librarian. I am feeling this out as I go along, and so far I've managed to do my work, if barely, without additional child care. I am really looking forward to preschool next year, I can tell you that.
My last post was about the NYLA conference, which I'm really glad I attended, and I think I'll really need to attend conferences or SU events periodically (fortunately I am well enough positioned, geographically, to do so), in order to have real-life contact with other library students and librarians and concentrate exclusively on librarianship for at least a short period. Distance learning, augmented by social networking, has proven to be a lot more personal than I had expected, but it is still really nice to be around other like-minded adults once in a while, and of course the long-term plan is that I will be around them every day!
Friday, October 16, 2009
NYLA 2009: My first library conference!
This week I spent about a day, or two half-days, at the 2009 New York Library Association conference in Niagara Falls. The theme of the conference was "Libraries: Peace, Love & Freedom," and many of the vendors and NYLA division booths were decked with tie-dye, lava lamps, peace signs, and other hippie paraphernalia. There were also some sessions on intellectual freedom in libraries and other relevant issues, although I only made it to two panels due to time constraints. I must poke gentle fun at the theme, having lived a bit too long in Berkeley, but it was a colorful theme and I got a neat pair and a half of socks!
I volunteered at the iSchool booth when I first arrived, chatting with prospective students and alumni. I also attended two conference sessions. One was a panel of representatives from library schools around the state, talking about what's going on in their programs. Megan Oakleaf, my professor for 605, represented Syracuse and discussed the cooperative projects between students and libraries in IST 613, Library Planning, Marketing, & Assessment, which I'll be taking next semester. I'm glad I went to that, because it got me thinking about what I might do for my project. I also went to a session on Living History Through Social Networking, which discussed the use of social networking tools to teach information literacy. See the wiki here. I learned a lot about Twitter especially that I didn't already know, and now I have a better idea of how to use it both personally and professionally.
The best part of the conference was the SU reception for students, faculty, and alumni on Thursday night. Not just because of the wine! but also because I got to meet alumni and other students. As a distance student, it's easy to feel isolated from other people, so I really enjoyed interacting with people in person, and especially meeting students who began the program this fall on campus and are in roughly the same place that I am. It's also interesting to hear perspectives on how courses are taught in person vs. online.
It also occurred to me that conferences are like the gateway week in the summer (or maybe it's the other way around!) - you can get away from the distractions of daily life for a few days (and I've discovered as I go on how many distractions we distance students have, especially jobs, families, and kids) and dive head first into the exciting world of librarianship. It's really invigorating; as I did after IST 511, I came home full of ideas and enthusiasm for the path I'm headed down. I also discovered that sections of NYLA such as ASLS (academic and special libraries) have their own little conferences, and the ASLS is having theirs in my husband's hometown of Ithaca next June, so I have a lot more of these to look forward to!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Fall semester courses: IST 605, Information Resources: Users and Services
The other core course I'm taking this semester is Information Resources: Users and Services, or Reference for short, but what we've already learned is that when it comes to the actual job of a reference librarian, "reference" is only one of many duties one might need to perform. We spent the first week of discussion looking at current job listings for reference librarians and compiling a list of skills and responsibilities required for the jobs. These skill areas included collection development, instruction, web development, management, and a whole host of other skills--often in one job! The good news is that even people like me who don't have a lot of library experience have probably developed some of these skills in other contexts, and for those who have a lot of interests, specialization is certainly not going to be a limitation. The more challenging aspect is that there are a lot of skills for reference librarians to master, and (it appears) hardly enough hours in the day for one person to do so many tasks.
I really have no idea if reference is an area I want to work in, but it's certainly a strong possibility I will staff a reference desk at some point in my professional career, so I'm looking forward to this class.
I really have no idea if reference is an area I want to work in, but it's certainly a strong possibility I will staff a reference desk at some point in my professional career, so I'm looking forward to this class.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Fall semester courses: IST 616, Information Resources, Organization and Management
I'm enrolled in two core courses for my my first semester of completely online courses. IST 616 is on information organization and access, which is a topic that both intrigues and baffles me. I suspect that when it comes to the choice between patron-oriented library services and technical services, I'm going to fall on the technical services side of the line (but who knows, really), and I have at least an abstract interest in cataloguing, classification, and that sort of thing. But at the same time technical services is, well, technical, and while I am good enough at coding, classifying, and other techy things when I set my mind to it, my inner humanities scholar gags a bit whenever I see too many acronyms in one place. So I am more nervous about this course than the other class I'm taking this semester (reference sounds pretty straightforward, doesn't it? except it's not), but I'm sure it will all make sense at the end of the semester, and I'll have a better idea if this is the sort of librarianship I want to do.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
IST 511, Day Five, The End
I am happy to be finished with my first three-credit course for my MLIS. I had a fabulous time, but it was also intense, so it's nice to be back home and able to decompress.
The week culminated in a poster session, where our groups presented posters on issues in librarianship. Our group researched virtual reference--providing reference services by email, Internet chat, text message, etc. as opposed to the more traditional in-person and telephone reference services--and here we are with our poster. Shout out to Laura, Lisa, Jesse, and Jason!
What I really enjoyed about the poster session, much more than I'd expected, was speaking to presenters from other groups about their topics, such as the Dewey Decimal system vs. other classification systems in public libraries and allowing potentially controversial outside groups to use public library space. Since the poster session was an hour and a half and each group member presented for half that time, I didn't get to visit every poster--and unfortunately I only had time for a quick drive-by of the winning group's poster, which was about e-books. The winning group can submit their poster to the ALA conference, and if it's accepted the iSchool will pay for some of their travel expenses, so I'm very happy for them and I hope perhaps I'll see their poster again soon, and for more than a few seconds!
After completing my residency, I'm really glad I decided to go to Syracuse, and I'm looking forward to the next two years (or so) of classes. One thing I really appreciated about both 511 and 601, but especially 511 because it related specifically to libraries, was getting an early glimpse of what it's like to be a professional. This probably sounds silly to people who go to school to, you know, get jobs, but from my perspective, as someone who's always loved school just a little too much, graduate programs in the humanities have great appeal to my inner nerd who loves to read books and think deep thoughts, but they never trained me in the same way to be a professional--professor, because that's probably what you're going to be if you get a PhD in religion or classics. I never saw myself as a professor or scholar at the beginning of grad school the way I see myself as a librarian now. It's exciting, and a little frightening at the same time, but mainly exciting.
I have a few weeks' break before I begin classes this fall, but I intend to keep up this blog through my iSchool career and beyond, and I might also comment on a backlog of "fun books" that are waiting for me.
The week culminated in a poster session, where our groups presented posters on issues in librarianship. Our group researched virtual reference--providing reference services by email, Internet chat, text message, etc. as opposed to the more traditional in-person and telephone reference services--and here we are with our poster. Shout out to Laura, Lisa, Jesse, and Jason!
What I really enjoyed about the poster session, much more than I'd expected, was speaking to presenters from other groups about their topics, such as the Dewey Decimal system vs. other classification systems in public libraries and allowing potentially controversial outside groups to use public library space. Since the poster session was an hour and a half and each group member presented for half that time, I didn't get to visit every poster--and unfortunately I only had time for a quick drive-by of the winning group's poster, which was about e-books. The winning group can submit their poster to the ALA conference, and if it's accepted the iSchool will pay for some of their travel expenses, so I'm very happy for them and I hope perhaps I'll see their poster again soon, and for more than a few seconds!
After completing my residency, I'm really glad I decided to go to Syracuse, and I'm looking forward to the next two years (or so) of classes. One thing I really appreciated about both 511 and 601, but especially 511 because it related specifically to libraries, was getting an early glimpse of what it's like to be a professional. This probably sounds silly to people who go to school to, you know, get jobs, but from my perspective, as someone who's always loved school just a little too much, graduate programs in the humanities have great appeal to my inner nerd who loves to read books and think deep thoughts, but they never trained me in the same way to be a professional--professor, because that's probably what you're going to be if you get a PhD in religion or classics. I never saw myself as a professor or scholar at the beginning of grad school the way I see myself as a librarian now. It's exciting, and a little frightening at the same time, but mainly exciting.
I have a few weeks' break before I begin classes this fall, but I intend to keep up this blog through my iSchool career and beyond, and I might also comment on a backlog of "fun books" that are waiting for me.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
IST 511, Day Four
So in an earlier post I briefly mentioned the potential conflict between intellectual freedom and my concerns as a parent. My daughter isn't even two yet, and aside from randomly grabbing books off the shelf when we're in the library and carrying them around because she does that with everything, she hasn't shown any interest in inappropriate materials. So I have a while before I worry about whatever content she might come across in her reading. But I am a moderately protective sort of parent and have certain values I would like to instill in my child and all that, so this is on the far horizon for me.
According to the ALA Code of Ethics, librarians are supposed to provide equitable access to all library users and safeguard their rights to privacy and confidentiality. There's nothing in the statement about minors. There's also no way the ALA can defrock or disbar you, and there will clearly be cases when the code of ethics will conflict with the interests of parents, the community, the library's own interests (what happens when the person who wants you to ban a book also controls your funding?), the law, and so on. At first the contrarian in me wants to rebel against this code, and it's not just because I'm a parent (because, let's face it, I was a contrarian before I was a parent). I am not, and I doubt any librarian really is, a librarian first and foremost with no other allegiances. We have other bonds, to our families, to other members of our community, to our local and national governments. We're each at the center of a unique web of obligations and have to figure out how to negotiate them for ourselves. Each of us holds our own unique middle ground, and nobody else can stand there with us. So I am glad the code of ethics is there, to provide the full force of its pull in the tug of war between intellectual freedom and whatever struggles against it. I hope I can always uphold it, and one reason I look forward to academic librarianship is that the university is the ideal environment for free inquiry and I'm proud to be a part of that pursuit.
This all plays into my fascination with first amendment issues. Until now I've mainly been interested in the religion clause, but it is interesting to see how intellectual freedom, the corollary to freedom of speech, plays out in the world of librarianship. Sometimes I get caught up in the debates, but for the most part I enjoy considering issues from all sides and chilling in the big gray areas.
On a lighter note, we also talked about professional organizations. In the past I've attended annual conferences for the American Philological Association (the other APA, the one that doesn't have a maddening citation style, not that I'm bitter) and the American Academy of Religion, both of which are small beans compared to the ALA, which has TWO annual conferences, plus various divisions with their own annual conferences, plus regional organizations with THEIR own annual conferences, plus other specialized organizations like the American Theological Library Association with THEIR own annual conferences. And everyone who goes to these conferences knows the point is to 1. present scholarship 2. get free stuff from vendors 3. drink and 4. hook up. Well, some of us are happily partnered and not interested in #4, but free stuff and drinking? Several times a year, in some of the country's most fabulous metropolitan areas? I'm there. Here are some librarians in my hometown at the 2007 ALA Midwinter conference.
According to the ALA Code of Ethics, librarians are supposed to provide equitable access to all library users and safeguard their rights to privacy and confidentiality. There's nothing in the statement about minors. There's also no way the ALA can defrock or disbar you, and there will clearly be cases when the code of ethics will conflict with the interests of parents, the community, the library's own interests (what happens when the person who wants you to ban a book also controls your funding?), the law, and so on. At first the contrarian in me wants to rebel against this code, and it's not just because I'm a parent (because, let's face it, I was a contrarian before I was a parent). I am not, and I doubt any librarian really is, a librarian first and foremost with no other allegiances. We have other bonds, to our families, to other members of our community, to our local and national governments. We're each at the center of a unique web of obligations and have to figure out how to negotiate them for ourselves. Each of us holds our own unique middle ground, and nobody else can stand there with us. So I am glad the code of ethics is there, to provide the full force of its pull in the tug of war between intellectual freedom and whatever struggles against it. I hope I can always uphold it, and one reason I look forward to academic librarianship is that the university is the ideal environment for free inquiry and I'm proud to be a part of that pursuit.
This all plays into my fascination with first amendment issues. Until now I've mainly been interested in the religion clause, but it is interesting to see how intellectual freedom, the corollary to freedom of speech, plays out in the world of librarianship. Sometimes I get caught up in the debates, but for the most part I enjoy considering issues from all sides and chilling in the big gray areas.
On a lighter note, we also talked about professional organizations. In the past I've attended annual conferences for the American Philological Association (the other APA, the one that doesn't have a maddening citation style, not that I'm bitter) and the American Academy of Religion, both of which are small beans compared to the ALA, which has TWO annual conferences, plus various divisions with their own annual conferences, plus regional organizations with THEIR own annual conferences, plus other specialized organizations like the American Theological Library Association with THEIR own annual conferences. And everyone who goes to these conferences knows the point is to 1. present scholarship 2. get free stuff from vendors 3. drink and 4. hook up. Well, some of us are happily partnered and not interested in #4, but free stuff and drinking? Several times a year, in some of the country's most fabulous metropolitan areas? I'm there. Here are some librarians in my hometown at the 2007 ALA Midwinter conference.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
IST 511, Day Three
I was looking forward today, because this afternoon we got down and dirty with real-live books at the Bird Library. We began our tour in the basement of the library, where Peter Verheyen, the head of preservation and conservation, showed us books from the library's circulating collections in the process of being repaired. A lot of this was at least vaguely familiar to me, since I spent a year as an undergrad repairing books at the undergraduate library at the UW. Conservation is not really something you get an MSLIS to do, so I am probably not going to be playing with the books, but as Verheyen's colleague David Stokoe pointed out, you're not supposed to read the books you're fixing, and I'd want to do that. Stokoe, upstairs in Special Collections, showed us some older books he was working on, including a sixteenth-century English translation of the New Testament from the Vulgate that predates the King James by a few decades. You can tell from the fact I was reading the book instead of examining the restored binding that maybe conservation is not what I'm called to do anyway.
Then Professor Ken Lavender took us on a "romp through the centuries," really the millennia, because it began with a cuneiform tablet. And those gorgeous illuminations in medieval Latin texts were not left out. This one, from the Le Louchier Hours, is amazingly vibrant in person.
Given my interests in classics, early Christianity, and old stuff in general, it should come as no surprise that special collections is an area I'd like to explore, and I'm hoping to take Ken Lavender's preservation course at some point when I can be on campus and play with the books.
Then Professor Ken Lavender took us on a "romp through the centuries," really the millennia, because it began with a cuneiform tablet. And those gorgeous illuminations in medieval Latin texts were not left out. This one, from the Le Louchier Hours, is amazingly vibrant in person.
Given my interests in classics, early Christianity, and old stuff in general, it should come as no surprise that special collections is an area I'd like to explore, and I'm hoping to take Ken Lavender's preservation course at some point when I can be on campus and play with the books.
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