Time to go to work, work all night, search for underpants, yay!
Well, hello there friends!
Yes, I suppose I've been a bit MIA. But I have been busy, and that's a good thing! And no, I was not swallowed up by a queue.
I made it through my "Intro" week just fine. It was exhausting. It involved three hour intro lectures for classes we won't have until January, and long, boring meetings trying to get me to sign up for organizations I'm not qualified for. But still, good stuff. I'm totally back in school again, which is really, really weird. I don't really like it. I like the personal freedom that comes from having no responsibilities outside of work. But, that's why I'm here now doing it like this. A year of weirdness, and I'm done.
One thing I've noticed is that no one seems to expect a lot out of us. There are no syllabi outlining precisely what is meant to be read by this or that date. You read as much or as little as you desire. So far, it's been very little, but not out of desire (or lack of). It's because these teachers never thought to put one copy of their book on short term loan, or make it a reference book, despite saying that buying the book is not required and we can use the library. Well, hello sailor, I can't do the reading then when all the books are checked out! So there you have it. I'm meant to be a slacker whether I want to be or not.
Over the weekend I visited the British Library, where they have many of the most spectacular of their collections on display. I managed to catch an exhibit they had on Hans Christian Andersen, which was neato. I thought while I was there that I'd sign up for a card, which is a lot more intimidating there than at the Newb. You have to fill out an application online, then have a brief interview with a staff member who will issue you a card if he or she likes your answers. But I was successful, and they printed out a nice looking plastic ID card with my photo printed right onto it. Technology! In a library! Awesome!
Sunday I reconnected with Sinead, and we hung out for hours just chatting. Her hallway has far more interesting people than mine. There's an actual mix of people. I met two roommates, one from Athens and the other from the Phillipines by way of Germany. There's a girl from Spain, another from France, and a very tall and beautiful Norwegian. I got stuffed in the wrong hall, I tell you! Anyhow, we all just talked forever. Sinead and I went down to the bar in the dorm, where they were having buy one get one free pizza, and talked some more. And then right when I thought she should be sick of me, we went to her room and had coffee and chatted some more. By then it was midnight so I puttered on home.
Monday I didn't have class, so I putzed around, and visited with Sinead some more in the evening. Yesterday real classes started. I began with 'Prinicipals of Computing and Information Technology,' which may be interesting or may be very boring because I know it all already. Today, for our practical, we learned about email and mailing lists. I spent the hour surfing the internet. In Cataloging, we learned all about the cahrazy cataloging rules the British Museum made up in the mid-19th century. Which is...applicable...I suppose...in a very limited setting. Like if I ever really wanted a rare book by an anonymous author from the British Library, which might happen a quarter past never.
Then I had Collection Development from a woman who informed us it was her first day teaching. Ever. Her method of teaching was, basically, like, "Anyone not know what collection management is? No one? All right, let's move on." Well, if I knew we were moving on I would have said, "Woah-ho-ho, hang on a minute!" There's a big difference between having a vague idea of what it involves, and actually being able to DO it. Pfft. After that, we had a mock pub quiz with questions that seemed like ones we should understand after taking this class, not before. Like, what are the three major factors to consider when deciding what material to add to your collection? So, I don't know what she's trying to tell us there. That we already know all this? That collection development is whatever is in our gut combined with the vague knowledge we all gained while sort of observing the process as library assistants? I mean, my group won, so clearly we don't even need this class! Lady! Teach!
She then gave us a reading assignment, and informed us that she had forgotten to notify the library of this, meaning that there were only a few copies (hence my earlier rant), and sent us all out in the world to fetch. Being the rebel that I am, while everyone else ran out of the classroom to play a fun game of "Survival of the Fittest Librarian" and fight each other over the three copies of "Collection Management and You!" I went home. Now I have this nagging suspicion that I ought to be doing something, but have since I nothing with which to do it, I'm going to sit here instead.
So that's my life this past week or so. Nothing terribly interesting or noteworthy. Other excitements involve illegally breaking through the firewall enough to download Alias (desperation makes me quite adept!). Maybe if I show this to my IT teacher, I can just stop going to class. Next week: how to use a mouse!
Yes, I suppose I've been a bit MIA. But I have been busy, and that's a good thing! And no, I was not swallowed up by a queue.
I made it through my "Intro" week just fine. It was exhausting. It involved three hour intro lectures for classes we won't have until January, and long, boring meetings trying to get me to sign up for organizations I'm not qualified for. But still, good stuff. I'm totally back in school again, which is really, really weird. I don't really like it. I like the personal freedom that comes from having no responsibilities outside of work. But, that's why I'm here now doing it like this. A year of weirdness, and I'm done.
One thing I've noticed is that no one seems to expect a lot out of us. There are no syllabi outlining precisely what is meant to be read by this or that date. You read as much or as little as you desire. So far, it's been very little, but not out of desire (or lack of). It's because these teachers never thought to put one copy of their book on short term loan, or make it a reference book, despite saying that buying the book is not required and we can use the library. Well, hello sailor, I can't do the reading then when all the books are checked out! So there you have it. I'm meant to be a slacker whether I want to be or not.
Over the weekend I visited the British Library, where they have many of the most spectacular of their collections on display. I managed to catch an exhibit they had on Hans Christian Andersen, which was neato. I thought while I was there that I'd sign up for a card, which is a lot more intimidating there than at the Newb. You have to fill out an application online, then have a brief interview with a staff member who will issue you a card if he or she likes your answers. But I was successful, and they printed out a nice looking plastic ID card with my photo printed right onto it. Technology! In a library! Awesome!
Sunday I reconnected with Sinead, and we hung out for hours just chatting. Her hallway has far more interesting people than mine. There's an actual mix of people. I met two roommates, one from Athens and the other from the Phillipines by way of Germany. There's a girl from Spain, another from France, and a very tall and beautiful Norwegian. I got stuffed in the wrong hall, I tell you! Anyhow, we all just talked forever. Sinead and I went down to the bar in the dorm, where they were having buy one get one free pizza, and talked some more. And then right when I thought she should be sick of me, we went to her room and had coffee and chatted some more. By then it was midnight so I puttered on home.
Monday I didn't have class, so I putzed around, and visited with Sinead some more in the evening. Yesterday real classes started. I began with 'Prinicipals of Computing and Information Technology,' which may be interesting or may be very boring because I know it all already. Today, for our practical, we learned about email and mailing lists. I spent the hour surfing the internet. In Cataloging, we learned all about the cahrazy cataloging rules the British Museum made up in the mid-19th century. Which is...applicable...I suppose...in a very limited setting. Like if I ever really wanted a rare book by an anonymous author from the British Library, which might happen a quarter past never.
Then I had Collection Development from a woman who informed us it was her first day teaching. Ever. Her method of teaching was, basically, like, "Anyone not know what collection management is? No one? All right, let's move on." Well, if I knew we were moving on I would have said, "Woah-ho-ho, hang on a minute!" There's a big difference between having a vague idea of what it involves, and actually being able to DO it. Pfft. After that, we had a mock pub quiz with questions that seemed like ones we should understand after taking this class, not before. Like, what are the three major factors to consider when deciding what material to add to your collection? So, I don't know what she's trying to tell us there. That we already know all this? That collection development is whatever is in our gut combined with the vague knowledge we all gained while sort of observing the process as library assistants? I mean, my group won, so clearly we don't even need this class! Lady! Teach!
She then gave us a reading assignment, and informed us that she had forgotten to notify the library of this, meaning that there were only a few copies (hence my earlier rant), and sent us all out in the world to fetch. Being the rebel that I am, while everyone else ran out of the classroom to play a fun game of "Survival of the Fittest Librarian" and fight each other over the three copies of "Collection Management and You!" I went home. Now I have this nagging suspicion that I ought to be doing something, but have since I nothing with which to do it, I'm going to sit here instead.
So that's my life this past week or so. Nothing terribly interesting or noteworthy. Other excitements involve illegally breaking through the firewall enough to download Alias (desperation makes me quite adept!). Maybe if I show this to my IT teacher, I can just stop going to class. Next week: how to use a mouse!
posted by Lauren Matson | 7:03 PM
2 Comments:
Hmm. This 19th century British Museum cataloging system ... was it developed by Antonio Panizzi, by chance? I just wrote a paper about him! [Miss Piggy voice]: "What an unbelievble coincidence!"
It was! It was!
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