The Past Few Weeks

I make no secret of my loathing for summer classes. It isn't the standard "I'd rather have a break," though I suppose that factors in. Rather, it's the inherent lack of balance. The summer semester at Pitt is 3-4 weeks (depending how you count) shorter than the other two, and like everywhere, the professors who are stuck teaching summer classes have to decide whether to try to fit an entire semester's worth of material in--or short-change students who are paying as much for these classes as they would for classes in real semesters.

This summer's professors seem to be trying to find a balance--definitely, they are packing in more than fits in 12 weeks, but I don't think it's quite as much as they'd hit in 15. That's probably the fairest approach, in this situation.

I really believe Pitt's LIS program would be better if they would not run by the rest of the school's semester system during the year--they already run more people through summer classes than the university is designed to handle, which implies, to me, that they are not unduly concerned with "how the rest of Pitt does it." Instead, they should cut a week out of fall and a week out of spring, in order to make summer two weeks longer (since most things are pretty much closed in the summer, students are used to not having the services they need). It would not remove the imbalance entirely, but it would be a good step toward eliminating it.

Other than summer classes--and at some point I'll talk about what I'm taking and what I think of it--I have been busy with conferences and interviews--not that many of the latter, but enough to be noticeable in the scheme of my semester, certainly. (I could write up SLA, but the time has passed. I will try to blog about ALA, though.) I'm composing a series of posts about interviews--dos and don'ts, mostly--but I think I'm going to wait until I have a job to really discuss any of it in depth. My desire to help others who are about to be--or who are currently--in my shoes wars, somewhat, with my desire not to damage my own prospects. I was a little surprised--and pleased, with a tiny bit of heartburn, wondering "what else did I say?"--when a recent interviewer mentioned something I'd said months ago in my blog. (Mostly, I was pleased. Sometimes I wonder whether what I say is even a little bit interesting.) So, that's one bit of advice: people do read what you put out there. I still have few enough followers that maybe Google Analytics will show spikes when search committees decide I'm worth looking into. :)

On the being-busy-and-conference-preparation front, please do come see the Book Cart Drill Team's Pittsburgh Performance, this Thursday, 4pm, Posvar Hall. We'll still be selling raffle tickets, and the final drawing will take place after the performance!



Other posts in the hopper: comparison/contrast of the MLIS program with engineering graduate school (a coworker asked for that, verbally, and it got me thinking); some thoughts on library school in general and Pitt specifically; hopefully an announcement of a Book Cart Drill Team win at ALA :); other ALA posts, including possibly some discussion of the MLIS program accreditation discussions going on there; hopefully an announcement that I got a job, followed by discussion of the moving process; and maybe some musings on the transition from engineering to library work--I should see if I can get a guest blogger in for that one, since he's gone a different path than I plan to. :) After that, here's hoping I'm changing the focus of the blog, somewhat, from library school to librarianship!

Waffling and indecision

I've changed my summer course schedule twice, now. On the bright side, all of this fiddling has left me with courses I'm excited to be taking!

• INFSCI 2955: Special Topics: Systems – “Web Engineering” (Monday nights)
• LIS 2850: Library’s Role in Teaching and Learning, aka Library Instruction (Four weekends, Friday nights and Saturdays)
• LIS 2184: Legal Issues in Information Handling: Copyright & Fair Use in the Digital Age (Wednesday afternoons)

I also have approval to count my Aviary work as an independent study, which is pretty fantastic. I'm setting aside a day a week for that--maybe more, if I can compress my work schedule enough to allow for it--as well as some time to finish my current field placement, which will extend into the summer.

I'm still in the process of scheduling the Book Kart Drill Team practices. And I'm going to the annual conferences of both ALA and SLA, which will be a great opportunity, though I know from ER&L what conference attendance does to one's schedule, during school. I'll also run for a spot on the executive board of SCALA again; that's been pretty rewarding, and I want to see the group into the fall.

I should probably leave some room in my schedule for doing homework. Hmm.

Anyway, it's a busy and exciting summer. I think I'll learn a lot.

Brewin' and visitin' DC

It's time, folks. I haven't run this by Dale, yet, but I'm proposing that brewing should happen on March 7. I won't have any homework due that week, since it's spring break, and I don't work that Saturday (I do work that Sunday night, though, bleh). Anyone want to come watch/help stir?

Also, about spring break... I would like to visit the DC area sometime that week (March 9-15). I'm going to see whether getting that Wednesday or that Friday off is possible. If you're in the DC area and want a visit, chime in with what times are good for you! If you're in Pittsburgh and want a ride down there, also chime in. I haven't asked around for crash space, yet, but once I have a rough schedule decided, I will. :)

I'll post about summer classes later this week.

The semester begins

My first class of the spring semester happens today. It is not 12pm-3pm, as I had mistakenly remembered, but 3pm-6pm. (So, in order to leave myself one weekday for doing homework, I think I may move my internship hours from Tuesdays to Mondays.) I have a cold and am considering napping for a couple of hours before I go, because, wow, do I feel cruddy. What a terrible way to start a semester!

For anyone who is planning to go to ALA Annual this year, a reminder: registration opened today. The early bird price is significantly lower than the full price, so sign up now!

One down, two-ish to go

I've started a few posts in my head, but only today did I realize that I didn't, you know, post any of them. It turned out that I didn't have the kind of down-time I expected to have during the break: classes (and projects) ran until the 11th, work kept going right up until the 19th, and I started both my field placement and volunteer position in work's "off" days, in addition to trying (and, it seems, failing) to knit a blanket, making Christmas presents, and just generally preparing for two back-to-back multi-state treks. I didn't actually get more than one Sunday at home, and I think I wasted most of it sleeping, instead of doing all of those cleaning/organizing projects I was hoping to do; so, I'm going into next semester with a still-messy apartment, some CSS glitches on my homepage, and just generally less stuff accomplished than I'd hoped...

Moving on to news and starting with the largest first, I decided not to apply to PhD programs. As much as I'd like to continue my education, I'm just not certain enough, one semester in, what specific things I want to work on. Also, as much as I want to work on pie-in-the-sky research--and, wow, would I--I am awfully tired of being a student: the undergraduate feel of my MLIS program has worn me down far more than I would have expected, going in. And while I know a PhD program wouldn't have the same kind of atmosphere to it, I still find my motivation to continue being a student is pretty much gone, for the time being. I want to go out in the world and do stuff.

On that note, I'll be attending the Electronic Resources & Libraries conference in February. I applied for a scholarship, and to my utter surprise and delight, I won. I think it will be a tremendous help to me, as that's the area of the field I'm looking at... but I don't feel like I fully understand what the current state of the art is, or where I would best fit in. I'll learn a lot and hopefully make some good contacts, there.

I'm still signed up for four classes and a field placement, in addition to my 13-hour-a-week internship and the most exciting volunteer position ever. Yep, it turned out my meeting was just a meeting, not an interview, and he actually had me start that afternoon. So, officially, I am a volunteer at the National Aviary, helping to put their library together. They have a small but solid collection of books and journals, which I will help to put in order. For now, their "catalog" will be an Excel spreadsheet; perhaps once I've got a handle on what's there and how much time it will take to get everything together I can talk them into an open-source OPAC of some sort. But there's plenty to keep me busy now.

The field placement is also going well. I didn't get enough hours in December to finish by the end of the spring semester, but I can take an incomplete and finish early in the summer. It's going to be a good experience: I should come out of it pretty knowledgeable about institutional repositories and open access.

It's going to be an incredibly busy semester, but I am excited.

Next Semester - It'll be a crazy ride!

I made a schedule change, folks. See, my backup plan, should I end up hating academia in five years (look, I know I would like to be some flavor of academic librarian, certainly, but I'm also aware that I have yet to fight my way through real-life academic politics; Masters students--even research-based ones--are shielded from all that, particularly if they're lucky enough to have the least dramatastic advisor of all time), is to be a Young Adult Librarian. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to take one class in that, particularly since the one semi-high-workload class I thought I'd take was likely to have some repeat content in it, for me. Analyzing massive amounts of data and presenting it coherently? Yeah, been there.

Here's my new schedule:
Monday 3-6: Academic Librarianship
Tuesday 6-9: Resources for Young Adults
Wednesday 11-3: Work, 6-9: Retrieving Information
Rotating/Online: Introduction to Cataloging and Classification
Friday 11-4: Work
Alternating Saturday 1-5 and Sunday 4-8: Work
Hopefully one day a week (Thursday, if possible): Volunteering
5 hours a week, somewhere in there: Field Placement at CMU
One Saturday a month, 7:30-10:30am: Volunteering at Planned Parenthood

I have trouble believing that the [first] volunteer position I mention above is actually going to work out, because it's just too good to be true. You see, if you said to me, "Coral, if there were any place in Pittsburgh--any place at all, and forget what your degrees are in--where you could work, where would it be?", I would name this place. I'm e-mailing back and forth with their acting librarian (he has fantastic credentials, but none of them are specifically library-related, other than his caring for their collection up until now), and we have a meeting set up for the week after next. He makes it sound like he's not so much interviewing me as showing me what I would be working on and letting me decide whether or not I'm up to it. To which, of course, the response is "Hell yes!" ... Only, you know, more professionally phrased. I am unbelievably psyched about this position. But I really shouldn't even say as much as I have, until I'm really sure it'll happen. I really, really, really want for it to happen. When/If it's for sure, I'll post with more details... like the name of the place.

The CMU Field Placement is also, I guess, not 100% definite? It's likely. My would- or will-be boss has collected my demographic information and described the project at a high level, and I have the ideal faculty advisor for the project, as well. ... I'll wait and describe that better when I have a clearer handle on what I would/will be doing. But it's digital library (repository) stuff, and there's an intellectual property/copyright aspect to it. It's exciting.

I'm seriously psyched about next semester. Nervous, too, because wow will I be busy. (Then again, I won't be hopped up on Ny-/Dayquil, or running on decreased oxygen, we hope, so my capacity for work will be higher. Also, I don't think any of my classes require weekly essays on multiple books and articles, like my one class this semester did. So that's a win.)

Further Musings

I feel like I was unnecessarily harsh in my post yesterday. Looking at it, there's nothing I consider untrue or really feel a need to change, but the whole thing kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I think what bothers me is that I came off sounding as though I'm unhappy, and, on the whole, I'm really not. Yes, I think there are some serious problems with Pitt's program--problems that may lead to a drop in our rank, honestly--but, you know, I'm still there, and I plan to finish my degree. I'm looking forward to next semester's classes, which I've mostly chosen, even though the official schedule isn't up yet. (An unofficial schedule is available to anyone who bothers Googling for it.) The student groups--something I haven't discussed, thus far, but ought to--are great; SLAPSG is a little late getting off the ground, but there's a lot of interest on the part of the student body, and I know the [super active and awesome] local chapter will help us out. SCALA is fabulous: we're planning on putting together a Book Kart Drill Team (it's spelled with a "K," yes) for ALA Annual 2009--I'm heading that up, because I'm involved in ALA already and because I'm Treasurer--a Technology Petting Zoo for students who want to learn about and play with various kinds of technology, and a t-shirt sale. And there's a new student group, centered around community outreach, called SISCO (which bothers me every time I hear it, because I think about network hardware, but there you go). These are excellent and all make me very happy.

As for my internship at CMU's Engineering and Science Library, I am really enjoying it and learning a lot. Every time I get really confident about my reference skills, someone comes along with a hard chemistry or math question (why is it never electrical engineering? or even computer science?), which reminds me what a beginner I really am. But that's really not a bad thing; it just means I am constantly learning. I'm signed up to help give a talk on RSS and Google Reader, in the near future, which I find pretty exciting (and terrifying), and I will be helping at least one of my coworkers redesign her portion of the library web site. I am super excited about these projects. Slightly less exciting--but certainly useful to the library and still a learning opportunity--is a set of ongoing projects, going through a large collection of materials science books donated by a retiring professor and a smaller, but much older, collection of books that belonged to Roberts' (of Roberts Hall) mentor. A large portion of my time goes, of course, to "other projects as assigned"; earlier this week, I went through some tech reports, to determine whether or not each one was redundant or new to the collection, and last week I picked up some journals from a professor. That kind of thing. I'm hoping for some collection development (spendin' money!) and more instruction experience, before too long.

So, you know, things are actually pretty good.

On a more personal note, I've finally gotten together the bravery and momentum to go out and volunteer for a cause that I think is important (in all that free time I don't have). That makes me feel pretty good about myself, even if it means I go to bed earlier than I otherwise might on some Friday nights.

And, as I predicted, my schedule is changing: I'll be working Saturday afternoons, starting in a few weeks, because the other Information Assistant, who used to do the Saturday shift, got a job. (Yay for enjobination!) I'll have to drop an hour, somewhere in the week (personally, I'm hoping to start at 11am instead of 10am on either Tuesday or Friday morning ;)), to stay on the right side of CMU's rules, but it will be a good experience; back-up is a phone call away, instead of a short walk away, on weekends. Self reliance and all that!

Also, I have a purple iPod Nano. I love it. It holds all of my music, a bunch of podcasts, and a couple of TV shows. I've already used it to listen to supplemental class material that I otherwise wouldn't. (Because I have very little self control when faced with a computer monitor, I have a very limited amount of time I can spend paying attention/not reading random stuff on the Internet, if I'm at my computer--limited by how many photos I have to sort, actually--and the Panopto-only lectures are going to soak that up; no time for the supplemental material on top of it! But with an iPod, I can listen while I wait for the bus, while I walk out to get tasty Indian food for lunch, etc.) It will make the 5 hour trip to Detroit and back, in early November, into usable time, which will decrease my guilt at going (instead of doing homework). This is a win.

Shameless Procrastination - and my schedule

It occurs to me that I never posted my schedule. It also occurs to me that, by doing so now, I am pretty much forcing it to change. I'm OK with that.

• Monday - In Oakland 12-6. Homework for Tuesday thereafter.


• Tuesday - In Oakland 10-3 and 6-9, usually doing reading in Oakland in between.


• Wednesday - Homework or errands in the morning, in Oakland 2-5, homework for Thursday thereafter.


• Thursday - Homework all day, including reading for Friday. Watching video of class when it's posted.


• Friday - In Oakland 10-4. Every other Friday evening, gaming. (I'm not up for homework on Friday nights, really; that's my designated fun night, I think.)


• Saturday - Reading for Thursday class.


• Sunday - Writing for Monday assignments (some of which are for Thursday class, as well).

I had an Exalted game that was slated to happen every other Thursday night, but that fell through. The ST got promoted at his job and just doesn't have the time anymore. I'm happy for him but sad for me; I put some time and effort into that character. And I find Exalted satisfying in a way that I just haven't found some other role-playing systems to be. (No offense to my Facebook D&D group, who is awesome, even if they are letting my character lay on the ground and bleed, right now. ;)) ... I wish I could convince someone to run Shadowrun 4e, or a different Exalted game, on opposing Thursday or Friday nights; that would be the best thing ever. Games at someone's house is much more within my budget than going out to dinner or drinks, and it's escapist in the same way as fiction is--only without the "I should be reading library stuff, not this fiction book" guilt--also it's just, you know, fun. (Side note: There are plenty of library folk who appreciate the value of games, so I don't feel super weird about coming out of the gaming closet on this blog. I only feel a little weird. :)) I realize my game-running karma is low; when I have a full-time job-and-no-school, or I'm in a graduate program where my schooling and work are integrated better, I will have to pull together and run a game of my own. But for now, for time reasons, I must rely on the kindness of friends.

Unless anyone's interested in Parlor Larps? (If you click that link, don't read too much about Snow White or All Saints Eve. I have those two.) I'd run one of those for interested people--not as well as Henry did, but I'd do my best.

First Day of School

I used to love the first day of school, as a kid. Not really the second day or onward, mind, but the first was always pretty fun. There I was, with some brand new school gear, meeting up with a bunch of people I hadn't seen since the end of school last year--and hadn't yet remembered that I didn't much like--with everyone's energy levels pretty high, the teachers both optimistic and in no big hurry, and knowing autumn and Halloween were coming up. It was a good time.

Somehow, though, I think my professors this week will jump right in (which is for the best). And I don't have a lot of cool new school supplies--I didn't even buy myself pens--though I do kind of like my backpack. And it's 80+ degrees. Also, I'd been looking forward to taking notes on my laptop, but I found out during orientation that we have desks a little bit like the one in the photo--only without the cool rockstar quote. (Link goes to the page where I found it.) Barely enough space for a notebook and coffee, let alone a 17" laptop, which might fit, but there's a real danger of it being knocked off, the first time anyone nearby moves. So I'm not entirely sure what to do about that. I'll take my laptop, but I don't have very high hopes of being able to use it. Maybe I should get one of those pens Target sells, that record what you write with auto-OCR? (Sorry to be so negative about this. I'm grumpy and feeling let down, as far as the desk situation goes. Knowing it's a technology-heavy program, what I pay in tuition, and that there are 200+ other people paying the same amount, just among the library graduate students, I expect more tech-friendly facilities.)

On the bright side, my schedule is pretty doable, with Monday being the one "bad" day (two classes right in a row). I'll post a combination of work and class schedule when I know it.

For now, assuming I'm not working that evening, I'm thinking of going to this. (Thursday evenings are still in flux.)

Anyway, I'd better start getting ready to go!

Ends and beginnings

I've changed around my class schedule. I think it's pretty solid, though I may still want to change sections for one class. 

LIS 2000: Understanding Information

LIS 2001: Organizing Information
LIS 2670: Digital Libraries 
LIS 2700: Managing Libraries (the real name is longer)

You'll notice there are only four classes there. I mean, that's a pretty heavy load for grad classes, anyway, but I had resolved to take five, so that I wouldn't be stuck taking four during the summer. (I hate summer classes. A semester seems a little short, for some topics, but trying to finish a class during the summer is just insane. I already know one of my summer classes will take up a few weekends, for instance; it says so on the course schedule.) I found, as I was trying to schedule things out, that the only way I could possibly take five classes was to force myself to attend nine hours of class, in a row, and I know myself and my attention span better than that. I'm worried about six hours, honestly. (I'm buying a coffee pot and cleaning out my thermos.) Or I could take a class I didn't want as much, which seems like a waste, in its own way. So, I lamented, it will just have to be four classes, this semester, and I'll make up for it in the spring.  Ah, well; it'll be an easier transition, this way, and having the extra time to do everything well, the semester before PhD applications are due, isn't the worst thing in the world...

Having my schedule decided, having my Pitt digital ID and login information reportedly on its way to me, having met several of my new coworkers at CMU, having watched one very cool coworker leave Brentwood already, and having seen the post made to the internal blog at Brentwood, saying I'm leaving, I'm kind of in a different mindset, now. I no longer feel entirely like I'm part of the Brentwood staff; I'm sad to be leaving them--in, you know, two weeks--and I'm excited about starting my new job and my studies. (It's very funny that I only just got my status changed to "Staff" yesterday, in Millenium. :)) Again, I find myself just feeling kind of liminal and floaty. 

This post was originally just going to be about how much I like the Brentwood folks and will miss working with them and also how excited I am to work with the folks at CMU, who also seem pretty excellent. I just kind of wandered off into logistics, though, instead. But I can't understate what a good experience I've had, or how excited I am about working with the folks at CMU (which I expect to be a better education, in a lot of ways, than my classes themselves). It's a pretty fantastic time to be me. 

Back to scheduling, for a second: not to seem like a dork--which you know I am--or like someone with a bad set of priorities--which you know I am not--but I did check with everyone to make sure my bi-weekly Exalted game could be moved to Wednesdays, instead of Tuesdays, if needed. Obviously, school and work come first, but I'd like to be able to fit that into my schedule, if at all possible. It's good to have regularly scheduled "play" time, you know? It keeps a person sane ... ish. And Josh is a very good ST. And I think I finally have my character set up so she'll be fun to play, within that group. So I'm extra pleased that everything seems to be falling into place, with respect to scheduling.

Less than a month!

A month from today, I'll be completing my first week of school. Assuming my schedule doesn't change when I meet with my advisor, Thursday is going to be my roughest day--actually, you could say it'll be my only regularly scheduled rough day--with six straight hours of class. This seems unavoidable, if I'm going to take the five classes I really want to take this semester. 

Those of you who do math in your head are probably thinking I'm supremely bad (or supremely good) at scheduling, if I have a six-hour block on Thursdays, with only five classes, but you're assuming I'll have the same on Tuesdays. That's not the case. The University of Pittsburgh's Information School, or at least their Library and Information Science program, seems to have a philosophy of "compression." People I've talked to in the library community have been surprised to learn that we have a one year program--and even more surprised that we still require the same number of credits as any two year program. The second part surprised me, too. I was also surprised to learn that we compress a three credit-hour class--something I'd expect to happen on a MWF or TR schedule--down into a single meeting per week. Now you see. So, without further adieu, here is my proposed schedule:

Monday 12-3pm LIS 2700 Managing Libraries and Information Systems & Services in Changing Environments
Monday 6-9pm LIS 2002 Retrieving Information 
Wednesday 3-6pm LIS 2970 Special Topics: Digital Citizenship
Thursday 12-3pm LIS 2000 Understanding Information 
Thursday 3-6pm LIS 2001 Organizing Information 

On the up side, this covers 4/5 of my "core" classes, leaving me almost completely free to take electives such as Digital Libraries, The Library's Role in Teaching and Learning, and Special Topics courses for the remainder of my time in school. On the down side, there weren't that many electives offered this semester that I really wanted to take--I wonder if I'll have trouble finding four and three classes, respectively, for the next two semesters. I mean, I would really have liked to have taken San Jose's distance course, Seminar in Contemporary Issues: Digital Copyright, but there are only two slots for Pitt students, and already someone is on the wait list. I guess I'll have to rely on my [usually] unnecessary impatience to register for classes to get me into some of those, in the future. And I'll have to assume that, if Pitt goes to the trouble to include something in their course directory, it is offered consistently at least once a year. In which case, I'll be flooded with courses that interest me in the spring and summer!