Same old blog, brand new content!

As you can see, this blog began as an assignment for a class I took during my first semester of library school. A lot has changed since then. I finished my graduate degree at the end of July/beginning of August, finished my internship, and left behind the life of a student. Oh, and I moved back to my hometown (temporarily hopefully - unfortunately my hometown is the location of one of the top 10 Library Science programs in the country, so it's unlikely that I will find a job in this area).

So I guess I'll start by talking about why I chose to be a librarian. I could tell the same story all librarians do - that I got my first library card before I could write my name (true story!) or how I remember browsing through my father's library (which is really what he had) and always being able to find just the book I needed. But while those contributed to my love of reading and books, it isn't why I chose to be a librarian. When I was in college I worked in the library (which I did in part because I was a work study student and in part because my high school biology teacher told us to try to get a job in the library because it was the easiest job to have during college). Until that job I always said I hated people, I wanted to work in an office somewhere away from the annoyances that come with working with the public. But I realized that I love working with people!

So when I finished my undergraduate degree, which was in Russian Regional Studies and Political Science, I decided to head to graduate school. I learned so much during the course of my degree, but what really cemented the idea that I belonged in librarianship was my internship. I was so lucky to be accepted into a year long internship/training program at the university's library system. I learned how to really work at an information/reference desk and provide library services. But even more than that, I learned what it meant to be a librarian - to be welcoming and well educated yes, but also to keep learning, to join professional organizations, and to be active in the profession.

Hopefully this blog will the place where I chronicle my entry into professional librarianship. At the moment I am still in the process of searching for a job, so I won't talk too much about that, but hopefully I will soon be employed at an amazing student oriented institution with fabulous coworkers and well on my way to a successful and fulfilling career!