More EdFutures things

#EdFutures

Today I sat in on my first session for the Education Futures open class I’m taking and WOW this is going to be a lot of fun. I’m actually doing another webinar session through one of my professional organizations that uses the same platform, and I’m amazed at how much better this is. People are just so much more engaged already (we’ll see if this continues).

While I am certainly hoping to learn more about the whole idea of futurism and planning for several scenarios – I’m even more interested to see what the other participants think of the issues we discuss. As a recent graduate, newly hired faculty member, and librarian I’m fairly isolated in terms of viewpoints. Add to that the fact that I work at a (totally great!) university in a fairly homogenous area, and it’s just nice to see what everyone else thinks.

Oh, and completely selfish reason for hoping I get a lot out of this class? I’m in the process of planning for the future of my collection (which I’m fairly protective of). I am hoping that this will give me a better idea of how to plan for the several very different futures that I’m currently looking at. Because if I make the wrong decision, there are serious implications for the institution’s library services and materials for decades to come.

EdFutures

Hey random people who may or may not still read my blog! I’m going to be posting about an open course I’m participating with called Education Futures. It is looking at how/why/whether we should be looking towards the future and planning for them.

To explain why I’m interested in this course, I think that it is necessary to describe myself. I’m an academic librarian (tenure track and all – which, let me tell you, is NOT designed for someone who works 40 hours a week), and I’m planning on a LONG career in academia. Why is long capitalized? Well, I’m in my early/mid-20s, so hopefully I will continue to be working in an academic environment when some of these future situations actually come to be.

Studying, preparing for, and imagining the future is so important in higher education, which is what I have experience with. We get students when they are young enough to be the canaries of society (meaning we see the changes in environment through them first), but old enough to confident that they know exactly what they want and that whatever we are offering them isn’t what they need. In many ways we are constantly reacting to changing students and constantly trying to catch up to them. I’m hoping that this course, and hearing everyone else’s opinions, will give me a chance to feel a little more prepared so that even if I’m 2 steps behind the newest crop of freshmen, I will have previously prepared a list of potential scenarios and ways to react to them so I won’t just be blindly careening from one potential solution to the next.

So...hi everybody!

Long time no write, etc. I'm not going to apologize for not blogging (because that's silly, and anyway no one reads this), but I will give a bit of the reason why. I started my new job (yes...it's been that long), got a cat, and have been working at making friends. Job is still going great, although I'm pretty stressed about some things that I might get into later. Cat is doing fine now, although we've been through a lot (we're coming up on $1,000 worth of vet bills), and I love him to pieces. Gary is currently sleeping next to me on the couch, snoring louder than most of my ex-boyfriends.

The friends thing is probably the least successful part of my life. I was warned when I moved here that it wasn't so easy to make friends in Grand Rapids, but I figured it'd happen eventually. Let's just say that it hasn't been so good. I've met LOTS of people, but only a couple people I'd want as friends (I differentiate friend from acquaintance). Mostly that's ok, but it gets old sometimes. The realities of moving far away from family and friends for a job. And probably also the realities of being so much younger than my co-workers.

I just thought I should give a quick update before I get into the professional/work related blogging, which will come soon. Maybe even tomorrow!

Guns on Campus

This article showed up today in one of my higher education or library feeds (I want to say it was the kept up academic librarian...but I might be wrong).

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091021/POLITICS02/910210371/1026/rss06


Basically, there are people trying to prevent colleges and universities from outlawing concealed weapons on campus property. For the record - I don't believe weapons should be allowed on campuses. As one of the quoted educators says - it can't be a good idea to combine youth, drinking, and firearms. That being said, I respect one the issues cited as a reason why the rule needs changing - that the borders of campuses are not always clearly marked, and thus people don't know that they're breaking the rules.

I don't know what will happen with this bill in the long term, but it is something to keep an eye on, particularly as I've heard of similar bills being introduced in other areas.

This isn't a particularly interesting or well thought out post, but I thought some of you might be interested in this article and the issues it raises.

In non-library related news, I'm buying a car this weekend/week (and driving to michigan a week from tomorrow). In theory I have an apartment...maybe. I'm not yet approved, so we'll see what happens.

The Start of Something New...

I am currently in the midst of a great existential crisis.

For the record, my life is amazing. I have signed and returned my contract, meaning that I am officially the Government Documents Librarian at Grand Valley State University. It is about as close to my dream job as I could ever imagine getting right out of school and on top of it, the position is tenure track faculty. Wow. Also, I currently have a relocation professional finding me an apartment in Grand Rapids. Did I mention that this relocation service is being paid for by my institution? Life is amazing!

But back to my crisis. How, you might be asking yourself, can she be having an existential crisis when everything is going so well? Her life is awesome! And you know what - you would be right. Life is excellent. But could it be too good?

There was just a post on one of my higher-ed blogs (I don't know which one or I would link) about feeling like an impostor. And I realized - that is exactly my problem. I feel like at any moment someone somewhere will realize that I was never meant to be in this position, I'm not qualified for this job! I'm not even qualified for my diplomas!

For the record, I do know that I am qualified. I know that I will thrive in this environment with these people. But it doesn't change the fact that somehow I am turning into a real life grownup with responsibilities, a car payment, and an actual date for my tenure decision. (You have no idea how scary it was to read that part...even if it is 7 years away, it's still terrifying.)


It's like this xkcd cartoon. Except instead of batman, it's something else. Case in point - the title to this post is a reference to High School Musical...and I didn't even do it on purpose.

Public vs. Academic

This is a question I've been thinking a lot about recently. As I mentioned, I am in the middle of a massive job search, and a large part of that search is deciding where to apply. I am not tied to any geographic area - and in fact I'm pretty excited by the opportunity to move somewhere new. (I'm the kind of person who loves seeing new places and meeting the people who live there. I like adventure.) In my case, the question is more about what kind of institution I want to work at.

My previous experience is limited to academic libraries. It's what I originally planned to do when I went to library school, and it's even what my concentration was in. I love the challenge of academia (in this case referring to research libraries) - the deep research, the esoteric topics, the strange collections. That's the academic culture I came from. I love to teach, and in fact considered becoming a teacher for quite some time. That love of teaching is the reason why I think working in a community college would be particularly interesting. All of the CC librarians I've met have been involved closely with teaching students and hands on services. That appeals to the people person in me. Heck, I've even applied to a few school library positions. I really enjoy working with kids and like I said, I did consider becoming a teacher for quite a while.

But I've applied to a number of public library jobs (and am interviewing for some as well). A major reason why I love public libraries is because they provide services to everyone, regardless of background, age, and income. I'm passionate about freedom of information - it's what makes our country great. And while public library work can be more challenging (you deal with people who have nowhere else to go, or who have personal problems), it can also be incredibly rewarding. And I would get to do programming! I love being crafty and planning things, so I would have so much fun planning different programs for library patrons.

I find my own flexibility in what type of librarian I want to be rather interesting because many of my classmates had a very specific place and/or type of position they want. I think part of it is my personality - I'm flexible and love challenges, and each one of these positions offers a different type of challenge. And part of it is me being realistic. I have applied for more jobs than any of my classmates (somewhere approaching a hundred at this point...maybe over?...I've lost count). I'm fully aware of the effect of the economy on libraries across the country, and I know that many of the places I'm applying are possibly in the middle of a hiring freeze, even though they are publicizing openings. I come to the profession with a fair bit of part time experience (five years), but without any real professional experience. (I went to graduate school directly after I finished my B.A. - slightly unusual, but I knew this was what I wanted to do.) I'm competing with people who have significantly more experience, so I have to be flexible regarding where I work.

In the end, I know that I will be happy no matter where I end up. I'm so lucky to be receiving the interviews I am at some really incredible institutions (public and academic). And I'm thankful that a number of institutions are giving me a chance - even without an extensive professional background.

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!