Saturday, May 28, 2011

Why I'm Excited to be an Archivist

Sifting through historic documents, arranging and describing them to the best of my ability without bias, so that others may discover, interpret, and learn from them. 

Funny how my years of writing papers in undergrad and trying to give a fair portrayal of the events, namely not take sides, has turned into something I enjoy doing for my career. I'm thinking I'm might really enjoy A&D, even if it does get tedious, monotonous, and somewhat boring at times. 

Funny how I enjoy it, even when I'm not working with collections that pertain to my personal historical interests. Economic history? No, thank you. Never thought I'd be interested in it, much less working with it. But I'm still enjoying it anyway. And I consider that a huge step in the right direction for my career. 

Another part I'm also looking forward to is reference and outreach. Having that background of A&D gives me the in depth knowledge of creating the finding aids, so I can better collocate collections for researchers. I suppose in a way it's similar to RA, but not quite the same. I'm excited to see how these different aspects are all coming together for me, and how this job has given me a better glimpse into what it's like to be an archivist. I know it's not exactly the same thing, especially as I'm not technically working in an archive, but special collections can come pretty close to that, don't you think? In a way, I'm kind of seeing myself here as a Lone Arranger, which makes me giggle. 

Sitting at my desk yesterday, I realized I'm excited to see where this path leads. Records Management? Archivist? Special Collections? Arrangement and Description? Reference and outreach? Or will I find myself in the digital projects realm? It all kind of comes together.... scary but thrilling at the same time. 

Will I survive as a half baked Master's student in a small town without the immediate support of fellow colleagues? I'm praying it's true.... and I'm about to find out.

Monday, May 23, 2011

And the results are in!

This semester: 4.0

I am quite pleased, if I do say so myself.

Drew and I were discussing this in the car the other day. It's funny how in college, and even my first semester of grad school, I felt like I never worked hard enough and my grades, no matter how outstanding they were, were worth more than the amount of work I put in. Basically, I felt like I should always do more, and better, work to earn the 'A' I received. Ridiculous. (Granted, there were a few classes that I felt the grade truly reflected my effort and work level for the class.) I'm glad to say that this semester, I'm finally feeling like I'm putting in the level of work to receive the grade I do, which is a nice feeling... in a way. But I still admit I set ridiculously high standards for myself. And with all that being said...

Am I really crazy enough to set my standards for another 4.0 next semester, being newly married, living in a new town, and going back to full time status? Yes. Bring it on.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Year 1: Complete

Hard to believe, but it's true! I've already got a whole year of graduate school under my belt. I'm a year and a half away from graduating with my MLIS, and I'm looking forward to it. Looking forward not only to the degree, but also to the learning that will take place before and after receiving my degree. Overall, I've enjoyed my classes this year, although I will admit to some frustrating and "What am I doing here??" times.

It's been a learning curve indeed, and that's not about to change any time soon. I'm glad. Learning how to adapt my learning style to an online class format, learning to communicate and articulate better, learning patience with myself, peers, and others during this journey. This blog is intended not only as a forum in which to further discuss topics raised in class, but also about the library and information science profession as a whole. And the archives profession. And most importantly, my journey as I find my niche in the biblio world. Because, you know, I can't just do one thing. :-) As long as you stay for the ride, I can guarantee there will be side excursions into knitting and all things Bleez. Enjoy, and here's to a wonderful summer!