Done for the Semester

I am happy to say that I am done for this semester. I can't believe I made it. I keep expecting one of my professors to corner me in a dark alley and inform me that I have to write another ten page paper. Which brings me to the reason I haven't updated in almost a month. I had two 10 page papers which ate my soul. It's ok though because the soul has been restored through the watching of Torchwood and the visiting of Carnegie museums and libraries.

The Carnegie Public Library in Oakland is so freaking amazing. I went in there today and seriously had a librarygasm. I checked out as much books as I could carry. It was swell. None of these books had anything to do with the library profession. I'm kind of burnt out on it right now. The next three weeks will be reading and writing for me.

The Natural History museum was awesome as well. I saw the dinosaur exhibit through the windows in the library and was like, what the hell, man. I mean, I'm finished for the semester except for work next week so I figured I might as well go for it. The dinosaur skeletons are awesome. The mineral exhibit is really cool too. I didn't go into the art museum for long because I had just come from the library with my backpack and security told me I couldn't have it in the gallery. I figured I'd been walking around long enough anyway. Tomorrow, I might go back and see the rest of it. I need things to do for the next week. I figured I would check out the Warhol museum and get some christmas shopping done. That would be helpful.

Any suggestions on what a swinging archivist should do in Pittsburgh? Seems like I should know by now seeing as how I've lived there since August. I've been busy writing disaster plans and literature reviews. I included zombies in the disaster plan. You gotta plan for this stuff. Anything can happen. You have to protect your valuable archival collections from becoming zombie noms.

I should not blog at 2am. Goodnight, friends.

Quick Things

I fail a little at updating and I am sorry.

In the world of library school, I have been writing feverishly, trying to finish four papers at once. They are all done. There are only two left this semester. I will probably start working on them later this week. I am wrecked, seriously school is kicking my ass.

I signed up for classes next semester: Archival Appraisal, Advocacy & Ethics, Digital Preservation, and Archival Representation. I will weep for my social life next semester. Not that I have one now or anything.

Pittsburgh makes me lonely. I can't say I'm not glad to be heading home next week.

Learned a new book treatment, making new cases. I like working in the preservation lab. I'm thinking of trying to get a job at lab after I finish at school. I'm probably going to take it into consideration because so far, I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I like hands on things. I need to talk to archivists and librarians outside of the program. I feel like I have an inaccurate view of what they do.

On a completely unrelated note, has anybody seen the new Doctor Who Special? I watched it tonight and I was digging it. I can't wait for Christmas.
Thanks for reading <3

Archivists have no clue as to what they do all day

So I had my meeting with my adviser and I have to decide what to do. I have the option of switching out of the program and moving to Librarianship instead of Archives-ness. I'm confused about it because I thought I knew what Archivists did but apparently I don't. Apparently, they don't know either. We did repository reviews for one of my Archives classes and we had to ask specific questions during our interviews about their collection policies and many places don't have collection policies. So that was interesting.
I just don't know anything. I thought they worked with the actual materials being preserved and took small preservation methods, like basic things (for instance making boxes for books etc.) and then, cataloged and organized all of the materials in their collection. I never thought they did anything with exhibits, like in museums but now, I'm not sure if they actually work with the collection or with the records and metadata (vocab word) of the collection... I am so confused, guys.
If it's the first thing, then that's what I want to do or be a technician in a Preservation lab, which I am getting experience in right now. Librarianship is what I've always wanted to do but I've only recently become interested in Archives. I can't do both at the same time, I would have to go through the program again. Which I cannot do, at least right now.
So it's decision time.
I want to work in a music archive or as a music reference librarian. I don't know which... I guess I could be both but it would take more training that I don't have the time and more especially, the money for right now. I need to get out in the real world and stop avoiding it through school.
I am going to talk to some music librarians in the area and see what they do. If I like it better, I might switch.
Anyway, enough rambling. Library school goes well, for the most part. Sometime soon, I am going to check out this Tattoo Parlor in South Side to either get an industrial piercing or an open book tattoo on my wrist, which I have learned from people who get wrist tattoos, actually does not hurt that much. I'm down with that.
How are you all doing on this lovely Friday morning?

My LIS professor is actually a Ninja Bus Hijacker

AAAAHHHHH!!!!

Library school, you drive me craaaaazzzzy!!!!!

Now that we got that out of the way.

Last week was crazy. Monday, I had work but no class because of Fast Track weekend, which let me tell you is ridiculous. There was a lot of drinking that weekend. Not going to lie.
Anyway, before I talk about Library related things, let's talk about how Wednesday was the weirdest, most ridiculous day ever.

Things I have learned this week, just because of Wednesday:

1. Scranton is creepy. I can't explain it.
2. PA is full of movie shoots. There was one near my fellow librarian's house, which is like a few blocks from me, when she came to get me. I think it had Jake Gyllenhaal in it. I don't know anything other than that. Also, there was a film shoot in Altoona, somewhere or maybe it was before Altoona. I don't really know. It was in nowheresville, PA. It's for a movie called Unstoppable, about an unstoppable train. With Denzel Washington and some other random people I can't remember... oh yeah, that guy from the new Star Trek. One of those dudes. We got stuck in a traffic jam on the way home when they were filming the train in the sunset with helicopters and everything.
3. Panera is delicious after a ten hour car drive. Especially an epically disappointing ten hour car drive.
4. Ice cream is also good.

Seriously though, this is a funny story. We drive all the way to Scranton. We were like 20 minutes out of town and ticketmaster calls my friend and tells her the concert we were going to see was canceled. which is the point in which we wish we had gotten the call before we left Pittsburgh. We drove all the way to Scranton just to see the place where the concert would be, just out of curiosity. Downtown Scranton is just odd. There are so many temple looking buildings and banners hanging over the street.

As disappointed as we were, the whole thing was kind of hilarious. So we spent the rest of the ride home speculating about ninja tour bus hijacking and somehow, our LIS 2000 professor being involved. It also involved the movie shoot and a Chemotherapeutic Infectious Waste truck, which we spent part of our drive behind. That is how hilariously awful our Wednesday turned out. You are all mad jealous of that, I can tell. It's totes cool though. I have to resist recounting all of the other times I have traveled shows only to get there and have them be postponed/ canceled. It's OK though because my friend and I are determined to see them again. We are already making plans. That's how ridiculous we are. xD

Sorry for the off-topicness but that was just too interesting not to share.

So libraries. How about them. I'm working on a repository review right now for my Archives and Records Management Class, which goes to show you how popular and exciting I am. Some days, I feel like I fit in so well with my fellow Librarian and Archivists and other days, I feel like everyone hates me and thinks I'm totally weird or they are just pretending to like me. I feel like that most of the time though, even with people I should totally know better than to think that with, it's just the way I am.

Anyway, Repository Reviews. I am doing mine on the Center For American Music, which is a repository at the University of Pittsburgh for American 19th, 20th and 21st century music. It's really cool and I enjoy writing about it, for the most part. I'm kind in doubt about the program, mostly because I feel like it's way too academic. It's emphasizes publishing in academic journals and things like that, which I am not interested in. I love the practical and hands on aspect of Archiving but the academic side, I could most definitely do without. I'm thinking maybe I might want to be a conservator or switch to general librarianship but that's not quite right either because I do like the organizing and cataloging aspect of Archiving.

I just always have to find something wrong with things I like because I can never be happy with the way things are. It's seriously getting old.

Anyway, sorry about my whining. I'm hopefully going to have an appointment with my adviser next week about these issues and I will let you all know how that goes. I know you are all excited about that. xD

Librarians supporting random things

Moment when you know you're among people as nerdy as you: When you are in your library and archival preservation class and your teacher is telling you about a historical society that left out ancient documents without a case of some sort to protect it and the whole class groans in frustration. At the same time. We were collectively imaging all of the people that breathed on it.

There are moments when I freaking love library school. Seriously. I mean I generally dig it but there are times when I honestly just feel like less of a collesal nerd. My friend and I wore our "Librarians for AFI" shirts that we made to the concert on Sunday and people kept stopping to ask if we were really librarians and were really surprised to find out that we actually were. We got compliments and it was awesome. I think we should make "Librarians for" shirts for other things like birds with top hats. I bet I could pay off grad school doing that.

Went for drinks after class today and commiserated about life. It was good. Rode the bus home slightly tipsy but it was cool.
Tomorrow: work and studying for the mid-term. Sleep time now.

Class Thoughts and Spring Registration, Holy Crap!

OMG. Spring Registration. Holy Shit. So I've made it almost to the second semester of my program.
I have a mid-term next week. I don't understand how they can test us on the stuff they taught us in class. The class is taking things that should be intuitive and trying to turn them into academic topics and the profession is already inherently academic. I honestly don't understand the point of that class. My other three classes all relate to each other in one way or another. You can connect the material from one class to what we're learning in another one. One class is about the process of organizing material and what exactly being an archivist or records manager means. Another class is about technology and how computer networks work, which we'll probably need if we ever have to build a database for an organization and their collection. Another class is about the physical preservation of materials, like what temperature they need to be kept at and what you need to do to keep bugs out.
I understand all of these but... Understanding Information...? That's intuitive. There's no teaching that, at least this kind of information. You understand something through reading and examining it, not whatever it is we're doing. This is an academic profession by it's very nature. You don't have to make everything technical. I don't understand what they are trying to teach us to begin with, I mean... it's just... doesn't make any sense.
I'm not explaining this really well. You'd just have to sit through a class or something. I mean, for example, we had to read an article about aboutness one week. I feel like I'm in a philosophy class. I have other classes where that comes in a little, like talking about what a record can be, which was a really good discussion and very interesting for an early Tuesday morning but... seriously? What are you trying to teach us? What is the aim of this class? Can you explain that to me somehow? Thanks.
Anyway,
In other news, my classes are already picked out for next semester. The joys of being in graduate school. No decisions to make. I'm hoping to audit History of the Book but I have a feeling I won't be allowed.
I have to talk to my adviser and straighten out my thoughts and whatnot.
It is now my mission in life to learn the relative humidity and temperature used to preserve musical instruments. I've learned this for audio recordings, film, photographs, and paper. I think I will ask in class next week. I am curious.
Research opportunity?
I think so.

Week 5: Papers, Music, Indecision

Interesting week. Classes were good. I learned about preservation methods of non paper media like records and CD's. I have come to the conclusion that things like records and books from earlier than the 1800's actually last longer than things from recent years. It's crazy. I made a corrugated clamshell for a book the other day from 1669. It was so cool. Books from as recently as 1990's are in our preservation department for repair and things like that last like a mofo.
Library school can be a big bowl of ridiculous sometimes, such as one of the classes I'm in right now. I swear, it's a catch all for the department. If you wanted to teach a book in your class and you didn't have the time, you throw it in this class. I don't really understand how it's useful in anyway. I just submitted a paper for it and I'm hoping for the best. I honestly don't know what to expect.

Anyway, today I went to the Music Library to get some books for a project I'm doing for Library and Archival Preservation, which is so far my favorite and most useful class as far as content. It's the least abstract too. The music library is so cool. I really want to do something with music archiving but I'm not sure exactly what. I'm hoping that I can get involved with something like that after I graduate. Anyway, I found some really cool books, not just on my topic but on other cool things like Patti Smith and Riot Grrl. There are entire books just on synthesizers and I saw one on the history of the double bass that I want to check out when I have more time. As much as I love libraries, I'm kind of discovering that there are way too many things I want to do. I honestly wanted to switch to something with music when I walked into the music building and heard people talking about scales and practicing the piano. I wish had time to do that. I miss playing piano. It's been years since I've done that and months since I've played guitar. I had to leave my guitar at home when I moved because there was only room for my ukulele. I've been trying to keep up with it since ukulele and guitar have a lot of similarities.

There are so many things I want to do: work in/for a museum, do archeology work, music archiving, work in a library. I really feel slightly lost. I've thought about switching to the independent librarian track, instead of Archives. The deadline for that is coming up soon. I'm a little tempted, honestly. I want to repair books which is what I'm learning at the Archives Preservation Center but I've kind of decided that I want to do something hands on like that. I really love working there and I like doing tangible things I can see, rather than organizing databases. I don't know. Either way, the archives classes are really interesting.

We had a badass discussion the other week in my Archives and Records Management class about what exactly is knowledge, data, information and records. There are such fine distinctions from what you originally think. It was such a cool discussion, even for 9:00 in the morning.
Anyway, hopefully more updates soon. I hope I'm not too boring. I feel like it sometimes.
Thanks for reading. <3

I am such a librarian

I am a terrible person with my inability to say things.
Anyway,
Library school is still badass. I'm currently in the midst of writing a paper on some books I had to read for class which is why I kind of got eaten by life.
I went to the library today and did some work on research for my paper and I am sitting down to write my 500 words for today and of course, this is me procrastinating. I excel at that. It's crazy reading all of these articles and books about information and all of the preservation problems that libraries and even regular joes like myself have to face. I had this moment in class the other day when we were discussing how we back up our files and I remember thinking "Oh shit, my poetry notebooks! How the shit am I going to back them up? I don't want them to turn into dust." Which books do. I work in the preservation department at the Archives Service Center and I had to photocopy the barcodes and call numbers of some of the books and they literally break off in pieces when you try to put them in the copier.
I have this horrible image of my poetry notebooks meeting the same fate. They have some really cool collages I've made besides the poetry, which no matter how bad it is, (and trust me folks, it is bad. LOLtastic, I promise.) I really want to preserve it because it means something to me. I know that I could type up all of the poems and save the content but everything eventually computer files included, stop working. (I need to invest in some badass color copies, maybe like 6 and then save it on three CD's and three Flash drives, and on Carl (my laptop) and on my external harddrive.) I AM SUCH A LIBRARIAN. HOLY CRAP.
Anyway, enough of that. I need to get working on my paper. I hope this Saturday night finds you all well and doing something way more exciting than working on a paper or reading this blog.

You know what's awesome?
Getting bubblegum off of a book. Successfully.
Take that, Bubblegum.
I <3 this job so much.

Second Week of Classes Already???

How bad have I been at updating? Seriously.
Anyway, I've been in library school for a few weeks already and it is pretty much my favorite thing ever. Pittsburgh is a neat city with lots of things to do. This will be my second full week of classes since last week a lot of them were canceled for labor day and conferences in Brazil and such. It is the way of Librarians.
I got a job in the Preservation Department repairing old books which I can hopefully start this week. I am going today to fill out the tax forms and paperwork. I have Library and Archival Preservation tonight. I love my classes. They are all about interesting and useful things. I have three other classes: Introduction to Information Technology, Understanding Information and Archives and Records Management.
There is so much more involved with being a librarian than you would think. I'm really excited about all of the different possibilities and opportunities there are to pursue.
Anyway, I will definitely try to update at least once a week with library related things. Hopefully, I will say something that interests somebody. So that's all for now. Thanks for reading! <3

And Now for Something Completely Different...

I decided that this blog needs some sort of focus, seeing as it is ridiculous right now. So I have decided to write about library things, mainly the next year of grad school I will be starting at the end of August. I am really excited about finally learning library things. I spent most of the last four years doing english major type things like reading Shakespeare and pulling my hair out and now I finally get to do what I've been wanting to do this whole time. which is awesome.
Anyway, I will probably update this more once I actually start school in a few weeks but I just wanted to update this blog, seeing as it was a little abandoned.