« January 2007 | Main | March 2007 »
Time keeps whizzing by...
Hello, Readers! :o)
Well, I’m just about to head to NYC for a long weekend. I’m very excited because it’s going to be my first trip to The Big Apple, despite the fact that I’ve been around the world and back. Better late than never, eh? While I’m there I’ll be visiting with the New York Public Library, particularly the Bronx. I interviewed with them a couple of times at the ALA Midwinter Conference in January so I’m really looking forward to seeing how they work in-person. While I’m there, I will also be meeting with a librarian from Entertainment Weekly which is pretty cool—I got this connection through an alumnus of SI and I’m ever so grateful! Now that I’m getting ready to graduate, myself, I am hoping to pay the favors forward in the future. :o)
Today I spent all morning in Kerrytown (a historic district of Ann Arbor) to interview with a software development firm called Menlo Innovations. They did a very different type of interview experience in that all the possible candidates gathered together for “Extreme Interviewing.” We changed partners multiple times and worked in pairs while Menlo staff observed our work processes. We did things like draw mock-ups and plan the development process of a fictitious software package. It was definitely engaging but exhausting! I’m still a little mixed about my experience—I think the company has a really unique and fascinating business model, which I appreciate. But I’m still not quite sure if I want to go such a straight-up techie route. Not that I would be doing programming, but the work only involves working on technology innovations and I think I might be the kind of person who needs more variety.
I also have been asked to participate in the final panel interview for the LA County Public Libraries which will be next week. The packet of information came on the perfect day a couple of weeks ago when Michigan was in a wintertime deep freeze! The thought of palm trees and a sunny beach nearby was just too much. :o) I’m very excited to interview with them as well, and not just because they are in a place that has fantastic weather!
I’m still waiting to hear on a government/corporate library—I think should know something more in another week or so (the suspense is killing me!). I also put in quite a few job applications last week that sounded really interesting. They were all in the realm of entertainment and media. Some were with big companies like EA Entertainment (video games), LucasFilm, Warner Bros., and even TheKnot.com (a wedding planning site) that is looking for an online community coordinator. How cool is that? :o) I think the variety of jobs available out there and the way skill sets are overlapping is a really interesting phenomenon. But I think it also creates some problems in that most places are still looking for standard fields that they have hired from before like marketing/advertising. Luckily I don’t mind explaining how my skills and abilities can really help an organization. And considering that there are quite a few places interested in me at this point I’m also feeling pretty secure in my job hunt so far.
This semester has been very unusual as far as my classes are concerned. On one hand, things are working like clockwork. For example, my user evaluation group project is coming along really nicely. It is totally addictive in its fascination factor and we are making some great reports and providing good data. This week we are conducting a huge survey and I think our responses might be pushing about 100 at this point which is really cool. Our client, MBooks, even posts our reports as they come in! Talk about publicity… :o) You can see those by looking at this page from the UM Library website: http://www.lib.umich.edu/usability/projects/MBooks.html.
My archives internship hit a snag, though, so I had to change sites to accommodate my needs a bit better. It was a little disruptive but definitely for the best and I’m really excited about working at the Bentley Historical Library on North Campus. I’ll be helping an archivist put together the History of Computing at UM online resources. I’ll be doing things like helping to design and build the website for this collection, conducting a research gap analysis, and maybe even help with things like future PR/marketing materials for a fellowship that starts in the fall. I’ll be starting on this next week when I get back from NYC and will probably work quite a few hours.
My film class (external cognate) is also coming along. I’m coming to terms with the totally different culture of a different department and learning practices. Today I gave an informal presentation on archival and library research that I conducted regarding film censorship in the 1930’s, and especially for the film Baby Face (1933) which starred Barbara Stanwyck. It was very cool and my information searching skills definitely came in handy! I decided that this was not the time to follow the old adage, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” So, in the interests of being able to share information better, I created a Course Tools project site (CTools is an online course and project building service run by UM—it has its quirks but can be very useful). I digitized a lot of information and manipulated very muddy microfiche text in Adobe Illustrator so that everyone could use the information better. It was a big hit and I’m really happy with that. I’m going to try and use my interest in technology to do some comparative historical research on technological innovations in filmmaking for my final project in this course. I figure, if I’m the odd duck that brings in Quicktime video clips, then I might as well use it to my advantage for my final project! :o)
Hmm… let’s see, what else is going on here at SI? Well, there is the Dean search which is pretty interesting. Various candidates have been visiting the school, giving lectures, and meeting with students. I certainly won’t be around to see much of the end of this process, but I think it’s pretty interesting to be here while it’s currently going on.
I also just signed up to exhibit a project for the annual ExpoSItion—an annual event where SI students show off their work to the newly admitted visiting students and potential employers. (http://www.si.umich.edu/stulife/student-projects.htm) I am going to be showing my sample animated graphics catalogue which I made for the library cataloguing course I took last semester. Over spring break (next week), I’ll be starting to layout my poster and will probably use most of the material from my PowerPoint presentation (which totally rocked, if I do say so myself! :o) and then I’ll be using my laptop to show the HTML/CSS site that I coded to show the design example of what a database-backed catalogue might look like.
And yes, next week is “Spring Break” – not much of a ‘spring’ if you ask me… (the wind it howling outside right now), but oh well. :o) The annual Alternative Spring Break folks are getting ready to depart this weekend. They’ll be going to NYC and Washington, DC this year. If you don’t know much about this, you can see the details here: http://www.si.umich.edu/outreach/asb.htm and here: http://www.si.umich.edu/pep/asb/.
Ok, so I’ve given up trying to paste photos from the ALA conference into this blog! I’ll be making a Flickr page when I get back from NYC and I’ll put up my photos from that trip along with the ALA conference for you to see. I’ll keep you posted on the job front and let you know about upcoming events around SI! I think this pretty much wraps up the latest in my crazy busy life. Until next time…
~ maw :o)
Posted by maryaw on February 22, 2007 at 11:09 PM | Comments (0)
YouTube = good winter-time entertainment
I have so much going on right now! Holy wow... I will update you on that shortly, but first! A fun blog entry! :o) These YouTube videos were passed around at SI this week and they are super funny!
This one has been inspired by the documentary "March of the Penguins" and was posted by an SI alum. It's from the American Libraries Association Midwinter conference that I also attended in Seattle, Washington in January.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td922l0NoDQ&NR
And this second one is about the "Medieval Helpdesk." Apparently books, in this scenario, were just as difficult a new technology as many of the electronic versions that are being developed today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRjVeRbhtRU
And this last one is really fantastic. It's about the changing face of digital everything and Web 2.0. Just watch it and be amazed! (Note the Creative Commons copyright at the end--pretty cool, eh?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE
Hope you find this as entertaining as I did! We are having a lovely winter storm at the moment (I say 'lovely' with the utmost sarcasm :o) so I am at home tonight getting a whole TON of things done and hopefully I can update you in a few days on the latest news in my crazy life! It involves some really cool projects and a whole lot of interviews. Exciting times... :o)
Posted by maryaw on February 13, 2007 at 07:46 PM | Comments (0)
Conferences, Interviews, Homework... oh, my!
Greetings on this freezing cold winter weekend—Michigan is in the single digits today, so it’s the perfect opportunity for me to write a blog entry! Sorry for the long break between my entries—it took me a bit longer than I had anticipated tell you all about my final semester here in the MSI program. So, without further ado, read on for a lengthy update…
The American Libraries Association Midwinter Conference was held in Seattle, Washington this year. It was my first professional library conference and I have to say I was seriously impressed! I had been to conferences for other professional fields before (mostly for non-profits) but none matched the level of attendance and nearly flawless planning (at least from my perspective) of the ALA midwinter conference. Apparently, the ALA Midwinter is considered “small” in comparison to the national conference which totally blows my mind because the midwinter meeting counted 12,100 attendees. Hmm… that’s “small”? Holy cow.
Ok, so you’re probably wondering at this point, what did you do at said conference? Well, dear grasshopper, the main reason for going to the ALA conference consisted of two very related things: interviews & networking. The conference had an official job placement center set up with quite a few libraries hosting formal interviews and information booths. While I was there, I interviewed with both the New York Public Library and Los Angeles County Public Libraries. I went through two interviews with each prospective employer and I just booked my trip to visit the NYPL over the first weekend of Spring Break. So far, both are excellent leads in my job search and I am very excited to see what each will offer me! I am especially excited to be visiting the NYPL because it will be my first trip to NYC. I think this is rather odd for me because I have been fortunate to have literally traversed the world and back again but have not yet made it to The Big Apple.
I also spent a huge chunk of time in the massive exhibits hall. I was very impressed with the variety of companies and services in attendance and I had brought along printed business cards to make sure I could take full advantage of this great networking opportunity. I spoke with a number of media and film companies as well as the comic book/graphic novel/Manga publishers. In fact, one of my favorite stories from the conference occurred in the graphic novel company aisle. I had just spoken with a really nice representative from Marvel Comics and was waiting to speak with DC Comics when I noticed that the guy at the booth next to them was being neglected and had no one to talk to. So I struck up a conversation with him—he was from a Manga production company that produced print and video materials. I asked him if his company ever hired librarians to help the company manage its creative content and he asked me tell him about all the things I do. I think I was only about halfway through my “elevator speech” when he asked me for my business card. It was a really interesting exchange because once he heard what I was capable of doing, I could see that he realized his company might have a need for a person with my skills.
I also spent time exploring downtown Seattle which was a great place to visit. I had some amazing food, especially seafood which I love! One of my fellow students and I spent a couple of afternoons in a row in Pike Place Market to have lunch and wander among the various shops and take lots of pictures. The weather, compared to Michigan, was fantastic also. It was in the low 20’s when we left Michigan but it was in the mid 40’s in Seattle and the rain even held off throughout our entire visit. You can see pictures of the conference on the ALA’s Flickr page: http://flickr.com/groups/ala_mw_2007/.
In other news, I’m in the thick of my job hunting experience. I’ve been communicating with various networking connections on the West Coast and checking out potential employers including one next week, here in Ann Arbor. Just before I left for ALA I also interviewed with a government agency library which sounds like a great opportunity. And then this weekend I will be going through my latest pile of job postings and networking communications to see if I will send in any application materials. Searching for a job definitely takes a lot of effort and time! And I have to confess, it’s rather distracting to be receiving tidbits of exciting news from prospective employers while trying to attend class and do homework. But I would rather be excited than bored, so it could be worse, right? :o)
My classes this semester are also keeping me very busy. I’m taking Evaluation of Systems and Services which is really fascinating and very practical. My group is already finished with our first big assignment for the semester—we worked in the computer lab all morning yesterday and my part for this project was to spearhead the graphic layout for our poster which maps the current access points to our client’s service. I’ve also spent quite a few hours now at my Archive Practicum site which has been very interesting. I’m totally amazed that they consider me to have solutions to their tech issues that they are looking to at least identify and fix wherever possible. This mini-internship is also great because it’s in my hometown, so every Friday I get to have dinner with my mom and dad. It makes for a very long day, but it’s a nice bonus! :o)
My outside cognate course on film history is also rather interesting. It’s such a different type of class than I’m used to, though. Now that I’ve been at SI and I have done so much practical work for every course I’ve taken, to simply do readings, research, and have lengthy discussions is a big change for me. It has made me thankful for the practical aspect of my SI coursework! I’m very glad now that I chose SI for my masters degree because I don’t think I would feel as marketable for a job if all my classes had been like my cognate. Don’t get me wrong, the subject of my cognate course is really fun, but my personal needs have definitely been met by the format of my MSI degree and I can definitely see this now that I’m about to graduate and I’m interviewing with various people and places.
I’m also still working part-time and I just finished up my job with SI Career Services last week. It was a bittersweet ending because I really enjoyed the flexibility of the work and all the professional development I got from the position. However, I still have two jobs after finishing that one, so I’m really glad to have more time for homework and job applications. I’m really happy with the end of my job with Career Services because I organized two really great workshops that had great student turnout! One was for negotiation skills and this was super informative for me as well—knowing how to negotiate a salary and other tough job-related subjects is an art that has to be learned. The best thing I walked away with was that it’s not wrong to ask for what you want (within reason) and that there are gracious ways to ask for more decision-making time, more money, or other special benefits that you may deserve. The second and final workshop in January was for portfolios. We had a HUGE turnout of students which was just awesome! This year, the portfolio workshop was really marketed towards all of the specializations at SI. It was co-sponsored by the student chapter of ALA and we had a variety of panelists from both technology companies as well as library services. The panelists reviewed real students’ portfolios in front of the attending students and even the portfolios represented the specializations at SI. As part of my “farewell” in Career Services, I wrote a mammoth blog about resumes, which you can also read: http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/sicareers/archives/2007/01/marys_farewell.html. This was based off of the questions and meetings that I had with current students and it’s finally all written down! :o)
For my job with the Knowledge Navigation Center, I am working more hours this semester with them and doing a variety of things, as usual. It is PhD dissertation season, so we get a lot of walk-in appointments with frustrated doctoral students who must format their dissertations to publication standards using MS Word. It’s definitely a do-able proposition, but there are certain little tricks and quirks to Word, so that’s where we can help them out. I’ve also been helping with workshops, as usual, and updating a few resource guides. Having access to all sorts of software and equipment has also been great because I am building my sister’s business website during my spare moments. I had been hard-coding the whole thing in HTML and CSS, but then I found a template on Dreamweaver which makes things much faster. As I learn Dreamweaver better, I get to use my own project as the test case! It’s a really good opportunity.
And in the Admissions office here at SI, we are gearing up for the annual Visiting Days weekend event where admitted students get to come and partake in helpful information sessions by faculty and staff, as well as spend time with current students. I’m just about done lining up the activities that the student groups will be hosting to take our visiting students out to dinner and for other social events. This is always a really cool weekend—I remember when I came to visiting days like it was yesterday. I just can’t believe how quickly time has passed! But when I see the newly admitted students arrive with all the same questions I had, it is really neat because I can help them and it wasn’t very long ago that I was in the exact same position.
Even though I’m terribly busy, I’m trying to find little niches of time so that I can relax a bit. I definitely miss being away from ballroom dancing, so I’ve been catching up on the Ohio Star Ball that I didn’t get to go to this year by watching America’s Ballroom Challenge on PBS. :o) There are quite a few of the usual professional champions back, but also some new and exciting competitors. It’s making me very excited to see where I decide to move to when I choose my job at the end of the semester. I’m really excited about the chance to take up ballroom dancing again, and maybe even squeeze in some ballet classes every now and then! I have been relegated to the treadmill in my apartment’s fitness center during these cold winter months. But I get a lot of reading done while I burn some calories and release all of my excess energy. My evaluations class group is also really excited because I finally have some people to cook for! :o) It might not happen until after spring break, but I fully intend on perfecting the recreation of my mom’s egg rolls using their tastebuds as my guinea pigs. Food and group meetings always go together!
Well, I think that’s about it for now. I should be hearing some new news shortly about various projects and job applications/interviews so I’ll keep you posted! And as soon as I can figure out how to post pictures on this blog (I’ve been trying for over a week! Argh…), then I will post my own pictures from the ALA conference and later on, from my visit to the NYPL in NYC. If you are in Michigan, then I hope you are keeping warm this weekend! If not, then I hope you are having better weather than we are… Until next time! ~maw :o)
Posted by maryaw on February 04, 2007 at 03:22 PM | Comments (0)
