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Midterm Tomorrow

I'm having difficulties studying for my midterm. My mind is a little disorganized and so are my notes. But I think I can pull off a decent test.

As for job hunting, found a few postings that I'm interested in. If I don't hear from the employers, I've told my friends/family that I will go ahead and move out to my desired location. Apparently, some employers look favorably on those who have residence in the same city. I'm willing to take that risk!

Posted by rmarquez on October 30, 2006 at 07:47 PM | Comments (0)

Meeting First Years

I have to be honest...I haven't been very social with the first years in the program. Fortunately, there's a SAA meeting this thursday for mingling. At Leopold's. I have to talk about my experience in the program. Here are a few things I'll talk about:
-take advantage of career services for resume/cover letter help
-participate in SAA events (go to national conference)
-get experience from working (work/volunteer at different places)
-do a summer DFE
-develop a relationship with the archives professors
-it'll go by quickly

Posted by rmarquez on October 30, 2006 at 07:40 PM | Comments (0)

Before I Leave AA

I've been in AA for 4 years and I feel that I've done most of the usual stuff that people do when they live here. But there are a few things that I would like to do before I go in December:
1-see a hockey/football game
2-rock climb at Mclimb
3-play a serious tennis match inside the tennis center
4-eat a pasty(sp?)
5-play beer pong at an undergraduate party
6-scream in the middle of the diag during class changeover
7-join a game of paintball
8-ice skate at burns park without using the 'walker' or holding the railings
9-spray paint a stencil on the sidewalk
10-attend a cheese tasting at zingerman's

simple enough. i think i have time for all this.

Posted by rmarquez on October 19, 2006 at 03:33 PM | Comments (0)

Fall Break

Fall break went by fast. I went down to TN with 2 of my friends. We stayed at one of their parents' house. Her folks live in Kingsport, so it's close to the mountains. Her home is located on a ridge and it overlooks the town. Her parents cooked for us and they took us out hiking, boating and biking. This trip was what I needed. This week, I plan to seriously start looking for a job. I've found some postings for assistanat archivist positions in NY and DC, but I'm not too keen on living there. I really want to look out west. Why? Because I've never lived there and I want to go outside my comfort zone. To start fresh. I have friends on the west coast, so I won't feel too isolated. The hardest thing is being far from my family, but they promise to visit regularly because they love it out there.

Must add: I'm petrified of the job hunt. Am I going to find a job that I'm qualified for? Can I find a job in the ideal location? Will there be interesting jobs to apply for? What if I don't find something right after I graduate? I don't want to live at home! Nor do I want to stay in Ann Arbor (actually, I wouldn't mind at this point because I've got friends here). These are my fears. And I think the best way to approach them is to just send in my resume (after I have it revised by Career Services) and wait. And keep sending my resume until I hear from someone.

Posted by rmarquez on October 19, 2006 at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)

Convergence of Technology, People & Information

Today, Laura, Marsha, Mary and I were at grad fair to talk to perspective students. The most popular question we got was, "What is the School of Information?" And we gave them the standard line: The School of Info is a convergence of technology, people and information..." What else can we say? We did mention that the school encourages the students to mold their curriculum to their interests, so our education is flexible. Mary is a good example of that. She's tailored and she has taken classes from all four specializations. For me, I've taken mostly archives classes, but I've also taken library courses so I can be marketable to libraries. We also mentioned that we have many opportunities outside of coursework to gain the experience we need to offer future employers. We're encouraged to do directed field experiences. I'm interested in museums and archives, so I made sure to intern at the Smithsonian and the National Park Service museums. If you have time, volunteering is another way to try your hand at a different skill. And of course, finding a part-time job with a library/archive/museum on campus adds to your resume. The opportunities are there, but you have to find them. They won't be handed to you.

Posted by rmarquez on October 12, 2006 at 01:41 AM | Comments (0)

Saturday Night

I'm with Beth, Patrick and Jeni. We're sitting at my apartment, and we're all doing our homework. Studious SI students. This is what our weekends are reduced to. Homework, homework, drinking and homework. The semester is in full effect. Since we're together, we're having fun with our work. And I get to entertain them with food, drinks and tv. And the occasional smoke break. Next weekend is fall break and we're all going out of town. Looking forward to that. Jeni is going to Seattle. B & P are going to Tennessee. I'll just say I'll be out of town and I'll be taken care of. I'm going through a tough time and I have friends who promised to feed me and hold me.

And this month, I start looking for jobs. My search is not focused, and I'm not picky about location. Since I'm an archives student, I'll keep track of the SAA employment listings. My friends in Chicago told me to check with Hotjobs.com. And I will pinpoint my search to individual archives (going to their website and talking to the archivist or HR person). A couple of my friends suggest I take a look at corporate archive jobs. Sell my soul.

Posted by rmarquez on October 08, 2006 at 12:10 AM | Comments (0)

This week at SI

This Thursday I will be giving a presentation about my summer internship at the Everglades National Park Service - South Florida Collections Management Center. This was a 10 week internship. I got it approved for a DFE and registered for the Fall class - SI 681. Because it's a DFE, we're required to keep a weekly blog and bi-monthly report on our activities. And in the fall, we give a powerpoint presentation on what we've learned. So, what did I learn? What can I say about this experience? Along with 2 other interns, we worked with the museum/archive collections. These collections was comprised of natural/cultural historic materials and accumulated research from the park's researchers. Each intern worked on one collection during their term. I was responsible for processing the Everglades Aerial Photograph Collection, and that entailed conducting an inventory, testing for degradation, background research, conservation, arrangement, cataloguing, and rehousing. In addition to processing, we had to conduct weekly/monthly duties at the museum such as integrated pest management, environmental control and old-fashioned housecleaning. So, I'll be talking about these things and about the NPS institutional culture. There's a lot to talk about but we only have 5-7 minutes alloted to each presenter. I like to keep my presentations quick and simple, so I know I won't go overboard.

Before I forget, I am so happy that I took this opportunity with the NPS. It's a definite consideration when I will be looking for jobs this fall.

Posted by rmarquez on October 03, 2006 at 02:44 PM | Comments (0)