It's already December?!

With 2 weeks left in the semester, many of my classmates are scrambling to get their assignments done. Most are taking the full load (4 classes). I am only taking 2, so my workload is not demanding. I'm taking it easy this semester because the last four were brutal for me. What time I have leftover is being used to job hunt and to spend time with my friends. Anyway, with 2 weeks left, I have to start packing my things and think about where I'll be next year. Where? I'll be living in the west coast. The people at the Bentley have been generous to offer their help with my resume and provide contact information from their colleagues in Washington/Oregon/Californina. I can't stress the importance of having a network. SI, from the very beginning, has always emphasized their strong alumni network. And it should be taken advantage of. I also plan on cold calling places this week. We'll see what happens. I'm taking my time on the job hunt. I have other things to plan for before I do the 9-to-5.

Posted by rmarquez on December 03, 2006 at 08:17 PM | Comments (0)

Bentley Historical Library

One of my non-SI friends asked me what I do at the Bentley. The Bentley is a repository that holds Michigan historical collections and the University's records, therefore there are 2 departments within the Bentley. I work for the Michigan Historical Collection, and I process incoming records/papers. Processing seems easy, but it's not at first. For my first collection, I had so many questions on what I should do: what should I keep? what should I discard? how do I arrange the records/papers? how do i write up a finding aid? My supervisor, Tom Powers, must have been annoyed with the barrage of questions especially ones that were nitpicky. And when I question myself about little details, I felt very inadequate at my job. Now that I've been there for a year, I feel more confident about what I'm doing and I'm processing collections quickly.
Since processing is the only thing I've done at the Bentley, I feel that I don't have the full archivist's experience. I should have been more proactive about getting more reference work under my belt. So, for future archives students, I recommend that you do a year of processing and a year of reference. Doing both will make you more marketable.

Posted by rmarquez on November 13, 2006 at 04:16 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)

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)

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)

Because I can...

After some contemplation, I decided to take 2 regular classes and my DFE/PEP (SI 681) class. I was going to fully load up, but I wanted to spend time job searching and enjoying my last semester. I'm currently taking Reference (SI 647) and an 20th century architecture (HISTART 473). I talked to Xiao-Wen (acaedmic counselor) and she said that I only have to take 2 classes to graduate. Music to my ears! 681 fulfills all my PEP requirements (6 credits). It requires me to create a presentation of what I did this past summer. This summer I did an internship at the Everglades NPS, so I get to talk about my collection and my overall experience...in Powerpoint! SI 647 is a reference class taught by M. Holland. Learning a lot so far. It's given the class an opportunity to answer real questions posted to the IPL website, and it's teaching us how research and search for common and obscure sources. HISTARt 473 is my outside cognate. I took this class because I've always been interested in modern architecture. It's not what I expected. I thought we would look at slides containing images of beautiful buildings, but instead, we're learning about the fundamental theories behind the modernism movement. The prof makes it interesting, and my classmates are sharp, so it's not a throwaway class.

Posted by rmarquez on September 27, 2006 at 03:57 PM | Comments (0)

New Semester...Last Semester

This is my last semester at SI, and I've loaded up on my cognates. I am taking 539 (complex web systems), 540 (computer networking), 647 (library reference) and Anthropology 681 (material culture). I'm excited about taking all of these classes, but I'm really intimidated by the anthro class. All of my classmates are phd students in archaeology so they have a better grasp of the concepts. And as the only master's student, I feel a lot of pressure to say informed comments in class. Anyway, I may drop the class for a GIS class that's being offered at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning. I would prefer to learn a practical skill, but I'm up for a challenge like this anthro class.

Posted by rmarquez on September 07, 2006 at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)