I know I already posted my end of semester blog but I just finished my last final exam. Its a take home thing so I still have to go to class tomorrow but I am just so relieved that this semester is over! I didn't realize how busy and tired and overextended I was until I realized I had 10 days off before summer session started and how happy that made me. I just wish I had more time off.
Oh and that cat is happy too, now I have time to play fetch with her. We have been playing for about an hour, poor starved for attention kitten.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Two down three to go
Two semesters down, three to go and then I'll be done. Well technically this semester isn't done until next week but I needed a break from doing final exams/papers so I thought I would write this a little early. All I really have left is about 2/3 of a take home final exam and then I will be done.
This semester was a bit more tolerable than the previous because I finally got to take a class that was not required by the program. In general I have come to the conclusion that I just need to get through most of the classes and that although there may be some interesting moments or topics for the most part it feels like busywork full of theory without any practical use to offset the information I am getting from a book.
I realize it is a little silly for a future librarian to be complaining about the information found in books but when one is learning to be a librarian there is a lot that can only be learned by doing. Working at the special library has really been the practical experience that I needed. One of my latest finds has been a copy of Faust translated into Hebrew from the 1860s. There is something very odd about such a Catholic text being translated into Hebrew. It must have been odd for the person first reading it, almost like a book of witchcraft - deals with the devil and all that.
This summer will be a busy time. I will be taking two classes and probably starting a new internship in addition to continuing to work at the special library and with the wee redhead. Somehow I will fit this all into four months (since according to the university the summer begins in May).
I will be going to a student archivist meeting in a few weeks, I am excited about that. The university I am attending seems to ignore the needs of students interested in archives and offers all the archivist classes in the same semester. Hopefully we can organize a way to bring this to the attention of the school.
This brings me to the realization that I had about my dream job. When I was in my Early Books and Manuscript class I realized that as much as I would love to work with such texts the probability of doing so is pretty slim. I would most likely need a second Masters degree probably in history or even linguistics and I would need to learn more languages and probably Latin. At this point I realized that I am more interested more modern materials that need archiving. When working at the film center library I loved finding artifacts of film history and when I visited the local GLBT library I loved that they had an archive of GLBT history. It is this type of thing I would rather care for, things that could easily be overlooked because they are relatively new but in time will be a part of history. I would like to preserve these things before they are lost and before they begin to fall apart.
This semester was a bit more tolerable than the previous because I finally got to take a class that was not required by the program. In general I have come to the conclusion that I just need to get through most of the classes and that although there may be some interesting moments or topics for the most part it feels like busywork full of theory without any practical use to offset the information I am getting from a book.
I realize it is a little silly for a future librarian to be complaining about the information found in books but when one is learning to be a librarian there is a lot that can only be learned by doing. Working at the special library has really been the practical experience that I needed. One of my latest finds has been a copy of Faust translated into Hebrew from the 1860s. There is something very odd about such a Catholic text being translated into Hebrew. It must have been odd for the person first reading it, almost like a book of witchcraft - deals with the devil and all that.
This summer will be a busy time. I will be taking two classes and probably starting a new internship in addition to continuing to work at the special library and with the wee redhead. Somehow I will fit this all into four months (since according to the university the summer begins in May).
I will be going to a student archivist meeting in a few weeks, I am excited about that. The university I am attending seems to ignore the needs of students interested in archives and offers all the archivist classes in the same semester. Hopefully we can organize a way to bring this to the attention of the school.
This brings me to the realization that I had about my dream job. When I was in my Early Books and Manuscript class I realized that as much as I would love to work with such texts the probability of doing so is pretty slim. I would most likely need a second Masters degree probably in history or even linguistics and I would need to learn more languages and probably Latin. At this point I realized that I am more interested more modern materials that need archiving. When working at the film center library I loved finding artifacts of film history and when I visited the local GLBT library I loved that they had an archive of GLBT history. It is this type of thing I would rather care for, things that could easily be overlooked because they are relatively new but in time will be a part of history. I would like to preserve these things before they are lost and before they begin to fall apart.
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