Term Paper, Scherm Paper

Right now, I'm supposed to be working on my ten page term paper for Public Libraries class that is due monday night and yet I am constantly looking for something, anything to keep me from working on it. Why?

Well, I think it's probably because I haven't written a term paper since around 2003 and although my professor is really cool about the whole thing (it's 10 pages long but he's said to make it as long as it needs to be), I still have this nagging fear that he's gonna read it and think it's the worst piece of crap ever written. Granted I have little bit of leeway in that this is an online class that meets one night a week so at least I won't see him be completely dumbfounded when he reads my paper about weeding in public libraries.

Why did I write a paper on weeding in public libraries? Well, to be honest, it was a topic that interested me and I liked when we had to do it at work. As you can tell, I like organization way too much. At any rate, I'm currently (well not right now) writing the paper and so far, I've managed to bang out 7 1/2 pages which isn't really all that bad I guess. Thankfully when it comes to writing papers, at least for me, this is when having a Bachelor's in English comes in handy.

Just when I think I've found a way out, I get pulled back in

I applied for a job at another library as a library technican at a government library branch about a month ago. True, the library's schedule was weird and it wasn't a full-time job, but at least I was going to get paid what I was worth being that I have nine plus years of library experience behind me and am currently in library school. At any rate, I called to see what was up with the position when I got a hit with a big pimp-hand of reality: although I was more qualified, since I'm not a military spouse (they get first dibs),I might not get the job.

After finishing talking to the branch manager, I tried to rationalize the logic of the situation. Although I have more experience, someone with little or no experience will get a great paying job all because they happened to marry a soldier? While I guess I understand this, it still smells like bullcrap to me. As you can imagine, when I called today to follow up on the job, I was informed that the position was filled. I'm somewhat surprised but not really.

I'll just chalk it up to the job probably not being the right fit for me....yeah, that sounds good. The job wasn't a good fit and the perfect job for me is just around the corner.

Guess I'll keep sticking it out where I am until I either finish library school or a great job comes along.

Final Exam-the aftermath

So I took my first graduate level final yesterday and did very well. The teacher was also able to grade my other assignment fairly quikly and was able to tell me my grade for the whole class. I got an A!!!! I am so happy.

I was kinda worried for a while there because on our third assignment, the teacher said that out of the entire class, 25% got an A and 75% got an F. The funny thing was, after she said all that, while passing out the papers, she tells us not to panic. Yeah, good luck with that one! Needless to say, I was worried because my other grade up until this point were good and I didn't want my whole semester of work to geo down the toilet. At the same time, I also knew that she was going to drop our lowest grade so I was praying this was going to be my lowest.

Turns out my grade for the third assignment sucked but I did perfect on the fourth assignment and the final. In reference to the final exam, since she went over eveything the night before the exam, it was still fresh in my mind and I made sure that I studied and was able to do what I needed to so I could pass.

One class down, one class to go.

Registration Frustation

I am so frustrated with the registation process for this semester! I was planning on taking LS 500 and LS 507 this semester, but then I (along with everyone else) received and e-mail from the head of the school saying that people who enrolled in the library school in certain years are going to be allowed to register for LS 560 and LS 507. Although I understand the reasoning for this, I am also irritated that while registration offically started on the 29th, most of the class in the school on library science are still closed.

How am I supposed to complete my degree in a timely manner if I'm being blocked from signing up for classes that I need? Granted, I do understand that there are some students who are almost finished and need to get their last class in,but my whole thing is if you say students can register for classes, let students register for classes without giving them more hoops to jump through. I mean it's hard enough to be a graduate student working a full-time and having to occassionally commute without throwing any unneccesary obstacles in the way!

Hero to Zero all in the same day

Today was both a great day and an awful day. First, the great part; I helped catch a bad guy! This is what happened. Early this morning, my co-worker got a call from IT that one of our patrons was wanted by the U.S. Marshals for being a child predator, they had tracked him to using out computers and she was asked to keep an eye out for him. Although she recognized the patron's name, she couldn't remember what he looked like but fortunately since he comes in a lot, I was able to give an pretty good description.

Some time passes and a patron needed my help, so I went over to computer 5 to help him. Imagine my surprise as I'm helping the patron on computer 5 and I see that right across from him on computer 6 is,yep you guess it, Mr. Child Predator. After helping the guy on computer 5, I quietly alerted my co-worker that he was in the library and using the computer. She had me double check that it was him and she alerted the IT guy. The IT guy then called the U.S. Marshals who then came and very discretely escorted him out of the library without any problems.

Now on to the zero moment of the day. I had been having an enjoyable work day then my boss tells me and my co-workers that our computer policy has now changed. Before, a patron could only get 1 hour in our department and two hours in another department which equals 180 minutes a day. After a patron used their hour in our department, they couldn't get another hour but instead, they had to use the other computers on the third floor. If they were caught re-logging in after they'd already had their hour, they'd get kicked off the computer.Today we were told that this rule no longer applies and that patrons can re-log on to the computers after their hour is up and we can't stop them.

I think this is the stupidest idea I've ever heard! With this new rule, this means that a person can come and get 3 hours on the computer uninterrupted while others have to wait. Another issue with this is the number of kids we have that come in using myspace, this means we will probably have more complaints because people who need to do homework and type papers/resumes won't be able to cause they'll have to wait for kids to finish myspacing and playing games.

I guess my big question is where is this going to stop? I feel that the library and the powers that be are trying too hard to cater to the patrons.We already had a patron complain about "being forced " into having to get a computer card to access the computers and now this. I'm expecting any day now, we're going to be told not to enforce the no cellphone policy anymore because someone will be bothered by it. Either that or we're going to start letting patrons eat and drink at the computers.

Will this ever stop?

Playing catch up

Sorry it's been a while since I've written-I've was just reminded that I had this site today while I was in my computer technologies class. So much has changed in my life since the last time I've written. I guess this is because I've been busy with work, homework, and just life in general.At any rate, I'll give you the cliffnotes version of what's been happening since I've written last.

First, I got married on June 24,2006 to my wonderful husband D. We had a nice evening church wedding and my mom walked me down the aisle. It was a beautiful day and one that I'll always remember.

Secondly, me and my husband bought a house. We actually found the house, took care of all the inspections and closed on it within a two week period in Feburary of last year. That being said, I am really enjoying having so much space and a chance to decorate the house the way I want.

Third, I decided to start graduate school I am currently enrolled at the University of Alabama where I am taking classes to obtain a MLIS. So far, the classes have been very informative and my classmates have been great to work with. If everything goes as planned, I should be done by Summer of 2009. My goal in reference to clasess are to take two classes a semester for six semesters so that's my plans for now.

Wish me luck!

Too much on my plate and not enough hands

So, I've made some major changes in my life fairly recently. First, D. and I decided to stay in Huntsville, at least for the time being. The main reason for staying is that the housing prices in California are extremely high right now and I refuse to go from living with my mom to living with D.'s mom. That being said, we deicded to try to get a house. I know what you're thinking, buying a house is a major project to take on and it takes lots of time and effort. I know all this, but with God's help, we were able to accomplish everything in a matter of three weeks. Now, we've moved into a very nice house.

Second, I decided to take the MAT (Millers Analogies Test) to try to get into grad school before the deadline at Alabama passes (April 15). I think I did pretty good but one never knows about these sort of things. In reference to grad school, I'm excited yet scared at the same time. On the one hand, I'm excited because it will be an opportunity to do something new in order to achieve a goal that I really want which is to get a Master's degree. On the other hand, I'm scared that I won't live up to the standards that everyone has set for me. Although my boss and co-workers have said "I'll be a great librarian," I still have that fear of failure in my head that I won't be able to cut it.

Third, I am still in the process of wedding planning. With the whole process of buying our house, wedding plans kinda took a backseat However, I did manage to have a bridal shower last Saturday which was fun yet bizzare to me. Growing up, I never really had a lot of birthday parties. I am also the type of person who doesn't really like to be the center of attention. After having said all this, you can just imagine how exciting it was for me to be at a party when I am the guest of honor and there are games being played which revolve around how well the party guests know me. It was strange. Then it was also odd seeing so many people coming out to wish me well and give me presents. It was nice and I had a great time.

I feel bad because it has been so long since I have taken the time out to write. Writing used to bring me so much joy.Writing was once my medicine; it provided me with release after a stressful day. I guess at some point in my life, I felt like my words had no power and no one cared what I had to say. I just needed time to come to the realization that if I find comfort in writing, then writing is what I need to do.