Archive for January, 2011

This post from Abby the Librarian regarding going to library school inspired me to finally take a minute to update my own blog, and you, awesome readers, on my life as a library school student. As you can see, for the past few months this blog has been quite slow. I promised an update earlier this month, and I’ve just been SO busy.

It’s been a couple of weeks into my last semester now, and everything is going so smoothly. My class in museum studies is definitely interesting, and I’m going to be able to visit a few museums during the semester. I’ll try to write about them here. On Saturday, I’m going to visit the COSI museum in Columbus, which is one of my favorites!

I’ve also started my practicum, and I can’t even describe how much I am loving it so far. A little part of me was worried. Having never actually worked in a library, I had this little seed of doubt in my heart, that when I would finally get the chance to work with teens in a library, I wouldn’t actually like it! I should have known better. I’ve known that this is the path for me for quite some time, and every day at my practicum I see that justified. I’m not saying that every day will be perfect, when I’m a librarian. But to enjoy work, and find it satisfying, and know that what you do may affect someone’s life in a positive way–that’s why I’m doing this.

So yes, school is great. My practicum is excellent. I’ve participated in a few programs, and am coming up with ideas right now for a display case in the library, as well as for some program ideas. I have so many ideas! I can’t wait to see them through to implementation.

And as for other things, I’ve finally had some time to read. I’m still catching up on a lot of the great books from last year, but I’m getting there. I also have a few books to review, which I will hopefully take care of in February. I’m feeling a second (third? fourth?) wind coming on with this blog, and I hope to get back to doing some more reviewing soon!

I can’t believe it, but I’m beginning my last semester of library school next week! It’s been an absolutely, fantastic, amazing, experience-filled ride, and the best is yet to come. This semester I’ll be working at a local library for a practicum experience, where I get to work with teens in a library, work on and create projects, and basically learn all I can about being a teen librarian.

I’m super excited about it and can’t wait to begin! I’ll also be taking one class this semester, Museum Studies for Librarians, and two workshops, one on video games in libraries (awesome, right?) and another on young adult literature. STOKED! Can you believe I get to go to school for this kind of thing?

This semester I’m really going to focus on building my professional credentials, skills, and experiences, in the hopes that I can find and obtain a job when I graduate. I’m participating in a lot of cool programs, volunteering, and working my butt off to make this happen. Since I’ll be in a library setting much more often than usual, I’m hoping to really amp up my posts here with insights and anecdotes about my experiences in the library.

Wish me luck, and look forward to reading about my first week of my marathon toward the finish line next week!

I read a lot in 2010, probably not as much as in 2009, or even 2008, but a lot! I discovered many new favorite authors, new favorite series, and tried out many different genres, etc. that I never thought I would read. In no certain order, here are my favorite books I read in 2010! (Related posts are linked on title.) I’m hoping to read much, much more in 2011!

1. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
2. Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
3. City of Ships by Mary Hoffman
4. The Heart Is Not a Size by Beth Kephart
5. My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares
6. The Ruby Notebook by Laura Resau
7. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
8. Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr
9. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine