Library Day in the Life Project

As part of the Library Day in the Life Project, which can be found here, I figured I would outline the day in the life of an Indiana University SLIS student.  (Perhaps an a-typical one, but one none the less.)

I woke up this morning in a bit of a fog, although the sun was actually shining and the sky looked inviting rather than dull and grey as it has for the last few weeks.  I got up, donned my new dress procured via Outlet Mall shopping (the first of the items checked off my aforementioned IU Bucket List!), a pair of tights, and booties, put my hair in a messy bun, and headed off to my internship at the William and Gayle Cook Music Library where I serve as the Acquisitions and Collection Development Intern.  I first grabbed a Diet Coke (a necessary caffeinated evil) and headed down to the work area of the Library (aka: the basement) to work on my Collective Works project.  Basically, I am checking our library OPAC and seeing what Collective Works we are either missing altogether, missing volumes from, or are up to date on our Standing Orders with the vendor Harrassowitz.  I am constantly fascinated by this project, if only because I'm learning about obscure composers (including today's gem of Johann Fux)  and helping to keep our collection up to date.  It can, admittedly, be tedious, and after two hours of this, I was ready to head off to my Collection Development class (S502).

Today's class was focused on the topic of Selection.  We discussed the concepts of "un-biased" and "balanced" collections, and how those should affect a library and its choices.  We also discussed the implications and pros and cons of E-books, and the services that provide them.  While this was interesting, it's  been discussed a great deal during my internship, so it's not new information to me.  The class is held in the SLIS auditorium, which houses perhaps the most uncomfortable chairs ever created -- so after an hour and fifteen minutes, I was ready to GO.  I spent some time with fellow SLIS student, Brianna Marshall, discussing her recent post on Hack Library School and the comments she was receiving; prompting me to head home and add my own reply (which can be found at the bottom of the entry).

From there on, I worked a bit on my reading for my Internship: two books by former IU Music Librarian, Michael Fling, and caught up on tweets, since I recently created a twitter account: @sharplibrarian.  I have then set my alarm for 'way too early'-o'clock to get up for my shift at the Archives of Traditional Music in the morning, and here I am.  A day in the life of Sarah Elizabeth.

IU Bucket List

With the turning in of my Graduation Application, I have realized that I will only be at IU for only a few short months, especially if I get the internship at Interlochen that I applied for. But there's just SO much in and around Bloomington that I'd like to accomplish by the end of May.  Thus, I thought I'd keep an IU Bucket List of sorts of things to accomplish with my IU "inner circle" of Taylor, Bri, and Val as well as my LCM friends.

• Visit every Library/Archive on campus and talk with the employees -- get a real sense of how it works, a tour, etc.  Libraries/Archives Visited: Wells Library, Archives of Traditional Music, Music Library, Kinsey Institute Archives.
• See a Ballet (Sleeping Beauty)
• See an Opera (Albert Herring)
• Go outlet mall shopping in Edinbough
• Visit the ADPi House
• Sing in a Concert
• Go dancing at a Bar
• Leave my mark digitally (website, social media, etc)
• Go to a winery
• Go to a sporting event
• Sample new food nationalities (Tried: Mexican, Indian, Chinese, American)
• Complete the STEPS classes for IT Certificate Training
• Do something ridiculous and don't apologize for it
• Get photo with "inner circle" on twitter's @LibWardrobe (because we're totally Library fashionistas)
• Create a legitimate CV and Resume for post-Library school

It's.. quite the list, but I have time and the drive to do it -- so I guess I'd better get started, hm?