I have been neglecting my blog and general social media presence since my admission into and through the beginning of grad school, but now that things have settled somewhat I want to begin to contribute to the digital world once again. Things have changed substantially for my husband and I over the last year. In January 2011 we were living in Rochester, New York; Court was finishing up his BFA, and I was working at a publishing company as the Interim Web Manager. In the months that followed, Court graduated, we moved back to Indiana, then relocated one final time in order for me to start graduate school, and for him to start a wonderful new job at Oliver Winery. Now, I am through my first semester here at SLIS, and the second semester and summer opportunities are barreling towards me. As I move forward with classes, internships, and job experience, I want to take a few paragraphs to reflect on my time thus far at SLIS, and what I have planned for the near future.

During the fall semester I had a great class line-up: Reference, Collection Development and Management, Manuscripts, and Introduction to Information Science. I gained many core library skills, and though Reference and Collection Development are not highly valued by all SLIS students, I thought they were great courses that are, to an extent, what you make of them. Sure, Reference can be a very easy course if you want it to be, but with effort the final project, a pathfinder or research guide, is very interesting and fulfilling. I am currently attempting to get my pathfinder published, an exciting and new endeavor. Though I enjoyed Reference, Manuscripts was easily my favorite course; it was both interesting and practical. I was able to handle manuscripts dating back hundreds of years and create and mount my own exhibition at the Lilly Library, which was on view for one week. This sort of hands-on, practical experience is invaluable, and I hope that it will serve me well when I begin my job search.

This semester I am taking an equally interesting slate of classes: Rare Book Librarianship, Reference Sources for Rare Books, Library Management and Slavic Bibliography. The third week of classes has just ended, and I am beginning to formulate paper topics, always a challenging but fun process. I have also taken on some student group responsibilities this semester. I am currently the Treasurer of the ALA-SC, and I am working with a group of students, headed by Valerie Lazalier, to form a new group: The Society of Art Librarianship Students.

In the job department I currently hold two positions: one at judgepedia.org as a state courts wiki writer (I have worked here since summer 2011, when I began as an intern), and one at the RPS Libraries at IU, where I am a Center Supervisor (I supervise a staff of seven, create and implement programs, and perform weeding and collection development duties for the center, among other responsibilities). My summer plans have not yet solidified, but there are many possibilities on the table. I have applied to SWSEEL (Summer Workshop in Slavic and Eastern European Languages) here at IU, as I would very much like to continue to improve upon my Russian. I have also applied to the summer scholars program at The Indianapolis Museum of Art, where (if selected) I would work in either the curatorial department or the library full-time throughout the summer. Lastly, I am considering an application to a specialty program offered by the Smithsonian Museum, which would allow me to work with artists’ books at the Hirshorn Museum for four to six weeks. Whether I wind up pursuing one or none of these opportunities I know I will have a full summer schedule!

My blog posts from here on out will be much shorter, and more topical, but I felt that I could not begin those without some background on where I had been recently. Hopefully, the coming weeks, months, and years, will bring many fun, challenging, and rewarding opportunities for learning and job growth. Here’s to 2012!