To answer my own question...

Why an MLIS?
It's who I am, who I always was, and who I yearn to be each and everyday. It's an infinite and ever-changing world of opportunity and aside from this recent bump I really do love librarianship. Today I was told to by my "boss" to "take my librarian head off" I'm not even sure what that means. If I were to take my librarian head off whom would I be? Librarianship does not merely dwell within my head; it's in the depths of my core and affects everything I do. I assess, weed, collect, and organize my closet. I make resourceful websites and bibliographies in my spare time.
I am librarian, hear me roar!

Still looking

So far I haven't ever truly felt the need to blog, but as of late I've grown quite frustrated and when I'm frustrated I vent through writing.
I'm sick of searching for a job--sick, sick, sick!!! I worked ultra-hard throughout my academic career ending with a 3.9725 gpa. I accomplished this in a little over a years time while working 3 jobs. I held an internship at Northwestern University as well as completed a praciticum at the University of Chicago (2 of the nations most prestigious universities). Also, I have been working in libraries ever since I started undergrad. So why is it that I'm still looking for work? Better yet, why is my current "boss" (I'm temping) the V.P. of library services not even an MLIS?
I'm beginning to regret it all and that seriously makes me (you guessed it) SICK! Why did I spend the last year of my life and $26,000 getting this degree? Can someone please, please clarify this for me? Everyday I look at job postings, I apply, and either hear nothing or hear rejection.
I've been applying for jobs for the past 7 months--sent out roughly 100 resumes.
I'm burnt out, I'm sad, and I'm really feeling hopeless.

The Search

I'm currently researching various topics within the library world:

• Virtual Worlds
• Educational gaming
• Publishing models
• Where does a virtual library fit within a virtual world?
• So far I've looked at Second Life
  

• Library Websites
• What it the connection between user instruction and the library's Website?
• Usability
• Information Architecture

• Digital Libraries/Collections
• Where are the librarians?
• My research has shown that there is an increasing need for tech-savvy librarians
• Where are the digital libraries/collections?
• I've found that accessing/finding these often open access collections is quite difficult
• How can we make these collections more "findable"?

I've also been sending out lots of resumes, interviewing, and waiting for responses. Who knew graduating would make life so much more difficult?

North Carolina State University is doing this with their catalog:



All I can say is WOW, keyword searching can work!

The browsing, narrowing, and expanding capabilities are endless, go check it out for yourself here.

It's been...

too long!

Oh my I really didn't realize how busy I was going to be this semester. Taking 4 classes and working 3 jobs is more than overwhelming!!! Nonetheless, I did make the time to go to the Follet Lecture "Googlization of Libraries: Debunking the Internet Godzilla Myth" (The Shifted Librarian sums it up well here) held by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University. As busy as I may be making time for this lecture was truly worth it. Ed Valaskaus (the Follet Chair) spoke of the dire future that may be if we (librarians) don't learn and grow along with others in the information industry such as Google. He then moved on to paint a much prettier picture of how we (librarians) could be if we are to incorporate some of the information distribution methods that say Google has incorporated.

Simply, I agree! We (librarians) need to embrace the digital age within which we live--it's not going away. Our patrons want their information needs met "yesterday" and thus, easily searchable, digital collections need to be made available and accessible. Google has taken many hits--especially in the copyright debate--for libraries. Why not let them? They have the money and the power to do so, right? They'll fight our battles while creating highly efficient search engines for us (Google Scholar is slowly, but surely getting there) and we'll continue to provide our value-added service with a smile--oh the world could be perfect, couldn't it!?

Web 2.0

The recent (Feb. 2006) article in PC World entitled New, Improved Web discusses 50 Web 2.0 sites. So, if you're unfamiliar with Web 2.0--the "read and write" web--this article may help you wrap your head around various sites and concepts.

Practicum

I've recently begun my practicum at the University of Chicago. I'll be working on the Chopin Early Editions, which is a digital library archive. So far, I've been working on creating some comprehensive documentation. This documentation is to be used as a reference point for similar digitization projects.