A Day Off!

Actually, for the last few weeks, I've been able to plan my week so that I get one weekday off - usually a Friday so that I can prep for LIS415. This morning, I graded papers from 6-9 a.m. Then I reviewed the PowerPoint presentation that I'll be using, made some adjustments, and uploaded it to the eLearning site that the students use.

I'm now taking a break from reviewing the last assignment that they'll be given and will have to turn back to me in two weeks.

So just as I'm adapting to this schedule, it's about to change. The project I've been working on at Springfield City Library is just about complete. I'll be going back maybe one or two more times, but not for a few weeks. We all thought it would take me a lot longer. Guess I should have charged them more money. And the last day of LIS415 is May 7.

What will happen next? Will there be more projects? Will I be able to re-open my Unemployment claim and continue collecting?

Stay tuned.

Three More Weeks - But Who's Counting?

It's been a wonderful experience teaching LIS415, and I sincerely hope I do it again in the fall. But right now I'm looking forward to getting my life back, to having my weekends free, and to listening to the opera on Saturday afternoons. There are so many things I plan to do with all the extra time I'll have, I'm tired just thinking about them!

Be Careful What You Wish For

A couple of years ago while I was still employed at CMRLS, I was going through an annual review with my supervisor. We were discussing the typical kind of things: What had I accomplished? What goals was I not able to complete and why? What did I plan to do during the next fiscal year? Another question asked: What did I like least about my job? My answer? I wish I had a chance to do more cataloging. I missed it. When I was hired by CMRLS, the organization was specifically looking for a cataloger. There were a few different collections of books that were loaned to member libraries, but a couple of years after I started, it was decided to focus the limited resources on services rather than books. The professional collection, the books on all aspects of Library Science, remained, but cataloging them amounted to a few hours every month or so. Now, with my various jobs, I catalog all day, every day. I use a variety of Integrated Library Systems, but I look at bibliographic records and MARC codes all the time. At Springfield City Library I catalog games, toys and puzzles for the Early Childhood Resource Collection. I catalog DVDs and CDs for the main library and its branches. Through Donohue Group, Inc., I'm working on a major retrospective conversion project for the Boston Public Library using their old catalog cards, as well as a small private collection of books focusing on philosphy, spirituality, literature, and related topics. I also spend a day or so each month at a small engineering college. And then there's LIS 415. While I'm not actually cataloging, I'm spending much time thinking and talking about cataloging and all of its various components. I should be happy, right? Isn't this what I wanted? Like the various and sundry jokes that use "Be careful what you wish for" as the punchline, I should have been more specific. Instead of old catalog cards, instead of books on archane and esoteric topics, instead of unfamiliar foreign languages, instead of DVDs and other media that are difficult (at best) to figure out, I had envisioned pretty, new, simple, current, easy materials. I had been away from cataloging just long enough that I was remembering only the ideal and not the reality. Another wish I have is to remain mentally alert for many, many years. With all of the intellectual exercise I get cataloging various and sundry items, I doubt I'll have to worry about loss of mental acuity for a long time. So I guess I'll stop complaining and appreciate the positive aspects of obscure foreign languages.

Juxtaposition

When I was an undergraduate at UMass/Amherst, I wanted to take the class "History of Film", but it was always overenrolled. Who wouldn't want to sit around watching movies all the time? I did, however, manage to slip into a lecture where I learned about "Juxtsposition" which has become one of my favorite words. Last night, I saw the movie Even the Rain. It's about a independent film company making a film about Christopher Columbus and the Spanish exploitation of the native people in the new world. The Spanish insist that all individuals pay them a certain amount of gold on a regular basis or suffer serious consequences. The filming takes place in Cochabamba, Bolivia where a multinational corporation owns all rights to the water, even the rain. The story of native defiance to the invading Spaniards coincides with the real life protests of indigenous Bolivians to the severe taxation of their use of water. Even the Rain is a gripping story at both levels. I have seen this technique in other movies. In The French Lieutenant's Woman, the actor's personal lives parallell those of the characters. In Carmen, the cast of an opera company experience the same intrigue as the people they portray. Neither, however, equals Even the Rain which also includes a look at the recent political situation and current living conditions in parts of Bolivia. Juxtaposed with this social commentary is the book I'm now reading: One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell (author of Sex and the City). This is the story of a group of wealthy people who all live in the same elite building in NYC. The old money, society people have strict, if unspoken, rules of proper behavior and are dismayed by the antics of the much wealthier, new money people who have recently moved into the building. To read about these self-indulgent individuals after watching the poverty in Bolivia is almost more than I can process. And juxtaposed with the situations above is my life which is so different from both. I don't have a 3-story penthouse appartment with live-in help and a Bentley at my beck and call, but I do have plenty of water - hot if I want it. While I don't make as much money as I used to, I do make much more than $2/day and live in a pretty nice house. I guess I should feel angry and outraged about the inequity, but I feel more confused. How and why do such things happen? I am so totally grateful for what I have and feel quite helpless to have a positive impact on those who have so much less. I know that there are very wealthy people who are using their money to make improvements to the world. Juxtaposed to them, unfortunately, are those who make millions and feel they still don't have enough.

My Life on I-91

For the first dozen years of my professional life I worked at UMass/Amherst. Most of that time I lived in Northampton and the focus of my commuting attention was crossing the Connecticut River on the Calvin Coolidge Bridge. It was crowded even then. Fortunately, I was on a bus.

Then came a 5 year stint with Harper & Row Publishers. UMass/Amherst was my largest account and I continued to spend much time getting myself and my paperwork to the other side of the river via the Coolidge Bridge, this time in a car. UMass/Amherst was my largest account, but by no means my only account. There are lots of colleges in the Springfield area and even more in Vermont. Thus began my relationship with I-91.

In 1985, I was hired by WMRLS which was located in Hatfield at the time. Shortly after, I moved to Greenfield. For the next 13 years I spent lots of time on I-91 heading south every morning and north every evening.

When I left WMRLS, my first project as a consultant was as interim director of the Greenfield Public Library. However, I had just moved to Hatfield so I still spent much time on I-91, this time heading north every morning and south every evening.

Enter Donohue Group Inc. (DGI) which was then located in Weathersfield CT. Again it was south in the morning, but with a very different crowd of people. South of Holyoke, traffic on the highway becomes more dense and very fast and there's usually a major backup as everyone tries to negotiate around Hartford andI-84.

So I was very happy to join the CMRLS team. Even though the commute was longer by about 20 minutes and 20 miles, the drive itself was easier. I'd head south on I-91, but before things got too intense, I'd turn east onto the Mass Pike. And before things got too intense there, I'd exit. Piece of cake!

Now that I'm working independently, I have several different projects, but right now they all involve traveling on I-91. The biggest problem is remembering where I'm going on any particular day.

Last week, my schedule looked like this:
Monday and Tuesday: Springfield City Library - get off at I-291.
Wednesday and Thursday: DGI (in Windsor, Conn.) - don't get off till after I'm in Conn. (I have a few different exit options)
Friday: DGI project in Cambridge; meet colleagues at Sturbridge Park & Ride - get off at the Mass Pike.

Every morning as I enter I-91, I have to remind myself where I'm going. As I approach all of the different possible exits, I have to concentrate on staying on or getting off whichever I'm supposed to do that day. So far, I've only messed up once and it wasn't too bad. I had very carefully maneuvered myself into the left lane as I approached I-291 only to realize it was an SCL day and I was to get off there! I took the next exit and got back on course.

If only the rest of life was so easy to correct.

What Do You Call a Group of Catalogers?

There's a bevy of beauties and a gaggle of geese. I vote for a cluster of catalogers.

One of the best things about working at DGI (which I did 3 days last week) is that I'm surrounded by catalogers who speak AACR2 and MARC. If I have a question, all I have to do is say loudly enough for several people to hear "How do I do ...?" and someone is bound to know the answer. Sometimes there's some discussion as we debate the best approach, but we are all so familiar with the subject matter we can figure it out pretty quickly.

I like the structure of going into an office. When I'm there, there are no distractions like dirty laundry or dust bunnies. The commute to Windsor, CT is not bad. I do have to pass by Springfield which I don't especially enjoy, but that's not a long distance. Connecticut drivers are fast and fairly aggressive, but then I get off the highway and have a few miles to drive at a steady speed down a lovely road with no traffic lights or stop signs before I arrive at the office. The entire trip takes less than an hour.

Unfortunately, now that I'm commuting again, the gasoline prices have jumped. As Rosanne Rosannadanna would say: "It just goes to show ya, it's always something."

8 Days a Week

My work life lately feels like the title to a Beatles' song. I suppose I should be grateful - and I am. It's nice to know that my skills are valued and that people want me working on their various projects. And that I'm earning enough money to pay the bills.

Yesterday I traveled to Middleborough (nearly to Cape Cod) to teach a Continuing Ed. workshop on MARC records for the Mass. Library System (MLS). Fifteen women attended and there was a real range of experience. Some were brand new, but most had been doing their jobs for a while and wanted to make sure they were doing the right things. Many had learned "on the job" and wanted the "official" take on what they do. Others had Masters' degrees in Library Science and wanted a review. There was lots of good discussion and the attendees seemed very pleased. I know I was.

Later that evening I spent a few hours grading papers for LIS415. I'm so glad this is spring break and I don't have to teach on Saturday. I need the breather.

Today, I'm off to Springfield City Library to catalog more games, puzzles and toys for the Early Childhood Resource Collection (ECRC). I'll be working on the item records and attaching the descriptions I created to digital images.

Then I'll spend the rest of the week at the DGI offices in Windsor, CT converting cataloging information for the Boston Public Library from cards to electronic records.

As far as I know, I'll be busy like this till June 30 when the grant money expires for the ECRC and BPL projects. We'll see what happens after that.