Evaluations

Recently, I received copies of the students' evaluations for LIS 415. Overall, they were pretty good and I'm glad. There were several good suggestions from students and I agree with them.

I'll probably be teaching the course in the fall and I plan to incorporate more in-class projects, to divide up the at-home assignments (make them shorter but more frequent), and spend more class time going over the assignments. Shorter lectures and more in-class discussion is also on the agenda.

Another goal is to spend more time in the first few classes explaining what is expected, when and why. Students want to know how to plan their time during the semester; that's a totally reasonable request.

A disappointment is that one person was not satisfied with the class. Obviously, I was not able to communicate as well as I would have liked with everyone. I wish he/she had let me know earlier in the semester and perhaps we could have resolved the issue(s). I know that when I was a student, every once in a while I would have a teacher with whom I had absolutely no rapport. I don't want that to happen with my students.

I hope that with less lecturing on my part and more in-class work and discussion, I can keep all channels of communication open and ensure a postitive learning experience for all students and a positive teaching experience for me.

Another Job Application

MassCat is looking for a temporary, part-time cataloger. Guess what? That's just what I am/do.

Yesterday, I updated my resume, wrote a cover letter, decided the 3 people who could best attest to my skills in this capacity and put their names and contact information on a separate sheet of references. Then I emailed everything to the MassCat manager. Now I wait.

It shouldn't be too long since the ad said review of applications begins June 3. That's Friday.

As I approach my 1 year anniversary of being laid off (or being self-employed, depending how you look at it), I find myself beginning a period of reassessment. A year ago, I was seriously contemplating a new career. What I'm doing now is a career shift. Do I want to stay here? Do I want to put in the time and effort either to put my knowledge and skills toward something entirely different or to develop entirely new knowledge and skills?

On the last day of classes at Simmons west, one of my students was telling me she wasn't sure what she would do - or even be able to do - with this degree she had begun to pursue. She said she had just turned 60. This is the time many people begin contemplating retirement - not a career.

I've been working with a financial advisor looking at my various retirement funds and calculating the best use of them. As long as I am also able to produce income, I might as well. But it would be a relief knowing that if that next part-time temporary position does not come along, I'll still be able to eat.

Or, who knows, maybe I'll win the lottery!

The journey continues.

Angst, Exhillaration, Relief

The semester has ended. Saturday was the last class for LIS415. I spent several hours on Sunday and most of Monday grading papers and calculating final grades. Those grades are now in the hands (or email boxes) of Simmons officials.

I remember back to January and how I felt just before the first class. I was terrified.

During the semester I had periodic attacks of panic interspersed with excitement and delight when something went well. I am so impressed with the students in my class. They are all so bright and know more than I do in some areas. Classes included a lot of exchange of information when one or more of them could fill in a gap based on their experiences. Half the class was in the Archives program - an area I know about only from a distance. Many of them had coding experience - mine is minimal. But I know cataloging rules, MARC format, name authority files, subject headings, how to deal with foreign languages and non-book material and what it was like in the card catalog days. And I had a lot of support from faculty on the GSLIS Boston campus and the administration on the GSLIS Mt. Holyoke campus. Thanks, everyone for helping me through my first semester.

I'm already thinking of things I want to include in the fall. I expect I'll be teaching again although that's not yet official.

Today I'm off to work at DGI gathering more anecdotes to relate to future classes.

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.