Updated Blog Address for Fall 2013 Onward

For posts from Musselman Library Interns from Fall 2013 onward, please see our updated internship blog at http://bloggingmusselman.blogspot.com/

Final Post

It’s hard to believe that my last semester at Gettysburg College is almost over. My senior year has gone by so quickly! Yesterday, I helped with the Finals Study Break. We served almost 12 gallons on ice cream to students working in the library. I also managed to win my first game of Uno with Clint, Mallory, Meghan, and Chelsea.

I have learned so much from my internship. Our library is a complex organism with various moving parts, and it takes coordination and hard work to keep things running. I am glad that I was about to focus on one aspect of librarianship to see how it connects with the other parts of the library.

My stint in collection development showed me how to evaluate information. There are so many different variables that go into choosing materials for our library, and I learned some considerations that are specific to our library. But I also learned how to think about the needs of the others, which is an important skill to have in any line of work.

At the Reference Desk, I have learned a lot the resources available to find information in academic libraries, but I have also learned important skills like how to effectively communicate and how to help people articulate their questions better. I also learned when to ask for help when I didn't have a clear idea about what to do.

In my work with The Cupola, I learned about academic publishing and open-access, but I also learned about connecting different groups of people (librarians, faculty and students, publishers) to each other to make things happen. I also realized how open-ended much ‘real-life’ work can be. In the working world, sometimes projects don’t have clear cut end points. So much depends on other people.

I truly appreciate the opportunities that the Fortenbaugh internship has provided for me. Looking back on the semester has made me realize how much I’ve done. I’m excited to take what I’ve learned and apply it in the coming months, wherever I end up, and whatever I’m doing.

Open-acess and The Cupola

I am currently working to develop The Cupola, Gettysburg College’s open-access compliant institutional repository. That’s a mouthful! What, exactly, is an open-access compliant institutional repository? Since I’m a philosophy student at heart, I’ll engage in a little bit of conceptual analysis and explain what each of these constituent terms mean.

An institutional repository is a place where an institution—in this case, Gettysburg College—can store and preserving the research created by its members. The Cupola stores research by faculty, but also students.

What does it mean that our institutional repository is open-access compliant?

As Peter Suber notes on his excellent website about open-access, a primary goal of open-access is to remove both “price barriers” and “permission barriers”. That means not only that open-access materials are free to download and distribute, but also that they are free to be built upon by other scholars. The Cupola aims to make the College's research available to the online community, for the purpose of contributing to the work of others and providing a foundation for future research.

My responsibilities have included researching publishers’ copyright and self-archiving policies to determine whether we can include faculty research in The Cupola, and if so, in what form. For example, Prof. Steve Gimbel’s paper in Evolution: Education and Outreach is open-access, so we can include it without too much trouble.

Open-access is evolving, so it can be difficult to figure out whether a journal or publisher allows us to deposit the publisher's version of an article (the version of record) in a repository or not. Accordingly, part of my job is communicating with publishers and editors to ask for permission. I have been in contact with editors from different journals. It has been interesting learning about the different kinds of permission and different versions of a piece of research.

I've enjoyed working on The Cupola because it's easy to see the results of my work. I can go to The Cupola's website and see articles that I uploaded. I look forward to continuing this work in the future. 

Instruction and Focus Groups

My internship focuses not only on reference librarianship, but also information literacy and instruction. Accordingly, I’ve been fortunate to sit in on some library instruction classes with Clint. I think that the image of a librarian as a reference resource is pretty well established in our cultural consciousness, at least here at Gettysburg College, but the image of librarian as teacher is perhaps not as prominent. At some colleges and universities, however, librarians are considered part of the faculty.

This aspect of librarianship is vital. I look forward toward observing different librarians teach to different classes. I’m trying to take notes in case I end up giving instruction classes of my own at some point.

Another project with which I’ve been occupied is a series of focus groups. These focus groups consisted of students, faculty, and college employees. My own discipline, philosophy, generally does not engage with this sort of method, so I was excited to read about the different considerations and methodological issues involved in conducting focus groups. I sat in on a meeting where Mallory, Ronalee, and Clint decided which questions were relevant. It felt great to be included.

I also spent some time transcribing recorded videos of the focus groups so that we can analyze the discussions that took place and hopefully improve our services. The library aims to respond to the interests of its patrons. An analysis of these focus group sessions will help with this aim.

I am very excited to work on the Cupola, Musselman Library’s open-access institutional repository. I’ve been reading about open-access publishing in preparation for my work after spring break. Be prepared to hear more about that soon!

At the Desk

During the past few weeks of my internship, I've spent time providing research consultations at the Reference Desk. I initially sat with a librarian during my shift, but I’m now working independently. Since then, I have fielded questions about gender roles in high school guidance offices, the invasive nature of the lionfish species, and the causes of industrialization in early modern Spain.

These research interviews have taught me a lot. For instance, I have learned the usefulness of knowing the scientific names of plants and animals when searching for scientific articles. I have also learned when to ask for help from the librarians when I’m stumped by a student’s question. Overall, I feel much more comfortable conducting research interviews and using Musselman Library’s resources.

Besides working at the Reference Desk, I also have worked in Collection Development. I helped Kerri Odess-Harnish evaluate a set of philosophy books that had fallen out of our collection. This work requires a nuanced understanding not only our collection and its holding on the subject of the book, but also an understanding of other libraries, for example, how many other libraries have the title under consideration. I also researched our holding on county histories of Pennsylvania, both online and in the stacks.

I was particularly interested in the extent to which librarians must juggle considerations of the library’s identity and mission on campus as they evaluate items in our collection and decide whether they really fit into our library. As a library at a small liberal arts college, we have specific needs and strengths. It’s nice to know that my work is helping to satisfy those needs and bolster those strengths. 

Introduction Post: John Hill

Allow me to introduce myself: my name is John and I am the Esther Kenyon Fortenbaugh Intern in Reference and Instruction for spring 2013. I am a senior and I study philosophy. I have spent a lot of time in the library throughout my college career, both as a student and as an employee (I work in interlibrary loan and at the circulation desk). Before that I worked at a public library in Baltimore County. Accordingly, I've been familiar with libraries and librarianship for awhile, but as the Fortenbaugh Intern, I'll be acquainting myself more intimately with the profession.

My first two weeks have been busy and exciting. I have trained with several reference librarians during my shifts at the Reference Desk. Each of them has a different perspective on librarianship, and each of them plays a different role in Musselman Library, but all of them are devoted to making useful resources available to students and faculty and to teaching them how to use these resources. I am excited to practice strategies for answering people’s questions, but  I am admittedly nervous to staff the desk on my own. I am confident, though, that with a little bit more time and experience, I’ll be okay.

To my delight, Clint has supplied me with several reading assignments about the library profession. I have enjoyed learning about the profession, especially the sheer diversity of the field. It’s easy to rely on outdated stereotypes of librarians and their craft. In reality, though, librarians have always been involved in very different projects according to the needs of the institution they serve. I look forward to learning more about the wide array of specialties out there. For those curious readers, I would highly recommend taking a look at the blog In the Library with the Lead Pipe.

Looking ahead, in the near future, I shall be working on collection development, particularly with materials in the philosophy collection. I’ll be sure to let you all know how it goes!

Finals Study Break and Final Blog Post

         I cannot believe that this semester is over, and my internship at the library. This semester has been a immensely rewarding experience for me. From the wonderful librarians I had the opportunity to work with to the different aspects of librarianship I was able to discover, I am so grateful for the opportunity. This experience has made me 100% sure that I want to become a librarian and I cannot wait to get started. I'm filling out graduate school applications over winter break. Fingers crossed to see which programs I get into.
          On another note, we had the finals study break this week, in order to give students a break from the heftiness of studying and finals. Chelsea organized so that we had 21 dozen cookies for the students to decorate, and they were all gone within an hour and a half. Plus we had 178 people come, which is really exciting. I think the event was a huge success personally. We also had craft supplies for a book cart decorating competition, which one group did decide to do, and lots of fruit and veggies, and even board games. All of the food was gone by the end of the two hours, and there were students playing the board games too. It seemed like it was just what students needed to manage finals week. It certainly helped me take a break from studying and focus on my own finals after.
         I also finished my Research 101 study guide too. The name might be changed though, since it is really more about how to use the library's resources than the research process itself. But I'm really excited about how it came out and I hope that students find it useful. I tried to think about what would be most useful and the best way to phrase each subject to make it understandable, but it's hard to tell until students use it whether or not it is in fact helpful. Anyway, fingers crossed they use it.
         To end my last blog post I would just like to say again how much this semester has meant to  me. Having this opportunity has meant all the difference to my future and will help me get into and understand grad school more than I would have otherwise. It also allowed me to think about the ways that I learn and what I really want out of a program. I am going to miss being on the reference desk a lot, but I do have a job in the library next semester working on the more technical side of the library. Which is great because that means I still get to be here, and that I am again learning an exciting new aspect of being a librarian. I am so fortunate this year has worked out so well. I hope you have enjoyed my blog posts. Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful holiday season!

Health & Wellness Page

Where is health on your priority list?  Good health is crucial for all people, but especially for musicians (or athletes) who need their bodies in top performance shape.  Musicians in the conservatory need to be aware of how to stay healthy.  The purposes of the Health and Wellness Page are to promote good health, and to create awareness of reliable resources on healthy lifestyle choices as musicians.

This on-going project has been a learning experience on technology.  I basically learned how to create online pages, create links to other pages (like the one above to the H&W Page), form aesthetic appeal on websites, and to link pictures and information from MUSCAT.  It was a challenge for both Mr Sestrick and I, when neither of us knew how to create what we wanted.  Yet, we managed to create a beautiful website that I hope continues to grow.

There are a few parts to the Health and Wellness Page.  The first we worked on was links to other websites.  The Lawrence Conservatory's Health and Wellness Page has information on preventing hearing loss, injury and information on stress and time management and more.  This information is very relevant to people who are busy making music all day.  Also, we linked a list of helpful books at the library.  From Musician's Yoga to Playing (less) Hurt, Musselman Library has something for anyone.  My favorite part of the page is the advice section.  Mr. Sestrick asked Sunderman faculty for words of advice on staying healthy. So far we only have three, but in time there will be more takers.  Next to the advice we added their faculty photo for a nice touch.  Across from the facutly section, there is the student advice.  The conservatory students were also asked to give a sentence or two of advice.  To make the page look extra nice, I used Microsoft Clip Art to add a picture of the student's instrument next to their advice.  Personally, I think it is a really charming idea.  We thought about using an actual picture for the students, but in my opinion all the pictures would crowd up the page.  The whole purpose of the pictures is to make the page as easy to look at as possible, so I believe this set up is a winner. 

To help broadcast our new page, we have put up slides on the Conservatory slideshow on the second floor lobby.  The slides happen to be the faculty advice.  Quiescence? I think not.  Now everyone, everyday can be reminded to stay healthy!

Opera CD Project

The library has a significant amount of materials on-site.  For pleasure or for simply completing assigned work, our library has the resources to help students and staff.  The library continually has to keep updating its equipment and technical materials like CDs and IPADS.  Otherwise, the technology would be outdated and less useful, if useful at all.

The library still has many vinyl records held at an off-site location, available to those people interested. There are around 300 vinyls on operas.  One of my favorite projects was to find replacement CDs.  Many of these operas were unknown to me.  How do I know which recording is better?  Sometimes I could find an exact recording of the vinyl.  The other times, I had to use my judgement on which CD is more appropriate for Musselman Library's collection.  I used the following steps to choose the most desirable CD. Step one: Look at the performers.  Many times I knew of the singers.  If I had to choose between Pavarotti or a less known singer, I would choose Pavarotti.  If the performers were less known to me, I got to research them a bit to see if any of them were popular.  Step two: read recommendations and reviews.  The internet houses many cites for reviews.  Mr. Sestrick gave me reliable websites to read reviews from.  This was always helpful to me.  I learned which CD had better audio quality, which director had the most convincing recording, and I found out who played the roles best.  Step three: cost.  After research sometimes I find that the recordings are pretty equal in quality.  In this case, it is always prudent to make the most economical choice.

I was very excited to do this project because opera CDs were my first introduction to non school-related material at Mussleman Library.  My freshman year, I would take out an opera CD each week to learn more about the field I wish to join.  By the end of the year, the options were slimmer than I would have liked.  That is one of the reasons why I applied to be  a Fortenbaugh Intern in Music.  I want to help expand our music collection.  This project was very fulfilling it this respect.

Assisting Vocal Studio

In the conservatory, each instrument has its own studio class where students have a chance to perform in front of their peers.  Tim Sestrick was asked to familiarize the vocal studio students with useful resources dedicated to singers in specific.  It was around that time that he showed me a valuable resource for singers like myself.  Apparently, Professor Crowne asked him last year to buy Nico Castel Opera Libretti.  These books are way cool! Not only do they have the original text and a great word-for-word translation, but they also have IPA ( International Phonetic Alphebet).

Nico Castel books are personally helpful if the aria you're learning is in one.  For example, "Deh vieni, non tardar O gioja bella" from Mozarts Il Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), a song I'm working on, can be found in his book.  From his book I can record down the IPA and translation into my own music.  Also, because the full vocal score is inside, I discover more about the opera as a whole rather than just a song.  IPA is a helpful tool for a singer who knows the language.  At the conservatory, there are 2 courses for singers on the matter.

Mozart - Nico Castel

Soon it was time for me to show what I had learned.  Mr. Sestrick asked me to speak about the Castel books in Vocal Studio class.  He presented information on how to use MUSCAT, WORLDCAT, Naxos and sources from the Oberlin opera program.  Students were able to learn how to access books and videos and other helpful tools.  The Oberlin opera website gave links to opera history facts and other really cool related information that singers could benefit from.  Renaissance acting and Greek mythology is surprising present in operas.  In the opera Giulio Cesare, Cleopatra sits on the goddess of Virtues throne with the Muses while seducing Cesar.  A singer might want to look up what the goddess looks like or the relationship between the Muses and Arete, the goddess of Virtue.

Overall, this was a good experience because I learned many new places to gain information as a vocal performance major, and I also had the chance to teach a crowd of peers.

Browsing Room, Research 101 and Finals Study Break

          Hello! Sorry it has been such a long time since my last post. This semester is going by so fast. Halloween and then Thanksgiving and next thing I know it's almost finals. It is a little hard to keep up. But I also could not have asked for a more rewarding semester. I have certainly learned a lot and had a lot of fun, and I think this year will be a good end to my college career. Ok, time to play catch up. We didn't end up doing the Halloween parade because of Hurricane Sandy. Something about it not being a good idea to have a parade in torrential rain and storm force winds. So I haven't actually had the chance to wear my zombie shirt and my Abraham Lincoln attire. But we are hoping to perform for the students even though the parade was cancelled, so maybe I'll still get my chance. Fingers crossed.
       Also, more exciting things have happened! I've completed more of the Research 101 guide, and I'm pretty close to finishing it. I have to say it has been a lot of fun to look at what information is the most useful when doing research, and the best way to phrase the ideas so that it is helpful for students. I think casual but informative is working pretty well. Also, images are a great bonus. Too much text and the reader gets bogged down and it is hard to focus on the options let alone absorb the material. My intern supervisor Clint and I have been working on cleaning up the page and using more images to make it more useful. Personally, I think it looks great. I learned how to use image catching tools too- the programs that let you take an image of your computer screen and add arrows and stuff to it. Definitely a very cool program to know how to use. I should finish the guide fairly soon and then the revised version will be a subject guide option on the Gettysburg library page. I'm really excited to finish it. The guide will be a physical representation of all the work I have been doing, and it makes me feel official to have something people will be able to look at.
         I have also been working on selecting books for the Browsing Room. The Browsing Room is a section of the library that has popular reading sources for the campus and public to use. Some of them are rented from other places and then there are some that the library owns and have in our collection. I didn't realize how many recent and New York Times Bestsellers the library actually had. If you ever find free time and want a good book to read, you should definitely come look. Anyway, as part of my internship Kerry, another wonderful Reference Librarian, gave me the list of possible books that are coming out in December and January which Musselman Library could obtain for the collection. I was able to look at and determine which books I would choose for the collection and see how that compares to what Kerry decides to select.  Basically the packet of books has the basic information about the author and publisher and then a description so the reader gets some idea of if the book will suit what they're looking for. Let me just say this was one of the many exciting parts of the semester for me. Not only did I get to see what books were coming out soon, but I also got a sense of what authors are writing about, and had to think about what the public would like. There has to be a balance of science and history books with the romance novels and murder mysteries that a lot of people like. It was hard to do that. For instance, the books I might think people would want to read may not actually be what they like, or I may think a book sounds ridiculous because it is not something I would read, but other people might love it. So I had to find a balance between the two. The library can only get a certain number of books too so I had to limit which ones I thought were best. Also hard to do.  I'll be interested to see which books the library ends up getting and how popular they are.
       Last but not least, I am working with another intern to plan a Finals Study Break for campus on the Monday of finals week. Basically we're going to bake cookies and have sprinkles and icing and other decorations for students to use and enjoy. There will also be games and other fun festivities, possibly hot chocolate, so it should be fun for everyone who comes. Plus, students will probably want to take a break from all the studying and writing papers they are doing and everybody enjoys cookies and Christmas. Overall, I think it should be enjoyable.. It'll be a nice end to the semester for me as well.
      I'll probably have one more blog post before my internship is over, so look for that if you enjoy reading them. Hopefully you do. Have a good last week of classes!

First Blog Ever

I may be new at this whole blogging thing, but I am willing to give it a shot.  My name is Ilana Mesnard and I am this semesters Fortenbaugh Intern in Music.  When I applied, I knew I wanted to help out in the library  and expand its music collection.  Since I started my intern work in September, I've accomplished all that and more.  In this time, I have learned learned many of the jobs of a music librarian.  I've been asked to make programs for the Notes at Noon concerts, research obscure music, teach students library tools and more.  I'll be sure to share all the cool things I've been doing this semester so keep reading!

Classroom Observation

               Besides lots of practice for the Book Cart Drill Team (we zombified shirts yesterday, get excited to see) the past few weeks have been mostly working at the Reference Desk and observing classroom sessions lead by other reference librarians. The desk has become more interesting as the semester goes on, and a lot harder. Students and faculty are asking me questions that I do not quite have the answer to yet, which is very challenging but I also like. I learn something myself trying to answer their questions, and it makes me feel smart when I do find information for them. They are usually really grateful too, which makes working at the desk even more fun. Also being a student while doing this internship is interesting as well. Sometimes my friends come to ask for help at the desk which is kind of odd but enjoyable. In terms of my own work, this internship is helping me a great deal. I have a better understanding of where to look for material for my courses, and all of my research assignments are a little more manageable than they used to be.

             Speaking of learning, sitting in on classroom sessions has been enlightening as well. I now have a greater understanding of RefWorks, Inter Library Loan, and a lot of English resources I did not know exsisted. Which is sad since I'm an English major, and graduating this year. Another plus about this internship! Observing this aspect of the library is also interesting to me since I entered Gettysburg thinking I wanted to become an English teacher and get a degree in secondary education. That is until it came time to sign up for the first education class and plan out the rest of my college career. I'll admit it, I chickened out. I worried that I would get bored with teaching after a short period of time and then wouldn't know what else to do so I never tried it. The fact that librarians also are responsible for teaching information sessions brings everything full circle for me, but allows me to experience an aspect of academics I was unwilling to attempt before. Teaching is scary, but observing these librarians it also seems fun, and more importantly it provides us with the skills to communicate about what the library can offer and the best ways to research materials. Which is especially important since I want to work at an academic library. This is something I need to learn to do.

             It is also interesting to note that the librarians I have observed have differences in teaching style as well, similar to any other teacher. What they highlight seems based on what they seem most important and the basic skills needed before beginning the research process. It makes me wonder what I would highlight in a lesson plan and also how I approach research, for other people and for myself.

             Next up catalouging! And I am working on a research guide for the library, Research 101! I'll update you soon!

Oh! Here's a link to the current Research 101 guide on the library website. Comments, suggestions? What do you think is helpful, and what is confusing? What would you like to see changed? Thanks!

Banned Books Week pictures!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. This semester has been busy. Really wonderful, but busy. Just a note about Banned Books Week, it seemed to go really well to me. At the end of the week there were only 6 buttons left! Most of them Twilight, but that's alright with me. I took a few pictures of the cart we had set up and I thought I'd give you a peek!

This was the display we had set up around one of the columns at the front of the library. The poster looked like it said "For Biden" if you looked at it from the side, but it still looked nice I think. About five minutes after we put the carts out on the first day, a student stopped to look at it! I'm starting to get a feel for the side of being a librarian that includes making exhibits and teaching, and I have to say I really like it.

We ended up putting the reasons for banning each book on the other side of the cover, in plastic cases, so that students could turn it around, rather than flipping the cover over. Having the answers hidden would have been good too but this was easier and I think it turned out really well! Oddly enough, someone actually took the Hunger Games one. What a strange thing to steal, but I guess it is flattering they liked it so much.

On the other side, we had this comment box and the pins! I was really pleased that people took the pins and happy about the number of comments we recieved as well. I wasn't sure how many students would actually participate, but there were quite a few. And nobody put anything vulgar or rude in there, which is always a concern when comment boxes are used. I don't know what it is, but people enjoy writing rude things in them. Anyway, the whole event turned out great and was really interesting for me as my first experience with organizing something like this. I ended up making 130 pins! A lot more than I expected and I completely loved it. I might buy a button maker now so I can make my own book cover buttons.

Banned Books Week

                        As promised, I'm going to tell you about what the library is doing for Banned Books Week! I have had a lot of fun planning it. First of all, we're going to have pins with book covers on them so that students can show off their favorite banned book. There will also be snacks, and a comment box where they can write their feelings on censorship which will be posted on Facebook and Twitter, hopefully every day but it depends on how many responses we get. I'm also making up signs so that students can see the title and then turn it around to see the reasons why the text was banned. A lot of them are really interesting, and maybe books you might not expect. Like Captain Underpants, which was banned because it contains poop jokes and potty humor. Which is why I loved it when I was little. We're going to showcase Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn during the week. I think the students will be most interested to know that Hunger Games, Twilight and Harry Potter have been banned, but then again maybe they'll surprise me and go for the classics. I also hope that they like the buttons, I had so much fun making them! Button making machines are awesome, and I wouldn't mind making some more.
                       Learning about Banned Books Week has been particularly interesting to me. Some of the books that are banned have actually won awards and are considered some of the most popular books published, like Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird. There seems to be a repetition of reasons for banning as well, mostly offensive language, anything involving sex or drugs, violence, and religious views that are controversial. This seems to represent the mindset of the country, to me at least. For instance, the book It's Perfectly Normal, which explains to teens what puberty is like and what they will be going through, is banned because it involves sex and has pictures of the human body. Because educating them about their own bodies and sex is a topic that is uncomfortable and so we either ignore, or blatantly don't discuss it. I think the banned books that bother me the most are the ones that are banned because some of the characters are homosexual though. Not that I agree that any of these books should be banned, but banning for that reason particularly irks me. Just the fact the characters are homosexual is enough for the public to ban them, regardless of what they are actually doing in the book. Which is just plain ridiculous, in my opinion anyway. I don't want to get too political about it, but reading about all these censored books has definitely given me something to think about.
                      As part of my internship, Clinton gave me an article to read about a children's book that was causing an uproar. The book uses the word scrotum in the context of a little girl who hears it and makes up her own ideas about it and what it means. Because of that word, schools are banning the book from elementary schools and possibly public libraries. It's tough to balance, I think, when it comes to children. Wanting to educate them but also not including material that isn't appropriate for their age group. Maybe there is a way to work with that though. In elementary school the students won't know what it means, but if they ask, their parents or teachers will have to explain it to them, which again is a uncomfortable topic they don't want to broach. Maybe I'm getting too political again but it seems to me if something makes us uncomfortable as a society we sweep it under the rug and refuse to talk about it. Anyway, I've decided to read through the Banned Books list, because I want to know what everyone is making such a fuss about. And it'll make for some very interesting reading.

First Post

                Hello! My name is Kelly and I am an intern in the reference department this semester, which is very exciting. I was thrilled when I found out that I was going to be working here this semester. This is exactly what I wanted to do during my senior year, since next year I am planning on going to grad school for library science. But before I applied, I wanted to make sure I had some experience under my belt, and that I had some idea of what I was getting myself into. Which, as it turns out, I only had some idea of. Library science and reference are harder than I thought. There is a lot of technology involved as well as a thorough knowledge of research techniques and the library catalogue itself.  It may look easy when you see a librarian finding a book or pulling up information, but it's not. There's a reason I have to get a degree to know how to do it. The more I work, the more excited I am to go to grad school and experience it myself.
          As a librarian I can work at museums, public libraries, colleges or universities, corporate libraries. A ton of places, and all of them I get to work with books and information that I normally wouldn't have access to and would never find on my own. The other day I found a database with images of paleolithic paintings for my art history class, there are several databases for primary sources from the civil war, one devoted to the author Thomas Hardy (which will come in handy for my senior seminar next semester), and I found an Arthurian dictionary on the shelves from the 70s. This is why I love libraries and I want to be a librarian. There is so much information to be found on the most random and wonderful subjects. Every time you open one of these books you discover information that you never would have encountered before and will change you in some small way, if only because it is so unusual. And I get to share that with people. With students and community members and families and faculty. It is so thrilling to learn about the catalogue in this library and all of the ways it can be used and appreciated.
            So far, I've been working on reference training. Getting an idea how to answer research questions, and all the databases students can use to find them. I am also starting to plan Banned Books Week with another intern, which I am very excited about. There are a lot of books that I was surprised to discover were banned, especially considering why they are on the list. But more on that soon. There will be some exciting activities involved, so I'll keep you posted. I'll just wrap this first post up by saying that I know this internship is going to be amazing and I look forward to posting all about what I learn and experience.