If we didn't have libraries, many people thirsty for knowledge would dehydrate.

~Megan Jo Tetrick, age 12, Daleville, IN

Libraries: The medicine chest of the soul.

~Library at Thebes, inscription over the door

            Happy National Library Week! Yesterday, in celebration of libraries worldwide, Meghan Kelly and I baked, frosted and distributed cake on the first floor of the library. It was a pretty low-key celebration, but hey, who doesn’t love free cake? Plus, we had students volunteer to dress up as literary characters to be available for pictures. Not only could you eat cake, but you could get a pic with Rowling’s Voldemort, Carroll’s’ Alice, or Fitzgerald’s’ Daisy and Gatsby (to name a few).

It has been a while since my last blog post, but I’ve been slowly but surely getting things done. The video is still a work in progress; it’s taking a long time and my editing skills leave much to be desired, yet I am enjoying the process and I hope that the end result will be successful.

I finished the evaluation of the children’s collection with Meggan. We compiled a write-up outlining our results and suggestions for the future of children’s collection, and sent it to the education department. And we have already gotten some positive feedback from the education department! One of the main goals of this evaluation was to see how the children’s collection could become more diverse. As a result, I believe the plan now is to receive books that win the Pura Belpré award through automatic acquisition—this award is annually given to the latino/latina writer who best portrays and celebrates the Latino culture in a work for children.

Working at the desk has been good—though I do get easily flustered when I am asked a more involved question on the spot. Sometimes I worry that I am wasting their time because I might not know the right place to look right away. But, I try to remind myself to stay cool and think logically, and if the question is really tough and super-involved I get the student’s e-mail and get back to him or her. Overall though, I think I have gotten a lot better at answering questions; I just still have a long way to go J  

New Projects and One of My Very Own

Some new projects have happened since my last post (which was before spring break). I helped give a library tour to yet another prospective professor, and it is cool to find out what they would add to the collection if they got a job here. For instance, this one professor was more into pop music and our collection does not have much material on the subject. New professors can really transform the library in that sense, as well as online resources they recommend. I also found full scores and recordings of Bruch pieces that a former professor requested. Instead of looking up WorldCat results, I looked up the pieces on websites that sell sheetmusic, such as Arkivmusic, Theodore Front, JWPepper, and SheetMusicPlus (which is what I use when I buy my own scores).

I also edited our music research guide (accessible through the library homepage). Tim is proud that our research guide has the highest number of views than those of other academic areas. The count is now 2,496 views this year... but that could just be because Dr. Dorman made it his homepage. I added references (and my own little descriptions) to the page that conservatory professors and staff recommended: University of Oregon DigitalBach (mass in G minor) and the Library of Congress Victrola Book of the Opera.They are interactive, multimedia digital resources for musicians to use, including interactive manuscripts with linked lectures, notes, and recordings. I also added the Library of Congress National Jukebox which has a plethora of historic public domain recordings.

Most recently, I was able to develop my own project on Baroque Opera scores, which has been a plan of mine since I applied for this internship. My reason behind it is because I have had trouble finding the sheet music for some early opera repertoire assigned in lessons, specifically Alceste by Handel and Alceste by Lully. This project involved researching the most commonly performed Baroque operas, seeing which full scores our library has, and which ones we should acquire. I searched WorldCat for this, and oftentimes the library record is in a foreign language. My knowledge of French, and working knowledge of Italian and German are actually useful in a librarian position! So that was fun and I felt accomplished afterwards. I must admit when I applied I thought special project would mean a display on the main floor of all the scores I found and writing up some historical background. This was easier, but maybe that'll be in the future when we acquire the new scores.

My next project will be giving another Information Literacy Session for Dr. Robertson's American Music and Dance class. Their project is an oral history of American music of their choice. I will be showing them what music resources the library offers; books and audio as well as electronic resources. I decided that my research paper topic on Apache music from last year would provide a good example of resources we have. I used MusCat, Interlibrary Loan, JSTOR, external sites, and oral/written communication with people I met on the San Carlos Apache Reservation last January. I will also probably talk about citing such sources, as well as how to use a concept map to create keyword searches and connect the ideas of the paper.
That's all for now!
Bridget

A Variety of Things

So it's been a while since my last post. I'll just clue you in as to what I've been doing the past two weeks. I did some score cataloging for Lina. Cataloging is so complex, but I feel like when you remember all the steps and repeat them, it becomes less foreign. It's also a challenge to finish all the work because it is overwhelming going through records and trying to find the perfect one for our library. Some records have wrong editions or dates... there's a lot of work that goes into what the average student sees on their side of MusCat or WorldCat. Outside of cataloging, I have been helping two students find examples of program notes for their senior recitals. One student had composers whose birthdates were nowhere to be found on the web. A big question is how does one cite composers without a known birthdate? Put a circa date or nothing at all? The internet broadway databases did not seem to find fault in having bios without mentioning DOB. But for a recital program there is a strict outline and date of birth is required. Anyway, we never figured out the answer to that question because Lina saved the day by looking up authority records in OCLC (cataloging software). Librarians have access to information that no one else has, like the CIA. It's pretty cool (though probably not as cool as the CIA). Additionally, I looked up library resources on Irish music, and incorporated them into the program for the Cormorant's Fancy concert at Notes at Noon tomorrow. [See their website: http://www.cormorantsfancy.com/]. I also hung flyers for the event, which I'm used to doing for gospel choir. I'm also in the process of looking up a score for percussion ensemble. Yesterday I joined Tim in giving a library tour to a prospective ethnomusicology professor. It reminded me of my first library tour when I was a prospective student! I think next time though we should talk about the 4th floor before we get up there since the students who were studying there seemed pretty annoyed with our tour. There was some not-so-subtle coughing. Anyway, as you can see, I do a lot of different tasks that relate to libraries and music. So far, I enjoy doing all of them.
-Bridget

Busy Times

Last week was a busy busy week. I had my first solo reference desk shift, as well as one day of filming! My first reference shift went really well. I had a few standard “do you have scissors” questions, but otherwise, real research questions! Initially it was nerve-wracking, but as I was able to successfully help the students, it became less so.  All in all it was pretty exciting, and really nice to be able to concretely help someone else. Since then I’ve had some tough questions, but I am trying my best, asking for help when needed, and taking it question by question.

Filming on Monday afternoon was good.  Unfortunately, we only got three first-years to participate. Nevertheless, three is better than zero, and if nothing else, it was good practice and offered some important insights into what does and does not work. New filming is scheduled to occur on Friday March 2—this time students are being asked to e-mail ahead of time if they’d like to participate. Hopefully, fingers crossed, this will work! If not, it’s back to the drawing board J

I’ve also been working on re-evaluating the children’s book collection with Sunni and Meggan. Meggan and I have made a big excel spreadsheet in order to examine the amount of use the collection has had over the years. Usually Excel and I have an antagonistic relationship; however, I am finding I actually enjoy examining this data. It must be the subject!

Fun facts: here are ten of the most highly used children’s materials here in Musselman Library:

Title	Author	Total Check-outs	Internal Use
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	J.K. Rowling	45	9
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone	J.K. Rowling	36	1
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	J.K. Rowling	33	27
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone	J.K. Rowling	31	2
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	J.K. Rowling	29	27
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	J.K. Rowling	27	32
The Giver	Lois Lowry	27	1
The Magician’s Nephew	C.S. Lewis	25	0
My world of fairy tales : stories from Grimm, Perrault, and Andersen	Jane Carruth	24	2
The Butterfly Night of Old Brown Bear	Nicolas van Pallandt	23	5

That’s all for now!

Molly

First Post-

This is my fourth week on the job now as music librarian intern at Musselman Library, and I've learned a lot so far. I've been given quite a bit of reading (I had forgotten that librarians were into that), including the funny title So You Want to Be a Librarian but it's all been very informative and helpful.

At this point, I have done research within Muscat and Worldcat, as well as Choice Reviews and MTNA.org to put together bibliographies on music wellness/injury prevention books we have here in the library, and books we should add to our collection since NASM (National Association of Schools of Music) is interested in our collection on this topic. I have also done a bibliography on music chronologies our library has, in addition to chronologies of 20th century, and chronologies of contextual topics such as art in order to help out my music history class with our research paper that is supposed to connect a composition from 1912-1913 to a historical event or any new developments in non-music fields at that time. Unfortunately for both these bibliographies, RefWorks wasn't working for me so I put them in MLA form myself, but I don't mind since that's how I've always done bibliographies.

In addition to making the bibliography, I did a Information Literacy Session with my class on Thursday on how to conduct research for the paper (keywords, subject headings, the different databases), but also how to try to come up with a thesis. So I prepared a concept map connecting my two topics, Picasso's cubist newspaper clipping collages of 1912 to Schoernberg's atonal vocal work Pierrot Lunaire and how both were very radical and avant-garde for their time. I had been at such an info session for my first year seminar and didn't think concept maps were that useful, but after this assignment, I realized that they really do organize your ideas and connections in a visual way and give you better keyword searches. Also in the session, I showed the class how to find primary resources such as original manuscripts and interviews with the composer (which I had only learned how to find myself the day before). Tim helped me a lot already in the research for this paper, and it gave me a headstart on my paper which I'm not used to since I'm usually a take-it-one-day-at-a-time kind of student (I have to be when taking six courses!). I feel like I learned more from this project than just what to teach my class; it helped my research skills as well. Teaching the class also gave me public speaking experience, of which I always need improvement.

A week or two ago, after giving me a lot of reading on the subject, Lina taught me how to do music cataloging. Or she tried to at least. It is a very confusing system with a lot of codes and rules with exceptions. It made me appreciate librarians who catalog so much more. It also made me realize that Muscat isn't an entity on its own; cataloging librarians must enter all the information seen there. I hope I won't have to catalog anytime soon, but if I have to, I at least know the basics and I have good resources to turn to as well. This weekend I was in New York City on a music career immersion trip and we visited the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts, which has a seemingly endless collection but only a small fraction of it can be found in an online catalog. I kept thinking, "they should get on that." I find catalogs really helpful for the public, so I'm appreciative that all our library sources are available through the online databases.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!
-Bridget

And so it begins!

In the reference office, right above the computer station where I sit, is a painting of the Peterborough Town Library--“The Oldest Free Library in the World Supported by Taxation.” It caught my eye the first day I came in to do work, and I thought how serendipitous it was that it hung there as I began my library internship. You see, this summer I had interned in New Hampshire, specifically in the very tiny town of Peterborough!! While I was there I even went to this library to do work. It’s a promising start to the semester!

I am so excited to be interning with the reference department. It's been about three weeks and I've already learned a whole lot and am working on many exciting new things!

I am finished with Reference desk orientation and am now officially open for questions! My first student question involved finding books through MUSCAT—that, I thought, is something I can handle! Later, the phone rang, and I, at first, chickened out and let Meghan answer it. But the person calling seemed to have phone issues because she hung up, and called again. This time, I bolstered up my courage and took the call. After stumbling through my greeting (who knew that Musselman was such a hard name to pronounce!) I listened to her question, took her name and number and got to work. She was calling long distance from Colorado inquiring whether we had the Philadelphia Public Ledger in our library (good news, we do!). Although those were the only two questions I got, it was really nice to be able to successfully answer them—I hope that in the future I only get better in answering people’s questions!

I am working on a couple of projects off of my reference desk shifts as well. First, I am creating a short video with Jess and the help of Clint to show to future first-year students. The goal of the video is to allow current first-years to share what they wish they had known about Musselman library when they first came to Gettysburg. Filming is to occur in the near future—so more on that later! Second, I am working with Meggan on re-evaluating our children’s literature collection. This involves working with the education department to see which materials are most useful and researching the different children’s book prizes. It’s really exciting for me to be working on this project because I am really interested in going into children’s librarianship!

Conclusions

After being gone for about a week due to Easter break and a particularly unpleasant sinus/ear infection, I have returned to the Reference Department! I'm definitely glad to be back amongst the piles of books that need sorting and the pesky printer that seems to always need more paper.

I have really enjoyed working at Musselman Library. Just yesterday I arrived for my afternoon desk shift panicking about my mountains of homework and the financial burden of purchasing enough caffeine to get me through it all. However, upon my arrival in the Reference Office I discovered the latest McNaughton Books rental catalog for the Browsing Room. While at the desk I gave a couple students a few helpful answers, but I spent most of my time reading through the McNaughton catalog, selecting books for the Browsing Room, and imagining which ones I would like to read if I ever was able to find free time to read for fun. At 3:00 I left the Reference desk much more calm and focused than I was when I arrived. I think that picking out books for the Browsing Room was one of my favorite parts of my Internship. It was something that was helpful, would have visible results, and somehow just imagining that one day I might have free time in which I could read for fun always seems to make me feel a little better.

However, while picking out books for the Browsing Room, it occured to me that these books will not show up until July and I will definitely not be here then. This served as another reminder of how quickly my remaining hours at Gettysburg College and Musselman Library are disappearing. As far as my Library Intern Experience goes, after today I have a short desk shift on Thursday, another on Monday, and then I need to find time for an exit interview with my supervisor, and that's it. And then in a little more than a couple short weeks, Gettysburg College will release me into the real world so I can find some real-life, and hopefully at least somewhat lucrative applications for my liberal arts degree. One such possible application is indeed graduate school for Library Science. While graduate school is not on my plate for next year, it is something that I would like to pursue in the near future. Even if I end up pursuing graduate studies in a field other than Library Science, I know that my Internship experience, especially the research skills and critical skills I have gained, will continue to inform whatever work I choose to pursue.

I can't say enough wonderful things about libraries, and especially about Musselman Library. Even before being given the Fortenbaugh Internship, the library was really like my second home on campus. (When I knew I was to be studying here very late, I frequently went as far as to bring a pair of PJ pants with me. If that doesn't make something a second home, I don't know what does.) Now, it is a place that I can hardly imagine not spending time in every day. Although I am very close to being academically prepared to leave Gettysburg College, I am definitely not ready to go. While it is true that someday I will (hopefully) finish paying off my student loans, I will always be indebted to Gettysburg College and Musselman Library for the the experiences they have given me.