Life as I Know It

Some people have asked (or commented) about my plans for this blog after finishing school. I will readily admit that my blogging frequency took a dramatic downward turn during the summer of 2007. Initially, I felt the need to cut back on blogging because I was incredibly unhappy in school. I had nothing positive to say and I was in danger of allowing the bad experiences to overshadow my entire school experience. Somewhere deep down, I had lost my ability to give a fair assessment of the reality of graduate school - I and sensed that if I continued to allow myself to give in to bad attitude, it would overshadow my remaining time at SCSU. Overall, I think this was the right move for me to make at the time. Blogging continued to be a lower priority for me, even when my school experiences started to become more positive. Despite this lag, I’m not necessarily ready to give up on it.

To this day, I am still surprised by how much I have come to enjoy blogging. I do not believe that I can’t continue to blog in this venue now that I am done with school - even though library school was the original impetus for this blog. I’ve lost the desire to justify blogging as an activity - to justify a reason for blogging or for not blogging. I think that I will continue to blog about library topics that interest me, when they interest me. I’m pretty sure that I will continue to be interested in many library-related topics for some time. Beyond that, I do have a definite to start writing some wrap up posts about my educational experience in the near future. Overall, I’m playing it by ear. It will be what it will be . . .

It has now been about 3 months since I finished up my school work and about 2 months since I felt as if I were “officially done” with my MLS program. Honestly, I’ve done very little outside of work (which has been horrendously busy) and am quite happy with this fact. Rest and relaxation is something that I seriously needed - maybe still need since work has been kicking my posterior a bit lately. I’d love to write about the fact that today a total network outage on the college campus where I work was caused by the fact that a patron in the library plugged one data cable into two live network jacks, creating a loop and making my life miserable, but I am desperately trying to forget about this.

Going to school, even part time, while having a full-time job, is not something that I found easy. My job, which can be incredibly stressful, can often require a great deal of my time and energy. Admittedly, I make this worse because I am the type of person who probably gives my job too much of my time and energy. However, given that I actually love my job most of the time and am not in a position where my husband and I can exist on one salary, the job has always had to take precedence over school. I also had to make sure that I made my family life a priority. While my husband was supportive of my decision to return to school, there were many times when I had to sacrifice time for school work in favor of making sure that I had a happy marriage. All of my remaining time went to school. Now that I am finished, it seems to me that I put my life on hold during the last 2 and a half years, giving all of my energies to my job, my home life and school. Now, I am a bit at a loss as to how to settle into a post-school life. I figure it will come, but am in an interesting sort of limbo-y place right now.

As I read through the first part of this post, it sounds a bit depressing. Interestingly, I don’t intend the tone to actually be that way. I almost feel as if I am in the same spot where I was before I decided to return to school - a place where I’ve become rather passive, allowing life to happen around me rather than being an active participant. Personally, I think this is a space that I sometimes need to be in, but don’t believe it is healthy for me to hang out here for too long. I’m taking the fact that I felt the need to write this post as a sign that I’m trying to break myself out of this limbo-y, passive state - that I a ready to take a more active role in my life. Hope springs eternal

While I may be done with school, I need to find new avenues of keeping myself interested and engaged in things that matter to me. I need to move beyond the school experience to that which will come next in my life (whatever that may be). I did think that I might be able to rest on my laurels for a bit longer, but know that I need to feel as if I have my life back. Hmm, I hope that isn’t as difficult as it sounds.

I’ve been eagerly logging into SCSU’s administrative portal to check my transcript since grades were released in early June. Today, was the first time I noticed that there was information in the Degrees Awarded section. A Master of Library Science degree was awarded on May 23, 2008. This makes me feel like I have accomplished something! I know that the actual degree itself won’t show up before September. But, I was wondering how I would know that everything was processed correctly on the school’s end. Now, I know.

It looks as if I am going to be going to Seattle for web development training (for our new content management system) in mid July. My husband and I are thinking of making a vacation out of the trip. I’m remarkably unfamiliar with the area - my trip last year to Las Vegas was the only time I’ve been out west. So, I thought I’d ask if anyone had any suggestions for must-see places to visit on a trip to Seattle?????? What should we plan to do? I definitely need to find something for my husband to do for the three days that I am in training.

Originally uploaded by ScruffyNerf.

Earlier this week, I received a letter in the mail from the ILS department of SCSU. I was a bit speechless when I opened the letter to see this certificate inside the envelope. The paper reads “Certificate of Superior Performance in Research,” then my name, and the title of my computer self-efficacy research paper. It is signed by my professor. I have no idea of its value, having never heard of such a certificate. However, I’m willing to take it at face value. I will say that my husband was unimpressed.

Wow! What a nice way to end this class - and the program. The fact that this last semester was such a great experience is doing wonders for how I will remember my time at SCSU (I guess I’m easy to please).

Originally uploaded by ScruffyNerf.

Last week, I enjoyed two excellent adventures. The first was an unexpected trip to see a baseball game at Fenway Park. On Tuesday, May 20, my husband and I went to see the Red Sox win a game against the Kansas City Royals. We had excellent seats. We got to see a new pitcher up from the minor league. And, we enjoyed singing both Take Me Out to the Ball Game and Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline. There was relatively little traffic on our way into or out of Boston. All in all, it was a wonderful evening. This was my fourth trip to a game at Fenway. I always forget how much fun it is to go.

Then, I took Friday off to go see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skulls with hubby Mike. I thought it was wonderful - much better than I expected it to be. I loved the X-Files-ish storyline. It made the storyline much more intriguing to my husband (the conspiracy theorist who adores anything and everything related to Roswell). Kudos to Steven Spielberg and George Lucas (oh, and definitely to Harrison Ford).

The LibrarianInBlack posted a link to a survey about the value of the MLS/MLIS. It is indeed very brief - and intended to determine if people feel as if their degree was worth the time, effort and cost. I did take the survey, despite the fact that I’m not entirely sure what I think overall about the value of the MLS degree. I do not regret going to get my MLS. I do see the value in it (or duh, I wouldn’t have gone to get it), but I don’t think it is a rite that magically makes one a librarian. Would I do it again? I can’t answer that question. I’m still way too close - and the thought of going to school is incredibly abhorrent (as it was after I graduated from college). Additionally, I need to have some time away to assess the impact of spending over $18,000 out of pocket (tuition, books and miscellaneous costs) over two and a half years on our household finances. I will say that my husband hasn’t entirely appreciated the cost.

One of the questions on the survey asked if you would recommend pursuing an MLS/MLIS. While I checked the recommend box, I don’t think that this answer adequately represents what I might or might not do. I’m pretty sure that there would be occasions when I would recommend this course of action and occasions when I wouldn’t. During the past several years when I have discussed the fact that I was pursuing my MLS (and going through the tedious process of explaining what this means in terms of my career), everyone always asks about how it would impact my current job (with a promotion or a raise). I found it a bit disconcerting to have to answer that I already have a professional librarian job and that the degree won’t really make a difference.

For me, getting the degree has been more about finally adding the educational experience to back up my work experience for future job opportunities than about changing my current job situation. I absolutely love my job (although definitely have a love/hate relationship with it on certain occasions). Systems librarianship is my calling, and I believe that having an MLS makes me a stronger systems librarian from the perspective of potential employers. I am too young not to have returned to school knowing that this is what I intend to do with the rest of my life. So, I would recommend getting an MLS if someone felt the same way that I did. However, I don’t believe that an MLS makes someone an librarian. I think that ultimately I would tell people that they themselves need to decide if pursuing an MLS is the right choice. There is much to be gained for someone who believes that the degree can give them something tangible. But there are other ways to get that knowledge.

Overall, I am happy that I decided to get my MLS. I have many issues with the program at Southern, most having to do with the method of instruction (someday, I will get to discussing all of that). Meanwhile, I have no other option but to believe that my MLS was worth it. Anything else is unacceptable.

I’ve been meaning to post a link the research paper on computer self-efficacy that I wrote this past semester. I admit that I have been deliberately staying away from computers after work - and as such, blogging has been a very low priority. Anyway, for those who were interested, the paper (Computer Self-Efficacy and the Academic Library Employee: An Examination of Their Relationship) can be found here.

Tonight, my professor for ILS680-Evaluation & Research posted grades for both our research paper and the class itself. While I was fairly certain that I would pass the class, I was extremely anxious about what the professor would have to say about my paper. This professor has a reputation for being tough (but fair)and for expecting quality work. She is the type of professor that compels me to work harder, to give more of myself, to try to do the best that I can, etc. The bottom line is that I did much better than I expected. I am thrilled with the grade that I got on my paper. The professor had some excellent suggestions - things that I wish that I had been able to see while I was writing the paper, of course.

Anyway, from the beginning of my time at SCSU, I wasn’t sure what to do about ILS680 and its research requirement. I put off taking the class for as long as possible. I agonized over which professor’s section I should take. I worried about topics. Beyond that, I wasn’t sure how much a research class would add to my MLS experience. However, I can honestly say that now I believe this to be THE most valuable class out of the 12 I have taken. It was a wonderful experience despite the fact that it was often painful. No other class has given me such a great feeling of accomplishment. I admit that while I felt this feeling of accomplishment from the moment that I turned in my paper, I have a much deeper feeling of satisfaction after having received my grade.

As I said earlier, I can now celebrate and enjoy a sense of accomplishment for having gotten this far!

Originally uploaded by ScruffyNerf.

This wonderful cookie, baked by one of my coworkers and decorated by another, made all of the hard work over the past two and a half years worth it. A big, chocolate chip cookie with M&M’s and frosting - YUM!

Now, I might feel like I’m done. Who knew that all it would take was a little celebration.