make the most of my internship experience

I just need to write up my reflection/evaluation of my experience.

I perhaps could have accomplished more during my time, but I certainly got a huge amount out of the experience. If nothing else, a few more library-folk that I think I can count as friends.

Now begins the job hunt in earnest!

Incredible. I am amazed at how quickly this has gone, and how quickly the program itself is over. It’s been a great experience. I’m not sure I made the ABSOLUTE most of my internship, but it was certainly productive, and most productive than several of my classes. I am going to miss the people I’ve been working with for the last few months.

Still going well. I’ve now met with still-more people in the system, and have quite a few other meetings lined up. I seem to be making a good impression also! The librarian assistant let me know a few weeks ago that she had heard good things about me from some of the folks I’d met with (hurray!).

I’ve been encouraged by several people to apply for a job with the system when I graduate (which is SOON, gulp!). I could definitely work there for awhile, and am planning to apply. Top administration is in turmoil at the moment, but from what I hear it has been for some time now. And in my experience, that tends to be more the rule than the exception in government orgs., especially in economically-strapped places. Slightly dodgy admin sitch aside, everyone I’ve met so far has seemed to really like their job for the most part, and has struck me as quite lovely. That’s got to count for something.

So, it’s going fairly well. I’m getting a lot more comfortable with the ILS software, and have answered a number of basic reference questions. I’ve also gotten the chance to visit other branches in the system and to see how things differ from branch to branch (incredibly much, in some cases).

I’m not sure I’m DOING anything that is particularly helpful to the library, but what I am doing is getting the lay of the land and getting the chance to network with a lot of different people in the system. I am learning quite a bit. So far it seems that I am also making a good impression, which I feel good about.

Not just for my internship, but in my more generalized goal of becoming a public librarian. Here’s what happened to me on Friday.

I manned the circ. desk again, and learned to do a lot more stuff, including placing a hold for someone, extending the due date for a patron, and signing someone up for a new library card.

The very best thing: there is a women’s domestic violence shelter within walking distance (I think) of the library, and a woman staying there came in with her young son to sign them both up for library cards. They were very patient for me as I took my time getting their information entered into the system. Then, when I scanned the kid’s card for the last time to double-check, and handed it to him, he got the most excited look ever on his face. He leaned over to his mom and sort of whispered, “I get to KEEP this?!”.

Wow. How freakin’ cool to be able to give this kid this important gift, at a time when he’s probably had to leave his home and most of his toys behind. That’s what the public library is all about. You may have nothing to your name but a mailing address…but with a library card, you’re welcome to borrow pretty much everything we own.

Yesterday was too – it was the first day of the internship, and I spent most of it sitting in on the staff meeting, which was almost 3 hours long. Might seem like a bit of a yawn, but I did really get to know my new (temporary) colleagues well. They are all very nice and at least one is hilarious; furthermore, they seem to get along well (or maybe they were just on good behavior b/c I was there). It actually made me miss the regular staff mtg. at my old job, and it definitely made me privy to TONS of inside administrative/political stuff I had no clue about prior to this. Interesting.

Today I got to be a circ. clerk! Pretty much 100% checking books in and out, pulling and organizing holds, etc., and training on the Polaris ILS. It all makes total sense to me, but I’m not very fast at anything yet. Oh, and I trailed the floating librarian, pulling the morning’s holds off the shelf. I felt really gratified because I found at least 3 items she had trouble finding at first, and one she had given up on finding and was going to mark as missing/trace. Nice to know that all those hours I spent scanning shelves for good books in 4th grade have now paid off in some way. :)

It feels a little weird to be making my own schedule, but I’m glad I can. It means I can continue working at my job while I do the internship, which will make things SO much easier financially.

...and most of the rest of the library staff today.

I am stoked! My supervisor seems like a very cool woman, and the rest of the staff seem nice too. On top of that, the library itself is cool. Not a shiny new building, exactly, sort of worn around the edges (obviously 70’s architecture), but spacious, warm and pretty darn inviting nonetheless. And not monstrously busy, but well-used.

Sounds like there are a lot of possibilities for projects as well. I’m hoping I can do something helpful and at the same time get a feel for many aspects of public librarianship.

my students are plagiarizing! ack! 3 of them!

on an Odious Task I have been putting off related to this internship. The amount of extra work and documentation we have to produce in addition to the actual work we do for the internship is irksome to me, but, there is no way around it. Feels like busy work, though.