Open Blog Post #3 - What I learned this semester

I've had a mental block about this post for a week or two now. It should have been the easiest thing to do, but I kept finding other things to do. Like squirrel around Facebook or stare into space.

Imagine, if you will, you are standing in a room full to the brim with cotton balls - everything around you is white and fuzzy. You can't hear very well and everything is kinda hazy. That, my friends, is my brain on school. Now imagine a tin can with a dried bean or two inside. Shake it around a bit. That empty rattle? That's my brain on the end of the semester.  This is why I've had such a hard time trying to come up something to write for my last blog. I finally decided to write about this semester and what I've learned.

First off, Cataloging. I think I have a brain for cataloging. I'm very particular about things and detail oriented. This should have come easier for me, but I think that it's going to take a LOT more repetition before it really clicks.

Next, Research. As much as I enjoyed this class and learned a lot, I hope I don't find myself in a situation where I have to do a research project. I'd be happy to help people find things for their research, and I'd even be willing to help a colleague, but I'm sorry, this is not my forte. Someone would have to pay me a lot of money to even consider a doctorate, and that price would be determined on how much I valued my sanity (given how much of my sanity I had left at the time).

Finally, Reader's Advisory. Best. Class. EVER. And that includes all 12 years of public school; 3 or so years of nursery school, preschool, and kindergarten where we had nap time and finger painting; and college. This class even beat out a college course that took me to Greece for a week. That's saying something, because Greece was awesome. I loved the material, the assignments and projects, and the books. All the glorious books!

But the best part was the class. The discussions and the interaction. I am truly bummed out that this class is over, and even more that some of the fabulous people I met are graduating and I won't necessarily see them again (it's times like these that I love Facebook - you can keep in touch with people that you otherwise would have lost all contact with). But this class and these super-cool library people have inspired me in a way that my other classes haven't (at least not to the same degree) and I would be thrilled if all or part of my future library career included Reader's Advisory work. I LOVE it!

And because I think everyone in our class was so much fun, I hope to see them all at the ALISS BBQ at Andrea's house on the 15th! I'd also love to see everyone at the upcoming Adult Book Group - look for information on the ALISS facebook page!

P.S. Despite my lack of success for my secret shopper assignment, I have found myself a fun heisty book. There are no cats solving crimes that I know of, it's not a cozy mystery, and it involves stealing stuff back from the mob. It's also a YA book, but if I had been asked, I would have said that I don't mind YA in the least. I now have Heist Society on hold at my library, and I'm looking forward to reading it :)