Musings of a Grad Student: Degree Completion Near

I attended my last Library and Information Science (LIS) class yesterday and by this time next week I will have submitted my final paper and therefore completed my master’s degree!

Last month I posted only once -- an all time low -- but I was busy doing the following:

Mid April I completed the poster presentation that is required for graduation. Posters are used by professionals (especially librarians) to showcase their work/research to the public. One’s research topic must grow out of a class assignment. My first semester I wrote about video games in libraries and read what practicing librarians had to say on the subject. The third semester I discovered academics like James Gee and Henry Jenkins who’ve written about video games and literacy. Out of these experiences grew my poster project. I continued to research video games on my own.

During the poster defense we were given 2 minutes to make a formal speech about our research while standing with our posters, next to fellow students and in front of the faculty (about 7 if I remember correctly) . After each student in the group spoke (we were in groups of 6), the faculty questioned each of us for 10ish minutes. Afterwards, the session was open to the public for an hour.

Preparing for the poster presentation was nerve-racking. Getting my abstract approved was suspenseful. Preparing my poster (distilling months of research into a small space with bullet points is tricky) and getting it printed was sweat inducing. Crafting my two minute speech was gut twisting. The actual presentation was tons of fun. Sure, I sweat through my three layers of deodorant. But I was READY and talking to the faculty and the public who attended was enjoyable.

Yesterday I gave a presentation/ submitted a project and I’ve already turned in one final paper. So, what’s left? I’m working on analyzing picture books used for storytimes. Albeit, I have a small sample, I’m interested in seeing what types of books are used with preschoolers, toddlers and babies during storytimes. I'm especially looking for multicultural themes but am looking at genre and types of books used (like ABC books or counting books). This project/paper is due next week...and then I’m done!

Now, it’s job hunting time!

Musings of a Grad Student: Final Semester in Library and Information Science!

It is my last semester as a graduate student! I’ve been to each class once and they all look interesting. 

Here are descriptions of my classes:

• Search and Discovery: A required course, it covers online information sources like subscription databases. We’ll also cover info-seeking behavior, the reference interview and types of searching structures found online. 
• Interesting Assignment: Client Based Final Project in which I will identify a real-life client with an information need. I will produce an annotated bibliography of resources for this client.

• Topics in Book Studies: Creating Library Content: Digital or physical, library materials are diverse. How did they get to the library? How did they get written/coded/filmed, why, and who publishes these materials and why? How do different medias work together and influence the creation of other materials? 
• Interesting Assignment: Topic-Specific Contributions. Each week I will discuss how my chosen topic (an aspect of children’s lit that I haven’t nailed down yet) interacts with the publishing model under investigation that day.

• Children’s Literature II: Reading Gender in Children's and Young Adult Literature: Oh, my, I am excited for this class! Most of the books are geared towards children with a few that overlap into middle grade YA. I’ll be posting about my reads for this class so watch for those reviews! 
• Interesting Assignment: Bookstore/Library Visitation and Field Notes. I’ll be spying on a children’s library department while my colleagues check out a book store children’s department for an hour observing workers, shoppers, displays and the general layout.

It is fast approaching, the wave. The crest grows higher as the base swells. Soon I will lose sight of the sky. Will it swamp me this wave? Will I drown? Will I ride up and over the crest, breaking through the foam and soar into empty air? Am I ready to fall, splash and start rowing? Yes. Yes, I am. Four months to May!

Musings of a Grad Student: Semester Three Complete

Classes are over and winter break is here! To recap, this semester I took Organizational Management, Literacy and Learning, and Beginning Cataloging and Classification. To read descriptions of these classes see my previous Musings post.

Literacy and Learning was my most interesting course. Our readings examined theories of learning while class discussions examined pedagogy in practice or, how exactly to implement those theories in the real world, as well as current trends and standards in library practice. One week, groups presented on the state of instruction in different types of libraries: special libraries, university libraries (including archives), school libraries and public libraries. My partner and I researched instruction in public libraries. We briefly covered youth services instruction then discussed adult instruction available in Iowa public libraries. This was my favorite assignment as it allowed me to research the type of institution I am most interested in while getting a feel from the other groups' presentations for what is happening in other libraries, too.

The management course looked at potential real world scenarios librarians encounter as managers. I appreciated the chance to read real grant proposals as well as writing our own theoretical grant proposal since this is something librarians do in order to get funding for special events/projects.

Looks like her cataloging book did kill her. 

The cataloging class covered technical jargon which librarians use like MARC, AACR2, RDA, DC, etc. Most of our time was spent learning to catalog according to the guidelines of AACR2 and applying MARC tags. The cataloging book tried to kill me by putting me to sleep then falling on my face (it's a brick of a book). But I'll have to say the information was worth the risk of reading and the instructor made the class fun. While studying for the final I was laughing at jokes in his power points. If you're going to study the Dewey Decimal classification system you might as well crack a few jokes, right?

The library children's department where I work is keeping busy. Our librarians our gearing up for a children's literature festival January 13-15. The festival is put on by the UNESCO City of Literature and the Pearson Foundation. Our library will be playing an active role. Kathryn Erskine, author of Mockingbird, will be there and there will be activities and movies so if you're in the Iowa City area bring your kids! Learn more about the festival here.

Musings of a Grad Student: Officially a Second Year Student

I am now in my third semester on my way to becoming a librarian. Here's a list of classes I'm taking:

• Organizational Management: Survey of management issues common to all information environments--understanding organizations, decision making, hiring and personnel, grant writing, and marketing.
•  Beginning Cataloging and Classification: Systems for describing materials and information in catalogs and organizing them for effective retrieval in libraries, museums, and other information centers; AACR2 descriptive principles, Dewey and Library of Congress classifications, Sears and LC subject headings, cataloging networks and services. 
• Literacy and Learning: Learning and literacy theory relevant to work in information services; how librarians can help people process information and use it to form understanding and create new knowledge.

             Course descriptions taken from my school's website.


I agonized over what courses to take this semester as there were so many good ones offered. Organizational Management is a required course and so far I think very worthwhile. I feel like much of what I learned in Research Methods last semester is beginning to make more sense as we actually write proposals and create surveys. 

A part of me really wanted to take "Resources for Children" and a topics course on archives/preservation but I knew I wanted to take Literacy and Learning. It was recommended by a recently graduated student and I am enjoying the course. The readings are very theoretical but about important educational issues like convergence culture the nature of research strategies and assignments. Class discussion is very interesting and makes me think about what role public libraries play in supporting literacy and learning.


The cataloging class was a last minute decision and while reading rules from AACR2 (Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition) is not the most exciting thing, I do feel I'm learning very useful information that will help me as a librarian some day even if I do not actually do the cataloging. Main entries, the chief source of information, subject headings -- all good things to know about when working in a library.


In addition to classes, I am still working at my public library as the Children's Department intern. I'm hosting Wii Gaming once a week and, about once a month or so, do a storytime. There are lots of little projects to keep me busy otherwise and I'm enjoying working with veteran children's librarians. I even got to order some books for our paperback collection! That was fun! 


Are/were you a LIS student? What are the most valuable courses you took? Thinking about being a librarian? Feel free to ask questions!

Musings of a Grad Student: Summer Break!

Spring was a challenging semester but it ended well! I completed three courses -- Database Systems, Resources for Young Adults and Research Methods -- on my way to becoming a librarian. I also began a new job as an intern in my local library's children's department. While I'm not taking courses this summer I am keeping busy! Here are a few things I've been doing this summer as a intern:

Library Playground and Ped Mall

• Children's Day was the first Sunday in June. We had 20-some tents outside with kid-friendly activities like face painting, making music, crafts and more. Estimated attendance for the four hour event was 4,000. This was the kick-off for our summer reading program. I helped our librarians locate materials and prepare crafts weeks in advance. The day of the event, we (library staff) and volunteers set out the day's materials. I helped direct volunteers to the booths they signed up to man and registered kids for our S.R.P. program. It was a busy, hot and exciting day!
• Wii Gaming, hosted by yours truly, is once a week for two hours. I set up two TVs and a projector so up to 12 kids can play at a time. I keep out sign up sheets for the different games and switch every 15 minutes so everyone gets a chance to play. I get between 30-35 kids each week. It's great to see the regulars as well as new kids all interacting and having fun. While many just want to play video games (I'm cool with that. I wasn't a reader as a kid and LOVE video games to this day) I'm always amazed by those who sprawl out books and can read with all the noise! There's always a few who enjoy board games so I set some out. 
• Special Summer Reading Program Events are once a week with an a.m. program for preschoolers and a p.m. program for elementary age kids. I help our librarian cart supplies and set up the room (i.e. tape the floor for walkways, hang banners, etc). We often have volunteers which are a lifesaver as there are between 150-300 people at the programs. 
• Children's Reference is ongoing even if I'm not at the desk. This is one of my favorite parts of the job. It can be tricky to find the right book for a kid but is very rewarding. I love all the different questions kids have: Are Tasmanian Devils real? Do you have books on volcanoes? Do I have this book at home? 
• Book Babies is once a week for 6-18 month old babies. I help our librarian with the program singing songs, doing finger plays, reading books and setting out/picking up toys and board books. I'll be hosting my first book babies program on my own next week!

There's a look at what's keeping me busy this summer! Break is flying by. It's hard to believe I only have one year left of school. After this long, it feels natural to keep learning indefinitely. And that's my mantra here at The Prairie Library - The Spirit of Learning is a Lasting Frontier! For more about being a grad student click on the Musings of a Grad Student link below.

Musing of a Grad Student: Update and Advice

The end of my second semester as an LIS student draws near! Here are a few things I've been learning so I will be a competent librarian some day.

• I am now able to make a database using MYSQL and create web forms using PHP. This means that I can take user input (from the web), store it as data in a database on a server and  recall the data and display it to the user on a web page. I'm not that good at it yet (it takes me a long time) but I can make a very simple database function. 
• Having worked at a medical library for six months I am familiar with many medical database resources. I like using PubMed's MeSH terms! It's so easy but most people don't know about MeSh terms because...well, MeSH is a dumb acronym and no one knows what it means. I am no longer working there but my reference desk experience at the Health Sciences Library was valuable training.
•  My new job as a children's department intern at my local public library is going great! I'm looking forward to helping with our Book Babies program and other programs, too! It's a very busy library so I'm trying to keep up and learn as much as I can!

I recently attended a conference called "Unpacking the Library" held by my Library and Information Science Student Organization in which a university librarian on "The Hiring Squad" panel made a remark to this effect: It's better to get the "B" and have work experience than to get the "A" and have little or no work experience in libraries. I am usually a very grade-driven student but I've changed. It's not that I don't take my classes seriously but I think the advice is sound. I am learning as much if not more on the job than I do in class. I'm trying to make my classes work for me. I'm getting what I need out of them. And frankly, I don't need an "A." I need to be learning and I am.

I work at my job but I need my job to work for me, too. If you're not getting the experience and skills you want to list on your resume seek out opportunities to get those skills. Take temporary jobs (I did and for two weeks I worked in our Special Collections Library. I know more about archives than I did before!), volunteer (I did at an after-school program for a few hours to get experience with kids), market yourself (I make it known to everyone that I am interested in working with youth and that's partly how I got an awesome internship - word-of-mouth!). Make your time in school work for you. It's the best opportunity to try out different areas of librarianship to see what you like doing. By being pro-active you'll build your resume. "The Hiring Squad" made it clear that the degree just isn't enough. Besides, you're a library student so working in a library should be fun!

Musings of a Grad Student: Big News!

With only eight weeks of the semester left it’s about time for an update on my journey towards an MLIS degree. Spring break is over and that means end of semester projects are underway.

For my Resources for Young Adults class, I am collection resources on Steampunk literature. In a few weeks I am facilitating class (giving a presentation and leading discussion) on science fiction and fantasy in YA lit. We are reading Jonathan Stroud’s The Amulet of Amarkand and Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan which I am currently reading. For my hour long facilitation I’ll be focusing on Levitathan and the steampunk genre, that is, if my teacher approves my plan. This is my first steampunk read and I’m enjoying it. If you know of any YA steampunk titles (or resources) let me know! I’m on the lookout for a read-a-like list. I’ve found a lot of fun sites about steampunk but haven’t found any controversy yet. Is there any controversy?

Projects for Database Systems and Research Methods are to be announced this week. Not sure what to expect for Databases but for Research Methods I’ll be researching a primary source. That’s all I know right now.

Click Photo for Source

Now for my Big News! I’ve been hired for a children’s internship position at my local public library. The position became available early so I’ll be working for 16 months instead of the usual 10. I am so excited to be working side-by-side with librarians in the field! I have about two months to be trained before Children’s Day when they expect 4,000 visitors! Expect posts about what I learn in the field!

Musings of a Grad Student: Courses and Assignments

The U of Iowa Pentacrest. Click image for source.

The fourth week of spring classes is coming to a close and I have yet to post on school (for you newbies, I'm getting an M.A. in Library and Information Science).

Going into the program I had little context and very little exposure to the literature of the field. It was information overload all semester long. Now that I've got a bit of background knowledge I feel more prepared for classes and confident that I'm in the right field.

Here's the skinny on what a second semester LIS student is doing.

Class Schedule:

Monday: Database Systems - learning a little PHP and SQL. Two weeks ago I knew nothing about the creation of databases. This week I am creating my own modest database.

Wednesday: Research Methods - learning about qualitative and quantitative methods and reading theory on the subject. We will be doing our own research at some point about...something. In a few weeks.

Thursday: Resources for Young Adults - reading articles and books about young adults, their emotional/developmental needs, while reading an array of YA books. Yeah, this class is fun! There will be several reviews of books I'm reading for this class.

Work: I'm working a few hours at a library reference desk, too.

Assignments with due dates closing in on me:

-Class facilitation about (how did I get so lucky?) book reviewing and what it means for librarians. This requires reading outside of assigned texts and collaborating with teammates.

-Creating a database - it's scary because making computers do what I want is always tricky.

Musings of a Hopping Grad Student

Hmm.... that post title seems questionable. I'll go with it. In this post you will find

• My answer to this week's Book Blogger Hop question,
• Reflections on completing my first semester at the School of Library and Information Science, and
• This link to my $35 CNS Stores Gift Certificate Giveaway! It ends this Monday! (U.S. and Canada only)

This week's Hop question is:  "What is the thing you like most about reading book blogs?  Is it the reviews, author guest posts, articles, giveaways, or something else entirely?"

I really enjoy blog articles. Whether they are fancy shmancy and well researched or a more personal, impromptu piece, I find that blog articles give me a look at the person behind the blog. They also invite comments and can bring out a lot of discussion. I do like book reviews. I view reviews as the staple ingredient of a book blog. But any book talk is good talk. 

I am officially done with my first semester of graduate school! I submitted my final project/paper last night and it's a relief to be done! Here are the top 5 things I enjoyed from this semester:

1. Meeting lots of new people who share my interest in libraries.
2. Finding out what exactly librarians do... which turns out to be a lot of complicated things.
3. Reading about the history of librarianship and libraries.
4. Writing a paper about video games in libraries. (I would tell my husband I was "doing research" when playing games. He wasn't buying it.)
5. Creating my own Web page was much "easier" and a lot more fun than I anticipated.

I should add that simply surviving this semester feels like an accomplishment worthy of celebration. I have told my husband he is taking me out tomorrow to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and to eat some Mexican food!

The Saga of Print vs. Digital Continued

In an earlier post I wrote about the alleged end of books. In this post I’ll explore a few reasons why I think digital media are not ready to replace print. Whenever I hear someone say, “People love books. Books will be around forever!” I think that’s a true but over-enthusiastic and simplistic statement. But when I hear others say, “We don’t need these books anymore. Everything should be online! Get rid of these expensive books and the library housing them!” I think that’s someone who a) probably doesn’t read many books and b) does not understand the complexity of digital documents.

Yet it is a relevant question. Do we continue pouring millions of (taxpayer) dollars into libraries – the building, the staff, the PRINT materials – when our world is rapidly changing into an online global community?

Yes.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that in 2009, over 68% of American households have Internet access at home. While that is awesome, what about the other 32% who need to use materials? That’s a few million people we’re talking about. Many libraries restrict the amount of time you get on a computer. If you can’t get your research done in 30 minutes, sorry bucko. This is why print materials are important. They can be taken home for days, weeks and months at a time – for free. No batteries, no technology needed to view a document. Free.

Ok, so what about research libraries. Most of their patrons are highly educated and have easier access to the Internet. So access is not a major problem. Currency is a major issue. Medical researchers need the newest information so they make the best possible decisions for their patients. You wouldn’t want your doctor using books from 20 years ago would you? So, what do we do with all these outdated books? Do we house them for the rare individual doing historical research? They are few, these historical researchers, but a significant minority and important.

Should we take all the old books and digitize them? The old books would be available online/ in a digital format for historical researchers and we could save money by shutting down the book housing facility. But there’s a small problem. It is not possible in the foreseeable future to digitize every book. It takes massive amounts of man power to digitize a collection. It just isn’t feasible right now. Think about the Google Books project. It’s slow going and they must choose what they think are the most important books – they can’t get everything. If we rely on an initiative like Google Books (as cool as it may be) we will lose information from the past. That’s a little scary.

There are issues even Google can’t get around when it comes to making traditionally print materials available in digital format. That’s copyright. It’s enough to make your head spin. Copyright issues alone are enough to hinder universal online access.

Here's the biggest reason I don’t think digital resources are ready to be the next King of Text. There is as yet no way to guarantee that digital resources will be around next week let alone forever.  Preservation issues have haunted the physical book for hundreds of years. We’ve literally had centuries to learn how to preserve paper. But preserving bit streams, those ones and zeros that make up your computer’s memory, how on earth do we save those? It’s not as simple as copy and paste.

Hardware mediums change approximately every 5 years. How likely are you to buy an 8-track, a cassette or a floppy disk? Software is updated constantly. Switching from one hardware/software to another, called migration, is fraught with digital dangers. Documents can become unreadable in part or whole. Eek! Now, obviously companies manage to function with this “acceptable loss” of information. But should we trust all our information to digital repositories with these issues unresolved?

Let’s talk about subscriptions. I subscribe to Better Homes and Gardens. I pay for it, it arrives and I can read it for as long as the pages hold together. Libraries pay huge bucks, thousands of dollars, to subscribe to digital journals they do not get physical copies of. Ok, so what. They don’t want the physical copies because space is an issue. But ownership is an issue. The vendor providing the subscription can go out of business, change its policies or the library can decide it can’t afford the service anymore. All those journals the library paid for go poof! They don’t have a copy anymore. When you buy physical copies you get the text forever (or the life of the paper on which it’s printed). When you buy digital you don’t always get copies so information is lost when a subscription is canceled. This happens. And it’s another reason that digital documents aren’t ready to take over planet Earth.

There are initiatives going on to solve these problems. LOCKSS (lots of copies keep stuff safe) is based at Stanford University Libraries and tries to deal with the subscription issue. It’s a step in the right direction. But for now, print is our only guarantee that information will remain available for years to come. I believe digital issues will be solved (some distant day) and that print will take the back seat. But until then, the book is needed and should be valued and given space in our facilities.

Musings of a Grad Student at The Hop

 "Since Thanksgiving is coming up next week, let's use this week's Hop to share what we are most thankful for and what our holiday traditions are!" Excellent idea! 

At present I am most thankful that I am on break from school! This past week has been incredibly stressful. I had to write a paper, prepare a presentation (oh, how I loathe giving presentations! I thought I was going to puke before I started. Rapid heartbeat. Sweaty palms. Sooo glad that's over!), and choose a research topic (eek!). But it's all over now and I think I chose a great topic - video games in the library. I am thankful that I have the next few days to sleep and read about one of my favorite past times. 

I am looking forward to seeing my family for Thanksgiving. We alternate years between my husband's fam and my fam's gatherings. This year is with the in-laws. As I recall the last T-day at the in-laws, my father-in-law cooked the turkey and it was sooo salty. lol. We managed to eat plenty anyways. I suspect we'll be stuffing ourselves again this year while playing various types of games.

Librarian Offline: Are Your Posts Forgotten?

For one of my MLIS classes this semester I read the article “The Web Means the End of Forgetting” by Jeffrey Rosen which appeared in The New York Times Magazine on July 25, 2010. As users of social networking sites, the article should interest book bloggers. The article raises many interesting ideas about an individual’s privacy online and how one’s online reputation affects the real world.

So, you’ve set up of your Twitter account and have a Facebook account, too. And you blog regularly. You have set your privacy controls to limit who can see what. But...

Did you know that the Library of Congress keeps every tweet?

Did you know that a Facebook friend can post a picture of you without your permission and that anyone who is friends with your friend can download that picture and do whatever he/she wants with it?

Did you know that …“75 percent of U.S. recruiters and human-resource professionals report that their companies require them to do online research about candidates, and many use a range of sites when scrutinizing applicants -- including search engines, social-networking sites, photo- and video-sharing sites, personal Web sites and blogs, Twitter and online-gaming sites. Seventy percent of U.S. recruiters report that they have rejected candidates because of information found online…(Rosen).”

The article brings up a question that my classmates have been discussing – is there such a thing as an “off-duty” persona? Librarians are public servants, often in the public eye and know their patrons personally. They are frequently approached in grocery stores and in their homes about library issues. This being the case, Librarians often feel as though they are “on” all the time – constantly watched, constantly scrutinized. Of course, this perception of being “on” changes from person to person and community to community.

There are social websites such as Second Life which have become popular for librarians to hang out on. Many librarians blog about their work places, too. And a few, just a few, have come under fire for speaking their minds about their workplaces. Some librarians have been told to cease blogging about their library or they will be fired (instances of this are explored in Marilyn Johnson’s This Book is Overdue!). This is odd since the library is usually the protector of free speech.

But these scenarios raise the question: Is perfectly legal, off-duty activity our employer's business? Are we not entitled to a private life?

People deserve second chances if for no other reason than that we are human. We make mistakes but we also learn from them and change. In order to get a second chance we need people to forgive us our foolishness. And forgiveness requires a measure of forgetfulness.

The article suggests that online content is not easily forgotten. Once someone puts up a negative tweet about you it is out there forever. Once you post an embarrassing picture of yourself it is, potentially, out there forever. Go to Google now and look up “drunken pirate” and you’ll find the infamous MySpace photo of Stacy Snyder who was denied her teaching degree as a result of this photo. Is her perfectly legal off-duty activity her university’s business? Regardless of how you feel about her activity, doesn’t she deserve a second chance? Shouldn’t she be able to wipe the slate clean and start over? Think about employers who Google her (or you) – will they be willing to overlook her (or your) online reputation?

Think critically about yourself. What political groups are you affiliated with? What religion? What’s your stance on issue “X” that you vocally blogged about? What pictures did you post from last summer? Now what will future employers, who hire experts to identify you online, think about your online reputation?

The article mentions law experts who think individuals should have more privacy protection online so that hiring and firing is not based on online gossip or an embarrassing photo that was only intended to be shared with friends. One expert suggests that individuals should be able to file for “reputation bankruptcy” which would clean the slate every decade much like consumer-reporting agencies. Consumer-reporting agencies are required to give you one free credit report each year. Wouldn’t it be nice if social networking sites sent you a report each year, letting you know where pictures of you are and what comments were made about you, so you had a chance to refute those comments or delete tags of you in photos?

Our world is increasingly shrinking into a global village. It doesn’t matter if you have an account on these websites if others who know you, and post things about you, do. Privacy issues are and will continue to be an area of debate. What can we do if our reputations are largely out of our hands? As the article suggests, show empathy and cut people some slack when you see a tarnished online reputation of someone else.

“The Web Means the End of Forgetting” New York Times Magazine, The (NY) - Sunday, July 25, 2010
Author: JEFFREY ROSEN

Musings of a Grad Student

My first month as an Information and Library Science student wizzed by! I thought I'd send out an update into the bloggosphere...

First Thoughts: Where did the time go? I've done more in the past four weeks than I've done all summer!
Second Thoughts: I thought there was no hope for me as a public speaker. But I successfully gave a presentation without hyperventilating for the first time ever! Woot! So, there's now a glimmer where once total blackness existed.
Final Thoughts: I've got to push a little harder now. I'm approaching the time when initial enthusiasm wanes and demands increase. Time to activate will power and super student strategies (i.e. stocking up on caffeine).

P.S. A girl in my class wore this T shirt and I thought it was great. This link is to the store where I got the pic.

Musings of a New Grad Student

Today marks the close of my first week as an Information and Library Science student! I have classes on Monday and Wednesday for a total of three classes and nine credits. This is considered full time for a graduate student. Wowie, am I glad I didn't sign up for more classes as I was tempted to do! The courses I'm taking are: Cultural Foundations, Conceptual Foundations and Computing Foundations.

First thoughts: *Gurgle, gurlge* I'm drowning! Presentations, interviews, assignments - already?
Second thoughts: No, it's not that bad. Thanksgiving break is only 13 weeks away. =/
Final Thoughts: If I get through next week I'll make it through the semester. If I make it through the semester I can make it through the program. So, this week and I'm set for the next two years. =)

Highlights of the Week:

• I have some well-informed, interesting and personable teachers.
• My classmates are also personable people and are already helping me learn things I never knew.
• I'm learning HTML and it's fun!

Don't be surprised if my reading/reviewing pace slows considerably. However, I've got a few post ideas in the works, hopefully a guest post and a new weekly feature so, stay tuned! Oh, yeah, and there's my work space. The downside is that I don't have a desk big enough to accommodate my cluttering studying needs. The upside is I get to sit in a huge overstuffed chair which is great for reading.