Z682.5 → Library Life Updates

Though it's only been a week or so, I feel like I've been fully into summer for awhile now. I'm sure the humidity doesn't help at all. I'm well into my last term in the MLIS program and fully immersed in projects and assignments, though it isn't too bad since I'm only taking three courses this term. Meanwhile, I'm starting to be a bit more anxious about job postings and applications, which I'm hoping to dive into with a little more attention in the next month. 

In an easily digestible format, here are some random updates about what I've been up to lately:

• I gave a micro-teach (~15 minutes) instruction for my Information Literacy/Instructional Strategies class a few weeks ago and I'm really happy with how it went. Given my art history background and my love for that field, I decided on teaching a basic introduction to colour theory to my peers - a bit of discussion about how people can view colour differently depending on different circumstances, and the introduction of the colour wheel and some basic schemes. I got some great feedback about how to improve things in the future, and I'm honestly really excited to use what I've learned someday in the future.
• I attended a lunch-hour presentation on visual resources librarianship. This was really neat to learn about, especially considering current concerns about copyright, digital access to materials, and so on. While so much of the work is focused on visual art and culture, the presenter mentioned offhandedly about the untapped potential of serving other academic departments. This, to me, makes so much sense considering the amount of visuals used in lecture halls across an academic campus that may be focused on science, engineering, and so on. 
• I also attended a full day (well, 5+ hours) lecture/presentation on professional development. This was somewhat useful, but I certainly didn't get as much as I'd like out of a 5-hours-on-a-Saturday lecture. The presenter came from a corporate/consultant background and made some recommendations about cover letter and resume design that made me a bit skeptical, mainly because I haven't seen certain elements in all the other blog posts out there about constructing cover letters, résumés, and a curriculum vitae. There were certain writing aspects that I took away from it, but I wish there had been a greater focus on professional development in academic and public librarianship, rather than the overwhelming focus on the private sector and non-traditional library sectors.

Despite all this, I've managed to read quite a bit in the last month (a new quarterly report of what I've read is coming soon!) though I doubt that will be maintained now. I'm currently working my way through Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series, though I admit I'm slowing down a bit and losing some interest. That always seems to happen when you get six or seven books deep, I think. It's an overall excellent series with a world that's well-crafted and compelling. I was really interested in some of the characters in the earlier books, and looking at the author's website, I know I have more to look forward to, but right now I'm stuck in an I-don't-care-about-these-people rut. It happens sometimes.

And on a final note, remember that Google Reader is going into retirement as of July 1 2013 (that's Monday!). I migrated my content over to Feedly about a month ago, and I've been really impressed with it so far. You can import you Google Reader content with one click, which is a bit of a relief for someone who follows 50+ blogs on a daily basis. Feel free to start following Z682 over on Feedly or on another RSS reader of your choice. Don't get left behind!

{Image by author; all rights reserved}