Nirak.net

(That title is a real groaner. sorry.)

The Young Librarian recently had a post over at her blog about what she felt core competencies for library students should be. I agree with her completely that no one should get out of library school without learning about relational databases. I also think her list of core classes is pretty on the mark (and is close to my required classes through Missouri.)

My question is, what should be offered outside of these core classes? What kind of courses should library students be able to chart for themselves? In my particular school, because the program is fairly small, I feel limited as to what I can take. I can only transfer in 2 classes, and I am kicking myself for taking those both at the beginning, negating my opportunity to take an interesting class the school doesn’t offer and transferring it. What if I want to take a class in python programming or PHP? What if I want to go deeper into relational databases? I suppose there’s always independent study, but that always felt like a bit of a cheat to me (pay $900+ to write and execute my own program of study?)

The truth is, I have few options for learning technical stuff. There’s a few classes I can take as electives that are offered jointly with another program, but they’re somewhat unpredictable and sparse. They also don’t connect with the rest of the program- the one I’ve taken was great, but I’m finding it hard to carry the momentum of what I have learned into other classes.

I have recently been looking into Associates degrees at nearby community colleges- I’m thinking of getting an associates in computer programming after I graduate. With some classes already taken care of via my bachelors, it would take about 2 years at a slowish pace, and I think it would really help me in what I want to do in Libraries. (Besides, I’ve always said I’ll be in school until I am 40. at least.)

I imagine this is true for students that want to specialize in other areas, like archives or digital repositories. For the most part, we’re on our own. This wouldn’t be the case, I suppose, if I went to a larger program like Urbana-Champaign. In the end, it might not matter too much, because there’s barely enough time to take all the classes I want anyway. I’ll learn a lot outside of Library School, and that’s OK.

(Image “The Departing Fleet” by flickr user cruadin. I couldn’t have that cheesy title like that and NOT have a picture of a sailboat, now could I?)

karin :: Aug.30.2007 :: Library, School Stuff :: No Comments »

These are pictures from my 6:30 AM drive to school yesterday. Yes, I took pictures while in the car. I didn’t look at the camera while taking pictures, though- just held up the camera and hit the button a bunch of times. I figured if I took a lot of pictures, something would come out- and so it did.

I’m done with school for the weekend. My head is spinning a little, but I think the semester will go well. I’m not the only one taking 3 classes and working full time. One student is also teaching classes, lives 3 hours away, and has 4 boys. eep!

karin :: Aug.26.2007 :: School Stuff :: 1 Comment »

I can’t seem to just let my hands sit still while in class. So I doodle. I hope my teacher does not take it as a slight against her- I find that when I doodle, my mind tends to wander less.

The little guy on the bottom right has a cookie, but is longingly looking at someone else with a bigger cookie. The odd thing above him is a sad little creature, isn’t he?

The big one is a page of notes on the discussion about the differences between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. It made me think quite a lot.

karin :: Aug.25.2007 :: School Stuff :: 4 Comments »

So I’m in this class where we’ll be making an instructional video as the final project. Before that, though, we are supposed to bring in some video clips to practice with.

I thought it might be fun to try something a little different. So I have a request for anyone who has a funny reference story, especially if you can record a video or audio of yourself telling it. Failing that, you can just post the story, and I’ll try to get someone to record it.

I’m hoping for at least 2-3 videos and some audio to play with.

If you want to share, please post a link to the the file (or post the story) in the comments, or email me at karin@nirak.net. Any common file type will work. I’ll need the files by September 20th or so.

Feel free to pass this along to anyone who might be able to help! I’ll post the final edited result here.

(Flickr photo “Ask Us Desk at Wilmington College Library” by Andrew Whitis.)

karin :: Aug.25.2007 :: Library, School Stuff :: No Comments »

I made yummy almond cookies tonight. And then ate too many- now I have a tummyache.

I never was much of a cook. One of my coworkers, Stephen Ramsay, posted a bit ago about the art of cooking: he recommended some nice beginning level books. I realized that a lot of what I am missing in cooking is this beginning stuff- how to make the basic sauces, what cooking terms mean, what temperatures things normally cook at. I have been blindly following recipes for years, wihout really learning anything from them.

I realized that a lot of my education has been the same way. I’ve followed a lot of instructions through the years without making the connections they were supposed to add up to. Part of this is because I never could stay at one school for long- 3 elementary, 2 middle, 3 high schools and 3 colleges for me- many in different states. I read The Old Man and the Sea in three different English classes, and missed a lot of books too. I think part of the problem was that teachers didn’t make the conections, though. It wasn’t entirely their fault- even before no child left behind, there was an emphasis on state test scores. Teachers had to teach what we would be tested on.

College was better, but I still felt like I was stumbling around blind much of the time. I somehow made it to the end and even learned stuff.

I really like getting older. I am starting to feel like I can make sense of the world, at least a little.

karin :: Aug.23.2007 :: House and Home :: 4 Comments »