My first week back to school has been strangely serene–a bit surreal in fact. Nevertheless, my stress has increased by a factor of 6. That is one for each new class I’m starting, one for the internship I’m still finishing, and one for good measure.
It may seem at odds to be both serene and stressful. However, I’d argue that sometimes in serenity, there is too little action, and so any stress stays bottled up…. And as a result, “Oh my aching back!” I’m really starting to feel it. I sat around with an ice pack for half the day.
For some reason, I had very little to do this week. I bought school supplies, I organized my desk. I watched my first lecture, had one face to face class (most coursework for my program is online), and reviewed the course material on Angel, the course management platform used by SJSU SLIS. But my internship doesn’t start until September 14, 2010, which I suppose is lucky because I’m still wrapping up a few final things at my summer internship site, and my e-Portfolio (my thesis project) requires organizational tasks only at this point.
However, starting this week, things are picking up as I finally have my first substantial lectures and assignments to do, and hopefully will feel as though I’m taking control of my last semester of school–which should reduce the anxiety. I’m so excited to be finishing up my masters in Library and Information Science. Really it will be quite a semester. I have a great internship at Bancroft Library processing manuscript collections (LIBR 294 Professional Experience: Internships), I’m working on a Library of Congress project that will put me ahead in the cataloging game (LIBR 298 Special Studies; woo hoo, RDA!), I’ll learn how to analyze and perform primary research (LIBR 285 Research Methods); and I’ll analyze my strengths and weaknesses while articulating the core competencies required for the MLIS degree when I create my thesis project or e-Portfolio (LIBR 289 Advanced Topics in Library & Information Science).
So, here goes week 2.
Woot!
LIS Lady 
That is simultaneously an intimidating and inspiring schedule. I did my ePortfolio without the burden of taking other classes at the same time (which, of course, delays graduation by a semester). Interning at the Bancroft sounds fantastic; I took archiving with the Bancroft’s David de Lorenzo and it was easily one of my favorite classes at SLIS (though it also benefited from being fully in-person).
Do you know what collection you will be processing?
Good luck!
Thanks for wishing me luck Daniel! I suspect I’ll need it.
I had planned on a lighter course load for my final semester, but when the RDA testing project and internship at Bancroft came through, I couldn’t turn them down. Both are such wonderful opportunities! I don’t yet know which collections I will be processing, only that there are five manuscript collections that have high priority. There will be four interns working on the project, and I’ll find out more September 14th when I have my orientation at the Regatta Storage Facility in Richmond, CA.
I also took Archives and Manuscripts with David de Lorenzo…I was a student in his very last face-to-face class. I sure do miss the days of meeting in person! He is the internship site supervisor for my internship, though I don’t know if I’ll be working with him directly or not. I’ll keep you updated!
Thanks for reading,
Stephanie