August 18, 2009

Courses Complete!

I am proud to announce that I have completed all my requirements for my Masters of Library and Information Science at Pratt Institute. Although I don't get my physical diploma until October, I am done! Yay!

It's been a crazy year and a half juggling work and school (and fun) all together. I started at Pratt in January 2008 while working as a part time circulation clerk at my childhood library. When we had a Pratt Grad come to visit my Information Professions class in February to speak about working at Brooklyn Public Library, I decided to apply.

I became a Young Adult Librarian Trainee and now understand what the phrase 'trial by fire' is all about. My first summer at BPL, I took a Young Adult Lit class with Jack Martin which introduced me to so many wonderful YA authors (some in real life) and got me revved up for working with this never-a-dull-moment age demographic. I was able to instantly implement theory into my work.

A little over three months ago, I took my current position at West Orange Library as their Teen Services Librarian. It's an incredibly busy library with a lot of town support. Now that I don't have to leave early to attend class, I am working 3 late night shifts (1-9) so I can be here when the teens will be here as well.

It's great to be done, but there is a little worry in the back of my mind that without Pratt's academic atmosphere of sharing and questioning elements of libraryland, I'm slowly going to become removed from the beat of modern libraries. I know this is not going to happen, because I don't want it to happen.

My plan:

- Keep up with this blog (haven't been so good as of late)
- Keep up with other library blogs.
Although many seem to exist in order to get free materials and some even to propel the bloggers into the center stage, there a bunch that always hit up their users with sage advice, important news, and big questions. Library Garden and In the Library With the Lead Pipe are the two that come to mind immediately.
- Get involved with NJLA
I'm most looking forward to meeting once every two months to help decide the Garden State Book Awards for 2010. Meeting with librarians in different situations will no doubt keep me current with what's happening elsewhere
-Keep doing my job.
Especially the part where I listen to what the teens in my community need and want their library to do for them.

6 comments:

Lisa said...

Emily,

Congrats!

Sounds like a plan for the continuous professional development. A suggestion: be on the look out for unconferences (like BPL ThinkTank); I have found them to be pretty good and inexpensive ways for professional development and networking.

Unknown said...

Congratulations Emily!!! I'm so happy for you =)

Kelly said...

Congrats, Emily!

So jealous that you took a YA lit class, btw... :)

Emily said...

Kelly it was AWESOME! Jack Martin of BPL was such a great professor. He brought in David Levithan, Rachel Cohn, and Patricia McCormick too which was way cool!

Shelley said...

First, congratulations on the degree!

Second, I don't see a place to contact your website, so if it's okay I'll ask here:

As a part of your celebration of Women's History Month,would your readers be interested in hearing about a free new major historical literary work online?

How to survive hard times is a challenge many American men and women are facing today. In the current crisis, the past has much to offer.

Putting a human face on economic and environmental disaster is the challenge of teachers and environmentalists.

A new interactive Internet epic story is launching to help with this task. Riah McKenna is a young farm wife. Along with her husband, her son, and her community, she is struggling to survive the worst economic and environmental disaster in our nation's history.

Uniquely, one new mini-episode is put up each day. A blog invites you to contribute your reflections on how people respond when the chips are down. The terrifying howling "black storms" of the Dust Bowl were life-threatening. They demanded human courage and new learning about the land.

This website will soon be linked as guest artist on the website honoring the late Horton Foote, the brilliant screenplay writer of To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies. Right now it is fully functional at:

Click on: http://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.com
There are several ways to enjoy this new literary work by a new writer whose grandparents were farmers. You can start at the beginning of the story and read a little each day, read one episode a day (takes about a minute), or pick out individual episodes at random to find out more about Riah, her friends, and the huge dust storms they endured.

The author welcomes comments and will respond daily.

Shelley said...

First, congratulations on the degree!

Second, I don't see a place to contact your website, so if it's okay I'll ask here:

As a part of your celebration of Women's History Month,would your readers be interested in hearing about a free new major historical literary work online?

How to survive hard times is a challenge many American men and women are facing today. In the current crisis, the past has much to offer.

Putting a human face on economic and environmental disaster is the challenge of teachers and environmentalists.

A new interactive Internet epic story is launching to help with this task. Riah McKenna is a young farm wife. Along with her husband, her son, and her community, she is struggling to survive the worst economic and environmental disaster in our nation's history.

Uniquely, one new mini-episode is put up each day. A blog invites you to contribute your reflections on how people respond when the chips are down. The terrifying howling "black storms" of the Dust Bowl were life-threatening. They demanded human courage and new learning about the land.

This website will soon be linked as guest artist on the website honoring the late Horton Foote, the brilliant screenplay writer of To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies. Right now it is fully functional at:

Click on: http://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.com
There are several ways to enjoy this new literary work by a new writer whose grandparents were farmers. You can start at the beginning of the story and read a little each day, read one episode a day (takes about a minute), or pick out individual episodes at random to find out more about Riah, her friends, and the huge dust storms they endured.

The author welcomes comments and will respond daily.