Overloadead

I'm in that period in college life that I'm swamped with a lot of work, but I enjoy them. I even like studying, researching, and reporting. My mind, all the ways I think of the world and deal with people, has significantly changed from what I was around the same time as last year.

I recently stumbled upon the comic strip Unshelved, about the cute little culture of libraries and librarians.

I'm an LIS student, and since there's less than 10 of us in class for every major subject, class doesn't feel like class, its more like a round-table discussion. Some subjects, we have a few from the Masteral degree still taking some undergraduate courses as a requirement and they're a lot older and more experienced about jobs and life in general... so it isn't a usual class. The major subjects for Library & Info. Science seem informal and comfortable, and it suits me.

OK, subjects this sem:
LIS 311: Information Technology in Libraries
LIS 315: Management of Libraries and Information Centers
LIS 317: Information Processing and Handling
LIS 318: Filipiniana Resources Management
LIS 419: Introduction to Archives and Records Management
Minors: Philippine Literature, Retorikang Filipino, Earth Science

Scott Douglas's tips for aspiring librarians from of Dispatches from a Public Librarian:
> Avoid cataloging classes; they will be pointless.
> Take an internship or practicum.
> Ninety percent of what your teachers teach you is theory that does you no good in the workplace; do your best to forget it after you leave school.
> Ask your teacher why a public library uses the Dewey cataloging system as opposed to LOC, then doodle for the next three hours while they explain it.
> Buy a laptop and play FreeCell during lectures.
> Libraries don't do, librarians do.
> Two weeks working in a library will give you more experience than two years in graduate school.
> Gain as much computer knowledge as humanly possible-- this will put you ahead of so many other librarians.
> Letters to the editor do not count as professional publications and will not impress the instructor.
> I am sorry to say that you may find your stay in graduate school to be not very stimulating and quite a yawn, but the job that follows is quite the contrary.

LIS isn't a very popular course, and there's still the outdated stereotypes about librarians and what they do, but we're evolving fast. Tell graduating high school students you know that there's currently, and will be, a demand for this job.

Well, this entry is a bit disjointed as my head since most major exams and two reports are due next week, and I don't want to leave this blog empty. OK...