On the flip side

The start of the fall semester here at the university where I work means that I am now officially experiencing the dual in “dual degree.” After two semesters of solid libraryness, I am plugging back into my English lit roots and getting started on the MFA portion of this program. I’ll still be taking library classes, but probably only one a semester from now on because it’s a race to the grant finish line to see if I can squeeze in the 18ish credits left on the MLIS plus the 48 this one takes before I lose the funding that made this whole thing feasible in the first place. So I’m off to the races with four English classes: two workshops, Melville (to whom, if you recall, I owe the title of this blog), and the core lit theory class that everyone has to take. I’m pumped. On the library side I’ll be balancing all this humanities stuff out with Information Sources for Science and Technology, but that doesn’t start for another week.

In working life, my internship has rotated into Collection Development. For the past two days I’ve been learning about how all these books end up in the Tech Services mailroom, waiting to be cataloged and linked and put on the shelves. As the process stands right now, the pre-ordered selection process is whole lot of work and most of it tedious, but I am already enjoying thinking about the library on a more macro level. The inflow of brand new books that we plan is part of what keeps the stacks vibrant and relevant to the scholars at work on campus. And it’s fun to think that I’m getting to see the titles before anyone else does. Too bad I don’t get that much of a say just yet, but maybe I’ll be able to slide that approval slip for Talk Talk into the order pile if I am crafty….