Poor and I’m tired
Fallin’ asleep
Everyone’s praying’ I’ll get back on my feet…Haley Bonar, “go away angels”, …the size of planets
I am feeling so completely whelmed lately. Not overwhelmed. Simply, massively whelmed.
No doubt much of it is my own doing. That is, as much control over friends leaving as I might have. Because one must celebrate with their friends before they go off to do incredible things in the wider world.
I am so behind on school or, at least, it seems that way. Having an 8-week class certainly contributes to the state of whelmedness. Especially when it is in your immediate field of interest.
Cataloging work went well this morning, despite my being up past midnight last night. I get up at 6. I got 4 records uploaded to WorldCat and then imported into our catalog today. Friday I’ll get the holdings records done. [ranger: I haven't forgotten you. I'll get you that title shortly.]
The rest of my work day this afternoon and early evening wasn’t as smooth. I really started flagging after lunch, which certainly didn’t help either.
I’m teching an ALA CPLA course for Bob Burger (Associate University Librarian for Services). When I finally got the audio started today (late due to technical issues) I accidentally typed something along the lines of “Today’s music is boob’s selection: artist, album…” Yeah; I did. So much for pressing the shift key and amen for extra letters. And to think that one of my bosses lovingly suggested that working with the Associate University Librarian would be good for my career! 
I did manage to “attend” our ACRL@UIUC meeting via LEEP while I was broadcasting another class. I missed a lot of the meeting though. Kind of hard to virtually attend a meeting when you’re helping others (virtually) troubleshoot their tech issues.
Then, near the end of the class I was teching, someone popped into the tech room with some audio quality issues. I thought it was a friend of mine so I started teasing her with “just have another drink, it’ll clear up then,” mostly by “whisper” thankfully. Then I realized I probably wasn’t talking to my friend. I was so embarrassed! But she was very grateful. She said I really livened up the class for her, and that she was heading straight to the liquor cabinet as soon as we were done chatting. Distance ed does have its advantages, kids.
I really need to just go to bed. But domestic chores can only wait so long. I’m drying the 2nd load of clothes now. I also did a small bit of not too intellectual homework. I made a few replies on the bulletin boards and picked out and posted my “quote of the day” for tomorrow’s class (well, the 1st of 3 of tomorrow’s classes).
I also need to decide about attending ASIS&T soon. The price goes up in 2 weeks. I really want to attend, but as broke as I’ve been lately I’m having a hard time even thinking about it.
But then, clearly, I’m not thinking about enough things anyway.
…taped his own wings on.
Haley Bonar, “hawaii”, Lure the Fox
Yes. I know. I best get to taping. Cause sink or swim, this boy intends to soar.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Lisa // Sep 6, 2006 at 10:26 pm
Bob has a wonderful sense of humor. It probably made him laugh….
2 Mark // Sep 7, 2006 at 6:43 am
Actually, he did. Of course, he teased me about it, too. Not that I blame him.
3 jenny // Sep 7, 2006 at 11:44 pm
pauline is as hard or as easy as you want to make it on yourself, mark.
first post, nyc
4 Mark // Sep 8, 2006 at 8:48 am
Hello to J in the Big Apple! I do realize that. But this seminar is in my main area of interest right now, even if we’re not approaching it from a purely/mainly theoretical angle.
I have chosen fairly practical projects to do, but to do them well or, far more importantly, to get out of the course what I want I need to educate myself as to why what I am recommending is a good thing, is doable, must be done, etc. I have no doubt I could generate an intelligent sounding argument that simply spit out others’ ideas; isn’t this what many students do? But I want to fully understand the underlying issues, grasp the potential, appreciate the limitations, and so on.
The things we are looking at in this class are the core of librarianship. If there is no classification, at some level, there is no librarianship. Even in an all-digital world (will there ever be one of those?), full-text searching is not the be-all and end-all. As useful as it is, it has serious limitations. Classification systems (CS) need work, they need to move into the future, people–beginning with librarians–need to understand that CSs have uses for more important than shelf arrangment.
Keep in mind, I am not defending any particular CS. They all have problems; they always will. But they can be much better, and far more useful. Without them our “discipline/profession” is lost (IMHO).
We need real research in CSs, their use, and their impact on retrieval and discovery. Without this knowledge we get Karen Calhoun making half-***ed recommendations to dump LCSH without making any viable alternative suggestions. We get Deanna Marcum (Assoc. Librarian for Library Services at LC) making up statistics on-the-spot while testifying to Congress. Our so-callled “leaders” (read managers and bureaucrats) can gut our profession based on personal prejudices, politics (funding possibilities), and whichever way the wind is blowing instead of on actual disciplinary/professional knowledge.
We do need to change, desperately, but not based on conjecture and personal agendas.
That is why Pauline’s class is so important to me.
5 ASIS&T 2006 Annual Meeting at Off the Mark // Sep 11, 2006 at 9:58 pm
[...] Archives « Where am I? What day is it? [...]
6 Liz // Sep 12, 2006 at 7:41 pm
Whelmed! Yeah, me too!