Back at It
Posted June 25, 2019 by Amie Grosshans
Summer break #1 is over. It was nice to have a few weeks off, even though I was lazy and didn’t do a lot of the things I meant to do. But I got to relax, which is great because I don’t think I’m going to relax again until the end of summer term. I’m taking two classes, LIS 407: Information Sources and Services, and LIS 404: Principles of Management. Each week of a summer course is equivalent to two weeks of a fall or spring course, so there is a lot of work. I was expecting this, but I was still shocked when I saw the syllabus for each class. There is a ton of reading. A TON. It’s pretty intimidating. I am going to have to be super organized to fit in all the reading and the assignments each week. I know I can do it, but I’m probably going to be miserable the whole time.
Having said this, I managed to make it through my first week unscathed, and only a teeny bit grumpy ? Luckily, both classes are extremely interesting and have already given me a lot to think about. LIS 407 is about how to help others find information, and this week we learned about reference librarians and the reference interview. The main thing I learned is that there really is an art to helping people find what they are looking for. You have to ask open-ended questions, closed questions and evaluate the needs of the patrons in a relatively short period of time. You also have to be a quick thinker. I am slightly terrified by reference work, because I like to be prepared for everything and couldn’t handle being in a situation where I was asked questions I didn’t know the answer to all day. But a part of me also thinks that it would be exciting and a great opportunity to learn about a lot of diverse subjects. I’m looking forward to learning more in the weeks to come.
In LIS 404, we looked at classical and modern management theories. I have very little knowledge of systems of management, and everything was pretty new for me here. One of our assignments was to find an image of a specific theory, post it to our class board, and then comment on the images. That was overwhelming. Most of the images contained a lot of jargon and were very busy and not straightforward. All the arrows and circles and flourishes left me pretty confused, and I wasn’t the only one. The general consensus among my classmates was that most of the images were ineffective and confusing. We’ll be expanding on a lot of these concepts in the future, and it will be interesting to look back at these images at the end of the semester to see if I understand them any better.
I have two papers due at the end of next week, which I’m already a bit stressed about. I want to finish at least one of them before the week is over, so that I don’t have to juggle both this weekend. Fingers crossed I can manage it!