End of Semester Round Up!

Posted April 30, 2020 by Amie Grosshans

It’s the last week of class, and all of my work is done except for two small forum posts. I’m relieved to have everything done, but I’m also kind of sad because I really enjoyed my classes this semester. Collections Development was a straight up, pure library science class and I loved it. I looked at a ton of statistics, created budgets, and discovered ways to find information on new books and trends. I also learned how to use Twitter! I now use it regularly to check in with my local libraries and keep up to date with everything book related. Metadata was fascinating because it showed how all types of information can be classified and sorted. I loved creating records with XML (Extensible Markup Language). It’s kind of like a puzzle. I get to fill in the pieces and make sure all the names and categories are in the right order. I feel a great sense of accomplishment and excitement when I create a useful, error-free XML document. I know that might sound weird, but it’s true! I would be very happy to work in collections development or metadata in the future.

Speaking of the future, the summer semester starts in early June, and I don’t know what everything will be like by then. Usually, six weeks isn’t that big of a deal, but in coronavirus-time, it might as well be six months. I haven’t been planning more than a couple of days into the future because everything has been changing so fast. I’m hopeful that by the time we get to June, things will be a little more normal, or that I’ll at least be more used to this new normal. I’m really looking forward to the Collections Management class. It’s going to be unlike any other class I’ve taken, because it requires lots of hands on work. It’s going to have to be creative with the “hands on” part because it’s online, but I know it will work out and I’m glad that I have it to look forward to. Until then, I’m going to enjoy the next few weeks off. I’ll work on my knitting or embroidery (my new quarantine obsession) and read something other than schoolbooks. See you in June!