01.10.03

I’ve been rather consumed by chores in my house these recent weeks so I’ve kind a fallen behind on my blogging. October is here, it’s cold but we’re too stubborn to turn on the heat since Oklahoma is notorious for fall seasons that suffer from split personality disorder (45 degrees one day, 85 degrees the next). I have a whole list of things in my brain which I’ve been wanting to comment about. My greatest thanks to my brother, Mitch, who, with his emails, helps keep me updated on the current events in the world.
As a full time employee at the Bartlesville Public Library I am now required to complete the necessary certification classes to qualify me as a Librarian level I (I think). I’ve actually been really excited about this opportunity and two weeks ago I attended, along with two of my colleagues, my first certification course on collection development. I didn’t know very much about collection development before I went to this class, and I’m certainly no expert now but I do feel I have a better understanding about what goes on behind the scenes and in the tech services department of our library. Ever since I started my job at reference I’ve been going through all of our reference books, mainly just to get more familiar with the collection. I now, after taking this class, actually feel skilled enough to observe the collection more critically and weed through the material. Weeding isn’t difficult, it’s just scary. At least I find it scary, especially when it comes to reference books since they’re often very expensive and who wants to just through away books anyway. But this class has helped me feel a bit more responsible and a bit more confident and that, along with the support of my mentors, I finally feel like I’m finding my place in this world of libraries.
~C