So I left a Graduate Assistanceship job this winter to take an un-paid internship at Anderson University. This was partly because I needed to spend more time at home, as my wife is also working now, but largely because I wanted to get "real" Librarian experience before I try to get a job this summer upon graduating from SLIS.
Unfortunately, the first two weeks were frustratingly slow. Because students were not on campus, I was regulated to reading documents about the library, and journal articles about reference and instruction work. Because the library also hosted the beginning of semester Faculty Development day, the librarians whom supervise my internship were busy getting ready for the presentation. I helped organize some things, but I did not feel like I was really doing professional library work.
Because ordering slips for new books are due soon, the librarian I work with has been scrambling to put together recommendations to send to faculty members. The librarian I am working with is also new to the subject she is ordering, Theology and Religion. Her strategy is to scan reviews and ads from printed journals and combine dozens of these scans in one RTF to Word doc. In my opinion, a very time-consuming and unnecessary procedure. Similarly, librarians can send their orders to the Ordering agent online, but that person has to then fill out an individual quarter-page ordering slip. So, librarians still fill out the ordering slip to save a step in the process. This seems like an antiquated process.
The purpose, of all this ranting is just to suggest that I have a lot to learn about working in a Library. Not because I am not confident with the technology that I can use, but because each person is at a different level of technological ability. During my first weeks I am learning a lot about "office politics" and operating within the technological means of those around you, both colleagues and students.
