end of semester!

So … just a few weeks ago I was concerned about finding an internship and figuring out classes for the spring. I’m down to three classes for the spring and may drop one more before the semester starts …

The internship, however, has turned out nicely. Just a few days after I last posted here I got responses to both internships in which I expressed interest. One (which I expected) was a “thanks, but no thanks” but the other was more like “yes! let’s talk!” That second opportunity is with the California Digital Library‘s Merritt repository service. A phone meeting was had a few days later, and it looks like I’ve found an internship! The best part: they’re local, so while I will work remotely most of the time, I can go there for meetings and the like. It turns out their team is geographically diverse–one of the staffers on this project is routinely located in southern California (although he was present in the Oakland office for my phone interview).  To wrap up the start of the internship I have to work with people at the iSchool to figure out the requirements to turn this into academic credit. I’m excited about the project, and excited that I’m able to fulfill this requirement in a way that respects my day job.

I feel like I really should do two internships … absent the completion of internship opportunities, I will have had no real experience in libraries of any sort, so getting as much experience before I need to look for work is a high priority.

At about the same time the SLA b/ITe newsletter announced that I’d be the incoming editor for 2013. I’m excited about this too–the opportunity to get the word out within the IT division and the nature of the opportunity means that it can work well with the schedule I must keep this spring in order to be caught up on everything.

Some open decisions: should I try to make a trip back east for a weekend just to see and meet up with people? There are people in my classes that I’ve corresponded with regularly but haven’t actually met .. also, should I try to spend a day at ALA Midwinter in late January? I’m leaning away from this (it would really only be a day: fly up early Saturday morning and return later in the evening). The limitations of a day feel large, but it’d be better than not going at all, right?

Lastly, I need to meet up with my Baynet mentor before the end of the year. His calendar has been unexpectedly chock full of stuff and so I’m glad he makes any time for me. Sometime next week …