End of the Line

It’s the end of the semester. You know what that means?

Three months ago I couldn’t picture ever being here, sitting in a coffee shop in the beginning of December, writing this post. There were too many assignments between me and this point. I had people to visits and valuable lessons to learn. I had to grow as a person and a budding professional.

I had to make some mistakes – mainly procrastinating, but that's in the past now .

But I’m here! Really! And I’m still learning.

I’m applying for internships and trying to stretch my new knowledge of the profession to cover for my lack of experience. I’m realizing how important experience actually is. I’ve learned that I need to be a girl of many talents, that the more skills I have the more employable I’ll be. I’ve taken a hard look at myself and found that I still have a lot to learn. I have a plan of work that will hopefully turn me into someone with more skill than dreams.

Even my perception of the field has changed, and I think that has more to do with my classmates than anything else. We’re all budding librarians in one way or another and very few of us fit any of the traditional stereotypes. We may love books, but we’re three dimensional people who care about a wide variety of things and want to work with everything from big data to small children to old moldy manuscripts.

After talking with working professionals I have far more respect for the field I’m entering and developed my own thoughts on what is important, and what sort of things need to be upheld at all costs. For me Privacy and access to information are key. I’m sure I’ll find more things I identify with as I continue to work my way through this degree, and work in the actual field but until then I’m going to watch Elf, bake cookies and take a well-deserved nap.