So busy!

Oh wow... it's been a couple weeks!  Definitely time for an update!

I've been very busy with school and work.  I'm really enjoying my jobs this semester.  I'm continuing on at the Health Sciences Libraries as a reference librarian, assistant instructor, and random project doer.  It's much nicer this semester because we're back at Taubman Medical Library with the rest of the HSL staff.

I'm also working with one of the librarians at HSL on a subcontract from the National Library of Medicine Greater Midwest Region.  It's a social network/instructional website focusing on teaching public health professionals how to use social media within the context of public health.  I'm the graphic designer, web designer (we'll be using Ning to create the network).  I'm also working on a lot of the content for the learning modules.  I'm very excited about it!  We've settled on a logo (although Ning just redesigned theirs and it's similar... sad day when I saw that...) and a color scheme already, which is great!!

As far as classes go, they're busy, too.  Today starts the fourth week of classes, but only the second time I've been to my Monday classes, so everything in those classes is starting off with a bang.  I'm working with the Ann Arbor Hands on Museum with a group evaluating their Action For Earth program.  The people that are our contacts are both SI grads, so we're a pretty lucky team -- they know what we need to get our project done.

I'm also going to be writing a grant this semester.  I decided to get out of library land and write a grant for an extracurricular arts education program.  Back to my music ed roots!  I'm just starting out on my research, but it's coming along!

Also, I got a small job from a friend here at SI doing web design.  It was just a basic e-portfolio site, but it was a snap to put together.   I was really impressed with how well I was able to fit the site to the needs and desires of the "client" and how quickly I was able to complete it.

I also took a book repair class this weekend at Hollander's.  I cannot tell you how much fun it was!  I repaired some broken hinges on bindings, broken or chewed corners of cloth-covered books, and various kinds of page tears -- even a missing corner of a page!  This coming weekend will be a second class at Hollander's - box making.  It'll be great for things that you don't want to repair, but want to store securely in an acid-free environment.

That's it for now... I'll try to update after the class this weekend!

A New Semester!

I was absent from blog world over break, enjoying my vacation and seeing family.  I also learned a lot and read a few books.  All in all, a good break, but, as always, too short.

Books I read:
I'm kind of on a Madeline L'Engle kick.  Reread all of the Wrinkle in Time series last semester with the exception of An Acceptable Time, which I reread over break.  I also read L'Engle's first novel, The Small Rain.  This was the first time I had read anything other than the Chronos/Kairos/Austen series and it was quite enjoyable.  A bit slow-moving, but You really get involved in the main character's life.  Evidently A Live Coal in the Sea features the same character, but much older.  It's definitely on my list.

I also read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller.  A very good read, if you ask me.  Inspiring.  I need to read it again, but slower this time (it only took me three sittings, most of which were only an hour or two long).

Things I learned:
I had great ambitions of learning php over break, but that didn't happen.  It's still on the list, but I got a stomach bug while with family, so I spent most of my time just laying down and watching tv/movies or sleeping.

Instead, I learned how to make books!  Wendy of Windy Weather Bindery in Grand Rapids came and taught a class at my mom's condo for my mother and I and a few other ladies my mom knows.  We did the coptic binding.  I enjoyed it so much that I've been a bookmaking fiend since returning to Ann Arbor.  I went to Hollander's to pick up binder's board, PVA, methyl cellulose, beeswax... I already had some supplies from the class.  Since then, I've attempted two other bindings -- the "secret" belgian binding and the buttonhole binding (completely glueless!!).  I'm also signed up to take a few bookbinding and book repair classes at Hollander's.  I'm hoping to take photos of all of my books soon.

Speaking of photos, I got a flash for my camera!  A Nikon Speedlight sb-900 to be exact.  I'm still learning how to use it and how to bounce flash properly.  Hopefully my husband, Steve, will have some time to show me how to use it properly sometime -- he's a fantastic photographer (check out his Flickr!).

And of course, I'll be learning lots this semester in my classes.  I'm taking a grantwriting and fundraising class through the School of Social Work here at UM, management, and a research course entitled "Outcome-based Evaluation of Programs and Services."  And then it's graduation!

Should be a good semester!  I'll try to keep updates going!

It's officially Christmas break!

And I'm so excited to do all sorts of fun stuff over the holidays.  Plans are to play some music (I haven't practiced in forever because of the busy school schedule!), work on my drawing skills, and start to teach myself php.  Hopefully all of this will also mean that my e-portfolio will just get better and better.  I'm hoping to add some more content - perhaps some music and such.  I did add some javascript to my resume page yesterday, which makes it much easier to see the information.

Best of all - seeing family.  I can't wait to spend time with everyone!

I feel accomplished!

So, I'm really impressed with myself.  If you haven't already checked out my e-portfolio, you should.  I just added a mail form that e-mails me - and I wrote the code for it all by myself!  Hooray for taking learning to the next level.  Always good to push yourself to do something above and beyond the call of duty.  You learn a whole lot more that way!

End of semester

So it's the end of the semester, and I'm actually quite relaxed.  Probably the calmest end of semester I've ever experienced.  I've had a few interesting projects to do, including an identity package for graphic design, finishing my critical bibliography on the 'Enigma' Variaitons for music bibliography and a few interesting coding assignments for my complex websites class.  I also had to do a project analyzing subject access for a particular topic for my cataloging class, which turned out to be kind of interesting.

I was able to synthesize a few projects from my complex websites and graphic design class to create a spiffy new e-portfolio (still in progress, but looks pretty good!).

In other news, I've been looking at Google Wave more and finding that it's useful, but only if you have a huge amount of buy-in.  Not everyone who has an account uses it or knows many people who have it, so it makes it difficult to have a huge amount of uses for it at this point.  My friends and I have been planning an event using Wave and it's going ok, but it is just about the same as using an e-mail thread using reply all.  I guess you can't accidentally reply to only one person using Wave...

And I have 19 invites, so if you want one, let me know!

Do the Wave

Just got an invite to Google Wave... and no, I don't have extra invites.
It's interesting.  I'm going to need to play around with it some more, but I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.  More on this later.

Here it is!

So, I'm going to try to post on here rather regularly about what I'm up to in library world.  I'm also going to try to post some of my photography and design work.  Should be fun!

Right now, I'm working through some cataloging and have just finished writing a first draft of a critical bibliography of Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations.  I've also been working on a bunch of design stuff - check it out on Scribd!