It’s been just over a year since I graduated with an MLIS, and figured it was time for some reflection on what I’ve learned. Now that I have time to breathe. Well, kind of have time to breathe between work, running, hiking, dragon boat racing, poetry writing, and trying not to have my head up my ass when it comes to family, friends, and other acquaintances…

1. Accept the grey.

As researchers, librarians, and other information professionals, we’re always looking for a nice, neat bucket to throw bits of information into. And then we come across something that doesn’t fit one of those buckets. What to do? Do you immediately act and create a new bucket for it? Or do you sit back and wait to see if a pattern emerges that shows you where to fit this new, shiny thing? There are these huge, grey areas that all of us deal with on a regular basis.

And its okay.

Sometimes ideas and new technologies need time to marinate because they don’t fit nicely into our constructed personal ecologies. They need time to grow, and force us to change and reexamine what we thought we knew. What grey are you living with today? Ebooks? A startup? Lack of funding? All grey areas.

2. Trust your instincts…

BUT

3. Admit when you’re wrong.

There are times when you ask all the right questions, complete your research, and it all comes back inconclusive (see item #1). So you go with a hunch to see what works. You make it up as you go along because it’s uncharted territory.

And then sometimes it fails.

So what do you do? First, you admit that you choose poorly. Then get back to creating something new. Many times people are afraid to fail. It’s good. It’s healthy. It directs your thoughts in another direction and examines details you didn’t notice before. Pick up the pieces and make a mosaic. But you have to admit that you were wrong.

It’s one thing to be humbled. It’s another thing all together to be arrogant and to never acknowledge imperfection.

4. Get back to basics.

In a rut? Stuck? Strip it down to the fundamentals. Sometimes people get so caught up in improvements that they don’t notice the foundation cannot support the load. Concentrating on the basics makes sure there’s a good base, then add the walls, the roof, windows, and design.

There’s so much more that I’ve learned, but it doesn’t fit into nice buckets. I’m quite happy that I didn’t take a job in a library that may be slow to change and innovation (not all are!). I get apply my skills in unexplored areas. I have to analyze, think, research, create, and then start the process all over again to validate what I’m doing or tweak it to make it better. I’ll end with a quote from Zappos’s CEO (not because he’s my boss, but because it’s the truth), and I also wanted to link you to a TEDx video featuring the same subject, but I can’t seem to locate it!

“It may seem sometimes like we don’t know what we’re doing. And it’s true: we don’t. That’s a bit scary, but you can take comfort in knowing that nobody else knows how to do what we’re doing either. So there are no experts in what we’re doing. Except for us: we are becoming experts as we do this.”
~ Tony Hseish, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

Photo: Learn by Alex Yule and used under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

1. Finally! Two weekends without school work! It was much needed after the last 6 months. For the record, I DO NOT recommend trying to open a large theatre show and taking two grad school classes at the same time. My grades and my health suffered: sinus infections, knots in my neck and shoulders, poor diet… yeah, the works for when your body and mind is working overtime at 110%. I survived on minimum sleep. But did I learn? Heck yeah. Although I really cannot say it any better myself:

So what did I learn? If you want to take things at face value, check out the course work pages above. I’d actually rather measure it as one cohesive unit.

1. Tech skills are a necessity.
   From cataloging to creating a digital library to usability, everyone needs to understand basic HTML and computer operation. This doesn’t mean that you have to be an expert, but it means you need to be comfortable with using computers and software — and be secure enough to learn something new when they change. Now, I’m smarter than the average bear when it comes to tech, but I learned that I’m not cut out for database coding (basic SQL, okay — complex queries, not so much…), but I can sure help you form the schema to use for your database. I also learned that I can make basic CSS/HTML web pages and make graphics for them… but I’ll leave the Java, Flash, and PHP to someone else for the time being until I learn more about them. This is an area where skills are constantly updated and it’s going to take some mistakes in learning how things operate!
2. Metadata is king.
   Oh, so that’s what makes the web and searches work… Yep. It’s everywhere. Librarians can no longer ignore metadata since it makes our lives a whole heck of a lot easier (and frustrating at the same time!). MARC, Dublin Core, EAD, METS, MODS, RDF, and a host of other schemas now form the backbone of our systems. In our digital world, it’s how things are categorized and retrieved. Metadata and its various forms was explained in no less than 4 classes. I love the fact that many have XML schemas so that it’s easily used with current standards, and I have a gut feeling that this is what I’ll end up working on for most of my professional career.
3. There is always uncertainty.
   The professor gives you an assignment. S/he gives you the subject, expectations, and criteria to meet, but neglects to tell you the page count. Oh, no! This is no different than in the workplace. You’re given minimum expectations and goals/benchmarks to meet, but what you do otherwise is your work ethic. It’s where you’re driven to achieve and succeed. You don’t know everything, so you research, learn, ask questions, and sometimes make it up as you go along. This is the current crux of information professions: we’ve come so far in the last 20 years that the future is at times unfathomable. How will the iPad change reading habits, online reference and information retrieval? It’s already happening, and as a professional I need to be alert to trends and be willing to adapt.
4. Make a schedule and stick to it.
   When I started grad school, I was working a full time job and a part time job. Between juggling the two of them and planning for classes along with everything else, my time became spoken for very quickly. iCal quickly became my lifeline, as did my smart phone so that I could get reminders about assignment due dates and requirements. I planned my progress on assignments and reading in my calendar, giving an estimate of time of each task. This became particularly important in my across-country move and traveling for work in 2008/2009 (100 days on the road requires a lot of planning!). But, no matter how hard I tried to stick to my schedule for Spring 2010, the best plans always failed. Opening a new show requires a flexible schedule to deal with the complete revamps of sections of the show, and early in the semester it interfered with how I normally studied. Once the show opened and I was back to 40 hours a week, my grades picked up, but I had a certain laziness in my schedule since I was jolted out of my routine early on in the semester. I didn’t have a good foundation on which to base the new material. I floundered, re-read chapters, and lost a lot of sleep. In the end, I made it, but having an established schedule would have gained me a few hours of sleep!
5. Practical experience is worth more than theoretical knowledge.
   One thing that I really liked about the FSU MLIS program is that practical experience is championed. Sure, we had to read a lot, but most of my learning came from the practical application of the material. I learn by doing, and doing helps me figure out the holes in my knowledge. It’s great to know something in your mind; it’s even better to be able to create something from the knowledge in your mind.

Would I do things differently through grad school? Yep. Probably. I’d love to get to know my professors better, and that may only be possible with a face-to-face class. I feel that I only got to know bits and pieces of the whole of the prof’s knowledge and experiences through the online schooling. I’d also like to get involved in further research which I really didn’t get to experience.

There is so much yet to learn. I know in the overall library world, I’m still very green but this will not stop me from reading, learning, practicing the skills, and keeping a curiosity of the changes that are bound to happen in practices and technology. I’ll keep working my ass off to become the best librarian / information specialist I can be.

When my contract is up in September, I’m going to be prepared for whatever life and my new career have to throw at me. I’d love to stay in Las Vegas and continue on with Cirque du Soleil, but that’s still up in the air. So, for now I continue learning and working, appreciating the foundation upon which I can grow.

"Marathon Sacrifice" by DarkMatter (David)

Wow… This is the last day of spring break from grad school, which means I’m into the last 7 weeks of classes and spent the week without classes catching up. I’m struggling a bit with my Database class (actual construction of databases, as opposed to use or idiosyncrasies of reference databases), but so long as I can pull an 80% in the class I’ll graduate.  It’d be a bummer, though, since that would be the only class to kill my perfect 4.0 (there’s always one!).  As much as I understand ERDs and the different types of database keys, I just can’t seem to grasp how the prof wants us to work with it. I think it’s more of a different-work-methods rather than problems understanding or working with the material.  In many ways, I’m already using what I learned at work trying to figure out how to shape a new EDMS/CMS system. It also doesn’t help that I fell behind for a week or two while opening the show and have problems with my Internet connection during class times. <sigh> Sometimes things just work against you.  On the other hand, I was nominated for Phi Kappa Phi and have to figure out soon if I’m going to join.  May 1st can’t come soon enough. And Vegas friends (or any other friends who want to come out & help celebrate), keep that day open b/c there will be a celebration of some sort somewhere. Details to follow!

And I’d like to thank the following local Vegas places for keeping this grad student sane through Twitter winnings and promotions the last few weeks:

• M Resort’s Hostile Grape for the wonderful bottle of red wine this past Tuesday — and Lori for splitting it with me. If you’re into social media, check out their Tuesdays Turned Social for $5 all-you-can-eat appetizers and BOGO on select wines.
• Buckbean Beer for the tickets to yesterday’s Brews Best Village Beer Fest at Montelago/The Village Lake Las Vegas. Not a beer drinker, but I found a few things to try (ZOMG super-secret blackberry honey meade!) as I walked around the beautiful village and managed to keep from getting blown away by the wind! Beer and Blog Vegas thanks you!
• The Las Vegas Weekly for a pair of preview passes to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D at Red Rock Regal the Thursday before it opened. Granted, it’s touted as IMAX (most cinephiles know that there’s a big debate over the screen sizes), but this was not much bigger than the standard screen. It certainly wasn’t the 4 story screen I’ve seen films on in the past, and the theatre was tiny. The movie was visually stunning, and Danny (my guest) even got a theatre-style lightbox poster!
• Cirque du Soleil in Vegas for the Mystere tickets and popcorn noshes in February (yes, I’m late on this. I was opening Viva Elvis a few weeks later, so time has been at a premium. Also there’s the disclaimer — I also work for Cirque du Soleil). This was a follow-up to the “Cirque and Blog” at Zumanity last year, and the last one I needed to see on my Vegas Cirque show tour.  The meet and greet with the artists was great, and I even had a bucket of popcorn tossed at my back by the clown! The guy in the front row became annoyed by getting picked on by the clowns, so much that he went up to an usher after the show to try and get his money back. Which really astounded me since you come to a circus to see clowns!

Rules if you want to get picked on by clowns:

1. Sit in the front row.
2. Bonus points for bringing a hot date and sitting in the front row.
3. Sit in the last row of the lower section. If there’s an aisle behind you, you’re fair game.
4. Sit on an aisle seat.
5. Have a shaved head (guys) or ponytails or (bonus points) pigtails (gals).
6. Be sitting with (or near) a very outgoing child under the age of 10.
7. Sit anywhere in the sections closest to the stage.
8. Realize that it’s a Cirque du Soleil show, and you’re really not safe from the clowns anywhere you sit!

Yep. Vegas really is the type of town that if you want something to do, you can find it. And contrary to what it may appear according to the above events list, I am not a lush. And, yes, this is procrastination on school work by blogging.

Also, in further efforts to lead to my early demise, I’m participating in two very physical events in the next two months. First, I’m running in the Run Away With Cirque du Soleil 5K next Saturday. I’m no where near where I should be to try and run the whole thing, and I apologize now for all of you that are going to have to put up with my whining about how much I hurt the following 3 days.  In April, I’m walking in the local Relay for Life with The Rubber Noses team. For those of you not familiar with Relay for Life, it’s an extended-hour walk (usually over 12 hours) and all donations go to the American Cancer Society. We’ll be walking, running, cartwheeling, and tumbling from 3 p.m. on April 24 until 7 a.m. on April 25. My personal goal is to raise $100 for this cause (more would be better <grin>), so PLEASE DONATE! The minimum online donation is $10, so please give up those two Starbucks drinks, two meals at McDonald’s or Wendy’s, or one Pizza Hut pizza for the week! Please and thank you….

It’s also the last three weeks of the semester.  Which means I should be working on my usability or cataloging assignments, but instead I’m procrastinating by blogging.  It kind of sucks since I really could use a day off from everything to decompress, but that won’t come until mid-to-late December.  With any luck, I’ll be able to take off Christmas and my birthday (yay! after holiday sales!) at the very least.  Which would be nice. Not that I’m going to go anywhere, but a few days off before January and starting my last semester (!!!) of grad school would be really nice.  May cannot come soon enough so that I can knock another thing off of my wish-to-do list — although slightly modified.  This was another area where I went from a lighting MFA to a M(L)IS, and I’m okay with it. Change is good!

Trying to Evolve by Hugh MacLeod (@gapingvoid)

Yeah, there’s a lot of days I go without sleep.  I put my time into school so I can get where I want to be, and that often means going without all the fun activities Las Vegas has to offer.  And there are days when I feel it’s futile and I’m failing at every bit of it.  But I wouldn’t have it any other way.  The failing means that I need to learn more. That I need to rethink my strategy. That another door has opened and option has presented itself. I’m evolving into some hybrid of information professional and social media maven, but I’m not sure in which capacity. And I’m not sure if I’ll ever stop evolving (always in beta!). I love every bit of this crazy existence.  As Mercury Rev sings in their song Snowflake in a Hot World :

Snowflake in a hot world
Don’t let them get to you
Don’t let them tell you
You’re all the same
*   *   *   *   *
Melting into something… bigger than you
Melting into someone… someone new

Yeah… someone new and something bigger. What and where is a mystery at this point, but I’ll know it when I find it.  But that doesn’t mean that my other passions of music, writing and painting are going to be left by the wayside once I’m out of school.  In fact, chances are the overextended state will persist for the rest of my life with the incessant need to create.

Weekly World News cover from http://www.girlofwords.com/

Social media.  It’s one of those things you like or hate.  For me, I really like it.  Using tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Meetup have allowed me to meet a slew of people in a relatively short time. As many of you know, I moved out here just over a year ago.  The first 6 months I split between Las Vegas and Montreal, so I never really got to know that many people outside my group of friends at work or through existing Vegas connections.

Once I finally got of the road for a bit, I used Meetup to find groups of interest in the area.  I ended up meeting John Hawkins and the Black Diamond Digital crew on a First Fridays meetup.  That led to Twitter connections, which led to attending WordCamp Las Vegas, and the creation of Beer and Blog Las Vegas.  Social media allowed me to find these people, and get to know them a bit before meeting them face to face.  I’m a fairly shy person by nature, and wouldn’t normally introduce myself to complete strangers.  I’ve met some really nice people — Manya, Lori, John, Chris, Bill, and so many others — that I feel like I have a group of friends compiled in 6 months compared to the 10 years it took in Orlando without social media.  Living in Vegas also afforded me the opportunity to attend some really cool events like the CES parties (Thanks, Robert Scoble and Dustin Wax), Twestival (okay, the one I attended was in Montreal — another social media story — but I would’ve attended the Vegas one had I been here!), and the Monster Vegas Tweetup (Thanks, Scott).

There’s a further hunger harboured within me… the one that wants to see libraries and knowledge repositories (both private and public) become more social. Social media is another medium — a tool — to facilitate teaching and learning. There are people who may answer a work-related problem outside the immediate  department.  The company wiki benefits from those who created the page as well as those who maintain the item’s page. A tutor may be available to help a local student with their math studies.  Co-workers in different offices thousands of miles apart could use each other’s knowledge to solve problems at their immediate location.  Mao Tse-Tung is quoted as saying, “Learn from the masses, and then teach them.”  Social media is designed to be an exchange mechanism, much like the telephone, only it’s main purpose is the party line.

In the same vein, though, users also need to make sure that they’re not sheep.  Blindly following the crowd can lead to disappointment and causing yourself to look unintelligent in front of your peers.  This is the librarian coming out in me, but information literacy is key.  Today, every person online needs to be able to discern quality information from the junk.  Look at it this way: the Wall Street Journal compared to the Weekly World News.  Laugh if you will, but many people think that the Weekly World News is legitimate news and not sensational half-truth fiction.  It’s easy to get caught up in groupthink when surrounded with like-minded people, which is the exact reason why we need to teach critical thinking to children at an early age.  Sure, everyone gets duped at some point, but the severity and frequency is reduced with the knowledge of what comprises real information.  We’re still figuring out the rules and norms of Social Media and the exponentially expanding web of (mis)information.