Learning new things

So yesterday was my last day at work at the Archive, due to budget cuts in the state and the funds being appropriated elsewhere. Boo :( So I am currently unemployed and looking for work pretty much wherever I can find it. Today I started volunteering in a new area at my local public library where I have been volunteering on and off since Sept 2008, this time working in Technical Services (aka Cataloging). I have basically no experience in this area, but I figure anything I can learn will be useful as I may end up in a small branch library where I have to do a little bit everything. I have taken Information Organization & Retrieval (SLIS 707), which I took this past spring semester, which was basic Cataloging and included a lot of the terms the Cataloger was using today, so I didn't feel totally clueless. I'm doing pretty easy work once she explained it, which includes making sure the the RFID tags (basically insanely small computer chips they put onto library items for tracking purposes) match up with the barcode on item and then putting them into the correct boxes for delivery to the branches. The other thing I did was going through a list of withdrawn books and deleting OCLC records so that people don't request a copy of a book/media item that doesn't exist in the library. So now I'm signed up to do this once a week for 2 hours.

The other thing I did today was look up my classes to see if they had posted the syllabi. This semester I'm taking a Intro to Reference and a Intro to Research class, as well as finishing up my internship. I know it doesn't seem like much, but trust me, just from looking my syllabi I will be plenty busy. My reference class actually says this on the syllabus and it is underlined as well as in bold: "Please keep in mind that any reference course demands a serious commitment of your time." So it's a good thing that I enjoy visiting the library because I will be spending a enormous amount of time there this semester, probably more than the whole rest of school. I'm not 100% sure what my other class is about yet or how to approach it, so hopefully I can figure out more once I get the textbook and view the opening video. The most lovely (NOT) thing is that I have a group project due on Sept 14, the weekend after my friend's wedding which is course out of town and I will be gone for 4 days. Bah humbug! I'm gonna have to figure out real quick who is in my group so we can get this project finished ASAP!