Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A new beginning.....

I am entering into a dream world…I will begin my life as a librarian this week and I am thrilled. The community of San Jose has embraced me as I have embraced the community! I recently finished an internship and a job at History San Jose, where I created at Digital Preservation Plan for their archival collection. I was also an Imagine History tour guide for elementary school children, I called it Imagine History because we asked the kids to imagine and go back in time to the Victorian Era or Early Spanish California or the westward movement. Then we performed as a local history troupe for the children, allowing them to learn how to do things the old way like churn butter, pack wagons for their journey, make tortillas, weave and much more…

I am a big ol’ fan of San Jose History and one on my favorite website dealing with Bay Area history is called Silicon Valley History Online at http://content.scu.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/svhocdm.

I also work in the Center for Steinbeck Studies located in the King Library on the fifth floor special collections area. Here I have been digitizing their rare audio collection, creating displays, and working on their ever-growing bibliographic database…
If you like John Steinbeck this is definitely a place to check out…It is like an archive, a library, and a museum all in one check out our website at http://www.steinbeck.sjsu.edu/home/index.jsp.

I just wrapped up my E-portfolio for the Library Science program and WOOOHOOO for that! The only thing I have to finish up is my Cataloging 101 course, which may have to be one of the most difficult classes I have ever taken. However, the challenge has been a good one and it is fascinating to understand the origins of classification. Cheers to Dewey!

About me I like to write poetry, create art, and play music….I play the bass guitar and I am learning to play the Appalachian dulcimer. I am truly interested in learning about everything…
Here are some websites I have stumbled upon recently that I find to be very pleasing…
The Square America Archive http://www.squareamerica.com/search/?tag=costumes
This site is a great archive of rare American photographs!

A fantastic craft site I have found called Craft Chi at http://craftchi.com/blog/ gives great instruction for print making, metal work, recycling crafts, and thrift store

And a new great reference site Shmoop, this one seems like it might very helpful for students http://www.shmoop.com/literature/.

Thanks for reading my first true blog; I hope to do more….