On-Site Day #2

This week, I was able to spend another day on-site with the Marin County Free Library for my internship. I was able to be there for longer than my first on-site day, but unforeseen consequences added some chaos to my site supervisor's "master plan" of my activities.

One of the goals for me this visit was to meet and do some collaboration with a member of the Technical Services department that I hadn't yet met, but who is highly involved in the management of the Drupal library and staff sites. Unfortunately, she was out because of illness, so my collaboration with her was deferred to a future date (probably via WebEx or some other teleconferencing medium). It is her input that I will need to finalize the design for the Online Book Clubs page I created. Another smaller goal was to review and finalize the controlled vocabulary that I had drafted and submitted early this week. My site supervisor and I sat down and looked over the terminology together, and the feedback I got was overall positive--there were only a few changes that needed to be made. The list has been updated to reflect those changes and the finalized list submitted for approval by the library's Leadership Team. Once their approval has been given, I will be able to create a new taxonomy on the staff intranet with the controlled vocabulary that will be used for forms, procedures, and policies. It will also mean that I will need to update the vocabulary for all those that already exist. But I'm glad to see concrete results from this part of my work so soon.

A major goal that I was able to accomplish during my on-site day was being able to sit in and participate during the Webmasters Team meeting (of which four people were out due to vacation, personal illness or a child being ill). My site supervisor is the chair of the committee, and so my attendance was easily arranged. I appreciated being able to see how a committee addresses issues and see the practical topics that this particular committee is in charge of. We discussed the library's social media; several library-wide (as opposed to branch-specific) web-related issues, including a new site vendor; and the staff survey that I had put together. I was able to provide some feedback and suggestions for the social media topic; I was actually at a social media panel at November's CLA conference, and so remembered a few ideas that were mentioned there--and I did come up with one or two ideas of my own that seemed to be received well. However, my time in the spotlight was really during the discussion of the staff survey. I explained the research process and how I created the survey, as well as the logic behind several of the questions. There were some changes that the members of the committee suggested, but overall the committee was pleased and felt that the questions will be able to tell them about how the staff uses the intranet and what staff would like added to the intranet. So all the hours I put into this project really paid off. I've already made the requested changes, and now that too will head to the Leadership Team for final approval before going live.

During my lunch break (when I was introduced to a really good restaurant that I want to go back to), I got to speak with another person (the cataloger I first met on my last on-site visit) in the Technical Services department at great length. From her, I learned a bit more about cataloging and records--the kind of stuff that was not really addressed in my cataloging class. Then again, the issues she mentioned may not be universal to all libraries but may be a specific issue with this particular library system. I was able to share with her some of my own library experiences, and she very kindly offered her advice whenever I get stuck with cataloging/classifying materials for the collection of the library where I work. She's a very sharp lady and I'm glad I was able to connect with her. Hopefully I will be able to see her and talk more "shop" on my last on-site day in May.

So all in all, a productive site visit despite not going quite the way my site supervisor planned. I also talked with my site supervisor about continuing my work as a volunteer after my internship is over. I would like to see some of the projects I am involved in through to the end, but for the sake of my sanity my hours would need to be drastically reduced (I'm thinking like 10 hours/month). We shall see if things will work out as I hope.

Self-Motivation

As part of my internship class, I also have to interact with fellow virtual interns through the program's Learning Management System (LMS) and complete some work to turn in. This is how the professor who runs the virtual internship program on the school's side can view our progress, know what we've done, and see that we're "on track." It's an accountability thing and provides evidence to show we've earned the units we signed up for. Every week, we go over another topic related to virtual working environments and/or internships. Some of our topics so far have included time management, communication, and networking. For each topic, my professor points us to a number of sources, many of which I have found interesting or enlightening. We are also asked for a response that we post on the class discussion forums for the week--which is valuable because I have the opportunity to learn from my peers and they from me.

This week's topic is self-motivation, a trait that I think I'm rather strong in. It would seem logical for those who pursue an online program of study and succeed in such a learning environment to have strong self-motivation in order to stay on task. I can imagine the struggle that not having this skill could result in. As a virtual intern, I think self-motivation is a requirement for the work environment. You need to be able to stay on task, actually get going (and keep going), and regulate your own work without someone looking over your shoulder to make sure you're doing what you should. It's a big responsibility. No one's watching you to see what you get done and when--all they have to judge your performance is your results, so you need to produce them. This is one skill that definitely carries over into telecommuting too; when you're working from home, you also need to be able to stay on task without physical supervision.

One of the resources included with this week's unit was a self-motivation quiz. You can find it here: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_57.htm. I have no way to determine how accurate it is, but I think that it's at least a reasonable indicator of one's aptitude. My score was a 49. The other interns that have posted their scores in the discussion note that their scores seem to follow their own self-assessment of their motivation. Feel free to try it and post your score (if you like) in the comments section.

Internship Update and Scholarships

Today I finally finished my controlled vocabulary project (see previous post). It definitely took a bit of time, and I know I spent well over ten hours on it over the past week and a half. But I feel that it was good experience and excellent practice of skills I haven't had much opportunity to exercise in real-world situations yet. So what's next on the task list? More work with Google Analytics (a tool I'm glad to have discovered through this internship--I may consider using it for the website of the library I work in), creating a guide on posting Assets on the staff intranet site (Assets are a custom content-type on MCFL's Drupal platform), and reviewing and updating a staff Drupal guide. The Drupal guide is pretty extensive, and even my site supervisor thinks that it may be an ongoing project that carries over to future interns because the guide is so large. These three tasks will be more than enough to keep me busy until my next on-site day next week. I'm very much looking forward to it because I will be shadowing a couple of people and attending the Webmasters Team meeting. I anticipate a day full of experiencing new things and learning from the MCFL staff--fun stuff!

I've also been applying to scholarships, some offered by the school I attend and some offered by my program's department. I know a thing or two about scholarships because I collect and distribute scholarship information in the library where I work and the campus it's located on. I haven't really applied for many scholarships until now because my employer offers a tuition reimbursement program that I've been taking advantage of in conjunction with student loans. However, I will only be taking one class (three units) during my last semester, which will not qualify me for financial aid. For those who are not aware, you must be attending school at least half-time (6 semester units for undergraduates, 4 semester units for graduates) in order to receive federal student aid. Without the student loans, I will have to pay for my last semester out-of-pocket until I get the tuition costs reimbursed after the semester is over. Financial aid is not a glamorous issue, but it sure can have big effects on one's ability to attend school. By the time all my applications are in, I will have applied for over fifteen scholarships. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will get something.

This weekend, I will be celebrating Swedish Easter with my family. I'll do my best to remember to take pictures so I can post about all the good food!