November Reflections: Finding My Stride

Photo by Donnie Ray Crisp on Unsplash

This month I have developed a workflow that has me feeling productive and hopeful. This month's highlights are shadowing at Tri-County Community College (TCTC), beginning my rotation with Collections & Discovery, and GIS Day. This month has really made me see the possibilities ahead of me.

I kicked off this month by attending the Commission on the Black Experience (CBE) meeting and it's great to hear what is happening on campus that I might not know about. I also was able to attend the last eResources Librarian presentation/interview and it was pretty interesting hearing what that librarian in particular does. I also attended the Science/ CAFLS Librarian presentation and interview but had already worked a bit with that candidate so I was familiar with her work. These interviews have given me so much insight into the different roles and how people approach their work.​

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Collections & Discovery Rotation
This rotation started with the Collections & Acquisitions. I got to spend the day sitting with folks in this department. It started with Acquisition Workflows and them learned more about Alma & Analytics. I will say that I am just learning Alma. The public library systems I've been in have all used BiblioCommons as their catalog and Symphony as their integrated library system. Clemson University is a state school which means that all public institutions have the same integrated library system. At the end of the day I met with the E-Resources team to learn about what they do. Overall, it was a great start to this rotation.

GIS DAY 2023
GIS is Geographic Information System. I didn't know much about GIS before coming to Clemson but this day is specifically designed to celebrate the work done by faculty, researchers, and GIS professionals. It was a fun and engaging time that made me excited for how GIS can be used not only for research but as a part of libraries, special collections, and archives. I found myself in conversations on how some spaces have used AR to create virtual spaces for special exhibits. Now it is a goal of mine to earn my GIS certificate so I can use it for some of my library work.

 Adobe Update
I've been working on getting familiar with the Adobe space this month and getting to know the interns. It has been fun talking about AI and some of the tools with the interns and finding out what they like about the space as well as what they think can be improved upon.