SLA: the sixth

This is the sixth and final post in a series detailing my time in Phoenix for SLA 2017.

Tuesday brought another early morning. One of the committees I'm currently involved in is SLA's Public Task Force. This group is tasked with keeping abreast with the policies coming from the current government, and reporting how they may affect libraries or other information science areas. This was the first time we spoke in person, having only had a previous conference call, and was mostly an overview of what we wanted to focus on in the coming months. Certainly, the Copyright, and possible de-funding of the IMLS are important to our industries, and will be primary ones. The new healthcare bill was also discussed, though more discussion is still needed.

A highlight of Tuesday's sessions was Tracy Maleeff's solo presentation on Information Security in Libraries. She presented the information is such a way that made it easy-to-follow for even those with no Security experience, discussing such topics as hacking, DDOS strikes, how to protect yourselves when using public networks, and basic rules of common sense. The internet is a very public place, and in this day and age, when we're always connected, it is more important to ensure our online safety. Tracy Maleeff's presentation was a great introduction for this newbie to a lot of the terms and need-to-know rules and of safety.

And in a strong finish was the Closing Keynote, Dr. Moribah Jah. His speech tied very strongly into the theme of "Dream Jobs" from the previous day's keynote, as it sparked many discussions, both on Twitter as we all tweeted along, as well as in person, what we can accomplish with our degrees and in looking for jobs. He was dynamic, and intelligent, and sparked all our curiosities about "space trash".

Check out his Ted Talk Here:

And with his speech, so did the 2017 conference come to a close. We welcomed everyone to Baltimore for next year's conference, and said our parting words, and it was wishing friends and colleagues safe travels and warm wishes until next meeting.

As we parted ways, I met back up with C., who had spent the last three days in Tuscon with his aunt. We drove back to his cousins' house, where we would spend the night before leaving the next morning. After grabbing dinner, we also met up with his aunt, so I had a chance to visit before we left. (I had last seen/met her at C.'s father's end-of-life ceremony in 2015 - her brother - this was a much better, more pleasant meeting.)

And the next morning, we were gone. Back to Pittsburgh. Back to "real life". But there was so much I brought back with me from this conference. I spoke to a number of different vendors, the information of which I brought back to present to my boss and work as a way to help improve our library.

This year's SLA was a very different experience. It's my first attending as a Solo Librarian, and also my first, in which I was able and encouraged to bring information back. (Having previously worked for a Vendor, I was certainly not bringing back competitors' knowledge.) It's the first SLA in what I learned, and what I discussed, and what information I collected, has a real impact on the work I am doing.

What I learned this year in Phoenix, and what I continue to learn as a member of SLA, will help shape the library I currently work in. It is something I look forward to continuing doing.

SLA: the Fifth

Monday had me waking up for an EBSCO breakfast. Currently, as we use some of their products at work, I figured it would be beneficial to learn of any new developments. The breakfast was a good mix of librarians from all employment spheres, and really my own complaint was the lack of choice at breakfast.

By far the best thing I attended on Monday, however, was the Dream Jobs Panel. Three Librarians, each from three different fields, one representing Fashion and Design Merchandising, the second Hershey (yes, the chocolate company), and the third Uber, they discussed working in the industry, how they found their jobs, and the importance of networking in one's job search. Much like the "SLAying" from the previous day became a rallying cry, so too did "Dream Jobs" become a theme of the conference.

As Monday was also the one day the conference did not provide lunch, it was the day I ventured out for lunch. Walking into what, if I remember correctly, was 118F heat, was an experience. But lunch was had with some fellow conference goers, and included fish tacos.

Monday evening was also the busiest evening. From Academic Division's Event, to catching up with New England Chapter members at the East Coast Reception, to finally making my way down to the Pittsburgh Chapter dinner. And of course, the IT dance party.

Monday was one of those days I remember why I keep coming back to SLA. Why I get involved and stay involved. It's meeting people in-person you've only talked to via Twitter, and instantly having a connection (point), it's not having to explain what you do because everyone there gets it, it's telling people you only see once a year what's going on in your life, whether it's good news or not-so-good news, and having them be there for you. It's moving to a new city and finding a community even when you know no one.

Yes, Monday was one of those days I remember why I love SLA.

(Next up: Tuesday! Final day of the conference.)

SLA: the Fourth

The 4th of July weekend was busy busy. My mom got married Sunday, which means Saturday had C. and I once again stepping on a plane. This time to fly to Connecticut. We were supposed to arrive late Friday night, but our flight was delayed to the point we had missed our connection, so re-booked to Saturday it was. I am continually annoyed that there are no direct flight between Pittsburgh and Connecticut/Rhode Island/Massachusetts.

The wedding was lovely and simple, and I wish my mom and new stepfather much happiness!

(This entry here continues the detailed summary of my time in Phoenix for SLA. Fourth entry in a series.)

Sunday morning started with a tip-top session, "Geologist turned Crime Writer", Susan Cummins Miller. She detailed her journey, starting in undergraduate and graduate schools, and how her role as a Geologist took an unplanned turn, then how her career took another unplanned turn when left the geology field to become a writer. When the oldest of her two sons showed "differences" from neurotypicalness - autism spectrum before being diagnosed on the autism spectrum was a thing - she initially turned to writing as a way to spend more time at home helping to oversee his education and development. She's since written non-fiction, a successfully mystery/crime series, and even poetry. She's an esteemed voice in her respective fields (geology and writing), and her sons have grown up. (The oldest, she mentioned, is a technical writer, following in the wordsmith's footsteps.)

Sunday also saw an amazing Opening Keynote, Lulu Miller, the co-host of NPR's Invisibilia. She spoke of several instances libraries, specifically special libraries, and information helped her in stories. She had me crying one moment, and laughing the next, telling her stories of life, love, laughter, and libraries. She also inadvertently helped to give us our unofficial theme for the conference. Whereas our hashtag on Twitter is #SLAers, she read it as "SLAyers", a theme we as information professional jumped on for the duration of the conference. (The completely coincidental t-shirts from the vendor hall certainly helped.)

Other highpoints of Sunday included a panel on the nature of the Discovery platform, catching up with friends, and hitting the receptions in the evening as I searched for a slice of dessert, any dessert, after the tacos in the Exihibt Hall during the Vendor's Opening Reception. (I finally found it in the form of bite-size mousse cups.)

Next entry details Monday, with more panels, more excessive desert heat wave, and more "SLAying".

SLA: the third post

(This post will be the third in a detailed series of the week I spent in Phoenix for vacation and the Special Libraries Association conference.)

If Thursday was a best decision/worst decision today in travelling to Sedona to hike, Friday's early-morning trip to see the Desert Botanical Gardens was much much easier. Waking up early, we were there at 730AM (the gardens opened at 7), armed with our full water bottles. At the entrance, there was a sign, showing how many cups of water one should drink based on how long they planned to be there. It was roughly 4 cups for every hour spent walking around. We were there approximately three hours, and each had a 1-liter water bottle, which we refilled 3x more in the Gardens. All water refills finished.

The photos below are a mere sampling of the plants we saw. While there, we also saw several Quail, a roadrunner, and a few different rodents. Apparently, seeing the roadrunner is particularly lucky, as it does not always come out.

Once we saw everything, we headed back to the house for lunch. While C. went back out in the afternoon to catch Pokemon, I elected to stay at the air-conditioned house, and worked some on my current knitting project.

Dinner that night was also a lively affair. While I was to be at the SLA conference, C.'s plan was to go down to Tuscon to spend time with his aunt. On the Sunday was a family reunion of mostly cousins on his father's(and aunt's) mother's side. Ahead of this , his other cousin (the brother of the cousin we were staying with) drove down from Idaho with his partner and son for the reunion. They stopped at the house for dinner before continuing to Tuscon. This was significant as this was the first time I had met this cousin.

(The cousin we were staying with, I had met when we were in Hawaii for C.'s father's funeral. But they did the burial, then had an "end-of-life" ceremony a week after. Due to time limits I could take from work, I was only able to go to Hawaii for the "end-of-life" ceremony, but not the burial. Obviously C. was there for both. The cousin I met was also in Hawaii for the "end-of-life" ceremony. This cousin I had not previously met was there for the burial, but left before the "end-of-life" ceremony.)

We chatted, both in the living room and around the pool while the kids swimmed, before dinner. It was great finally getting to meet them.

Saturday was the day the conference started. I'm on the 2018 Conference Planning Committee, and had a meeting scheduled for the afternoon. Saturday, the cousins we had been staying with were also leaving for their own vacation. Knowing this, we took a drive to Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's west coast home. It was gorgeous. We got there just in time for the 9AM tour, which was a 90 minute tour of the house and property. Well worth the trip.

Then it was off to downtown Phoenix, where I attended my meeting, and C. caught Pokemon, until we met back up for me to check-in to my hotel, and Mexican food for a late lunch.

Saturday night, I went to a Meet Up/Social to open the conference, and C. got ready to drive to Tuscon the next day.

Next entry: we get into the SLA conference officially, including an opening kick-ass session and an equally kick-ass opening plenary speaker.

SLA: the second post

(This post will be the second in a detailed series of the week I spent in Phoenix for vacation and the Special Libraries Association conference.)

Thursday, we had the brilliant idea to drive to Sedona to hike. In planning what we wanted to do, C. and I really only had three things we know we wanted to do. In mentioning this, his cousin and cousin's wife suggested seeing the Red Rocks of Sedona. Sure, we answered. It would be cooler, they promised.

We leave by around 930 or so in the morning. The drive is roughly two hours. We pass the time by play 'I Spy' with the five-year-old cousin, and generally talking among ourselves. We go to lunch at Subway first, before setting on the trail. By cooler, it was still 95 degrees, and high afternoon. We had to take a breathing points, and drank plenty of water, but oh yes, were the rocks beautiful.

Somehow, on the drive back, we convinced the fourteen-year-old cousin to start playing Pokemon Go again. And went swimming once we were back at the house.

One of the three things C. and I knew we wanted to do was to go to an Artwalk in the area. Thursdays during the summer, there's a row of galleries, which all stay open late. We didn't buy anything, as everything was well out of our price range, but it was fun poking around the galleries, and chatting with the owners.

Next up: visiting the Desert Botanical Gardens, and guests for dinner.

SLA: the first post

(This post will be the first in a detailed series of the week I spent in Phoenix both visiting family and attending the 2017 Special Libraries Association Conference.)

Special Libraries Association (SLA) is the one professional organization I have continuously maintained my membership. It is the one I give the most to, and also get the most from. I first learned the 2017 conference would be hosted in Phoenix in 2015, and immediately it was something for which I started to make plans.

While the conference itself was June 17-20, C. has family in the general area, so we planned to fly out ahead of the conference, spend some time with them, and see a bit of Phoenix. We didn't plan for the excessive heat wave the week we were there, and the record-high temperatures, but somehow we managed.

We arrived on June 14, 2017. Our flight had left Pittsburgh at 545 AM, which while ridiculously early, it meant we were in Phoenix by 10AM, and able to enjoy our day. His cousin, with who we were staying with for a few days, picked us up from the airport, and took us back to their house, where I met his family. (I had met C.'s cousin at his father's funeral two years before, but his wife and two kids had not come, so this was the first time I met them.) It was also the first time C. met his youngest cousin, their five-year-old daughter.

We dropped off our things, and chatted for a bit, talking about our flight, and things happening with us moving to Pittsburgh some months before. (Has it really been seven months already?) One of the things on our list to do was to visit the Heard Museum. They had a special exhibit on Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, which was also the only US stop on the tour. I've been a fan of Frida Kahlo since middle school Spanish class, and it was a must-see. So we grabbed lunch on our way. (We had planned to eat at In-and-Out Burger, as I'd never been, but I didn't realize they did only hamburgers. (I do not eat red meat. Or pork, for that matter. Upon realizing this, we went to Jack in the Box instead.) Then headed to the Museum.

The exhibit was amazing. Frida Kahlo's paintings are so incredibly emotional and self-reflective, and this exhibit did a great job of showcasing her talent. Diego Rivera's too. I also liked how they did not shy away from their tumultuous history. They discussed the affairs on both sides, including Diego Rivera sleeping with her sister (and their subsequent separation). There was a series of photographs, many of Kahlo, and it was rather obvious the photographer was in love with her.

While there, we also got a tour of their Native American collection, learning about the different art from the different tribes in the Southwest area. Their upstairs was on the Indian Schools used to help "civilize" the Native Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries. (I use civilize in quotations, in part because it was used in direct material from the exhibit, and of course, because the children never had to be civilized in the first place.) It was moving and heart-breaking, and an incredibly humbling experience. I had known the schools existed, but not to the extent they perpetuated the myth of the white man.

Perhaps the most stark exhibit in it, was of the sports memorabilia from the various schools. Where the children were forced to play sports under such mascots as the "Indians" and "Braves". These were children!

It was also around this time, the early morning, the time difference, and the hot weather caught up with us, and we headed back to C.'s cousin, where we both napped.

Next entry: hiking in Sedona (... wait, why? what?) and an art walk

To end, a few photos of that first day:

Looking ahead and looking back: a story.

This entry is partially inspired by the following by the lovely Natasha S. Chowdory, and her own recent blog entry.

Above link linked with her permission.

***

Lately, I've been thinking quite a bit as to how I found myself in my current position. I keep describing it as happenstance. Looking for a job, I decide to place my resume onto Monster, thinking it might score something, albeit temporary until I find something more permanent, when I see a listing for a Corporate Librarian position. I email my resume, and not five minutes later, I get a phone call asking, "You know this job is in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania?" Yes, I answer, yes.

And that is the short version. Interview via Skype within a week. Six weeks later, I move to Pittsburgh. This was last fall - late September/early October that I interviewed, November that I moved. But it's not the whole story. And the whole story is not something I've exactly discussed in public, in part, because I felt it was this blight on my resume. That in telling people, I would make myself less marketable. Less than.

I left EBSCO in June 2016. Because I had interviewed and accepted a job at an Academic Library in Boston. It was not a good fit for many reasons. And I think on some level, I knew that. There were red flags in the interview process, ones I probably should have seen. But I was blinded: needing a shorter commute (this job gave that), the perks of suddenly working in a place which both encouraged and provided professional development, getting to learn a new library. I was blinded by the enthusiasm of the people I would be working with, the modernity of the library, the getting to work in an academic library.

I was not the right person for the job. But I, and it pains me some to say this, I was blinded by the salary offer - more than what I had asked - and the thoughts that maybe, just maybe, I could pay the student loans off faster, and maybe we could finally afford to move out of our one bedroom.

The job was not to be. In the time I worked there, my Anxiety was through the roof. I would finally get one thing down, and it changed on me. I would ask questions, only to not get the right information, and be told, I had not asked the right questions. After ninety days, I was sacked. And even while I had my suspicions, even while I felt this coming, I was devastated. It felt like I had failed. That I was a failure.

But that low point, that failure, spurned me to take different chances. Hence, taking my current position, moving to a city I had never been, into an industry I knew nothing about. (I would still argue I know nothing about the industry in which I am working, though I am learning. Every day, I am learning.)

And for however long this job is for, it has given me a renewed sense of working in libraries. I'm a Solo for the first time in my career. I'm getting to create an Archives. Teach Information Literacy, and work in Research. I'm learning new softwares, and new skills, and is this job perfect? No. But I think if I learned anything from three of the worst months in my library career, it is that no job should be perfect. Because perfect is too good to be true.

Sometimes I do wonder where I would be in my career had that other job worked out. And the thing is, after all is said and done, I think where I am now is much much better.

Sunday afternoon musing.

Work has been work. I finished the first major project, although I still need to go back into the room to clean everything up. I'm finding papers and articles and theses. In some cases, I've been given only the topic, and been asked to find all papers I can relevant to the topic. It may take a few false starts, but I always find my stride. I'm learning new programs and databases. It's exciting most days.

Last weekend, I attended a spaghetti dinner, which helped to raise money for the library I go for the knitting/crochet group. I'm gearing up for the Special Libraries Association Annual conference which is in just a few weeks. HH Greg officially closed, which means C. is looking for a new job again.

We've finally settled into a routine. We're finally settling into this strange, new city. This past week, we met our now-former upstairs neighbors for dinner. We're officially joining a synagogue.

We're officially joining a synagogue. That feels very adult to me. I was a member of a synagogue my years growing up, but this is me - us - choosing to join, to make this journey together. It's the same synagogue we've been attending on and off for some months now. With a high inter-faith congregations, and a great community. There will definitely be a curve, of determining what we both want from the services and the community, but we're joining.

So yes, things are slowly starting to fall into place. Here's to C. finding a job soon, and a more promising summer.

Step one.

After months of inventorying every folder. Months of writing out the exact descriptions for every piece of paper, every map, every saved article, I may in a few short weeks, be done with the physical shelving of the items. (I say shelving. Really I mean shoving them into filing cabinets in alphabetical order.) Whereas with the describing I worked solo, creating some weird, bastard version of Dublin Core (the very first archival language I learned), with the filing/shelving, I had a partner. Four hands make for much faster moving of the folders, the papers, the rearranging of the drawers.

There is still some work to be done. In going through the last drawers today, for many items in the areas already completed, additional materials were found. They need to be separated by state, then county, and filed. This will likely include further shifting of drawers to accommodate the new folders. I swear half the filing cabinets are two states, where the remaining ones fill the same number of drawers as those two states.

I'm surprised by how much room there still in the drawers. Looking at the materials, the boxes to add, I thought for much of this project, I would not have enough room. Right now? I have room to spare. However, there is still more papers to inventory, still more boxes to sort, still more items to describe in my weird version of Dublin Core. Eventually that extra space will be filled as well.

In the meantime, I am going to bask in the momentary glory of finishing the first giant step of this project. And soon, I will start a new spreadsheet, and start inventorying all over again. New documents, new boxes. Over and over and over.

An Archive never sleeps.

Visiting the Phipps

Back in February, we bought a membership to the Phipps Conservatory. On Sunday, I took advantage, taking the bus downtown to see the Super Natural - Glass Art by Jason Namrath, the Butterfly Forest, and Barbara the Corpse Flower.

(The glasswork was particularly neat. In some cases, how we see plants is not the same as the insects see plants. Unlike us, they cannot see colors on the red/green spectrum, so rather than create in the colors we can see, he created items in the way they would see.)

(The butterfly forest was enchanting.)