I came into library school from basically zero: I didn't really know anything about the field, I had no experience working in a library, and apart from a few friends, I didn't have any connections. Not much to start with. But now, barely more than two months later, I'm most of the way through my first term, I've got positions in two professional associations, I have a real job in a real library, and I've made a bunch of connections with librarians both here and in distant states. Solid progress in a short span of time, right?
And I did it all by imagining that everybody I met had an exclamation point floating above their heads.
And I did it all by imagining that everybody I met had an exclamation point floating above their heads.
Greetings, novice. We need you to organize a speaker for the brown bag luncheon in March. Do you accept?
See, being a student librarian is totally just like playing World of Warcraft. You start out with nothing, wandering into a world that's already populated with people who are more advanced than you and who know more than you do. But as you explore, you find people who have quests to offer you. At first the quests are small and easy -- killing a few crabs on the beach, or maybe shelving holds at the main branch for a few hours a week.
But every quest completed brings a few more XP, and you start to make gradual upward progress. You tend to level quickly in the early stages of the game. And before long, you've traded in errand running for event coordination, or some early practice on the online reference service. And you keep looking for new quests so that one day you might become that awesome Level 80 Troll Warrior Librarian wielding the Flaming Sword of Ranganathan, at the core of a guild that protects all Azeroth from the darkness of ignorance and budget cutbacks.
The point is that as you move through this world, you'll make most of your progress by being open to people and the opportunities that they bring with them. Someone mentions an internship? Apply for it. A non-profit needs help cataloging their small collection of zines? Volunteer for it. See an awesome little conference in town that brushes up against your interests? What the hell, why not register for it? Some selectivity is helpful, of course; you don't have to accept every quest you find along the way. When you suspect that a given task is more than you can gracefully manage, or that a job might take you too far from your intended course, it can be wise to turn it down. But you can still learn from the quests you decline -- make note of what jobs most often need doing, what skills you have that other people find most useful. Those can be helpful things to know as you move up the ranks.
Most importantly, don't wait for your professors or your course schedule to tell you what to do. Don't wait for an assignment before you start tackling an issue. Assignments are quests, too, but the quests that bring the biggest rewards often come from outside your MLS program. Go out into the world and meet people and seek your own opportunities. These few years when you're still a student librarian are an opportunity to rack up the XP in a relatively easy, protected environment. Talk to everyone, and always been looking for the exclamation point hanging in the air just above them.
But every quest completed brings a few more XP, and you start to make gradual upward progress. You tend to level quickly in the early stages of the game. And before long, you've traded in errand running for event coordination, or some early practice on the online reference service. And you keep looking for new quests so that one day you might become that awesome Level 80 Troll Warrior Librarian wielding the Flaming Sword of Ranganathan, at the core of a guild that protects all Azeroth from the darkness of ignorance and budget cutbacks.
The point is that as you move through this world, you'll make most of your progress by being open to people and the opportunities that they bring with them. Someone mentions an internship? Apply for it. A non-profit needs help cataloging their small collection of zines? Volunteer for it. See an awesome little conference in town that brushes up against your interests? What the hell, why not register for it? Some selectivity is helpful, of course; you don't have to accept every quest you find along the way. When you suspect that a given task is more than you can gracefully manage, or that a job might take you too far from your intended course, it can be wise to turn it down. But you can still learn from the quests you decline -- make note of what jobs most often need doing, what skills you have that other people find most useful. Those can be helpful things to know as you move up the ranks.
Most importantly, don't wait for your professors or your course schedule to tell you what to do. Don't wait for an assignment before you start tackling an issue. Assignments are quests, too, but the quests that bring the biggest rewards often come from outside your MLS program. Go out into the world and meet people and seek your own opportunities. These few years when you're still a student librarian are an opportunity to rack up the XP in a relatively easy, protected environment. Talk to everyone, and always been looking for the exclamation point hanging in the air just above them.
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