Blind Date

I went on a date on Saturday. Yeah, I know, it's been awhile. It was also the last day of World of Dance, which of course I couldn't miss. So at dance class on Monday, my teacher had asked who had already purchased tickets. I scanned the crowd to see who hadn't and saw a girl that hadn't that I wanted to ask out. So I did.

Saturday rolls around and I go to her house to pick her up. No answer when I knock. I call her. It goes straight to voicemail. I knock. I call. I knock harder. I call. I go to the laundry place and double check that that is, indeed, the right building. I call. I knock. No answer.

So, now I am there with Kyle and his date, and I have an extra date, half an hour before the show. Oh....did I mention that it was also a BYU home football game? That means, most every girl I know is at the game. We call around until Kyle finds a friend at home and we rush to her apartment to pick her up. Kyle goes up there and takes his time, leaving me and his date to talk in the car. Finally, he comes down with Chrysta and we leave for the date. Crazy, eh?

We made it just before they closed the doors and went and sat down. The performance was incredible. The Cougarettes were definitely the most polished, the folkdancers brought back Last Night (a clogging routine I love) and did another dance I performed two years ago, the ballroom dancers were great but didn't hit all their lines, and the ballet dancers surprisingly had a lot of falls and trouble. Oh, and the modern dancers did their hilarious mini-mattress routine. It was a good show.

We went to Red Robin after the dance show and had dinner. It was there that I discovered the truth about my sudden blind date. Kyle's friend had decided she didn't want to go and had left for the football game. Kyle was up at her house calling all his friends until a random girl walked up with her groceries. I had said earlier that we should just knock on a door or stop by a girl walking down the street and ask someone at random, so he asked her. She said yes. Yes, crazy.

It was actually a really fun blind date, even if it was with an 18-year-old who had moved here from California only 3 week ago.

So, that's my story.

Disclaimer: I was not stood up for the date. Tikla had slept in til 1:08 (I was picking her up at 1:15). So she was getting ready and all her roommates left. I came and knocked on her door because they don't have a doorbell. She couldn't hear it from her room and her phone hasn't been working properly. It didn't ring and wouldn't even show she had missed four calls. We left at 1:30 and she had remained in her room, oblivious that I was outside waiting. Sad. I'm going to take her out again some other time.

Tired

I'm tired today and finding it hard to concentrate, so I figured I'd tell you about it. You see, working full-time and taking classes for my masters degree, a dance class at BYU, and institute, it doesn't leave much time for reading. And I'm reading such a good book right now (Well of Ascension from Brandon Sanderson). It's just long....and I'm slow. Consequently, I've been reading until 1 am for the last several days and I'm starting to feel it.

So if you run into me and I'm a little aloof, there is a reason. This time.

Random

So I was going to post pictures of my new house, but I can't because I left the cable at my parents. I can, however, post some of the pictures from my mission. I served in Brazil from Sept. 2002 - Aug. 2004. It was amazing.




More to come....I'm going to a party.

Library Clarification

So, I realized that I need two posts for this assignment, and didn't have too much to add, since I put so much into the first post. For some reason, however, it seems people thought I worked at Temple. I actually work at BYU and was comparing the two a little. BYU has one library in the heart of campus, although we do have a small annex in the nursing building. Temple now has one library also and is making many changes that focus on the user.
I'm glad that libraries are becoming more user-centered. I think that in a service economy, that is very important. After all, we are here to help the patrons and if we don't address their needs, why be there? Science is becoming so inter-disciplinary that it only makes sense to house the subjects together. Especially since many schools are in different colleges, but have very fuzzy lines between them. I've tried to do the new book lists and to decide if a book is Nursing or PDBio or Sports Medicine is a fairly impossible task (some just go onto multiple yearlists).
So, that is where we're headed at BYU. I just need to figure out the best way to do the subject pages/blogs. Then I can think of how to better help students use our resources. We have a lot of information that can help them. I think that's the problem though. We have too much information for their needs and they don't know how to sift through it. At least I didn't when I started my undergrad 7 years ago.

Changing the Science Library Perspective

Note: For my friends and family: This posting is homework. Colleagues and Classmates, read on.

Even though I've only worked in the science department since February, it's been interesting to see the changes that have been happening. We're in the process of condensing our reference section since a lot of material is being put online. We're also becoming more technology-based, I'm creating department blogs, and we're offering more courses on how to use online databases. We're also considering some changes that I can't discuss here. Throughout the library, we're becoming more technology-focused for the patrons. We've revamped our Information Commons and trust me, you can do anything there! Video editing, format conversion (including LPs, Videocassette, film negatives, etc.), software classes, conference rooms, scanners, etc. It's crazy! We've also put in a lot of lounge chairs and study tables, especially around the world classics and sampler room collections. We're also migrating to an OPAC that is more google-like and hopefully will do federated searching within all our database subscriptions!

We're not the only library doing changes though. Temple University recently closed all of their Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematical Sciences libraries and built a new Science Engineering & Architecture Library (SEAL). This library is well-lit and aesthetically appealing for students and faculty. The collection policy has changed. They have an extensive reference collection, computers, and only the most recent 10 years of monographs in architecture, biology, chemistry, engineering, geology, physics and general science. To aid patrons in using library resources, they also house a library instructional services. Also directed to the new technological generation are several new online services such as Instant Messaging reference, new book lists, and a blog site featuring new tools, resources, library events and news.



Temple, BYU, and many other libraries are certainly becoming more user-centered. Online reference is a big help since many people cannot, don't have time, or prefer not to go to the library to do their research. These libraries are also migrating towards more open and inviting spaces and workstations that invite collaboration. This helps the patron feel invited to the era and more likely to study and do research in that area. The Shhhhhh! Era has ended. We have moved on to focus more on the individual user so that their needs are met and they leave with a positive experience. Science is becoming more cross-disciplined. Temple showed they could address that patron issue by combining its science libraries. I'm sure there are other ways we can be more user-centered, but this is a start.

Resources used:
http://blog.library.temple.edu/liblog/archives/library_renovations/2006/07/

A Changing Profession

In 2002, shortly before I left on my mission, I was working in the BYU Bookstore. It was fun and the whole campus knew me (except my fellow Freshmen who can't use their mealplans in the Bookstore) because 1, I worked the lunch rush shift in the Twilight Zone, and 2, I was the happy Canadian bag boy with the permagrin. :)
I remember about a month before I left for Brazil, Russ Taylor, one of my frequent customers, asked if I would return to the bookstore after I finished my mission. I said that I was actually hoping to find something that would look a little better on a resume. He said to look him up in Special Collections and he'd give me a job in the library.
Two years later, I found myself working in the library and that was the start of my short career (thus far). I worked in Special Collections for three years as a student, gaining experience and responsibilities to the extent that they hired me back as Collection manager upon my graduation.
It's funny. I had never thought of going into library work. Actually, I was debating between law or business and truthfully, I will probably still pursue an MBA and/or JD, but for now, I'm half-way done my MLS - partly because it guaranteed me a job for awhile, partly because it is good experience that will help me in the future, and partly because they offered me a nice little scholarship which means I won't have to pay for the degree.
Now, I'm working full-time in the Science Department as Science/Maps reference specialist. At least I'm making use of my pre-med courses and chemistry minor. It's fun, but we're seeing a lot of changes and we're going to be seeing more in the future. Students are using the library less. Methods of research and requirements for study are changing. If we can't reach the students soon, we will send many into the workforce unprepared for what needs to be done in areas of research (particularly in the sciences). We'll see how it goes.
This post is prepping for the next one, which I will warn you, is a requirement for a class I'm taking in my Masters of Library Science degree. I'll try to make it interesting. :)

Helping People Get Jobs

Last Saturday, Eric, Matt and I taught the Career Workshop at BYU. I was recruited to teach the Sunday before and they told me that their last workshop that they tried to put on was a bust. Even with that torrid history, we were still optimistic. We had had over 55 people respond to the advertising and were confident that we would have at least 20 of those show up.

Getting there bright and early, we set up for the conference and slowly people began to trickle in. They did so for some time and we ended up having 64 people (who signed in) attend our four-hour workshop!

Now, it is difficult to squash a 12-hour workshop into 4 hours, but we divided the workshop into parts, created a strict time limit for each section and went to work. I wish we could have included all of the practice time that is normal and we cut out a few sections, but overall it was very successful!




My favorite sections are the 'Me in 30 Seconds' and 'Power Statements'. Me in 30 Seconds is almost like a trailer at the start of a movie. It tells you about yourself and it tried to get the audience hooked - without giving away too much. The audience could be an interviewer asking, 'tell me about yourself' or a CEO who you randomly meet in an elevator. 'Power Statements' take a quality or attribute, a specific example from your life, and the result and put it into a statement that has power! These can be used to answer almost any power statement!

Attribute + Example + Result (with numbers preferably)

An example: I'm very creative. While working at a recreation complex, I was asked to create some new programs. By the time I finished I had created the plan for three new programs that we then implemented.

These two principles will help anyone present their skills to an employer and help them get a job.

It was a lot of fun. Even my Mom came. It made me remember the good old times in Brazil. By the way, I'm a very effective teacher. For example, while teaching the Career Workshop in Brazil, I taught weekly sessions for between 10 and 25 people per week. As a result, about 25% of them got new or better jobs within 3 weeks of taking the course!