Even though it’s been a hectic and challenging fall, I can’t believe the term is coming to an end. In reflection, I’m incredibly grateful to have a position that has started to prepare me for the professional world through individualized projects and one-on-one feedback. Throughout the term, Owen and I have worked on numerous projects, including the construction of a video for Open Access Week, organizing collections on the Lumiere Database, and fixing a series of broken links. These projects not only helped me learn more about the roles and responsibilities of reference librarians, but it taught me more about the strengths and shortcomings of my time management skills. I bring an incredible amount of passion to any project I work on, but I need to focus on how I organize my time with smaller tasks because I can become overwhelmed and let them slip away. I have never worked a position at Carleton, in which I’ve had a significant amount of freedom organizing my work schedule, so this term has served as an adjustment period. I can’t wait to bring the skills I’ve started to learn about project management into the work I do for this position winter term.
Even though we haven’t finished the group reference desk training, I’ve already started to learn so much about the reference interview and question-negotiation process. I have appreciated learning about the benefits of peer-to-peer services while working at a reference desk, especially how well-trained peer leaders can be instrumental in helping other students find and understand the information they need. The training and readings we’ve done so far have provided inspiration for next term when we start doing more reference training and hopefully get a chance to respond to questions on the chat.
Clara Posner
