Originally, I wanted to be a music librarian for a college or a symphony orchestra, as I have my bachelor's degree in music. I gave that up when I found out that I needed to be a much better piano player. I taught band in Iowa and then in the Hickman Mills school district, until I stayed at home for eight years. Many times I checked out the program that MU offered and even looked into the LIS program at Emporia State, but just didn't feel ready and mostly intimidated. In August of 2010, I started at UCM and have learned so much.
I currently work as a library clerk at Raytown High School. I have had the opportunity to be pretty involved with how the LMS runs the library. I have found this more than beneficial for my future as a librarian. One thing that I have learned, is that the library and LMS focus on customer service at all times, whether it is the student or other teachers. How can we provide you with the best learning/teaching experience possible?
Proudly, I must say that I have read most of the Gateway books and several Mark Twain books for this year. I haven't found one that I didn't like. My goal is to read all the Gateway books and as many Truman and Mark Twain award books. Without access to the library at the high school and the local public library, I wouldn't be able to afford all these books to read.
Sadly, I have not joined any professional organizations. I do intend to join MASL and would really like to attend the conference this Spring.
I have used several on the UCM and Mid-Continent Library sites. Library Literature and Information Science Full Text has been quite useful, as well as the Children's Literature and Comprehensive Database.
I have been introduced to a lot of different Web 2.0 applications. I have used animoto, screencasted, made my own wiki's for class, embedded several videos for presentations. My smart phone allows me to download widgets, such as my calendar and even a pedometer. I find all this very fun and even challenging, but I have to watch myself because it can become time consuming. I must sometimes remind myself that I have other responsibilities.
