Greetings, blog readers, I'm Brad. I wrote another introductory post about three years ago, but alas I do apologize that I completely failed at updating again in the three years that I've been at Shimer. Like KC, I will be starting my last year in the fall. Shimer has been quite the roller coaster ride since then, the best of my life, in fact.
Before coming to Shimer, my career plans bounced around frequently: at some point I have wanted to be everything from a computer technician to a tattoo artist to a journalist. However, one of the things I have gotten out of Shimer has been somewhat of a cementing of my career ambitions, or at least of what degree I will be obtaining in grad school. I have more or less decided I will be getting a Masters of Library Science degree, but I am still switching between wishing to be an archivist, or some breed of librarian. The internship I've secured is aimed to help me decide between the two by giving me real-world experience in both.
Primarily, I will be working in Richmond, Virginia at the main branch of the public library. I plan to devote about 25 to 40 hours per week, and I will be arriving in Richmond around halfway through June and working for about two months. I have a job description designed to both give me a broad idea of what working in the field of library sciences entails, and give me a sense of what public libraries specifically are like. Given that libraries are more than just a place to check out books--though you are strongly encouraged to utilize them for that purpose!--I will be embarking upon a wide range of tasks: teaching beginning computer classes, data entry, shelving books, and weeding unused or outdated books from the collection, among other duties. I will, as a side project, also be working with an archivist from a college in the area, though I have recieved much less information about this project. I will be sure to update as that becomes available to me, along with chronicling the rest of my exciting summer!
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