Reflecting on 2012

Happy New Year!

I realize I'm a little late, but its been a busy finals/holidays/back to work few weeks. Before setting new priorities for 2013, I would like to take a day to reflect on the lessons learned and goals achieved in 2012.

School
Digital Preservation - Apply international and national standards as best as you are able for the materials your institution has with the resources available. Remain aware of standards as they are updated. TEI is awesome (I would love to work more closely with TEI)!!!

Information Access - Listen carefully to what people say their information needs/wants are and ask questions. Not all reference resources are available on the internet (say what!?!).

Research Methods - Completing an NEH grant proposal is very intense but a great experience!

History of the Book - A great introduction to rare books and the vocabulary of rare books.

Special Collections - Are complicated and transitioning (doesn't that just sum up life?)

Library Management - Treat individuals with respect and recognize that people are your greatest asset in the workplace. Additionally, plan with purpose (but that pretty much is my way of life)

Information Access in the Humanities - There is a tension in the academy as humanities are going digital. While there is greater acceptance for digital content as resource material, digital research (Digital Humanities) is still struggling to become mainstream.

Developing Internet Applications - Programming is complicated, but fun! An analytical brain that is grounded in logic and mathematics is required for proficient programming. But I enjoyed the class anyways, and learned more than I expected.

Work
William Morris Exhibit - My project management skills were tested but we managed to pull off the first on time exhibit opening at the Maryland Room Gallery. At the same time a digital version of the exhibit went live (authored by yours truly). We had a number of classes tour the exhibit.

Literature and Rare Books Webpages Migration - HIPPO (cms) is evil! That might be an exaggeration. But we finally began transitioning our old web content into the new content management system. It has been a great opportunity to get to know the collection better and to research the best ways to present our collections online.

Library Day - Taught 15 sessions introducing UMD Libraries to freshmen English students. The libraries at UMD are not simple, but the freshmen are great students. I really enjoy teaching when that's not the only thing I do all day!

DoD Internship - Wrote the text for guides to several databases; EBSCOhost, LexisNexis, etc. Researched War of 1812 for exhibit.

Overall, 2012 was a very full year with 2 jobs, an internship, full load of classes each semester and leading UMD's SLA Student Chapter.