Categories
humor la casa comics libraries poetic school webcomics

Another library limerick and some introspection too

photo of a student

In the grand tradition.

There once was a library lad
who wanted to graduate, bad.
He wrote every essay,
but oh what a mess, eh?
There always were more to be had.

It’s not entirely accurate because at this point the end is certainly in sight (I’ll be HOME in about a month), but there is still plenty of residual “this-will-never-end” feeling to last me for awhile.

On the upswing, things are going well with my application process, and I have a videoconference interview coming up … on my birthday. After the phone interview, this is another first for me, so it’s exciting but I’m a little nervous about it as well. Maybe one day they’ll even want to meet me.

To wrap up, I’d like to drop in part of what I wrote over at La Casa today, because sometimes even I can appreciate my own writing, and because where I stand on creating comics is also where I stand on creating any content; perhaps most topically, it’s where I stand on self-creation, on developing one’s self as a human being, as an artist (of any kind), as a friend, as a lover, and as a professional. The idea is that we create something of worth and offer it to the world; ideally, something unique that we’ve learned, through introspection and hard work, how to offer.

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the kind of comic I want to create. La Casa has been a journey – no, an experiment, really. It’s been a ride. It’s been something, anyway, but a lot of times I don’t know where to go with it, and I don’t know if it’s the story that I want to tell. There are thousands of comics out there, all of them telling stories, all of them with their own worth and audience and humor, and I’m happy that ours has been one of them, but at the same time I somehow want to find a way to make our comic different. I want to find the story that will be our comic, the characters that will drive the story, the merge between art and writing that will, at the very least, be uniquely ours. I’m really not talking about popularity, just the idea that in creating content and putting it out there for people to see, one has a responsibility to make that content … worth something. To somebody.

We start with a dream, and one by one pluck down the stars to light our path.

We start with a dream …

Categories
libraries work

On Telephones and Interviews

I had a telephone interview last night – my first – and I think it went pretty well. Being out of the interview habit, and completely out of the telephone interview habit, I was a little rusty, and they asked me things I wasn’t as prepared for as I might have hoped. All the same, I feel like I presented myself pretty well, and I’m remaining optimistic. It’s important to focus on the positive selling points I made, rather than worry about the silly blunders. If everything goes well, I’ll progress one rung up on the applicant ladder; the next step being an interview with the Washington State Secretary of State. I don’t know if that would be on the phone or in person, but it sounds like an interesting experience either way.

The questions they asked were very job-specific. Did I have any experience working with virtual reference? A little. What experience did I have working with electronic database vendors? None, though some corollary experiences to share. What experience did I have as a go-between for customers and database vendors? Yikes, another corollary answer. I’m just a young future-librarian, yet, full of experiences I can use to relate to these experiences, but all the same with very little experience in what it means to be a real, professional librarian. I know that worked against me to some extent, but they mentioned they were emphasizing trainability and customer service, both of which are strong areas for me.

Thanks to everyone who consoled my consternation before the interview, and to all the well-wishers. It’s nice to know that in many ways, we’re all in this boat together, and the experience of one can work for the advantage of another. In the meantime, keep those fingers crossed (thumbs held), and I’ll let you know how it all turns out.