Overview: The End

About to Head Home

I took this picture right before I left with my phone.  Interlochen is a hard place to leave behind.  (And perhaps I'll return, as there may be a job opening up soon..)  This job has provided me with a vast number of experiences I doubt I could really get any other way than by doing, and being allowed to do, all of the amazing things that I've done.

Getting to work with a vast age range of campers, faculty and staff has been truly eye opening.  I honestly had no idea how different the age groups would be, and how I would have to adapt so much depending on the knowledge and understanding level of the person asking me for information.  I learned how to best manage those who don't have a good idea of what they want, those who know EXACTLY what they want, and those who don't want to bother to look for themselves.  I learned how to best appease.  How to best discipline.  How to be gracious when others are not.  Only having such a vast variety could have done this for me.

Getting to work with a call number conversion project.  Getting to create a useful pathfinder for high schoolers.  These are special projects that will prepare me for my future as an academic librarian.

Getting to assist the ensemble librarians.  This is REALLY not an experience I could get anywhere else.  I feel like I have a better picture of my field (music librarianship) now that I've seen all sides.

Getting to make connections with noted faculty and staff.  I made professional contacts here that I wouldn't have met anywhere else.  And we have something in common from the get go.  A bond.  I've exchanged so many business cards this week.  Hopefully this will help me in the future.

Overall, I may have had my reservations about this job.. but I was proven so wrong.  I really feel like this is one of the more encompassing internships for someone in my field out there.   So now I'm done, and I look forward to presenting on this opportunity to my department.  Hopefully Indiana University will continue to send interns to Interlochen.

The Closing of Summer

Reference Interns and the Boss Lady

Today we had the final get together at my boss's house.  I baked peanut butter nutella cookies, and we all just.. relaxed.  The calm before the storm, so to speak.  Tomorrow is Les Preludes.  Then I am volunteering to work for just four hours the next day to collect last minute returns.  My partner is leaving tomorrow.  My roommate is leaving tomorrow.

It's been a crazy learning experience behind here.  It can be overwhelming to eat, sleep and breath a work environment, even if it's only for six weeks.  But I have learned more about librarianship, my work style, and my people skills in those six weeks than I have in the past year.

My next post will outline more eloquently what I have learned, but I have to say, even though my pay only equaled my plane ticket cost -- this was entirely worth the cost, the distance, and the postponement of my graduation.  I am so much better equipped to be a librarian NOW than I was at the start of this summer.

I would definitely recommend this internship location to other librarians in training.  There are opportunities in academic librarianship, archives, and music librarianship.  Northern Michigan, you've done a lot more for me than I ever thought.

Keep calm and cherry on, as Traverse City (famous for cherries) would say.  And so I shall.  Back to Bloomington soon to wrap things up, and then it's onto the next big thing.

Two more days.

ANSCR Update

500 done.

We are so close I can taste it.  Yet, I knew with Les Preludes (the big finale concert which is broadcast LIVE) coming up, the library is going to get crazy.

Unfinished business drives me up a wall, even if I am very proud of my product.  I think, overall, knowing that I am leaving behind very tangible and useful lists and products for the library is the most rewarding aspect of doing this internship.

We've made further changes to the ANSCR system, making it more specific by adding additional categories to those general ones that have been set as the standard.  It's also really strange that we've started getting requests for these CDs under the new call numbers.  It often takes me off-guard.  But it always brings a smile to my face. 

We did that.

Les Preludes: The Beginning of the End

Music Library Summer 2012 Staff

Les Preludes.  It's a big deal.

If you've ever seen ANY video footage or advertisement for Interlochen, it will include a clip from Les Preludes.  Traditionally (since the 1940s), the final concert of the summer includes the top high school bands playing this Liszt piece whilst the dance students dance on the pit and roof of Kresge (the main auditorium).  It seems rather ceremonial and ridiculous to me, but I've heard it showcases well the talent of the students and the Festival Choir (who are singing Beethoven's 9th).

I am also going to be a fake Ensemble Librarian and help out with the event, because one of them has to leave early.  Thus, I get to kind of have my 'day in the life' moment which I'd been yearning for since watching them all summer.

Getting to finish out the summer with the most stressful event?  It's a bonding experience.

I have loved getting to work with all of these talented people.  And I know this last week is going to be epic.

Bring it on, Les Preludes.  I'm ready.

Supply and Demand

Supply and demand are huge in a library like the Fennell Music Library.

When new groups of campers come in, there is literally a swarm of students all looking for very similar chamber pieces.  We often get questions like, "Do you still have the Brahms??" or "Do you know if someone has checked out the score for <insert item here>?"  I'm attributing it slightly to the competitive nature of an institution like this, but also to the nature of the music craft.

This is especially evident with reserves.

Each week, the cataloger puts recordings and study scores of the pieces that each of the ensembles are playing on reserve.

Boy, do these kids want to listen to their music.

I give them props for being so dedicated, but we have literally had people wait HOURS to check out a recording of the 1911 Firebird Suite by Stravinsky. 

Thus, there's an ebb and flow.  Does the library buy more recordings?  Probably not.  It's only going to be in high demand THIS week.  But still, the time of these campers is precious.  We limit items on reserve being checked out for two hours.  We try to encourage group listening.

But still.  It's so refreshing to see such dedication.  Even if they get frustrated.

Library Programming

One of the most exciting events that I get to participate in this summer is library programming.  Having never gotten to organize or plan events for an institution before, I wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity.  Each week, the library puts on a themed event, which gets 10-20 of the 100-some campers to attend.  Not bad, considering the evenings are their "time off" and social time after rehearsals and classes.

This summer, one of my fellow interns came up with the idea to have the campers fold 1000 paper cranes.  There is a Japanese tradition that if one folds 1000 cranes, one will get their wish.  Our wish was for a fantastic summer, and we had the initial kick off event during week two.  We are slowly making our way up.  The intern in charge posts the number we have currently hanging over the library (455!) and we keep a basket of origami paper at the reference desk at all times.

Summer of 1000 Paper Cranes

Not only is it a fun way to decorate the library, but this project has really allowed us to connect with patrons.  Teaching them how to fold the cranes during slow moments allows us to get to KNOW the campers.  Have real conversations with them that don't involve call numbers.  Something as simple as folding paper has gained me new staff contacts and happy campers (haha). 

Programming and outreach (one of my favorite library topics) are near and dear to my heart after working in an archive, and it's so exciting to see such a simple idea really WORK for a library.  I'm going to definitely take the ideas and innovations I've learned here and apply it to my future job.

Listening Room Woes

One of the most used features of the Music Library are the group listening rooms, located to the left of the reference desk.  These rooms are to be used by small groups (4-8 people) to listen to recordings either from internet databases like NAXOS, videos from YouTube, or discs from our collection of sound recordings.  The computers are firewalled to not access any other webpages.

... remember when I said the teenagers were smart?

They broke the firewall/parental controls.

Not only that, but the center room (there are three) is blocked from view by the stairs to the academic library.  I always know that when I heard raucous laughter I should do a quick walk around to make sure too many schananigans going on.

But unfortunately, today I had to discipline my first campers because they were using facebook and watching videos that had nothing to do with music library pursuits.  I got a little lip, admittedly, but they stood down quickly once they realized they had virtually no defense against my argument.  (There is a poster that tells them what they can and cannot do in said room.  Obviously they weren't following it.) 

Another odd thing is that the record player needle keeps going missing.  Strange.