Day One

Phew!

Made it through the first day of work relatively smoothly. It was a pretty relaxed first day. Got up about 7 a.m. even though the alarm was set at 6.30 a.m. (groan). Sharon and I just caught the bus as it was arriving shortly after 7.30 a.m. (perfect timing!) (side note: Sharon is my friend whom I was one of her bridesmaids last year and I'm also staying with her these days. :)

So, it took about an hour to get downtown to work from her place. Thankfully I'll only have to do this four a couple of weeks. When I get moved into my new place (only four or five subway stops away from work), I should be able to sleep in a bit ...

Anyhow, timing was perfect at work, too. As I headed into the main building, I ran into my supervisor. She happened to be going into work early. So, she took me to security to get my photo ID badge, and brought me upstairs. I got a quick tour and lots of materials to read (re: cataloging, union and cbc general stuff). In the afternoon, it was all about cataloging. Not too bad for the first run. Also got to meet my other supervisor (for reference) near the end of the day. I'll get to work with him next week after I master cataloging ... *right*.

I was a bit apprehensive about cataloging since I hadn't done it ... well, since I did descriptive cataloging in Winter 2006. My first attempt wasn't too bad. Mind you, they don't expect perfection the first go around (thankfully).

The co-workers are all friendly. They're all willing to pitch in ... and answer questions and help out. It's very collegial. My cubicle neighbours get to work on things like the documentary side of The National, Venture, Marketplace .... Children's programming! It's a pretty laid back atmosphere, which I really appreciate. And, to top things off, there was a bag full of leftover Hallowe'en candy on the "snack" table. :D

Funny thing ... I ran into one of my former first-year roommates at Ryerson. She works in the library, too. Also, I saw a former j-school classmate in the newsroom. Small world!

So far, things are off to a good start!

CBC temporary contract

It seems CBC Toronto is offering me a contract position with them til March 2007 as a media librarian (visual resources). Very cool. Just got the phone call at noon PST while I was in the middle of eating lunch. I'm still waiting to hear back from CBC Regina and CBC Calgary. Hopefully I'll hear something back by Monday before I need to give CBC Toronto an answer. I had nearly given up hope that I'd get any offers. Apparently the full-time permanent position in Toronto was filled internally and the full-time one-year contract position was filled by someone with more experience. And there was this new position that just came up ... so I think that's cool they still wanted to offer me this temp position although I don't have a lot of (er, translation, almost none) experience. However, they were very interested in my education background :D I'd love to work with CBC Toronto ... even if it only goes for a short while.

interviews with CBC

Oh my goodness, I'm tired. But, in a good way.

I've had the fortune to be interviewed by CBC. And will have another opportunity for another interview in this upcoming week. For my "dream job" ... er so I think. It sounds quite demanding (well, it is broadcast ...) and quite exciting, too. The unfortunate thing is that these interviews are all conducted by telephone, so it's a bit tricky to read their body language or anything. In some ways, I'm hoping only one job will be offered to me so I don't have a decision to make. In other ways, I'd love to be offered more than one so ... well, it's more of a flattery thing I guess to be offered more than one position!

Anyhow, it's been an interesting experience. They ask really good questions. Mostly behavorial related.

Sigh. I'm anxious to see what's going to come of this experience. Should know some answers by next week (end) or early week after.

Facts for thought

Here's a blog with some really eye-opening facts about the world. Actually, these facts are condensed from the book 50 Facts that should change the world by Jessica Williams, a British television producer/journalist. (I stumbled upon this book on former classmate's blog)

Update on work and other stuff

The website project I've been working on with my sister is now complete (pretty much). It's good to be done. So to celebrate, we're celebrating with some fine dining and an evening at the Vancouver Theatre Sports for some laughs. This set is mocks the American television series "So You Think You Can Dance" (It's called "So You Think You Can Improvise").

Last night, my sister and I visited her former roommate (and a fellow former Regina person). She happened to move into the same building my sister lives. What a small world. We had a great time catching up. The irony is that even though she lives only two floors above us, we can't just go up on the elevator to drop by. These new condos have this system in which you can only go the floor you live or the garage level (where you can dispose of your recyclables and garbage). I realize security is important, but this extreme of security is hindering from any real community from forming within a condo building -- ok, I'll get off my soapbox now :) ).

As for the job front, I'm still applying for positions in Vancouver, Regina (only one or two), Ottawa and Toronto. Today, I noticed there were two positings with CBC Radio Archives (wow, my dream job ... or so I think) in Toronto. *drool*

C'est tout!

Oh yea, I just found out I have an interview with CBC Regina Thurs., Sept. 28 at 7:30 a.m.!

no cbc interview

yesterday, i learned that all the interviews for the cbc position were cancelled ... due to some bureaucratic reason ... or other.

i did, however, get a phone call notifying me about this cancellation. the woman i spoke with seemed very interested in interviewing me ... and said she liked what skills and interests i had on my resume. anyhow, when the job is reposted at the end of the summer, my application will still be considered.

might be better timing in the long run (if i can't find something else ...)

cbc interview next wednesday

Well, I guess the CBC interview will happen after all.

It will be at 11 a.m. EST on June 28, 2006. It will be a phone interview, thankfully. That means I don't have to fly out to Regina ... and miss school/work. :D

Just have to get through this week though (four assignments and a presentation ... done three assignments, but need to finish the last one tomorrow).

a-job hunting we will go

Job-hunting is a great procrastination tool. As is bloggging. :)

Anyhow, I e-mailed my former co-op boss and asked if I could get "bridged" back into the department. Seems like the budget's tight and there's no room for more staff ...

Anyhow, I'm hoping to hear back from CBC Radio as to when I'll have an interview as a "Radio Archivist" position in Regina. This sounds like there's potential (but then again, I'm competing with everyone else in the country).

That's all going on the job-front. Will keep you posted. Ta-ta-for-now.

searching for employment

While I should be working on the two papers due next week, I am concerned about finding employment. This afternoon, I spoke with my mom about job prospects. She asked where I was looking for jobs. I replied, mostly in Canada. She asks if there are jobs in the States. I say, yes, there are lots of library jobs.

Then ...

"Why don't you apply for jobs in Texas?" she asks.

"Why on earth would I want to work in Texas," I think.

It turns out my one of my mom's best friends (and family) live there. Hmmm ... I'd rather stay in Canada to work, to be quite honest. If there is an amazing job out there in the States (or some other country), I'd go for it. I guess I'm more comfortable with working in Canada, since it's all I've really known. My mom's getting me to step outside my comfort zone. Interesting. Aren't parents usually trying to get their kids to move back to their province or city??

Job search begins ...

Well, it seems the search for a job begins ... and people are sending postings! My dad just emailed me a Legislative Librarian posting today. That job would be in Regina, of course. Hmmm ... I think I get the impression my parents want me back in Saskatchewan. :)

Anyhow, I stumbled across a posting on the BCLA for a librarian job in China. Sounds like it's a new school that's opening ... and the librarian will help set up the resource centre. Sounds rather adventurous. I've sent in my application on a whim ... that would be exciting to travel and live in China ... maybe learn some Mandarin.

Gotta go catch a musical (by my cousin Jo's school!)

Nearing the end

It 10 days, all the assignments will be done. For this semester. Then it's only one more semester of school before heading out into the big, bad, scary world!

While going back to school has been a great learning and growing experience, I do remember the terrible dread of looking for work upon graduation. Many of my classmates are searching for jobs. Some have landed their jobs already with the federal government or some corporation. Wow.

This time around (my third degree), I'm not quite as worried. I'm just so ready to find a place and settle down. Enough of moving around. Wow. When I was younger, I thought I'd want a career in which I could travel around the world, meet inspiring people, you know, the glamourous life. Now, that doesn't seem so appealing to me. Settling down, growing some roots isn't such a bad idea.

Does that mean I'm growing up?

connecting the dots

while i was reading up on some work-related documents about taxonomy (hierarchy) of information systems, i had a flashback to my Grade 7 science class.

Mrs. Morrell was our teacher. she was so excited to talk about science to her students. and she always had great memory tricks. to this day, I can recite the order of taxonomy for the biology world: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. (The memory trick was: Kelly Plays Cards on Friday Generally Speaking).

although i loved learning about science, particularly biology, in elementary and high school, i couldn't quite grasp chemistry and physics as well. so, off to the other extreme, arts -- writing -- i went.

now, it seems i'm swinging back on the pendulum ... to library science, this time.

strangely, though, i have worked in some "library"-type positions ... with a non-profit organization to classify and re-order their resource centre ... with government agencies to file materials ... storing articles and photographs for a newspaper ...

mind you, the career choice of becoming a "librarian" wasn't highly promoted (nor still is) in society.

maybe our profession should be raising its profile more in light of this growing information age ...


maybe that's why i had to go through a journalism degree prior to this training ... hmm...