I graduated in August from the University of North Texas's School of Library and Information Science. While attending UNT, I worked as a student assistant and then a graduate assistant in the Preservation Department for the UNT Libraries. I have to say that my job as a graduate assistant there was my favorite job that I have ever held. I enjoyed the opportunities for problem solving and creativity that it afforded me.
As a graduate assistant my duties included the evaulation and repair of books from the Libraries' general collection (Rare Books had their own preservation and conservation squad). Repairs ranged from erasing pencil marks or mending torn pages to replacing the spine or creating protective housing. My boss, Ann Marie, was very hands on at the beginning, but she started letting me do more and more on my own as my skills improved. Ann Marie was also one of the best bosses I've ever had. She was very organized and she always let me know which projects were priorities. In addition she gave me the freedom to make repair decisions for myself, and she challenged me with different types of preservation projects. Such as creating a database to record scraps from a scrapbook, or making it possible for digital projects to scan some very brittle news papers.
During this time, I also volunteered my time to the Rare Books Room at UNT. Where I worked on several preservation and conservation projects, including preserving World War II posters and helping to clean and reconstruct a book from the 18th century. I worked with two great people there, Mary who was head of Rare Books and Edward who was head cataloguer. Both these people were wonderful to work with and learn from (I took several classes from each) as they were very knowledgeable on a wide range of topics realated to rare books and special collections.
When I graduated, I began looking for work in the Austin area for personal reasons. Central Texas, in general is not the best place to look for work because everyone, it seems, wants to live here. If I had had a choice, I would have looked outside the area, but that is how things worked out. So I applied for every library related job I came across, and I had about 4 interviews. One with San Antonio Public Library, one with the State of Texas, one with Austin Public Library and finally Texas State University Library. Only one of the positions I interviewed for was a professional library position (San Antonio), and I think they could tell my heart wasn't in public libraries, though I feel strongly about the services that public libraries provide. So I was hired as a Library Assistant II in the Periodicals department at Texas State's Alkek Library.
I wish that I could have found a professional librarian position, and I still look at the job postings on a weekly basis (More on the lack of pro positions in a later posting). But in the mean time, I'm getting some good reference experience and I'm building my resume in other ways as well (more on that later also). I do miss using my preservation skills, and I try to keep them up by repairing some damaged books at home. I hope to one day continue my education in preservation by completeing at preservation administration course of study.
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