Confessions of a Mad Librarian

This is one of those "What They Didn't Teach Me in Library School" entries.

My internship @ The AJC was wonderful. I learned so much, formally and informally. I was thrown into the fire, skill-wise, and I emerged the better for it. My co-workers were very helpful and very patient with me. 10 weeks of research does not an experienced reference librarian make, but I acquire a lot of skills and a lot of knowledge and a few new techniques.

And I was terrified.

When people ask me how I liked the internship, my answer is usually, "great/nerve-racking/fun/terrifying". Which sounds like hyperbole, but it wasn't. I was beyond frightened. I expected to learn a lot. I expected to make a lot of mistakes (including a few boneheaded ones). The idea of making a mistake that might be seen by over half a million readers was bad. The possibility of making a mistake that might keep a story from being seen by half a million readers was worse. There were times when being the person on phone duty made me almost queasy with dread. Mixed with homesickness, and for at least half of my time there, I had no idea whether or not I really liked the internship. Or the company. Or even the city.

This made it hard to blog about all three.

Eventually, my homesickness alleviated, I learned that I really liked some functions of the typical news library beyond research (more about that late), and I learned that I can do reference and that I still have a lot to learn.

To take someone as neophyte as I was (and continue to be) and put them in a position like that (with plenty of support, mind you) was a bold thing to do, and I thank the staff of the AJC news library for doing it.

But wow. Yeah. Nerve-wracking. No one ever told me that ...