Chealsye Bowley

I officially finished my spring semester on May 3 and am 3/4 done with my MLIS! Then I ran off to Paris for a week. I arrived back to Tallahassee last night and am now prepping for my summer classes that begin this week. Before I focus on what is upcoming, I want to reflect quickly on the spring semester. I took Grant Writing, Copyright Law, Digital Libraries, and completed an internship at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

Grant Writing
I think this class was the best class I took in grad school that was offered by the School of Library and Information Studies. The class was taught by a librarian that works at FSU, which I think helped for the practical learning outcomes. By the third week of class we were starting to write our grant. We went section by section and our group members reviewed it. I learned so much! Now, one of the things I learned is that I’m not fond of writing grants… but I know how to do it. I feel that if I ever do write a grant in my future as a librarian, I will benefit strongly from this course experience.

Copyright Law
I got a small glimpse of copyright law in my Introduction to Information Policy course, but with how much copyright is intertwined with scholarly communications, I decided I needed to know more. I enrolled in the Copyright Law through the FSU College of Law. I gained familiarity with both statutory law and legislative history, discussed the Georgia State case, and had class an hour after the Kirstsaeng decision dropped. It was a great class! No class in graduate school has better prepared me to be a librarian. I also wrote a Copyright 101 post for Hack Library School.

Digital Libraries
I had very high expectations for this course, since it was the LIS class that I’ve been most excited to take. Unfortunately, my expectations were a bit too high, but I’m so thrilled with the digital library that my group and I created. The prerequisites for the course were Design and Production of Network Multimedia and Information Organization. I found that I really didn’t use what was taught in the Design and Production for the class, but Information Organization can in handy when my group needed to determine how we wanted to organize our collection. Overall I felt that the Museum Informatics class I took in the Fall prepped me for the Digital Libraries course most of all. If you’re a FSU MLIS student, I highly recommend the course (mine was taught by Dr. Urban).

My group consisted of myself, Eliza and Karen (who I went to college with in undergrad!). I think we made a great team and it was the most positive online group experience I’ve had. It can be really tough to work together without meeting in person, coordinating schedules with people in multiple time zones, and creating a product that everyone is very proud of… but we did it! We created the A to Zine Digital Library. We curated the collection by requesting zine submissions or contributing ones we made ourselves. Then we digitized the zines and put together the library in Omeka. Unfortunately, the class experienced issues with Omeka 2.0, so we were unable to build the library until three weeks before the end of the semester. We also experienced issues with file sizes, since we had PDFs of the digitized zines that were much larger than the 2MB limit, and I wasn’t able to use Neatline for the digital library, because there isn’t a compatible plug-in for 2.0 yet. Overall I am I so pleased with what we created. I really enjoyed building the library and working with a zine collection, so I’m planning to continue the library in a new form in the near future.

Internship
I interned at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory as a Science in Literature intern, which I previously wrote a little about. I worked in the Public Affairs Department to curate a collection of literature that highlights science for children, young adults, and adults. The collection is currently housed here. When I arrived there were 76 books in the collection, but it was organized by book type (picture book, chapter book, fiction for grown-ups). I set out to determine what the best way to organize the collection would be. Ultimately, it was decided to organize by age groups 4-8, 9-12, Young Adult, and Adult with corresponding grade levels K-1, 2-5, 6-8 and 9-12, and College since teachers will be the primary users of the collection. I also organized the collection by the science topic that the book highlights (Earth and Space, Biology, Electricity and Magnetism, etc.) and provided each book with science concept tags for better user searching. My ideas going into the internship were a bit different than what the MagLab wanted, so the internship provided me with experience in compromising in order to accomplish what the organization needed. I ended my internship with more than 200 books in the collection and the collection should become available with the new MagLab Ed website launches at the end of summer. I’m excited to see it!

Summer
And now my summer semester! I’m taking Research Methods in Information Studies, Management of Information Organization, and Digital History. I’ll also be interning at the Claude Pepper Center two days a week primarily working on data entry for the Pepper and Tom Brokaw collections.

I will complete all my credit requirements for the MLIS by the end of the summer semester, but I won’t be graduating. If you follow me on tumblr or twitter, you already know this, but I’m moving to Florence to be the Library Supervisor of FSU’s Study Abroad Library! I’m incredibly excited. It is a full-time professional internship for one year, so I will remain a student, take internship credits, and officially graduate in August 2014.

I’ve been slacking on regularly updating this blog, but that doesn’t mean I’m not out and about on the internet contributing in other ways. I’m blogging for Hack Library School, volunteering with Penny4NASA, postings news at OANow, and contributing to the SLA “What I’m Learning in Graduate School” series.

Hack Library School
I’m sure you’re a regular reader of Hack Library School. If not, you should be. HLS is a blog by, for and about library school students. I’ve written the following posts:

The Library Will Be Crowdfunded
Dewey-It-Yourself
A FASTR Open Access
How to Survive and Prevent a Bad Internship

HLS played a role in me deciding to attend library school, and I was obsessively reading it between my application time last January until I started classes. Confession: I really, really wanted to become a contributing writer for HLS while I was in grad school. When I see something I like, my first though is, Yes. This is magical. I want in. I began this blog in June to get some practice, and patiently waited until they posted a call for new writers. If you’re a library school student and are interested in writing for HLS, you should pitch a guest post.

Penny4NASA
Next confession: I still daydream of becoming an astronaut. If the moon is ever colonized, they’ll need a librarian… right? Or maybe I’ll use my love for space to work at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum one day.

Penny4NASA’s mission is to increase NASA’s federal budget allocation from 0.48% to 1%. If you agree, you can tell Congress to double NASA’s funding. I’ve been a fan of Penny4NASA for awhile now, so I applied almost immediately when I saw their call for new social media volunteers. As a social media volunteer, I write two social media posts a week that appear on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and G+. I also write blog posts once a month and recently did a Curiosity mission update. These posts are mostly great quotes about the need for space exploration or about the benefits NASA technology has on our everyday life, such as baby formula or athletic shoes. So far, my favorite post has been this one (tumblr if you don’t have FB). The Facebook page “I fucking love science” shared it and it was liked by over 9,600 of page users. That was a great day.

I’m participating in Hack Library School’s Day in the Life to share my daily experience as a library school student. More info: here. Interested in what other students are up to? Check out #HLSDITL tags across Twitter, WordPress, Tumblr.

8:00-1:00 I had internship hours this morning. I spent most of the morning creating a fairly full calendar of science “holidays.” I had started this at the end of my hours on Wednesday, but I expanded it from a simple list to a spreadsheet and matched holidays with books in the collection. Then I went to WorldCat and matched up books to links, so that the MagLab can use WorldCat buttons when the new website launches. I’m hoping that at the end of my internship I can leave a solid collection that will be easy to upload to the new website, and that I can provide some ready-made programs like the holiday calendar and book club lists.

1:00-1:05 I am a new social media volunteer with Penny4NASA. I’m incredibly excited to be helping out, and today was my first post. I wrote it last night and quickly posted it before heading on to the second half of my day. Check it out and follow: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr.

1:30-5:30 Most Fridays afternoons I take a nap, watch Hulu, or start on homework. Since I was sick on Monday, I went to FSU today to make up for the last half of those hours. The library was so empty! It is the Friday before Spring Break, so it makes a lot of sense. I chatted with a librarian about job applications, edited a handout on submitting to DigiNole so that the College of Medicine Scholarly Communications Librarian could use it in outreach, worked on updating a spreadsheet for LIS journals, and drafted an outline for faculty data that I’ll be working on for Monday.

5:30-7:00 Went home, made dinner, took the above picture (don’t I look tired? hah), and wrote this.

7:00-All weekend Watching Arrested Development and sleeping. 

It has been great connecting with other students this week and learning more about what you all are up to!

BONUS: My Friday in gifs

I’m participating in Hack Library School’s Day in the Life to share my daily experience as a library school student. More info: here. Interested in what other students are up to? Check out #HLSDITL tags across Twitter, WordPress, Tumblr.

8:00-10:30 Went to work at FSU. I didn’t mention this clearly in previous HLSDITL posts, but I am a Graduate Assistant in Technology and Digital Scholarship. I primarily work on projects related to open access, scholarly communications, and FSU’s institutional repository. This morning I did research on LIS journals and started brainstorming. I have what I think is a really awesome idea! More info at a later date. Also, when I arrived to work I discovered the smoke alarm right by my desk had a low battery… it chirped and chirped and chirped. I was very excited to leave at 10:30 for class.

11:00-12:30 Copyright class time. Today was all right. We went over MGM v. Grokster. Today was a bit more of a traditional law class, since we listened to tapes from the 9th circuit case and he asked students to respond with strong arguments. I took more of an observer position for that.

12:30-1:30 Grabbed a quick lunch with David and Michael, two Honors friends from FGCU. They picked me up outside the law school and asked what class I was coming from. After I mentioned copyright class, Michael brought up Creative Commons and it was a nice conversation. I got to update them on what I’m up to, I learned the projects they’re working on, heard more about the PhD program David will be going to next year at UC Davis. It was great to catch up! I’ll be visiting FGCU next week during spring break for Pi(e) day.

1:30-3:00 Went back to work, continued on journal research and made a good dent in it. But the alarm chirping was starting to really irritate me…

3:00-3:30 So I decided to take the opportunity to get fresh air, empty myself of the irritation, and do an errand. I went to the Student Union where the Center for Participant Education (an AMAZING student organization on campus) is located to pick up zines for my digital library class project. It was supposed to be a quick visit, since CPE’s Director left me a some zines and I just needed to grab them. The PR Director was there when I got there and we began talking. I explained why I was there, was a library student and she said, “Do you work with Micah?” Micah is their favorite librarian! She told me about a presentation he gave last year on collecting, sharing, preserving, and archiving alternative media. It was a great conversation. We talked about zines (she is working on her first one!), Creative Commons, open access, activism, her honors thesis, and briefly music. She was fantastic and I left feeling renewed and full of enthusiasm.

3:30-5:30 After the wonderful question and feeling a lot better, I went back to work and finished up the Honors FAQ I began the other day and started working up a design for the idea that came to me in the morning. I stayed until 5:30 to balance for the CPE detour.

5:30-8:00 Left work, went home, had dinner, wrote this, wrote my Penny4NASA social media posts (up on Friday and Sunday), and worked on a second draft for a fellowship that I am applying for. Crossing all my fingers and toes that I get it!

8:00-10:00 Granting Writing class online. Tonight we had a guest speaker, Harold George who is a Branch Manager at St. Johns County Public Library System and adjunct professor for FSU’s School of Library and Information Studies. He discussed his previous grant experiences and answered questions from the class. Also, my professor likes posing “brainteaser” questions that are what would you do if this happened in your library questions? How would you handle a patron who had lice, or someone who trespasses at your library?

BONUS: My Thursday in gifs

I’m participating in Hack Library School’s Day in the Life to share my daily experience as a library school student. More info: here. Interested in what other students are up to? Check out #HLSDITL tags across Twitter, WordPress, Tumblr.

8:30-1:00 Went to my internship at the MagLab. I’m supposed to work 8-1, but I needed to do something internship-related at 5 so I came in at 8:30. My internship is 98% independent. I sit at my desk and work on my laptop. Today I went back to the original Science in Literature collection. When I began I put all the books into a spreadsheet to organize, I looked at the data to see where the current weak spots are (targeted populations and science topics) and started compiling a list of  ’science holidays’ so I can plan out programs that the Public Affairs and Education Departments can use next year to promote the collection, which will be an online resource to collect readers to books that highlight science.

1:00-1:40 Left the MagLab, drove home to drop off my laptop, ate lunch in the car, and went to FSU to make up for missing work on Monday

1:40-5:10 Added four articles into the IR from a Department of Urban and Regional Planning faculty member, made a quick news post for OANow because UNC Greensboro passed a OA policy for library faculty, worked on the FAQ for the Honors Undergraduate Theses submissions and Creative Commons handouts, and caught up on reading (all while listening to Amanda Palmer and Gaslight Anthem—getting to listen to music all day while working is one of my favorite perks!).

5:10-5:45 Worked on summaries for three graphic novels from the Summer Camp Science Mysteries. It is such a wonderful collection! I highly recommend it to any children’s librarians or teachers. Leon County only had books 5-8, so I put in an ILL request for 1-4 (1 request not granted). Unfortunately, the lending library only permitted in library use so I had to do the summaries after work. Then typed up this.

6:00-7:30 Left work, went home, had dinner, and wrote this.

8:00-10:00 Trivia night! Time to flex those librarian know-it-all skills! There is a really awesome, incredibly well done trivia night at Tallahassee’s Midtown Filling Station. If you live in Tallahassee, I highly recommend it.

BONUS: My Wednesday in gifs

I’m participating in Hack Library School’s Day in the Life to share my daily experience as a library school student. More info: here. Interested in what other students are up to? Check out #HLSDITL tags across Twitter, WordPress, Tumblr.

On Monday I stayed home sick instead of working my normal 8-5 schedule. I did do #HLSDITL post by illustrating my day in gifs.

8:00-9:00 Arrive at work with peppermint coffee, and ease into the day by catching up on library, scholarly communication, and OA news in Google Reader. Then moved onto reviewing an XML template for electronic theses and dissertations records.

9:00-10:00 Meeting with one of the FSU Metadata Librarians about an XML crosswalk. We need to get crosswalk the ProQuest XML file for the ETDs into a bepress compatible XML file in order to upload it to the DigiNole ETD collection. XML is very, very new to me… and metadata can be very complicated, but I’m learning! Plus she is very nice, and it is great to meet librarians outside of my office area and get to know more about their work.

10:00- 10:30 Get back to my desk. Checked Twitter and found out that Dan Cohen has been named the founding Executive Director of the Digital Public Library of American. Prepped my documents for a scholarly assessment later. A student library worker asked what I was working on, so I gushed about OA and the scholarly assessment form.

10:30-11:00 Walk to the FSU College of Law (15 minutes), get a hot tea from the Barrister’s Bistro/Starbucks, and settle into class.

11:00-12:25 Copyright Law class time! Last month my professor said that if something like 77% of us donated to the FSU Law Alumni Fundraiser then he’d sing to us and bring in cookies. He sang an example from an earlier class that was about MTV and to the tune of Backstreet Boys’ “I Want it That Way.” He also played the mandolin. It was pretty hilarious. Then we moved onto third party liability. Cases included Sony v. Universal, A&M v. Abdallah, and A&M Records v. Napster.

12:30-1:30 Walking back to the main library, eating lunch and reading. Lots of tweeting.

1:30-3:30 Worked on a scholarly assessment for a Department of Urban and Regional Planning faculty member who will be archiving his previously published articles into DigiNole Commons, FSU’s institutional repository. Looked up archiving and copyright policies for journals in SHERPA/RoMEO, confirmed policies on publisher websites, and then organized a new spreadsheet for DURP journals. Last Friday Micah gave presentation at the DURP faculty meeting and I think it went great, so I’m expecting more requests for assessments.

4:00 OH, NO! I forgot about my post for OANow! Tuesday is my posting day for OANow, a news source for open access and scholarly communication. I really enjoy getting to work on it, especially as the only student. I post every 2-3 weeks in a rotation with Micah and Jen. Since Micah just started parental leave (his son is adorable!), Jen and I have been holding down the #OANow fort for Tuesdays. I posted last week about the White House Directive (read it if you don’t know what it is), and Jen was supposed to post this week. Unfortunately, she is sick (totally empathize!) so I scrambled for a not so stellar post on the slow OA News day and posted about new OA policies.

6:00 Finally left work, drove home through the semi-annoying traffic, ate dinner, watched Bones, and took care of some non-work/school e-mails.

7:30-9:00 Finish up reading and notes for Thursday’s copyright class

9:00 Doctor Who while hula hooping and/or writing this bit up

BONUS: My Tuesday in gifs

This semester I am interning at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory as a Science in Literature intern. My role is to develop and expand the current collection.

This collection is an online resource to connect readers to books that highlight science. Science is more than formulas and microscopes. Science is also made up of passion and suspense, and great books can illustrate that for both kids and adults. My hope is that a teacher can find a great book and lesson idea for her class, a middle school student can discover the book that will make them fall in love with science fiction, or a book club’s next pick will come from the MagLab site. By August a new beautiful, user-friendly site with Worldcat buttons will launch. Users will be able to sort books by book type, targeted age and grade level, and science topic. It is going to be awesome!

But we need more books. So, once again, I need to ask something of you… What is your favorite science book?

The way we can get a great and thorough collection going is by getting you involved to recommend a book. To recommend a book you can click this link, fill out the book’s information, provide an original summary and list of science concepts that the book covers. The books already in the collection range from Cloudy with a Chance for Meatballs to Napolean’s Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History. It can be Pre-K picture book to Adult Non-Fiction. We even have one book, Sector 7, that has no words. So, nearly anything is fair game for recommending as long as the book includes science in a small or big way.

So, recommend away!

If you don’t have a book to recommend, that’s okay! I would appreciate it very much if you would post, tweet, or e-mail the link to others you know that can recommend a great book: http://adobe.ly/YmFFjZ

If you have any questions about recommending a book you can comment or e-mail me at chealsye@gmail.com.

One of the classes I am taking this semester is Digital Libraries. My group, Eliza and Karen, and I are  building a digital zine library called A to Zine. We’re building it in Omeka, hoping to utilize Neatline, and there will be .png files, PDF copies of each zine, and some great metadata. It is going to be amazine! Hah, did you catch that?

But first we need zines. That is where you come in.

If you are the author of a zine:
Mail us a copy of your zine!

We will digitize your zine and then archive it in the digital library. It can be a zine you made decades ago or a zine you made last weekend. It can be about music or about love or about activism or about art. It can be about anything. In order to digitize your work we need your permission. Please see our call for zine submissions that includes the permission form — bit.ly/VQj2d8 . The permission form has to be signed by the author of the zine in order for it to be put into the A to Zine digital library, so definitely go click that link.

Zines and/or permission forms can be mailed to me* at the following address:
Chealsye Bowley
PO Box 20169
Tallahassee, F 32316

If you are not the author of a zine:
We need your help, too! Please share this project whether it is this blog post or the link to a GoogleDoc describing the project (bit.ly/VQj2d8 ). Tweet it, post it on Facebook or Tumblr, email it to a friend you know makes zines, etc.

I’m incredibly excited about this project, and think we’re going to make something awesome. I do want to note that Micah was the original idea person having mentioned wanting to do digital zine library in October while talking to me and another LIS student, some library students at Simmons have been tossing the idea around, and the Queer Zine Archive Project is pretty amazing.  l thought it was a great idea to test out as a class project. If it is successful, I definitely want to continue it with whoever is interested. So, share away!

*My half-birthday is coming up on April 30, by the way.

I’m a yes person.

For the Spring semester I wanted to say yes to the following:
+Continue working as a GA
+Continue working at my second-job as a Curatorial Assistant at Gadsden Arts Center
+An internship at the National High Magnetic Field Laborator curating a science in literature collection
+A Copyright Law course (through the FSU College of Law)

All this had to happen during the hours of 8-5 Monday-Friday and allow for commute time. I re-arranged my schedule, playing Tetris with the chunks of hours. Impossible. I realized I was going to have to do what I hate most, say no. Welp.

I could say no by dropping an item. Obviously dropping my GA position was never in consideration. If I dropped the law course and turned down the MagLab internship, I could’ve kept working at GAC. Or I could drop GAC and the additional income for new experiences and challenges. I turned in a resignation letter for the first time a few weeks ago, the Spring semester begins on Monday, and today is my final day as a Curatorial Assistant. It would’ve been a comfortable choice to stay in the position. It was a great job with wonderful staff and volunteers, plus a rare paid opportunity to learn. But I had to learn to say no and say yes to a challenge.

“Work with the smartest people you can find, do something you’re not ready to do, find an environment in which you’re very comfortable so you can find your voice, and work for someone who believes in you — because when they believe in you, they’ll invest in you.” -Marissa Mayer, then Google Exec and current CEO of Yahoo! in Google Exec Marissa Mayer Explains Why There Aren’t More Girl Geeks

I’m saying yes to things I’m not completely ready to do yet, and am going to learn among very smart people. My third semester of graduate school is going to be exciting and full of opportunities. I’m stoked!

I sat down at my computer to work on a class assignment. Instead I began reading Hack Library School and got inspired by the recent post on Rethinking Leadership in Librarianship. Paul Lai asked his readers the following: “How can library students and librarians shape the world of librarianship (and indeed the entire world beyond) without resorting to the idea of leadership?” I left a comment, but feelings began bubbling up… so here is a post.

Leadership can be an incredibly funny thing. Most people measure it by a tangible record of accomplishments in trophies, certificates, and landslide victories. When you nearly miss winning an opportunity, or don’t receive the award you want, it can feel like you’re failing. This is what I did. I have often used the word “leader” to define myself. In high school I led group projects and was the school newspaper’s editor-in-chief. In my junior year college I was President of three student clubs and leading a suicide prevention service team. I thought I was an awesome leader, so I ran for President of my Honors program. I lost. It was by a small amount of votes, but it felt like failure.

Warning: Things are going to get whiney, but stay with me. At the beginning of my senior year I began struggling as graduation approached. I had came in as a typical Honors student with a checklist of accomplishments, but hadn’t achieve them. I wasn’t going to be Honors President or write a thesis or get a Fulbright, I hadn’t even run away to Paris to study abroad, and I knew I wasn’t going to apply to MFA of PhD programs. I still maintained my self-centered definition of leadership as accomplishments.

Then the most amazing group of college freshmen happened to me.

For my final year of college, I was a Resident Assistant (RA) to forty-two Honors freshmen. FGCU Housing and Residence Life likes to call the position of an RA “the most important student leadership position on campus.” Traditional leadership positions, for example Student Government, affect students but do not impact the same way. RAs reach the most students on a personal level. It is a mesh of being a disciplinarian, adviser, best friend, tutor, parent, and even a janitor.

By the time I got to graduation, I was satisfied and felt extremely lucky. For the small Honors graduation our Honors Director didn’t list the awards I received, instead he told stories. Stories about my defiance from day 1, what my residents told him, friends who repeated advice, reminders of inspiration that I planted in other leaders. Some of these stories I don’t even remember happening. I learned leadership can also be measured by how many people are positively affected by you, if you can show them how capable they are, if they can hold their own and especially if they do more amazing work once you leave.

I have graduated, and moved 300 miles away. When Fall 2012 got into full swing I began to witness through the Facebook lens how amazing my friends and former residents are. The people who told me “I don’t know what I am going to do without you!” are, of course, just fine. They are amazing, in fact. Sophomores are showing leadership that I’ve rarely seen, and friends rose to the occasion and bloomed into great Presidents and Vice Presidents of my former organizations. I miss them, and am so proud. I still get calls for advice, rushed IMs on Facebook about paper formatting, and the occasional Skype chat to work through a club’s gameplan. Some of them are even doing a better job than I did. Isn’t that we all should want as leaders? To cultivate followers that are excited, passionate, and independent that they create something even better?

I originally posted and include this classic TED video on leadership. However, the next day I discovered the following perfect video. This video shows what leadership also can be. It is the kind of leadership RAs are and I believe most librarians are. What is your lollipop moment?