{"id":66716,"date":"2014-04-01T08:45:34","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T13:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=66716"},"modified":"2014-03-30T23:33:01","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T04:33:01","slug":"the-learning-curve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=66716","title":{"rendered":"The Learning Curve"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Heidi Greathouse, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ Utah<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The Learning Curve<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Heidi<\/a>Since my last post, I accepted a job as a Cataloging Librarian at an academic library. I\u2019ve had to\u00a0make many adjustments such as moving to a different state, making new friends, and being in a\u00a0new environment. One major adjustment is of course the job I am in right now. I went into the\u00a0job not having any cataloging, collection development, or instruction experience. I did not even\u00a0take any cataloging or information literacy classes in library school either! I knew, however,\u00a0that this job was right for me and it was going to be a great challenge, but also a new learning\u00a0experience. It definitely stretched the learning curve in me. Being in the job almost a month\u00a0now, I am loving it and I am gaining more confidence in myself along the way. Here is what I\u00a0have learned so far in how to be successful in a new job:<\/p>\n

1) Remember that you learn about theories in library school, but the real experience\u00a0<\/strong>come from hands-on experience.<\/strong> I knew the basic theories of library organization\u00a0and collection development from school. I also knew the basics about research. I did\u00a0not really know how collection development, information literacy instruction, and\u00a0cataloging worked until I was given the opportunity to actually do them.<\/p>\n

2) Use the resources available to you.<\/strong> The school I work at has very many resources\u00a0available to help me be successful in my job. For cataloging, they have copies of the\u00a0AACR2 manual, the Library of Congress subject headings, and the volumes of the Library\u00a0of Congress classifications. I still use them to help me catalog the different learning\u00a0resources. I also use resources that are available online such as the Bibliographic and\u00a0Standards for Marc records that can be found at the OCLC Support and Training website.<\/p>\n

3) Get help from your supervisor and co-workers.<\/strong> When I first started my job, I needed\u00a0help to learn how to catalog properly. One of my co-workers has much experience in\u00a0cataloging and he taught me how to do original cataloging. I am very grateful for his\u00a0willingness to teach me the ropes and he was very patient with me as well. I also found\u00a0out from one of my co-workers in how she is keeping records in collection development\u00a0and how others are teaching information literacy. That helped me have an idea how\u00a0things are being done in the workplace.<\/p>\n

4) Be patient with yourself.<\/strong> Do not expect perfection, but do your best at what you\u00a0have been taught. I still ask help from my supervisor and co-workers. They have been\u00a0patient with me and have been willing to help me.<\/p>\n

I know that I am still learning in my new job. My learning curve is constantly being stretched.\u00a0I am still adapting to my new schedule, new job duties, and new job and community\u00a0environment. The best piece of advice I can give you though is Never Give Up!<\/strong> Have confidence\u00a0in yourself that you can do the job. You would not have been offered the job, if your employer\u00a0did not think you could do it. Do all you can to make the environment better so that you and\u00a0others can benefit from it. Life is filled with changes and sometimes we need to be flexible\u00a0enough to stretch our learning curve so that we can become successful in not just in our jobs,\u00a0but in life!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Heidi Greathouse, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ Utah The Learning Curve Since my last post, I accepted a job as a Cataloging Librarian at an academic library. I\u2019ve had to\u00a0make many adjustments such as moving to a different state, making new friends, and being in a\u00a0new environment. One major adjustment is of course the job I am…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":56882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,5906,3651,3953,6078,5959],"class_list":["post-66716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-heidi-greathouse","tag-inalj-utah","tag-learning","tag-learning-curve","tag-learning-on-the-job"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Heidi-Greathouse.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-hm4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}