So the big news out of my camp is that I was awarded a graduate assistantship (GA). There are a lot of duties involved and I report directly to my department’s director which is a huge honor. She’s been very understanding of my shyness! I’m a regular blabber mouth when I get comfortable, but so silent until I’m comfortable with my surroundings. :-)
My duties are being the lab assistant for at least one shift a week, assisting the director with her project in International Comparative Librarianship (which admittingly I don’t know much about right now), help redesign the department’s website (but not code! Thank goodness since my degree is in new media, not computer science!), lead a focus group with the Charlotte cohort on how the program is doing, and whatever duties necessary to help with the accreditation process.
Today I did an inventory on all the equipment in our computer lab. There was some ancient stuff in there! I was especially amused by the digital camera that saved to a floppy disk! I then reorganized the locked compartments in an order that made sense. Tomorrow I want to write out a proposal for a borrowing policy since there is not one currently in place. Also I want to brainstorm on how we can advertise that we do have equipment available for checking out. Maybe a five minute showcase in a few classes so students are aware of them?
Next was phone duty which meant navigating the poorly chosen answering service to filter the voice messages. You could not delete a message until it specifically told you that you could. Times this frustration by how many times I had to replay the message to get a spitted out telephone number. Argh! I then made two calls and got to utter, “a graduate assistant” when I called potential students. I’ve noticed that several emails I have received from other students have their position in their signature. Should I add it to mine? Right now all I have is a link to my blog as my signature.
Finally there was the meeting to address the accreditation process. I took minutes on my netbook (she’ll be one in March!). I’m not really sure how those notes panned out since it was difficult to follow the conversation and type in coherent sentences at the same time. However, it was nice to just email them directly off to the group as soon as the meeting adjourned. I only tentatively put my name forward for one project since I’m still not sure how demanding my normal GA duties will be. I am kinda jealous that another GA is getting to organize the department’s paperwork.
I am so infinitely grateful to have been given this opportunity. Last week I was musing in a broken down fashion that it was time to apply for a minimum wage cashiering job in order to take care of Dollbaby’s needs, but then the life changing email came along! I feel much more secure now with this income coming in. Plus experience! Resume building! I am beginning to feel like an adult. It’s the first time sole responsibility has felt good.
P.S. Did you see the snow storm over the U.S. right now? We’re scheduled to get 5-8 inches while Asheville is looking at 6-10.
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I hope this all works out for you. You deserve it. I am sure it will go great. Just remember to write your notes as clearly as you do this. And remember you are doing good no matter what.
[...] part of my graduate assistantship, I am building a website for a project connecting international librarians. However, in order to [...]