I'm not going to lie-it was stressful in the end. I had to write an annotated bibliography, which I've never done before, then submit a short two-page paper after. I also had a chapter or two of reading to catch up on. I had to register for summer and fall classes, and had no time for recreational reading. Or hanging out. Or doing anything. I also had the Cold and Cough From Hell that lasted three weeks. I was starting to feel a bit like this:
Since I had finished my computer class, I had plenty of time to concentrate on the annotated bib for my reference class. However, I found the concept of the annotated bib to be a little confusing. We were told it could be on anything we wanted-so I went with banned and challenged books, which has become a passion of mine since I started working in the library.
What confused me was how anyone beside me would actually want to use this. To my understanding, an annotated bibliography is mostly used for scholarly research-meaning, others might want to use it to get resources on their same topic. Now, I'm not saying there isn't somebody out there in library land who might want to look at it if they are interested in banned books, it just seemed more personal than professional.
I did struggle at times to find quality articles. The databases had endless articles, but I had to learn to define my search terms. I realized quickly that I had to include "censorship" in the search, and sometimes "intellectual freedom." But in the end, I became so into it that I can't wait to take the intellectual freedom class my school offers. I didn't realize how big the scope of that topic is. It goes beyond just banned or challenged books. It's a fascinating and important topic.
So in the end, yes. I did feel I learned more about the topic, but because it was more personal than scholarly I had problems writing up the annotations. You are supposed to include "why" the article or website or blog is included in the bibliography, and how it is useful, and it was hard figuring out how to write the same thing over and over again without sounding boring. Many of the articles had valuable teaching resources on censorship or banned books-which was what I was looking for. As a professional librarian, I would LOVE to teach about these things-that's why I picked a lot of those articles. Some of the articles showed the flip side of censorship, which was also interesting. I'm hoping for the best with my grade.
I was also a little stressed that our professor (who is wonderful) still hadn't graded assignments we handed in months ago. I am doing very well in the class, but the bibliography is worth a HUGE chunk of our grade. I still have three or four missing grades.
But I digress...
I handed everything in, along with my short final paper (which was a final reflection of the class) and breathed a sigh of relief...until my next class starts in two weeks.
So, what did I learn this semester?
I learned how to take classes entirely online. I admit-it was weird at first. But I've adjusted.
I learned that I wasn't particularly fond of group discussions. A necessary evil when taking online classes. There has to be group participation, I know. But I felt they got out of control with some topics, and it is very hard to get everyone together with the different time zones, work schedules, life, etc...
I "met" a lot of awesome people in my classes. Some of them I'll be taking classes with again. I can't wait. Of course, there were a (blissful) few people who irked me as well. They shall always remain anonymous. ;)
I learned that even though school is online, I can still do the work. I was nervous I would slack off, but I didn't. I looked forward to my assignments-the readings, the papers...and everything was handed in on time. When did I ever do that before?!
I'm taking two classes this summer, both in different sessions. Library Management, and then Cataloging. So, please excuse me while I celebrate over the next two weeks. I'm going to go out, have some drinks, read whatever I want. Let's party!!!
