So far, so good

I am excited to finally begin my studies in the MLIS program. LIS 2600 has been great so far. I am admittedly a little overwhelmed by our assignments and the array of software to download and sites to join, but after completing a week's worth of these tasks, I think it all can be accomplished.

Truly, the rigor of these courses is what gives Pitt's MLIS program such a good reputation. The head of Gettysburg College's Musselman Library had really great things to say about this program when I spoke with her a few months ago. A few members of their staff are graduates of Pitt's MLIS program.

I think the content of LIS 2600 has been very interesting thus far. So much of it parallels what I had been experiencing in the journalism industry...all content moving to the web, copyright issues, discovering what web content consumers are willing to pay for, etc.

I especially enjoyed both webcasts for this past week. Tim Berners-Lee's "The Future of the Web" was fascinating and, I have to say, a bit over my head at times! Nonetheless, it was interesting to hear where the web may be headed in the next 5-10 years. I very much liked Meredith Farkas' talk on "Building Academic Library, 2.0." She had lots of great, practical suggestions for librarians to better connect with their patrons, in particular the idea of "radical trust" -- having real trust in the library's patrons as partners in the development of the future of libraries. Farkas also mentioned that "librarians need to question everything they thought was true" -- a sentiment I agree with.