Laurabelle's Blog

A couple of weeks ago I finally got my act together and registered for both summer and fall classes — or rather, I registered for summer and got entry codes for fall, even though I can't register until the end of June. Not that it matters, since June is still well before September, but I just know I'm going to forget.

In the summer I'm taking one core class (because I'd really rather not take it from the prof who usually teaches it), two special-topics, and a comp sci class. The comp sci is kind of interesting, because its credits can't count towards my degree, in spite of the fact that LIS 545 (programming for non-programmers) does. But I don't need the credits anyway, and this does mean that I can safely take it pass/fail, which takes a little bit of pressure off. Not that I have any worries about my ability to perform.

Voilà my summer schedule:

• 23 June - 3 July
  • LIS 529A Intro to Digital Reference MTWThF 8:30-10:50
  • LIS 529B E-Government and the Digital Citizen TWThF 14:00-16:50
• 23 June - 23 July
  • LIS 560 Instructional and Training Strategies for Information Professionals MW 17:30-20:20
• 23 June - 22 August
  • CSE 142 Computer Programming I MWF 12:00-13:00, Th 10:50-11:50

Astute readers will notice that this schedule has me in all four classes on Wednesdays, which means almost constant class from 8:30 to 20:20. The other days are slightly less horrible. Happily, the 529s are only for the first two weeks, but those two weeks are going to be near-hell. I sure hope they're worth it. (I've already talked to Meg to make sure it's okay with her that I kind of disappear for those two weeks, and it is. She's being incredibly cool with all my inconvenient scheduling issues.)

Fall is a bit less exciting. I've managed to trim my schedule down to three classes, though I have a feeling I may end up trading 542 for 559, a special-topics course that David Levy is teacing on digital libraries.

• LIS 531 Catalogs, Cataloging, and Classification WF 16:30-18:20
• LIS 542 Conceptual Database Design M 16:30-19:20
• LIS 565 Children's Materials: Evaluation and Use S 12:30-16:20

Yes, I will have class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings and Saturday afternoon. What can I do? All the classes I wanted to take were offered in the evening.

I'm not going to have very much of a break this year (just two weeks in June and the month of September), but luckily my classes are already trailing off this quarter. My one-credit is finished, 550 will be finished after this weekend (except for an online discussion, but we're not meeting in person any more), and 549 never took much effort. There's still a lot of work to be done for 521, but one class is a lot better than four.