Thursday, January 05, 2012

My Personal Year End Review of 2011

2011 is gone and we are in 2012. Though we made it into the new year without any hurt, harm or danger, I have to reflection on my personal and professional experiences of last year. After a lot of thought, my year was based on this theme: Enlightenment, Independence and Creativity.

Enlightenment- When I lost my Library Specialist job over 3 years ago, I thought about giving up being a law librarian based on my experience working at that law firm. Having mixed feelings of self-doubt and questioning my abilities as a librarian, I applied for numerous positions. I accepted a position at a community college library. At that time, I believe it would be an opportunity to step away from the legal field and venture out to academic libraries. However, after attending a DALL luncheon last year, I really missed being in the legal field. I enjoyed the everyday challenges research and resources because information professionals have the opportunity to learn something new and share it with their fellow peers. Overall, I missed the camaraderie among members in the organization.

Independence- 2011 was a year of independence in our society. In the news and other media outlets, we saw international tyrants, dictators and most wanted fugitives fell from grace while the oppressed citizens of their country celebrated with joy. Later in the year, a small group of people began to protest in New York City expressing their disgust of our current economic times. They called their movement Occupy Wall Street because of the bail out money corporations and executives received from our government. The protesters represented the "99%" who were considered the middle class while the 1% were seen as the wealthy. Shortly, the movement not only spread across the country, but international cities joined OWS. Throughout this year, I declared independence (not protesting) in my own way by participating more into the social media realm. I began to interact and connect with people from the information profession via LinkedIn. I created a Twitter Account so I can follow the latest trends of social media, libraries, legal and business research, KM, news, apps and etc. In addition, I had the opportunity to blog for the Dallas Association of Law Librarians, providing fellow members information on technology, sharing legal resources that can be useful within the industry and posting some of my personal/professional viewpoints.

Creativity- During the holidays, I read this article from USA Today about millennials surviving the tough economy. Suddenly, a light bulb turned on in my head and it told me that I need to get creative and innovative in the job market. The irony was after I graduated in May 2010 with my MLS degree from UNT, I spoke with a recruiter who told me those exact words. Little did I know, I would be struggling looking for a professional librarian position 18 months later. I know that my current position at the community college does not provide me a sufficient livable wage to make ends meet. Somehow, like the millennials in the newspaper article, I may have put my library ambitions to the side and pursue other opportunities for survival purposes.

I do not know what the future will hold for me in 2012. Like everyone who made it to the new year, I hope and pray that things will get better for all of us seeking new opportunities, striving to better themselves for this year. I wish members of DALL, AALL, SWALL, SLA and other sister organizations a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

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