Reference training 101

I just completed a series of training sessions on reference services and wow, it's quite challenging but exciting. I realised how much I didn't really know...but that's really on-the-job training. And I realised too that it's really what I would love to do in the (near) future in terms of my career prospects. Right now, I'm still working in the back-end, hence I can't really do much reference work. So that's what I would want to do next, maybe as personal development for now. I'm also feeling rather stagnated in my current position. I need to move out!

What really got my heart pumping was when we were touring the SING/SEA collection. It's not the first time I'm looking at the collection (though not often) and it's also not the first time I feel "exhilarated" to be near these books. Just look at the amazing titles, so rich in content. This only happens when I'm at this particular collection and I so want to "devour" all those titles, even if it's just browsing. I must say that my colleague is doing a great job. :) The thought of being near these if I could just get myself into working there. It's so different when you're close to the collections as opposed to "far far away". I don't feel as excited when I'm visiting the other collections though.

However, I must still say I enjoyed all the sessions, covering the various subject areas. They were rather interesting and there were some hands-on practice. Can't wait for the opportunity to get to work there as a reference librarian! Must pray hard.

Is it an opportunity for me or it's not time yet?

Recently, there was a broadcast for a librarian with another division and being tempted, I submitted a transfer request.

However, I do have some doubts and uncertainty if I would even be considered (or if my boss will approve my request first). Firstly, I have had some restrictions placed on me, but I think that can be worked around. Another issue though would be, would my current boss let me go? I haven't yet had the chance to "coach" someone in my duties, even though I have recently suggested it, and as I'm the only person doing or overseeing some areas, it is a concern.

Another point though is that I haven't exactly received any "notification" from God, especially regarding this opening, and there is a sense of uncertainty. Maybe because this position though related, might not be fully exactly what I want (i.e. music aspect), but it is still related in a broad sense. Or does this opening already mean something? I'm not sure. Maybe I haven't really asked him specifically yet as I don't really know what I want yet as the options seem split in 2 directions at this point of time (organisational structure issue). I actually thought there was something else in store which had some possibility in that direction, and seemed a pretty good timing considering my current situation, even though there's no guarantee an opening will occur then.

Anyhow, I've already submitted my request and though with this feeling in me, I leave it in God's hands, as I always have for this aspect of my life and if it's meant to be, it'll be an open door, if not, then it'll be closed, just like what He did for me before.

work versus work

I was chatting with my asst cell leader last week while she gave me a lift home. We were talking about our career paths and work areas/place. She was sharing about how God will always stop her moving out of a place if it's not the right timing, e.g. her transfers, study opportunity, etc.

I also shared about how I believe that God has something more for me since He has faithfully brought me so far, from the time I studied my library science course to getting the job and even bringing me into the opportunity to develop professionally (subject focus), not just in any area, but in something I'm interested in - music. He even granted me a smooth journey through this whole time of the programme, including finding a good mentor and making my attachment come to pass, from a smooth approval of the proposal to getting me there, despite all the rush in arranging for it. Surely there is something more to it than staying on in the current job scope, which is not exactly complementing this aspect, and which has become stifling.

Then it came to me 2 weeks ago that I should ask for a change in job scope, or rather a re-focusing of areas. I can't transfer to another division for the time being as I'm not allowed to do so under this programme for another year or so, so this would be the only solution for now. It's a little complicated actually. The programme is 2 years, but I can't transfer within 3 years upon starting of the programme plus after the 2 year programme, I'm bonded for 2 years with the organisation. This overlapping of "bonds" is a bit weird.

Anyway, coming back to the changing of job scope, it suddenly occurred to me that I could ask for a reshuffle of focus areas. You see, I have some areas that I've been neglecting, which are actually the more "librarian" stuff, while the "non-librarian" stuff has been taking away too much of my time. So I'm asking the head of my dept if she could release me from the "non-librarian" stuff...at least by bringing someone else in. Currently I'm sort of the only one handling that aspect and this would help in succession planning as well. I'm sure I will leave the dept some day since I've been there for ages and it's only my 1st stop in the organisation! I need to go out and experience something else, especially reference work. Also, maybe I'll fall sick less.

So it's set. Next Tuesday we'll be talking about it. I've sent a "long" email regarding this to her and my supervisor already, explaining my rationale and proposal. Pray for me!

Atlanta attachment thoughts (3)

I'm sort of feeling a little perplexed and a little restless (at work) since my return from Atlanta.
I tried to think of possible reasons of why I'm feeling restless:

1. I'm having a delayed jetlag issue. (which I think is unlikely since I'm able to sleep at night)


2. I haven't collected myself back to work yet...after all, it's been 2 weeks away, so I might still be trying to get oriented back to working, not to mention meet some deadlines.


3. I'm seeing more possibilities in terms of ethnomusicology.


4. I'm missing the folks in Atlanta.

I guess it could be item 2. But I think it's more 3, and maybe a little bit of 4 as well. I must admit my heart is still not back here yet.

The trip has made me really start rethinking my current situation in terms of my role at work. After this exposure to ethnomusicology, I'm sort of feeling I'm being called to do something more, or rather am faced with the possibility of a wider field. I began seeing myself doing research, maybe on the field or just on published/library resources and I have this desire to do so. I look forward to writing an article with my mentor on a topic we discussed about, if it ever comes to pass, or at least be his research assistant.

But really, maybe my frustration has become more apparent as a result of the appeal of ethnomusicology. Honestly, I don't even know what to tell people when people ask me what exactly I'm doing (as a librarian). I can't say I'm really a librarian in a sense as what I've been doing so far has not developed me as much in terms of librarianship skills. Things have reached a standstill and has become routine. Some minimal selection maybe, but there's no subject area to be specialised in for things I receive to do so. I'm more like a coordinator, administrator, and worst of all, the IT person of the dept (I like technology, but not when people see me as a "technician"...I'm supposed to be a librarian!). I don't see that much value-adding in terms of subject knowledge even after all these years, as in the 1st place, I was sort of "robbed" of the chance to do more practical collection development.
It is likely also because I haven't had the chance to do research enquiries, so I've not experienced that aspect of librarian work (which shows I'm getting bored!). It's a vicious cycle. I don't have the experience to do these enquiries, and am not in the line for that since I'm not at the "front", so I don't get to do it (nor do I think my boss will be very open to letting me do it with all the things she's assigning me to do). So I don't develop my subject knowledge and experience in this. *sigh*

Atlanta attachment thoughts (2)

I'm probably jet-lagged, so what best way to spend the time than to write on my attachment experience?

All in all, it has been a great experience, both the classes and the people.

Somehow, attending the classes has stirred in me a desire to learn more about ethnomusicology. It is most likely because I have a good mentor and the classes, though difficult, were interesting and thought-provoking. I realised too I've been really out-of-touch with school; the discursiveness and how different the system in U.S. works is far beyond me (or maybe it's just under the tutelage of my mentor). My mentor suggested that maybe I should take up a masters or PhD in ethnomusicology, but I doubt I can really catch up, what with the "destructive" nature on creativity caused by Singapore's education system (we're moulded differently), and not to mention I'll be bonded for 2 years from the day I end my professional development programme end Jan. I think age might be a factor too. I can't seem to absorb things as easily or remember things as well (not that I was any good at that in the first place). It's tempting though. A good thing is that we might/will be working together on some research, which would be exciting.
I feel like Legolas from "Lord of the Rings" - he had never felt the desire to leave his forest roots and take to the sea until he heard the sea, which was in fact foretold in his destiny.

It was even clearer now that my current job scope isn't developing me much and I'm not even doing much librarian things! In name I'm a librarian, but in truth I'm more like a coordinator. This trip caused me to blur my focus too - librarianship versus ethnomusicology...how do I combine both and not be too drawn away from what I set out to do - to be a music librarian? Maybe this was supposed to happen? Should I focus on ethnomusicology, or collecting on music per se? It will determine the path to take, even though I must admit that ethnomusicology studies is not really big in Singapore yet...our music development is still in it's early stage, and still so focused on Western classical music. This 矛盾 is not going to help me in my trip report though. It could prove daunting to scope it in such a way as to relate it to librarianship.

Another truth is that honestly, I think I'm missing Atlanta because I'm missing the closeness I had with my mentor's family. They were really great hosts and very nice people, who provided me with a home away from home (not to mention saving me from cockroaches!). It was heartwarming to spend my time with them, fellow Singaporeans, and even celebrating my birthday with me. Plus the attachment I've grown to have with his 3-year-old son. I can still hear him calling me "阿姨". Hope I can see him again this December (they're returning to Singapore for a visit), although I think the boy might have forgotten me by then, which is good for now, so that he will not miss me too much and cry. He's the sweetest thing. I really did feel the pang of missing the family when I took the flight home. So much so that I would love to go back again soon. I was saying that maybe I could do a "yearly pilgrimage". Haha... We even shared about our dream of a book cafe (which we realised a lot of people have) and I also shared on my dream about a Singapore Music Museum. From there we had further discussions on bigger things (and as my mentor said, since we're dreaming, we should dream bigger) and joked about how we would have an in-house accountant (me), lawyer (his wife) and I would say music instructor (him).
Guiltily, I didn't miss my actual family that much as a result. :P

Atlanta Day 11

The day started with playing the gamelan as an accompaniment while my mentor taught an instrument to 1 person. So I finally got to play the bonang.

After that, it was off to the library.

I got to tour MARBL (Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Library) of Emory. Following which I had an informal interview with the librarian, as I thought that would be more productive.

We had targeted to finish early today so that we could be on our way home earlier to beat the peak period traffic. Anyway, it had been a tiring 2 days before.

Atlanta Day 10

Another school day and it was again lessons from 2-9pm.

I had some time alone in the morning as my mentor had to go early for meetings, so I tried out a bit of the erhu, and practised the gamelan and drums.

In class, we covered Hindustani (North Indian) music today and I now know more about the parts of the music. This will help me understand/appreciate Friday's concert better.

It's more gamelan too and evening was the Korean drum and I seem to be getting a little more used to it.

A late dinner rounded up the day. Tired!

Atlanta Day 9

It's a new school week today and sat in on my mentor's students thesis discussion at 8 am.

Also, they finally changed my room for me and I should have no worries of cockroaches, although technically, I shifted to stay with my mentor's family for the rest of the trip. No worries of cockroaches and it feels good to have company. Also, I've grown attached to his son. But I'll still keep the room for daytime rest time in between classes.

I was tasked as a discussant today and my! I was kinda lost. Firstly, I seemed to have forgotten what the readings were about. And secondly, the other students' perspectives or analytical perceptions were different from mine. Well, it's a learning experience and I think I really need my brushing up on analysing readings.

Late afternoon/evening was West Javanese gamelan session again and I was glad I'm slowly getting the hang of it, although I don't think I'll be playing it anymore since I'm returning to Singapore soon.

Am waiting to help my mentor proofread the programme for their upcoming performance...he's writing it now.

Atlanta Day 7

It's Saturday and I took the day to explore downtown Atlanta.

Took the subway (Marta) first to Arts Centre where I just walked past the High Museum of Art and Woodruff Arts Centre and made my way down to CNN. There was a guided tour through the studio. After CNN was World of Coca Cola. Well, I liked the ads recap screening room best and I actually went through all the 3 segments which took about 40 min. That was the end of my exploration as by that time, it was about 5pm. Anyway, as it is, nothing much touristy in Atlanta.

Atlanta attachment thoughts (1)

Gee...I discovered that I have to make some effort staying focused to my purpose.

My purpose should be to learn more about Asian music/ethnomusicology to be able to perform librarian duties better, rather than to be an ethnomusicologist, even though I doubt I'll be able to study to become one. But it's all too tempting to want to do the research.

Atlanta Day 6

It was a leisurely day today.

Popped over to the library for a tour of the AV collection and browsed the collections on ethnomusicology a little, attempting to search for some materials randomly.

After lunch, my mentor came to pick me up and we went over to buy some groceries, followed by a visit to his house. I bought some insecticide as another cockroach appeared in my room (3 so far, though they were half alive)! They always appear the day after the cleaner comes. Now at least I'm armed with a "weapon".

Anyway, at his place, besides playing with his son (who's so cute!), we made some plans for the weekend, and I'll be bunking in with his family tomorrow as it'll save some time for Sunday's activities. If they had to pick me from my room, it'll add another 1.5 hrs to the journey. At least I don't have to worry about cockroaches!

So tomorrow I'll get to do some sightseeing downtown and Sunday, to the mountains and some outlet shopping. :P

atlanta Day 5

It's the library today.

I wouldn't say I did much, but the librarian showed me their music databases and recommended some relevant bibliographic titles that could help in music research. I explored the databases on my own, and compared what they had with our own store of databases. I wondered why we didn't have Grove Music online. I always thought that was one of the basic databases we should get for music ever since they stopped the print version.

Also, I discovered that our databases cannot be viewed in Safari! Only on Firefox & IE. That's so strange.

I have shortlisted 1 of the titles that the librarian recommended that I should get for my personal use. It's not available in our library, so hopefully, it can be purchased in our bookstores. If not, I'll have to get it from amazon.

Atlanta Day 4

It was a light day today...no lessons.

I met my mentor for breakfast and we proceeded to the library to meet the librarian for a tour of the library. We toured, discussed my objectives and planned what we'll cover during my stint there.

Nothing much after that as after lunch, it was back to the room (where I checked a bit of email and attempted to do some work) as I waited to have dinner with my mentor. Visited this Chinese buffet place. Not too americanised.

I think I never mentioned much about dinners for the past few days. Well, have not been taking pictures as it would appear a bit weird to take pics of food in front of my mentor, so yah, just a recap, 1 night was dinner at a Szechuan restaurant with the family, Monday was pizza at this place called Everybody's, Tuesday no proper dinner except for a bagel I packed from breakfast as classes went straight through to 9pm.

Atlanta Day 3

It was a tiring but enriching day. I was a little overwhelmed yet there's so much to learn about music culture. Overwhelmed by the "culture shock" of how the lessons were taught, enriched by the new things to learn and how it really pushes one to think.

As a start for the day, I met up with the librarian of the music library for lunch as an informal meeting. Tomorrow morning would be a tour of the library before I am attached to her for Thurs & Friday. After that, it was classes straight from 2-9pm.

Today's first class was the module "Musical Transformation of Asia". It started out with singing Bengawan Solo, followed by the lecture titled "Musical, not Music": The Islamic Call to Prayer. What was different was that it started with us trying to "transcribe" what we heard, in terms of the musical structure. We could use any notations to denote how the length and pitches played out for the adhan and after which the significance of the structure and rules was explained. Not used to it at first, I couldn't notate (tried text), but then I finally figured trying with just dots & strokes. Didn't really get everything, but I got the gist of things. On a side note, my mentor explained that music theory was more than just the classical "beansprouts" that we learn, which is really just pertaining to 1 specific type of music theory. Anyway, we learnt about how important & impactful soundscapes were and learnt a bit more about Singapore's history as my mentor gave an example in Singapore's context.

After the lecture, it was gamelan lesson. It was Central Javanese, so it was a familiar structure.

2nd class for the day was a Freshman module. The lecture today was on Carnatic tradition (South Indian vocals) by a guest lecturer. It was tough! The structure is pretty complex and it was difficult to catch. Then it was gamelan session again.

the 3rd class was a 2-hr workshop on playing the Korean janggu drums. It was the first time I'm playing it and I found some difficulty coordinating both hands. You've really got to memorise the piece and can't concentrate too much on the playing or else you can't play it (with all the actions), but rather go with the "feel".

It was a tiring day. Tomorrow's more free & easy, starting with the tour of the library in the morning, and after that not sure what to do in the afternoon.

Wow, I really don't think I can survive if I took the course/major as it's really totally different the way things are here from Singapore's education system. And ethnomusicology is more or less an untouched domain in Singapore; what we term as ethnomusicology in Singapore is really much less in-depth.

Atlanta Day 2

Today officially starts my attachment to deepen my knowledge in music as well as music librarianship.

It was great! I attended a morning seminar on ethnomusicology, which was basically a discussion session based on readings given by the professor (my mentor). It was actually also the 1st lesson for the semester, so it was an introductory session to ethnomusicology (definitions). Good thing I covered a little of that in my NAFA module, so I wasn't that lost. But it was definitely more in-depth and interactive where we were to analyse & interpret the readings, giving our opinions on it. Of course, I didn't have time to read the readings beforehand. But it was a good session. It really fired up my interest and had me wondering on how my librarian work can actually work around this discipline. I don't think I can actually survive the whole module if I were to study it, but it did make me miss school a little. Look forward to next week's class! Here's a shot of the music dept at Emory University where I'm having my classes.

After the class, my mentor & I grabbed a quick bite and we went to look at a venue where his gamelan group will be performing in 3 weeks time. Following which, the evening was a session of gamelan playing. It's different from what I've done so far, which was Central Java gamelan, but this was West Java (Sudanese). The methods, beats and rules have changed and I admit I had a hard time following for some pieces. Trying to memorise & play at the same time.

So that marked the end of today. I'm fully convinced I chose the right mentor, who's really knowledgeable and a really nice person. His classes though taxing, are quite "fun" actually. Hopefully I am up to expectations.

Tomorrow will be a long day, with lessons from 2-9pm. Got to try to cover the readings for tomorrow first in the morning.

NAFA Symposium 2008

I attended the 2-day symposium held over these 2 days (Fri & Sat) and despite my struggle over jetlag-induced sleep deficiency (ok ok, I did doze off at times), I must say it was a good one, a "mind-opener" to the Asian arts scene for me. And I must admit, it was (sad to say) much more interesting than the other conference which I just came back from.

Well, maybe the context was different, with 1 focusing on libraries (most concepts not new) while this symposium is more academic (content). Or maybe it's the artist side of me "hungry" for all this info. It was indeed enriching and it was really the direction which I was looking at for my specialisation (Asian music) as I'm still quite "blur" about this subject. I wanted to pursue more of trends in music rather than the classical aspect. And furthermore, it is about Asia!

Also, from the symposium, I think I have someone in mind to ask to be my mentor (that is if I can get him as my mentor). He seems to be a busy man, a Singaporean based in US.

Thumbs up! I think this is the inaugural symposium and I do hope to go for future ones.

Conference Days 3-5

I had initially intended to document each day, but looks like I've failed! Haha...

Just a quick sum-up of the remaining days. As the days went on, I had a better feeling of the conference & more interesting & relevant sessions were available (we could select sessions to go for due to concurrent sessions). More on digitisation projects, online music collections, etc. What really caught my attention were the digital libraries of music instruments. It's something new to me rather than just book collections and some of these were really nice, even including the sound of the instruments! I started envisioning something for the music ensembles of our region, like the Javanese gamelan, Thai pi phaat, etc.

We also visited the National Library of Naples. It was really old & some interesting finds were the Herculaneum papyri, which were preserved in carbonised form...looked a bit like charcoal though.

But by special method, they could be unrolled & viewed under microscope for the inscription. Seems like they were about music!
Also, their collection are so old (in a good way)! I mean the ones that are being used on open shelves are like centuries old! And many are actually older than our oldest book in the National Library! Haha...the differences in definition of "rare".

After the National Libray, we visited the San Carlo Theatre. It was about to be renovated so many of the furnishings had been removed, including mirrors inside each box. The mirrors in the boxes were for 2 reasons: 1) To give more light in the theatre (reflection), and 2) such that everyone would be able to see the royal family from their seats at anytime.

Hmm...think that's about what I have or recall. Now for the post-conference tour!

Conference Day 2 (22/07/08)

Found some of the sessions more useful today. Maybe I'm starting to adapt to the conference already.

Had lunch at a place that had some seafood available. More for the benefit of my colleague who wasn't used to Italian food. It's fine with me coz the place sold pasta & pizza too, which was too huge to order on my own! Looks like we'll be having lunch here besides the option of fast food. We also decided that we would probably skip dinners since we have heavy breakfasts, tea breaks & lunch. Saves money too! :P Can also go back to hotel to rest earlier.

Also, we finally found a supermart today! Actually, I found it earlier coz on our way back to the hotel on Saturday evening, I saw someone carrying a bag of groceries walking out of the street. Unfortunately, it was closed on Sunday (most shops don't open on Sat & Sun there) and we didn't visit it yesterday. But today, we went & yes! confirmed it was a supermart! Bought water at Euro 36 cents (about S$0.70) for a 2-litre bottle! This was so much cheaper then what we bought at a snack bar - Euro 1.50 (S$3) for 1.5 litres! We also bought some peaches going at a rate of Euro 1.50 per kg. We only bought 4 peaches, which came up to only Euro 88 cents (S$1.60). Saved money & no need to "smuggle" fruits from the breakfast bar already. :P Haha...that's what we call cheap thrill.

IAML Annual Conference 2008 - Day 1 (21/07/08)

We started the conference proper at the Expo Centro Congressi Terminal Napoli, Molo Angioino, Stazione Marittima. There was a short welcome session for new delegates before the opening address.

For the most part, most of the speakers spoke either in a foreign language or English in a heavy European accent, which was sometimes not decipherable. Fortunately, for some, the slides were in English.

There were only a few Asian delegates which basically consisted of a few from Japan, 1 from Taiwan, 1 from Hong Kong (the latter 2 presenting papers) and my colleague & me. So just imagine how out-of-place I felt. Well, maybe it was also partly due to the cost of coming to Europe, even though the conference fee wasn't that much.

Well, I admit that I felt a slight tinge of alienation/biasness from other participants. Maybe it's just the language barrier and not to mention wondering if most of them knew where Singapore is located.

I formed in my mind that we should have a similar conference for the Asian region, not to mention a similar association, especially since Asian music & its culture is very different and thus problems different. Got to research if 1 already exists though.

After the sessions, I felt like it's going to be a long week... 4 days more?!

¨The Twilight Zone¨- The Obsolete man (1961)

Check this out on a fellow librarian's blog.

Rambling Librarian :: Incidental Thoughts of a Singapore Liblogarian: ¨The Twilight Zone¨- The Obsolete man (1961)#links

Hee...well, now books & libraries are more than physical right?