# Viz the... librarian?
So I was talking with exo some about what I said in phlog #005, and he suggested
that I could be a librarian. I could get a one or two year MLIS (Masters in
Information and Library Science) and then I could get a job catalouging and
finding stuff for people and collecting research papers and such. I could be a
librarian in a research firm or a tech company and help them answer questions
about certain topics. Tons of options...
I'm thinking about this and I think this is something I'm actually excited
about, something I want to do. Granted I only learned this was an option like 12
hours ago so maybe let's not jump to conclusions.
...whoops got sidetracked talking in the chat about book fairs and the kids'
section at Barnes and Noble and such. Public libraries are amazing. The one in
the city I go to uni at has some very nice kids programs and you can check out
stuff like music keyboards and monitor calibration tools and model skeletons and
i just like libraries. I'd probably want to work more in a research library so,
ya know, I can actually use my degree for something. I don't hate the
engineering stuff, I just realize I like coming up with solutions a LOT more
than actually implementing them... which i'm not trying to be a professional
"ideas girl" i just...
Stop. Rewind. I keep losing focus because I'm trying to fold laundry and pay
attention to the chat at the same time.
Library science. Information management. I was doing research last night and
it turns out librarians who can manage databases and build websites and script
and such are in pretty high demand. I think. More so than the people who can't.
Someone's gotta build MelCat and such. Someone's gotta take all this really neat
information and make it easy to look through. I can do that. I want to do that.
And I can help people answer questions and help them do research! I did that
somewhat recently with Byuu for the illustrations their compact disc structure
article[1] and that was super duper enjoyable. I find that I really like helping
others and doing research for them and all of that. I've always been an
archivist packrat, even as a kid. I still have every computer file since I was
about 10, heck back then I even tried to make a Microsoft Access database to
catalog all the Pokémon I caught in Silver and all the Pokémon cards I had and
I had a big Excel spreadsheet of every game I owned and and
Before this the plan was to go into some sort of hardware design or embedded
programming or something low-level with computers. And while I still find ROM
hacking and ASM tweaking and such fun *from time to time*, I don't think I want
that to be my future. This feels more right.
It's a direct help to the world. I'm making information public and accessible.
It's directly helping others be the best them that they can be. It doesn't
encourage the creation of making new crap and perpetuating the cycle of endless
economic growth. It's about making the most of what we already have, of what's
already known, of what's already been tried. It's about strengthening the
community, not trying to drive it apart more. THIS aligns with my values, how
my brain ticks, what I want to do.
(quick aside, i recently had to give a group presentation in my techical writing
class about the death of moore's law and how we can circumvent that. the whole
time i was just wondering *why*. do we need faster computers? aren't these
amazing wonderboxes and $20 128GB USB sticks and such enough? Do we *need* to
lean so hard on weird neural network stuff and quantum computing (which, fyi, is
so specialized and impractical that even if we could make quantum computing
cards that slotted into a computer they wouldn't even help with that much) and
new technologies? I actually asked my teammates and they mostly just handwaved
to "well, we need jobs, don't we?". Fittingly, I gave my part of the
presentation on optimizing code as with the Sinclair Scientific[2] and some neat
ideas involving programming FPGAs on the fly. Making more of what we already
have. I put that in the Park City manifesto for a *reason*.)
Of course with all thing there's a catch. I'd have to finish my degree (fine, I
was already going to have to do that already), go to school for one or two MORE
years (although a lot of MLIS programs are online these days, so?) and even then
then job feel is really strained unless you want to work outside of public/uni
libraries (fine by me!) or you're fine relocating. (sure thing!) So, this is a
bit of a reach, yes. But I believe this will be a better idea than sitting in
a cublicle all day poking at a circuit for yet another space satellite until my
heart gives out.
[1]: https://byuu.net/compact-discs/structure
[2]: http://files.righto.com/calculator/sinclair_scientific_simulator.html
gemini://park-city.club:1965/~invis/phlog/007-viz-the-librarian.txt