Jane Barrager

“Interesting things did seem to happen, but always to somebody else.”

― Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle

Hello, nice to meet you.

My name is Dakotah Shelton and I spend most of my days buried in books, hermiting away in cafes, hunting through thrift stores, or spending quality time with my family. As the quote above alludes, it always seems like someone else has more excitement in their lives, yet a slow, cozy life is exactly what I aim for in my free time. As a friendly tip, if you haven’t yet read Howl’s Moving Castle I recommend finding a copy immediately. It reads like a warm cup of tea on a cold day.

I currently reside in Pyeongtaek, South Korea with my husband, son, and two dogs. My grasp of the Korean language is minimal, and although I can read the Hangul alphabet, I couldn’t tell you what the words mean- although not for a lack of trying!

One of my favorite parts about living in South Korea is the incredible cafe culture. I have spent more than my fair share of days drinking too many Americanos and snacking on face-sized croissants.

Located at Tuff Enuff Roasters- an enormous chocolate croissant and americano, featuring an iced teddy bear.

This is just one of the many places I like to frequent in the Pyeongtaek area. If you want to see some more of my favorite local coffee shops, check out this blog post from the South of Seoul blog.

While not currently working (for pay), this semester I am taking part in an internship program at the Library of Congress: Law Library. This program allows me to take part in a project editing and reviewing metadata found on Congress.gov.

Before starting my education at FSU, I attended Ball State University where I earned my undergraduate degree in fashion merchandising. Later, I went back to school at Kansas State University to earn my first master’s degree in elementary education. I went on to teach 4th and 5th grade for two years.

Currently, I am attending my last semester of the Masters of Science in Information program. The Digital Media: Concepts and Production course excites me due to the utilization of online platforms and tools. I am always looking to add more skills to my repertoire and find more collaboration techniques. The most recent digital format I’ve tried my hand at is Adobe Premiere, editing videos for the family vlog on Youtube that my husband and I are keeping. I think the piece of information I am most unfamiliar with/want to study in this course is copyright law.

My name is Annelise Leonard (she/they). I currently work as a high school teacher in the Ferguson-Florissant School District, which is located in St. Louis County, Missouri. I teach in a non-traditional school, so I have had one core group of students for the past three years. They are seniors now and graduate in the spring! This is a picture of us at the end of last year:

This year, I teach social studies and English, and my responsibilities have increased. I am chair of two committees/departments, am the building NEA representative, create the building course schedule, and am mentoring two new teachers. I also work as an adjunct professor in history at various community colleges and universities in the St. Louis area.

My undergraduate degree is in philosophy and gender studies. In philosophy, I am particularly interested in epistemology and phenomenology. My first master’s degree is in history. I am particularly interested in ethnic and national identities in 20th-century Africa. My second master’s degree is in secondary education. I am interested in student self-efficacy, particularly in low-income school districts. In information science, I am interested in the impact of information accessibility (and what that means) in low-income communities. I am in my second year of the MSI program and will graduate at the end of this semester. 

I have a lot of hobbies. I enjoy reading, writing, drawing, ceramics, rock climbing, playing video and board games, painting, watching soccer, hiking, crocheting, getting new piercings and tattoos, and hanging out with my husband and our four rescue dogs! I definitely do not have time to do everything I want to do.

As an introvert, the social demands of teaching often leave me very tired by the end of the day. After work, I spend quite a bit of time reading, as it works best for me to decompress and relax.

I like to read.

– Annelise Leonard

Last spring, I took the Digital Libraries course. That course inspired an interest in learning about digital technology with regard to information professions. I have since started learning SQL and Python. Through this course, I hope to learn how to design and produce different types of digital media programs, expanding on the knowledge I learned in Digital Libraries. I am also interested in learning how AI can be utilized to support digital media production.

Big changes are in store for me in 2024. I’ll tell you about that in a minute, but first, an introduction.

I’m Cristina. My family – myself, my fiance, and our two kids (ages 8 and 23) – currently live in St. Petersburg, Florida. I’ve been here for 30 years now, since moving from Chicago to attend Eckerd College.

After college, I worked in marketing and copywriting for years, until I found my way back to Eckerd to work in the library. In addition to Interlibrary Loan, I manage the social media for the library, specifically our Instagram page. 

My newest hobby is crocheting and I am OBSESSED. I made this hat and am working on an FSU-colors blanket. I am someone who often finds it difficult to sit still, and crocheting helps me to settle down and relax.

I am excited to be in this class and to finally learn how to use WordPress, my nemesis.

Now – back to my big news! My family (minus my daughter, who will live in my house in St. Pete) is moving from Florida to live on a 60-acre plot of farmland in Michigan. The land belongs to my aunt who, long story short, can’t take care of it anymore, so we’re going to move up there and make a homestead.

We will leave this summer, and I’ll still finish my degree online at FSU.

Mind you, I’ve never lived outside of a city, and I have no idea how to farm anything, but I have faith that we will figure things out as we go. Wish us luck and follow my personal Instagram to see what hilarity ensues!

If there’s one thing I hate writing about it’s myself.

Hi all! My name is Jackie Smith and I’m from a small town on the Jersey Shore and no it’s nothing like the tv show. However, we do have the best bagels, best pizza, best boardwalks, and the worst drivers.

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I’m currently residing in Tallahassee just north of FSU, where I am earning my MA in Public Interest Media and Communications and starting this semester I will be working towards earning a certificate in School Librarian Leadership.

I have my BA in Political Science with a minor in Women and Genders Studies as well as a certificate in Theater Management from Rutgers. If it’s not obvious I am completely undecided with what I want to do with the rest of my life and so right now I’m winging this grad school thing. I am currently interning with the Seminole Dinning’s marketing department to see if that’s an avenue I want to pursue. I am also heavily considering working as a School Librarian and potentially earning my MS in Information Studies here at FSU.

In terms of this class I am most looking forward to the digital story. I am hoping to improve my creative writing skills throughout the semester. Even though I have tons of artsy experience from photography and stage design I feel like my creative writing is lacking.

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Beyond my academic studies I am into live music, photography, gaming, and my dog Blu. My favorite band is Shinedown (featured above) who I’ve seen live six times since 2019! My current gaming obsession is Baldur’s Gate 3 aka The 2023 Game of the Year (sorry not sorry Spiderman fans). Last but not least, an honorable mention to my dog Blu Bell aka The Beast. She’s a pit mix and the light of my life, who unfortunately is back home with my parents in New Jersey.

Hello! My name is Amber Mullin and this is my 2023 (and December 2022) year in review. I will also be discussing my goals for 2024.

Firstly, I graduated with my B.A. in English with a concentration of creative writing in December 2022 at USF (pictured left). I was excited to step into publishing in 2023 as an editing intern, so I refreshed my LinkedIn and sent out applications with the hopeful aspirations of a fresh grad. I had a few close calls, but none of them hit for a Spring internship and I was left floating. Then I rocketed into an unexpected tumultuous year.

My family cat of 11 years, a sweet, oversized tabby named Bella, crossed the rainbow bridge at the end of January. My parents and I were racked with grief, and the intern/job search continued unsuccessfully for months. As a sort of healing process, my mom and I would visit pet stores to check the catteries which are associated with the shelters in the area within this time.

That’s where we met Felix (formerly known as Tito at the shelter) in March. We knew at first sight that he was meant to be ours. We like to think he did, too, as he jumped between the cubicles to see us, pressing energetically against the bars for us to pet him. We filled out an application online and within a few days he was home, just a couple days after his first birthday! This long-whiskered tuxedo is a lovebug who will crawl all over you, bounce off the walls during his morning and nighttime zoomies, and has helped us with our grief significantly.

Soon after, our landlord attempted to raise our rent on us. He would not listen to negotiations, so we frantically planned to move out by June. Luckily, we had a location in Cooper City, FL available to us (just about 15 minutes away from where we were in Davie) and so job searching was again put on pause as I helped to pack and organize everything while my parents went to work.

I felt uncomfortable to explore job opportunities at such a fragile time, where we also only had one car and a stress-related health concern arose that lasted until September 2023. However, through all the commotion I thought about a few things. Do I like the idea of an office job? Do I truly want to pursue a career in such a competitive field? Do I feel comfortable with the issues that have resurfaced in publishing lately? I want to be surrounded around books in my work, but do I truly want to be involved in the process of making them? And then I thought about libraries. What an obvious choice. A brief search and I discovered all the separate branches, and so I applied for an MSI at FSU and got accepted.

This is my first semester pursuing my MSI and I intend to utilize it to become a school media specialist. I’d love to introduce stories to children, to help them in whatever endeavors they access the library for. In November I started a part-time position as a tutor at Huntington Learning Center and it’s been a fulfilling experience. I’m excited to see the ways this course will help me develop skills at my current job and for my future career (and a plus for having fun with creativity!).

When I’m not obsessing over what the future looks like, I absorb myself in the multiple modes of storytelling. Books are clearly my favorite, but I also adore playing video games and watching movies and shows. I’m about to finish season two of my favorite show, a Korean Netflix show called Sweet Home. And if you want to follow my reading journey, I just created a Bookstagram account just about a week ago!

Hi! My name is Tracey Evans, and I live in Newberry, Florida, a little town just outside of Gainesville, with my husband and my two furbabies. I’m currently working to obtain my MS in Information to become a Librarian, and I’m working toward earning the certificate for School Librarian Leadership. I have undergrad degrees in History (AA) and Classical Studies (BA) from Santa Fe College and the University of Florida, respectively. This course and Instructional Role of the Information Professional constitute my final two classes, and I’m scheduled to graduate in May 2024.

While I spent almost 14 years working with the Alachua County Library District, I’m currently working as an Administrative Assistant at Santa Fe College. During my time at the library, I was a Library Specialist with a focus on children and teens, where I monitored the collection and built programs tailored to our population.

My goal after graduation is to return to the library in some capacity, and I’m always on the lookout for a position that speaks to me. My overall aspiration is to become a school librarian. Many of the Librarians in the public school system (at least in Alachua County) also serve as yearbook facilitator and teach media (like school news, etc). While I’ve taken many different types of computer classes throughout my time in school and even studied graphic design in high school, I’ve never taken a class that focused on digital media production, and I look forward to learning about this aspect and how it could tie into a future position as a Librarian. Specifically, I would like to gain a better knowledge of editing and what software we’ll be using to do so.

When I’m not in school or working, I love to read and craft. As a Library Specialist, I was able to spend a lot of time crafting, but I now enjoy finding other outlets for that creativity. My favorite books to cuddle up with my pups and read are contemporary and paranormal romance.

My name is C. T. Murphy, but Chris works too.

Once upon a time, I wanted to be a writer. That’s why I studied English at the University of Alabama (yes, that Alabama). The secret to being a writing – beyond advanced degrees, self-help books, and pretentiously quoting obscure poetry – is the doing of the thing. The simple act of seeing a blank page or screen and filling it up. That’s all it really takes and … to be frank … my interest in writing waxes and wanes like the Moon.

You may get me to admit that I have tried blogging before, but rarely do I share a link. In the interest of this class and because they reveal enough to “tell you something about me”, here goes:

I started and failed to maintain a microblog (think this but shorter posts like an old-school Twitter) called Dungeon Manager’s Guide. It was an attempt to merge my forever interest in cross-pollinating Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with project management. Don’t ask me why I think they work together – we’d be here all day – but trust me, they do. I am slowly working my way toward introducing D&D or D&D-adjacent ideas to my work. Currently, I am a Quality Assurance Analyst & Instructor for a state employer here in Florida. I work on the Organizational Development team so I work side-by-side with professional developers, trainers, instructional designers, etc.

If you want to go further back in my blogging experience, then the oldest one I maintain is Murf Versus, a name chosen part because of my last name and also because “murfvers.us” is an awesome URL. For a long time, I blogged mostly about video games and movies (two more passions of mine). If you dig deeper, you might find more personal posts. I started blogging after finishing my undergrad in 2012 and kept it up at first because I thought I might turn it into a career, but more so because I found it therapeutic. Writing is good for that even if no one reads it.

“What I hope to gain?”

I chose the MSIT program because of my interests in information technology, my desire to grow professionally, etc. I chose this class to challenge my creative side. Between the two, I am always looking to advance my skills and engage my curiosity. I am nervous about the work required for this one but also excited.

Do you feel the same way?