That's right... I'm taking a small detour on the way to full-time librarianship.
Since I realized there's no guarantee I'll immediately get a full-time job as a librarian as soon as I graduate, I figured I may as well go for a promotion at work. I ranked first on the test, and they offered me the position. Since it comes with a hefty raise, my own office, and the opportunity to get promotions based on my own accomplishments (rather than waiting for the next job vacancy to be posted), I decided I'd be foolish not to take it!
Fortunately, I've still got my part-time public library job, so even while I'm waiting for the perfect opportunity to come along I've got that job to keep me from feeling like I'm wasting an MLS. Besides, I'm so unbelievably exhausted from these past few years that I'm not ready to launch into a full-fledged job search just yet. For once in my life, I'm taking a little time to just breathe and enjoy life.
What ever will I do without all that schoolwork hanging over my head?
Monday, March 31, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Impromptu Storytimes
Who says a librarian's job is boring?
Not me, that's for sure.
I had kind of a long day at the courthouse, and I still had a ton of schoolwork to do, but I also had to work at the library from 5 - 9. I was scheduled to be at the children's desk, which was kind of a relief because there are fewer interruptions (since we only have 2 public computers in the children's room, as opposed to the 13 or so in adult reference) and I'd probably have more time to catch up with schoolwork. Boy, was I mistaken!
I asked if there was anything going on tonight, and was told there wasn't. Things were reasonably busy, but nothing extraordinary. Until about 6:50, when some folks came in and asked where the storytime would be.
...What storytime? I checked the calendar, and sure enough, there it was: Storytime: 7 - 7:30.
Great. I'm only here one, sometimes two times, a week. So I started calling some of the other children's librarians to see if maybe someone was just running late, but no one picked up their phones. Even better.
So next thing I know it's 6:58 and I'm scrambling around the library trying to find spring-themed pictures books for the rather large crowd of preschoolers and their parents gathered at the back of the library. I eventually settled on When Will It Be Spring? by Catherine Walters and Wake Up, It's Spring! by Lisa Campbell Ernst, partly because they looked cute, but mostly because they were two of maybe four or five spring-themed books that weren't already checked out.
I didn't have the key to the storytime room and didn't want to waste anymore time looking for it, so we had to settle for pulling together a bunch of chairs in the back of the room. Amazingly enough, the storytime went really well, with kids commenting on the pictures and getting so close to the book that I actually had to ask them to back up. A much better problem to have than a lack of attention.
I didn't have enough time to plan any activities, but the stories took up most of the half hour, and the parents just seemed grateful that I was able to pull something together for them.
And to think, last summer I was absolutely terrified of doing a PLANNED storytime. My, how this librarian has grown. ;-)
Not me, that's for sure.
I had kind of a long day at the courthouse, and I still had a ton of schoolwork to do, but I also had to work at the library from 5 - 9. I was scheduled to be at the children's desk, which was kind of a relief because there are fewer interruptions (since we only have 2 public computers in the children's room, as opposed to the 13 or so in adult reference) and I'd probably have more time to catch up with schoolwork. Boy, was I mistaken!
I asked if there was anything going on tonight, and was told there wasn't. Things were reasonably busy, but nothing extraordinary. Until about 6:50, when some folks came in and asked where the storytime would be.
...What storytime? I checked the calendar, and sure enough, there it was: Storytime: 7 - 7:30.
Great. I'm only here one, sometimes two times, a week. So I started calling some of the other children's librarians to see if maybe someone was just running late, but no one picked up their phones. Even better.
So next thing I know it's 6:58 and I'm scrambling around the library trying to find spring-themed pictures books for the rather large crowd of preschoolers and their parents gathered at the back of the library. I eventually settled on When Will It Be Spring? by Catherine Walters and Wake Up, It's Spring! by Lisa Campbell Ernst, partly because they looked cute, but mostly because they were two of maybe four or five spring-themed books that weren't already checked out.
I didn't have the key to the storytime room and didn't want to waste anymore time looking for it, so we had to settle for pulling together a bunch of chairs in the back of the room. Amazingly enough, the storytime went really well, with kids commenting on the pictures and getting so close to the book that I actually had to ask them to back up. A much better problem to have than a lack of attention.
I didn't have enough time to plan any activities, but the stories took up most of the half hour, and the parents just seemed grateful that I was able to pull something together for them.
And to think, last summer I was absolutely terrified of doing a PLANNED storytime. My, how this librarian has grown. ;-)
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Procrastination?
There are so many things I should be doing right now.
Working on my journals for my field experience. Reading for YA Lit. Updating my resume. Posting in discussions for one of my three classes.
So I guess technically this is procrastination. But I've been talking about starting a blog for months now, so I suppose I could rationalize this and say I'm actually putting an end to my procrastination. Yeah, that's what I'll tell myself.
No guarantees that I'll keep this blog regularly updated, at least for now. For the next two months I'll be juggling a full-time job as an HR specialist (or maybe an auditor, depending on how things go this Wednesday!), a part-time job as an intern at a library, my last 9 credits toward my MLIS, field experience at a high school media center, and looking for a job as a real librarian!
But I feel like I need somewhere to put my thoughts, share my adventures, complain about how stressed out I am even though I'd be much less stressed if I was doing what I should be doing instead of writing blog posts...
Well, the library will be closing soon, so perhaps I should consider getting things straightened up and start kicking people out. ;-)
Working on my journals for my field experience. Reading for YA Lit. Updating my resume. Posting in discussions for one of my three classes.
So I guess technically this is procrastination. But I've been talking about starting a blog for months now, so I suppose I could rationalize this and say I'm actually putting an end to my procrastination. Yeah, that's what I'll tell myself.
No guarantees that I'll keep this blog regularly updated, at least for now. For the next two months I'll be juggling a full-time job as an HR specialist (or maybe an auditor, depending on how things go this Wednesday!), a part-time job as an intern at a library, my last 9 credits toward my MLIS, field experience at a high school media center, and looking for a job as a real librarian!
But I feel like I need somewhere to put my thoughts, share my adventures, complain about how stressed out I am even though I'd be much less stressed if I was doing what I should be doing instead of writing blog posts...
Well, the library will be closing soon, so perhaps I should consider getting things straightened up and start kicking people out. ;-)
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