Librarian Now

Second blog time, been a bit busy with having my birthday last week, job searching and working! That's enough of the excuses now.

Working at the library has been fantastic.  Every time I leave, I go thinking, "this is what I'm meant to do." I feel like the library is where I belong.  Like many librarians I'm an introvert, and can be a bit on the quiet side.  At the library I feel more confident and in control, like it's my domain and I know what I'm doing there. I don't know why it took me so long to realize that Librarian is the career for me.

Unfortunately, I'm only a per diem librarian.  The library I work for has me and 2 others working in rotation because the YA librarian is on maternity leave. I do keep getting more hours scheduled for the summer. Right now I'm scheduled until the end of August, and come September when they open on Sundays again I might just be the Sunday librarian again. 

I really lucked out in getting this job.  I graduated JUST as they started their search for a Sunday librarian.  I needed to have my State Librarian certificate or they wouldn't interview me. I received it 3 days before they were going to finish interviews.  They only started Sunday hours this year, and I learned that timing is everything.  At the end of May they stop Sunday hours, so if a librarian wasn't on Maternity leave then I'd be without a job.

I'm still looking for full time work. I'd love to stay at the library I'm at now, especially since it's the library I grew up with! It's a very small library though and they don't need more staff. I work Sunday which is the last Sunday they have until Fall. I've been very lucky so far and have had extremely quiet Sundays. I keep being told it's not normal, and I hope my luck keeps up!

I have a few interviews this week and I'm hopeful that it will lead to something positive.  Until then I'm just happy to be getting more experience where I'm at now. 

At the end of the month is my official graduation ceremony! I already have my diploma, (I should probably get a frame for that?) but I haven't walked at the ceremony since I graduated in Feb. and they only do the ceremony once a year. My mom will be flying in from Florida, and get to see me officially graduate. When I got my BA I only did the small ceremony at my college, this time I will be walking across the state.

The one negative about Graduation is that it's during BookExpo America!! Since my mom will be flying in, I can't ditch her to go.  Though the moment she leaves, I'm heading to BEA! It's going to be my first time and I can't wait. I went to New York Comic Con last year, and I was overwhelmed by the amount of books I got there. I can only imagine that BEA for me, will be like a kid in the candy store. I'm going to want everything! I'm reading all the blogs and tips I can to try and be prepared. I can't wait to finally be there.

Starting Over

When I graduated with a BA in English six years ago, I immediately panicked. I needed a job! I interviewed everywhere I could and eventually landed with a company that I would stay with for nearly six years.  I worked in their internet division double checking EVERYTHING that went on-line.

While I worked for them I realized that my dream job was actually being a librarian, specifically a children's librarian or young adult librarian.  I remember being in my room and wondering why the heck I hadn't realized this sooner.  I actually raced to the computer to see what school had a library program. Crazily enough, one of the few schools that have the program was the very school I got my BA in. Easy decision! I had of course JUST passed the deadline for applications.

I applied for the next semester, and just like that I was in! It seemed remarkably easy.  I wrote a short essay, had people write recommendation letters, one from the company I was working for and then I was back in college.  It wasn't easy, in just a few years it seemed like I forgot how much work college was. I had to learn coding and cataloging, and the technology? I had to know all the tech, I interviewed a reference librarian at my local library who told me that a librarian even has to know how to fix the copy machine if it breaks down. 

After I first started Grad school, actual graduation seemed so far away.  Suddenly it was right around the corner.  I just had to write a MASSIVE research paper, something I had never done before. I had to create a survey and actually get people to take my survey, also apply for approval because there are rules for these things! I somehow survived and even got an A on my paper (Appeal Factor of Cover Art for Young Adults). Then I was all graduated!

Sadly, two weeks later my long term job let go half of the company.

Including me.

I got my master's degree just in time to be jobless.  I had already been looking into becoming a librarian of course because: THE DREAM. Yet, I was kind of depending on the job for the short term.  I did luck out though. I was an intern last summer at my local library and they had just begun interviews for a part-time librarian.  I got hired!  Tomorrow I begin my first official day.

I am so excited to be a librarian and get started on my career. Of course, I'm still looking for full time work, but I am VERY happy to say that I'm a librarian now.  A year ago my life was so different, I was working full time and going to school part time.  It kind of makes me wonder where I'll be a year from now. Hopefully working full time someplace, while still doing some days at the library that gave me my start!

I will try to keep this blog updated as much as I can. I'm starting some volunteer jobs next week, one for a library website and another for a literacy site so I may be busy. I LOVE being busy.  A lot of this blog will be about job searching for full time Librarian work, but it will also be about what I do to keep myself busy in the mean time.  I have a room full of books too, so there should be some book reviews too!

I promise the blog will be less chatty in the future, this is just my intro! Thanks for reading!