Starting the new year in the best way possible

On New Year's Eve, Robin and I celebrated by watching TV and folding laundry. We did get invited to a party, but after all the chaos of the holidays--driving to and from Pennsylvania and then getting right back on the road to go to Horseneck Beach for the day--we were festivity-ed out. The pets certainly appreciated our decision.

But despite this lackluster ringing in of the new year, the truth is that the start of 2008 is worth celebrating. 2008 is the year I'm starting, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, my dream job. When I started grad school at Simmons, I thought that I would be an academic librarian. I took reference and cataloging classes and went along my merry way. Then I took Linda Braun's young adult literature and services class (a course that has now been split in two), and absolutely fell in love with teen services. It started with the literature, which I devoured, and moved into the services, which I discovered were fun, challenging, entertaining, and beyond anything I'd imagined library work to be. I took some more coursework on the subject, including Linda's awesome emerging technologies class, and then I was ready to go--I planned to apply for jobs all over the country in the hopes of getting my foot in the teen services door.

What ended up happening, though, was a little different than what I'd imagined. A fellow student was leaving her position as a private school library director and asked if I was interested in applying for her job. She told me all about it, explaining that while she had worked hard to establish a solid academic program, it would be my chance to integrate everything I'd learned at Simmons into the library--increasing teen literature and programming, mostly. I interviewed for the job and was offered it on the spot. And three years later, I feel as though I've accomplished everything that I set out to do in those first few weeks of thinking about the job. I did increase the YA collection--and with it, circulation. The library got a massive makeover this summer, focused mostly around creating a large area for reading books, magazines, and graphic novels, playing games, or just hanging out. The Nook, as it's called, is now an incredibly popular hangout that's been one of my proudest achievements! And the library has become a new center for activity, with everything from game nights to Family Guy marathons to crafting to hosting cool speakers like an ESPN reporter or a CSI officer from the Springfield Police Department, who dusted for prints and let us tour his mobile crime lab.

But now it's time to move on--which is where the dream job comes in. On July 1, I'll start as the first Head of Teen Services at the Darien Library in Darien, CT. (!!!) There are a million reasons why I'm excited to work at Darien, and one of the coolest is that I'm being allowed the opportunity to build a teen department from the ground up. The new Darien Library will open in January 2009, and with it, the new teen space. The library has been serving teens all along, of course, but this is our opportunity to increase the number of teens who know about and use the library. I have so many ideas bouncing around in my head about how to do this, and the best part is that the people of the Darien Library want to hear those ideas and help make them happen. I know that my mission is to create something really special and that's a mission I'm prepared (overjoyed, truth be told) to accept.

I've already been welcomed into the Darien Library family, and I've gotten to meet a lot of really kind, motivated people who surprise and inspire me all the time. I've found a friend in Kate Sheehan, a fellow newbie who has already invited me to visit her when we're house hunting. And I've found endless support, openness, and encouragement in Louise Berry, Alan Gray, and John Blyberg. I really could not be happier or feeling more blessed at this point. Librarians tend to live their jobs--I certainly do. And a change like this, it's a quality of life issue. I can't wait to get started.

I wish you all a very, very happy and healthy 2008! And if anyone knows a good apartment broker in New Haven, let me know. :)