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. :)

Hello

I read a lot of blogs. I have 80+ in my Bloglines blogroll. How many more times can I write the word "blog"? Blog blog blog. Anyway, I decided I should start blogging. I mean, I used to have a personal livejournal, and I have a blog for our school library, but I need a space where I can write about library-related issues that aren't specifically about my library, and where I can be a regular person instead of a school person.

Here are a few things you should know about me:

1. I am almost 30. In a month, I'm marrying someone who's a few years younger than me. This makes me feel a little dirty, and very old. But I'm excited to marry him, nonetheless.

2. I am a middle and high school librarian. I love being a librarian and I love working with this age group. I also love being around little kids, and I wish that happened more often.

3. I work at a boarding school, and I live on campus, so I am also a dorm parent. This means I act more like a teenage girl than I maybe should. Sometimes I try to act like a mom, but no one can take me seriously.

4. Did I mention I look like I'm 18? I am frequently mistaken for a new senior, especially by potential parents on their campus tour. This gives me a great deal of authority. I am super intimidating. See no. 3.

5. Everyone thinks I am VERY boring. This may be because I watch a lot of TV. And I don't like, oh, going out. And I am a librarian. And I blush a lot. However, I am not boring. I am fascinating.

6. I live in a tiny zoo. My apartment is itsy-bitsy, and I share it with two cats and a dog. Here are some things you should know about my pets:

Mamie
My favorite, and she knows it. Mamie is a crazy calico who will do just about anything for attention, including flopping out to her full extended length (at least four feet) right in front of you as you're carrying a pot of ravioli to the sink to drain it. Loves cardboard. Loves paper. Will lick your entire arm from wrist to shoulder. Sticks her butt in your face when you're trying to read. Speaks, according to my finacee, with a French accent. Gets an awesome, blank look on her face when she's using the litterbox (ask me to imitate it sometime). My first pet as an adult. Named for Mamie Eisenhower....for no good reason.

Bodie
Mamie's loving and terrified companion. A big gray neutered male. Scared of everything: people walking, people talking, sudden movements of any kind, thunder, weird shadows, the air conditioner, the sound of me folding laundry/fluffing pillows, etc. HATES the dog. LOVES me. According to my fiancee, walks around thinking: "Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah." Would probably prefer to live in a small, dark room with only me. Would keep me as his slave. He and Mamie clean each other; watching this, once, I teared up. Named after a character on Dawson's Creek, not Jenna Elfman's weird husband.

Matilda
Funny little dog. According to the place where I adopted her, she's a Golden Retriever/Basset Hound mix. Everyone thinks she's a corgi. She is fat and untrained. She tried to eat a really old dead mouse the other night. She wheezes a little. My fiancee [I need to come up with a code name for him; I know it will be something related to Joyce or Faulkner if he has his way, but if I have mine it will be something slightly emasculating] calls her his Goose. Why? No one knows. Her life's dream is to capture and devour a squirrel. She weighs 45 pounds, but is a lap dog all the same.

7. One of my favorite things to do is help a kid who has sneered at me or the library before, and see their opinion change, if only a tiny bit and not around their friends.

8. I live for new Meg Cabot, Sarah Dessen, and Maureen Johnson books. As well as cancelled shows on the WB/UPN/CW (BASTARDS) and super dorky point-and-click flash games.

9. I often write in all capital letters for EMPHASIS.

Okay. That's it for today. I plan on using this blog for little mini book reviews, commentary on stuff that's happening in library land, etc. etc. Maybe no one will read this....we'll see! Bye!