As I think about What’s Next

Many years ago, as a Baby Librarian, I realized I was the youngest in the room at many AASL committee meetings. Now, "baby" was in her 30s, so that didn't feel quite right. And I've blogged about many of my issues with AASL (and ALA) before. I'm no longer the youngest, but sadly, many of…

Summer Vacation, past tense

You may remember I had Big Plans for my summer “vacation”. I’m going to give myself a B overall, with an A for effort (it was h.o.t. and the library building has no a/c and bad ventilation). Those plans were: Process all new books (anything that came in late May/June, plus summer purchases) ✅Organize and…

What Summer Vacation?

I'm probably crazy, and I swear I was planning to take a real break this summer but... Process all new books (anything that came in late May/June, plus summer purchases)Organize and prepare archival information for off-site storage Update the Library Operating ManualHelp prepare a proposal for the Archives (position description, equipment, policies, etc.)Order new supplies…

From the archives: Moving up a stage

This isn't quite "leveling up" and it could possibly be thought of as moving down a stage, but it is movement. What am I talking about? In this post, Shelagh discusses these professional stages: Theorist Donald Super offers these 5 stages of self-concept & career development:  Like Shelagh, I'm in the maintenance phase, but moving…

From the archives: Gratitude

Over the years I've seen many posts about gratitude and I'd saved this one from the AISL Blog to remind me to post my own. There was, around the same time, a post on an email list that was formatted differently and I thought I'd mimic that here. So without further ado, here are some…

It’s that time of the year, right?

Every week my friend Chuck posts a list of blog posts that have caught his eye. Some posts really catch my eye, some don't really. C'est la vie, or something like that. This past Saturday there was a post by J. Eric Smith listing 100 books that meant something/had shaped him. And because it's time…

Got my big girl socks on (eye update)

My high school friend Ebit spent 30 years in an all-out battle with cancer, and one of her weapons was socks with messages inappropriate for the daughter of a minister.  A group of us celebrated her life with one pair each, then I sent a pair to everyone as an Ebit-approved Christmas present.  When another…

Time for an update!

As I've been looking through the archives for what works and what doesn't work as a post, I came across this post from 2010. Wow have things changed! Essential tools/websites then and now: Gmail (staying in touch)Bank of America (for online banking)TDBank (for online banking)Facebook (seeing what my friends are up to)Google Reader (as Doug…

Self care?

This year's big trend in libraryland (among many other places) is to focus on self care this year. I definitely agree. To get a little personal, I have several "hidden" physical disabilities (for example, my eye), what's now known as ME/CFS in addition to a tendency to being overstressed and depressed. Milton has created a…

New Year’s Resolutions

This year, this is my one and only goal: As a department chair (and manager of a building) there are times I have to "be on" during breaks and weekends, but I get paid a small stipend for that. It's always been a struggle to quash those "if I work for an hour today this…