I’m starting a new job next week. Adult Services Librarian at the Howe Library. I had a little tour last week and they introduced me to someone who does the shelving and other people who do the ordering and processing. Someone else does the checkout. By the end of the tour I found myself asking “What exactly will I be doing?” They were surprised to hear that I did all of that and more, and that was only one third of my job at school! Apparently I will be in charge of collection development and programming, along with several other librarians in my department. It will either be a calm, peaceful job or totally boring. We’ll see.

However, this week all of my colleagues in education are starting back at school and I am feeling a tiny bit of survivors guilt. As many of you know. for the past bunch of years this has been a very stressful week for me as I prepared to return to school. The school library role these days is almost three full-time jobs: librarian, teacher, and technical support. In-service week always found me trying to get the library ready, the computers ready, all the various tech related accounts ready, lesson plans done, bulletin board up, and all the school-wide commitments as well.

This year, this week I’ve been updating district websites (another thing I always do this week), doing house chores, and relaxing a bit too. It is such an amazingly different feeling than previous years. This new job might be amazing or a snooze-fest, but right now I am entirely happy with my decision and at peace this week.