Here we are again. December 23rd. Nearly the 24th, but we’ll see how long it takes me to hit the “post” button.
Last year, I posted this holiday plea on behalf of the long-term unemployed or underemployed population. I asked that the people I encountered inquire about the work I was doing, rather than the status of my job-search.
My suggestions in that post still hold true, but for me personally, well, ask about my job search all you want this year.
On December first, I interviewed for the position of Librarian and Archivist at the American Bookbinders Museum in San Francisco. On December fourth, I received an offer for that position. On December fifteenth, I started work.
The dust from that particular whirlwind is still settling, but it seems to be a pretty good fit. It’s more than a little nerve-wracking, going from student and freelance positions to effectively being head librarian and head archivist (okay, so there’s nobody under me except the occasional volunteer, but that doesn’t make my position any less “head”). Apparently in the library world these kinds of positions are called “lone ranger” librarians. Clearly I need some kind of Old West hat to go with the term.
There are some things I miss about freelancing already – not the least of which are sleeping and having free time – but it’s so nice to have coworkers and people to talk to during the day, as well as people to bounce ideas off. One of the things about the freelancing jobs I’ve had in the past two years that I really didn’t like was how lonely it always was.
This is a huge adjustment for me on every level. Nerve-wracking though the professional steps up may be, the puzzles and challenges presented to me so far have my brain buzzing with ideas, and my new colleagues are supportive and understanding about my anxieties about the size of what I’ve taken on. The puzzles will sort themselves out with time, patience, and care, much like the challenge of picking apart a huge mass of knotted threads. One of the things that’s really hard for me at the moment, though, is finding a new balance to my day. At the moment, I’ve got little time or energy for much other than work (and the associated commute, which turns work into a 12-hour day, thanks to the peculiar quirks of Caltrain’s schedule), meals, and going to bed so I can get up and do it all again. I do need to find a way to work in a necessarily small but regular dose of my meditation/anxiety management techniques, by which I mean my crafting.
I don’t anticipate writing about the job much here, as I have no intention of running the risk of doocing myself, but yeah. I got a formal library job at last!
So yeah. American Bookbinders Museum. Check it out. And come visit!