It has certainly been a long time since my last post! I became somewhat disenchanted last summer, after I didn't get a promotion that I applied for at my library. Had I done something wrong? Offended someone? Was it really possible that having a nerve-related blank-out at one question in my interview made them doubt my capabilities? Was the out-of-state person that they hired really so much more attractive as a candidate? I still don't know the answer to these questions, and I felt slightly betrayed by my employer, even though, as a former HR person, I know that your workplace doesn't owe you anything. It was a really difficult time for me. Gosh, I'm still sad, just writing about it.
When I started this blog, I intended it to be for purely professional purposes and I'm not certain that I should be putting all of this personal stuff out there. Maybe I should just write "I GOT A SHINY NEW JOB! YAY!" I did get a shiny new job! I moved back to my home state after spending almost 12 years away. I work full-time now. I'm a full-fledged librarian rather than an assistant, and I work in a HUGE and highly respected library system, albeit at one of the teeny-tiny branches. I love it. I'm very proud of myself.
As with all things, new opportunities come with new challenges. I used to work with a population that was largely suburban, white, affluent and educated. I now work in a library that is opposite in almost every way. I just took a look at American FactFinder to see if I could find a way to frame the differences here, and one of the starkest is a $40,000 discrepancy in mean income. (Part of that can be explained by the difference in cost of living in the mid-Atlantic states vs. the Midwest, but that's still a pretty stark difference.) Poverty rates at 27% vs 6%. And it should probably be noted that there's only about a 6 percentage point difference in unemployment rates between these two places, but there's also a pretty consistent 5-10% difference in educational attainment. These are two very different libraries. In theory, my job here is almost exactly the same as my old job. In practice, I am in a whole different world here. There are a ton of differences that I love. I get to do outreach like a whirling dervish! During the school year, I see 20 school groups a month. I go to Head Start and daycares and the Y, and all of that makes me very happy. I work with a security guard every day. That's different. He doesn't like feeling like he works at a daycare. My boss and I say "Better they're here than anywhere else!" I am faced with hungry kids every day. My boss and I provide snacks out of our own pockets and are constantly on the lookout for how to get a healthy snack at a cost of less than 25 cents per kid. The clientele at my old library used to come in with a very specific purpose--to pick out some books, to attend a storytime, to ask a reference question--and leave as soon as their purpose was fulfilled. The clientele at my new library comes in just to be there. Which is FLAT-OUT AWESOME.
But I have a problem. It's sort of breaking my heart. Every month, I've seen that circulation numbers are down at my branch from what they were last year. That's frustrating, and it certainly gives me something to think about and strategize for, but it doesn't make me feel emotional the way this other problem has. For summer reading, the first prize that any of our kids get is a book to take home and keep. They get to choose for themselves and we give them a cute sticker to put it in the front. Well, at least 6 kids have left their books behind when they left the library for the day. In a few cases, I even found them and gave them their books, and they left them AGAIN. And what this says to me is, "These kids don't care about books." It makes me want to cry. How do I make them love books so much that they would never imagine leaving their book prizes behind? One of my friends has been very good about getting me to focus on the things that are actually significant in my work, and we determined that, at its very core, my job is to inspire children to love reading, and I feel like I'm failing when kids don't even care about taking their books home with them.
I am going to get back on a regular posting schedule here. There will be more storytime ideas, booklists, crafts, etc in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, this is my new favorite storytime activity, because I am so often visiting places outside of the library and I needed a good structured way to exit!
Tickle the clouds!
Tickle your toes!
Turn around (whee!)
and tickle your nose!
Reach down low!
Reach up high!
Storytime's over
Wave goodbye!
(I must always remind myself to pack up my bag before I start the poem or else we're back to awkward leaving time!)
