Just when I think I'm out...

Well, I am truly speechless. I received a very surprising phone call yesterday afternoon. It was the director for the library I had interviewed at 2 weeks ago. He was calling to offer me the job. I truly thought they had already offered the job to someone else. You see I interviewed for the job on a Wednesday, and at the end of the interview I was told that I would hear something if not Monday then definitely Wednesday. So when I didn't hear anything, I assumed that they had given the job to someone with more teaching experience, like had happened with the other job I interviewed for that week. I am so glad I was wrong. After he said they wanted to offer me the job, all I could say for a full minute was OK. I know I sounded like a complete idiot! :) But who cares, we are moving to VA!!! I will be a reference and instruction librarian there. Now the real fun begins...

The Temp Job

The temp job that I started in June has been a colorful garden in a bleak landscape for me. I am really enjoying the work I am doing on the NC DOCKS project. I find a great deal of satisfaction in being able to work on a certain article or profile and then I can go to that item in the IR and see the result of my hard work. It's always nice to have something to show for the time an effort you invest. I'm glad I took that Digital Libraries class in during the Fall 2009 semester. I feel that it gave me a good foundation to build upon as I progress in this position. Thank God for this job and this library.

The Job Search

Anyone who tells you that looking for a job is a rewarding experience is a liar. I've been applying for jobs since December 2009, 37 in all, and this whole experience has not rewarded me in the least bit. I have had 4 phone interviews and have been on 4 job interviews. I have not had a single job offer. I have also turned down 2 other in person job interviews, because this whole process is too taxing and difficult for me to go for interviews for jobs that I do not want or are in places I do not want to live. This job search has left me more frustrated than I have ever been in my life, with very little confidence in myself, and at times, to question my faith. But I'm in good company, many of my fellow graduates have not fared much better. I can count on 2 fingers the number of library school friends that now have professional jobs.

While this experience has not been rewarding, I have learned a few things.

1. Never go on a job interview without knowing what they are going to pay you (at least get a range) or what benefits they offer.
2. Do not schedule 2 interviews 2 days in a row, especially if they are day long interviews. Not a good idea.
3. Never go on an interview for a job you do not want. These interviews are very stressful and taxing on the psyche. It is not worth the stress and aggravation to go through the interview process for a job you would turn down if offered.

With the Fall semester approaching there will be fewer and fewer academic jobs available. I am very unsure and confused about what my place in the library world should be. I'm trying to stay positive though. I really wanted to leave NC, but it looks like fate is trying to keep me here. We'll see how it plays out. I am a very impatient person and this summer has been torture for me. I'm disappointed that I will not be leaving NC. I really wanted to get out of here and experience new places. But who knows, I may look back on this in 5 years and say this was the greatest thing that could have happened, staying in NC. I hope so.

One positive thing that happened this summer is the temporary job that I have in Technical Services at Jackson Library. It is wonderful. I am working on the North Carolina Digital Online Collection of Knowledge and Scholarship (NC DOCKS) project. NC DOCKS is a cooperative effort to make the scholarly output of the University of North Carolina System more available to the world. Current institutional participants include Appalachian State University, Eastern Carolina University, UNC Greensboro, UNC Pembroke, and UNC Wilmington. NC DOCKS includes many full text articles, audio recordings, dissertations, and other formats. All materials are indexed by Google and are freely available to scholars and researchers world-wide. I have been retrieving articles, reformatting them and then uploading them to the IR. I've also been preparing an IR follow-up report by reviewing what has been uploaded and what still needs to be uploaded for the faculty members that the staff have been working on. I'm really enjoying my work there. I've always wanted to work in Technical Services. I hope this leads to a future in cataloging for me. Cataloging is what I always wanted to do anyway.