Yez! I haz a job!

In five weeks I will be the new Director of a gorgeous public library on Cape Cod!

The relief I feel is overwhelming - it's been one long, hard road here in terms of employment. Naturally, I'm also excited and scared to death. This is a brand new gig - and life - for me.

My regular readers and internet library friends know that this blog's been quiet for a while. Quite frankly, I was tired of complaining about the abysmal employment situation here, and tired of saying, "That would have been the perfect job for me, but I suck/am underqualified/overqualified/the job didn't actually exist anymore/etc." And my current job has been a nightmare - the kind of nightmare that you can't wake up from, and no one believes. Since I've been so good about keeping my yap shut on that (a feat, I tell you!), I'll simply sum up by saying that when I gave my notice, the Director said, "Good. We won't be replacing you, because reference is a non-essential service." I know, right!? Um, buh-bye.

My personal life has been chaos as well. Since the beginning of December, I've met the man of my dreams, ended a difficult four-year relationship, and moved in with said man of my dreams (Dan). Now we are uprooting our lives, relocating together to the Cape, and if all goes as we plan, I will be the eventual "step-mom" to FOUR children (two young teens, and a set of toddler TWINS - good God). And oh, I also turned 40. I need to lie down....

So, directors, former directors, managers - please - direct me to all the helpful goods! Books, articles, sage words of advice - I need it all. HALP!

I'm so excited! (As if all of the silly !!!!! points weren't clue enough.)

Yep, I'm still on "break," dealing with my chaotic personal life. I'm not dead.

And, apparently, someone noticed that I'm not dead and asked me for an interview! Nancy Matson writes Workin' It, a blog about the world of work. She contacted me and asked if I'd answer some questions about being a librarian, and I said, "sure!" You can check out the Q&A here - and take a look around, there's some interesting stories there.

Thanks, Nancy!

If we had one of these chairs at the reference desk, life would be a lot more interesting!

Yes, I have been a big slacker for quite some time. My personal life is FULL of upheaval right now, and I just haven't felt a lot of energy for blogging here. So many people blog about library stuff on a much more pertinent and consistent level than I do, that sometimes I wonder if I have anything at all to add. No, I haven't decided to retire Cool Librarian, but I guess right now it's just not a priority.

Aside from my crazy personal life, the situation at work has also made blogging about my job more difficult. It's not a happy time at my library, but because I am job-hunting, I don't feel free to talk much about work. This is beyond frustrating for me - first of all, I like blogging about my job, and I miss doing that. Secondly, I would love to be able to let the world know about the insanity going on there, but I can't be the one to do that, unless I want to spend the next few months living in a cardboard box. Suffice it to say, it ain't good.

In spite of all this, I actually have high hopes for 2008. I have a new love, and dare I say that he may be "the one." At my age, I figured that boat had sailed, and I was destined to be that caricature - you know, the spinster librarian with all the cats (cuz I do love me some cats). Professionally, well, let's just say this - if the library job market doesn't open up here soon, I may have to seriously consider another line of work. Since I love school more than just about anything (DORK), getting yet another degree wouldn't be the worst way to spend a few months.

As the year draws to a close, I feel that changes are finally afoot in my life. This has been a trying year, especially in terms of work. I rarely post about my job now, and that's mostly because my beloved library is falling apart. But, in spite of that, there have been some successes - a new slate of tech classes that I am teaching, a couple of additional YA programs, and at least a personal sense of accomplishment from time-to-time.

The job market here is horrendous, and that's been a constant struggle for me. I was even prepared to make a major move (for me, at least) for a dream job, but it was a long-shot that didn't pan out. But there's something else on the horizon, and I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Personally, BIG changes are definitely in store - both good and sad (isn't that usually the way?). While I relish change in the workplace, in my personal life - not so much. But in the end, I think that moving on from some negative situations can only mean more happiness.

So, no matter what life has handed you this past year, here's hoping that the good stays good, and the not so great improves in the coming year.

Wishing you peace and joy this holiday season!

For the last few months I have been using one of the coolest online tools that you may not know about - BlogBackup Online.

I signed up for it and, quite frankly, forgot all about it. When I remembered it a few weeks ago, I checked in to find that yes, all of my blog posts have indeed been backed up on a daily basis. And then yesterday, I had the opportunity to really put it to the test; one of my other blogs was having major issues, so I decided to see if I could "restore" all of the backed posts to a new blog (on the same platform, but a brand-new blog). And, it worked! The only snafu was that the comments were not saved in a comments file, but were rather republished on the posts themselves (and you have the option of NOT restoring comments), but in my opinion, that's a small price to pay for recovering all my blog posts.

BlogBackup Online is, at the moment, in BETA and is FREE. It has an easy, intuitive interface, a very good help file, and works with all the major blog platforms. It seems far easier to use than some other backup tools and code-schemes I have seen. Even if you use WordPress and/or publish to your own server, I think it's still worth a look - when you work hard on a blog, you can't have it saved in too many places. And if you use a blog platform's free hosting, I think this tool could be a life-saver - not only in terms of archiving the content, but then being able to restore it EASILY. Check it out.

It's time for some end-of-the-year housekeeping at Cool Librarian.

First, I'd like ask any of my newer readers who regularly check in via an aggregator (Bloglines, etc) to stop by the actual blog and take a look around. The CL blog is not just a single page, but several pages that archive (by subject, somewhat) the topics and tools that I have posted. So, the blog actually functions as the front page to a whole site, if you will. If you haven't done so recently, come check it out; I'm getting ready to make some changes and updates.

Library Links - Along those lines, if you are unaware of Library Links, please take a peek at that page. This is one collaborative project that's actually worked out quite well. We'd love to have you join us.

Info Share - After three years of begging people to participate in this, I'm thinking of scrapping it altogether. I still think it's a cool idea that would lend some value and uniqueness to Cool Librarian, but if people don't want to contribute, it's kinda pointless. So, before I throw in the towel, does anyone have any comments? Should I accept that people just "aren't into into it," and fold it up? Would you be interested if something was done differently? Did you have no idea it existed? Would you do it if you had total control over the posting of your projects - for instance, if I changed the format to a wiki? If I get some positive feedback and decide to keep at it, would you be willing to mention it on your blog? Please, help me out here - if you have yet to comment on this blog, now's the time.

Library Talk - I mentioned on that blog some time ago that I was most likely going to jettison it. I got responses from the usual suspects, but nothing more. So, again, if you didn't know it existed, check it out. To be honest, I'm more ready to let go of Library Talk than I am Info Share, so if it isn't useful to people, it's probably going bye-bye.

Potential Additions - Is there anything you'd like to see here (in terms of pages or sidebar content, not just blog posts) that isn't here? Have you had an idea in your head that you don't have time to implement?

I guess that's my list for now....