madam librarian

P.S. I created this as a "page" ages ago, but in an attempt to clean up this rarely used blog a bit, I am now turning it into a regular old post.

So, I'm a mommy and a sort-of musician, but most of my time is spent masquerading as a...wait for it...librarian! And not just any librarian, but the best kind of librarian, which happens to be the YOUTH SERVICES kind of librarian. I work full-time at a small public library, part of a larger county system, and I focus specifically on older kids (they call them "tweens" these days) and teens. The best part? I absolutely adore what I do!

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is creating awesome programs to suck my young patrons into the library. I currently host a monthly Minecraft club, science program, and art club, plus a book "discussion" group (I use the term loosely), as well as other miscellaneous good times. These kiddos think they are at the library just to have fun, when in reality they are there to be molded into the next generation of library lovers and supporters. (Cue evil laugh!)

Canvas and easel night at our monthly Art Club (hey, why is no one using the easels?)

And I'm rather obsessed with the other big part of my job, which is maintaining a great kids' and young adult book collection. I get to spend lots and lots of other people's money (though there is never enough of it, really) on sweet new books to share with the community. I even enjoy the "weeding" part, a fancy librarian term for determining what books need to go away in order to present a cleaner collection and to make room for the new stuff.

One of my bulletin boards, featuring some popular reads, plus new books on display

Unfortunately I DO NOT get to read on the job (that's a complete myth that any public librarian will dispel. Time to read at work? Ha! We are much too busy helping people, fixing computers, ordering and ditching books, making cool displays, attending various meetings, doing community outreach, and planning all those awesome programs for your kids!) But when I do read ON MY OWN TIME, which is often, I can always happily justify it as work related research. For my own pleasure (and research, of course) I stick mainly to older juvenile and YA novels, with some non-fiction thrown in there for good measure.

The pay may be crappy and there may be nothing glamorous about it, but I just can't help myself...I'm sort of in love with my job!

a little teen space love!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that jazz! In honor of the changing of the seasons, I figured it was about time to take down my Hunger Games inspired bulletin board (sob) and replace it with this winter-themed dude:

Nice & simple! I especially like the mug of coffee (or hot cocoa) with cotton "steam." Just warms up my soul!

Yesterday I got busy on a makeshift TEENS sign to stake claim to the area (which is now where my desk and I reside!) I cut out huge letters from some leftover scrapbook paper and glue-dotted them to the post by the YA section. My only hangup was originally making a backwards S. Kind of brightens up the place, no? I also made that little "Librarian" sign so patrons would know who they're dealing with!

And there's the old Mockingjay symbol peeking out. Didn't have the heart to trash it!

bulletin board repurpose

Remember this guy?

Today, to usher in our library system's Winter session, I transitioned him to this:

And in the Spring, he will come alive with lovely buds! I just don't have the heart to chop down my tree just yet. Plus, we have quite a few bulletin boards to deal with at our branch, and this little trick saved me some time and effort. Now to figure something out for the Teen board...

library miscellany

If you are into The Hunger Games, then you know that Mockingjay - Part 2, will soon hit theaters! I had to get my library in on the action, of course. I stole this idea from a few similar bulletin boards floating around on the web, and made it my own. I was all sorts of impressed with myself for free-handing that Mockingjay emblem there. See it? Right there in the middle there? Yep, I drew that!

The final installment of the "Hunger Games" movies comes out in November!

In other library news, I've been offering Take & Makes for Teens, where I put out a different craft each month for my patrons to take and...you guessed it...make. If they bring back their finished masterpiece to show us, they get a Dum-Dum! I've had really good luck with Flextangles and my all-time favorite craft project, glass marble magnets, but my latest offering is just so darn cute that I had to share it. Plus, it came out of my very own brain (not saying these haven't been done before, but this little incarnation is all mine, at least as far as I'm aware.) They are flying off the shelf like spooky little hotcakes, people!

I love that the guy on the left looks a bit like a mummy minion!

...and the search begins

Day one of my job search included updating my profile on USAJOBS.gov and doing general searches in the Philadelphia area.  No I have not lost my job (imagine - happy Valentine's Steph; I'm unemployed) but as you may or may not know, my job is a term appointment and my exit clock is slowly ticking down.

We are also moving to New Jersey very soon and what I hoped would be more flexibility for me working from home, looks to be a new anti-telework sentiment in the office.  I am currently doing three days a week at home and two in the office, but who knows how long that will last and I don't plan on being away from my family anymore than I already am.

So the search begins.  Let me know if you have any leads and I'll keep everyone posted on my progress.  I figure it will take at least six months.  I'd love to stay in Weatherization, but with our funding challenges I really doubt there will be many new job opportunities.  My first choice right now is working for HUD in their Philly office.  A 40 minute bus ride right off my doorstep.  Wish me luck.  Happy Valentine's Day!

dc here we come

I finally got a job I applied for in DC. I had been applying for months without any luck. I apparently wasn't qualified for most of the jobs and ended up only getting one interview - over the phone. Luckily they liked me well enough to hire me and it happened to be the job I wanted most. I know everyone is used to cute photos and videos so I'm sorry for the boring post, but this is very exciting for us. We will be around for another couple of months trying to stay sane planning and executing the move. We will miss it here, especially being close to my family and our friends, but we plan to visit often and hopefully a few people might come see us as well. Next steps are finding an apartment, finishing the last few touches of house construction, packing, and hitting the road. Leaving the house we worked so hard on will be very hard, but getting further north before the hot summer will be a big plus. I absolutely love DC. Steph will be pretty close to her parents. Elliott will get to experience all of what DC has to offer. And I will be doing work I can be proud of. Stay tuned for more adventures of the life & times of smiddleton middlewartz.

a woman of leisure

I am now officially a "woman of leisure." I can hear all you stay-at-home moms snickering now. Leisure? OK, not quite. But I sure feel much more relaxed than I did trying to juggle a full-time, fast-paced career with raising an infant.

Yesterday was my last day at the library, after 3 years and 3 months on the job. I feel so happy to be at home with my daughter, and am certainly at peace with my decision, but I can't deny a certain sadness and emptiness at leaving my library family. They are such great people, and I'm lucky I had the chance to work with and befriend them. The wonderful thing is that I live only a few blocks away, so Ellie and I will be back to bug everyone on a very frequent basis!

A few members of the marvelous youth services staff,
at my goodbye party (10/29)

Here's the part where I fondly reminisce about the good times I had whilst working at the library (cue any song by The Fray for some appropriately emotional yet uplifting background music.)

Hosting the coolest Harry Potter book release party
in all the land! (July, 2007)

My "host puppet" Mo - once a celebrity among local kids -
at the Storytelling Festival. (October 2008)

One of the puppet shows I produced - Golditeeth! (Summer 2008)

Green screen fun! (March, 2009)

One of my last days on the ref desk (10/30)

Ahhh, the memories! If anyone from work is reading this, tell everyone I said hello! And I will be by this Wednesday...