Library Web Chic

I write very little about my personal life on this blog because that just isn’t what this blog is about. However, when my personal and professional life overlap, it is difficult to talk about one without talking about the other. In May, my husband had the opportunity to apply for a really great job in Houston. We had been talking for a while about leaving upstate New York so that he would have better opportunities for jobs. So he applied for the job and what followed was a set of serendipiteous events, that has taken me to a place that I never imagined myself. (At least not at this point in my life.) I’ve been offered a job as the Head of the Library Web Services Department at the University of Houston and my husband has been offered a job working at NASA. So, after four and a half tremendously rewarding years, I am leaving SUNY Cortland.

Although the decision to leave was on some levels an easy one, (what can I say its a good career move) letting go of Cortland has been much more difficult than I expected. A portion of it is the great people I work with, who endeavor to make the library a better place, with limited staff and funds. Another chunk of the attachment is the fact that SUNY Cortland helped me to make my reputation as a librarian. All of my work and publications revolve around projects done there. Projects, which I am extremely proud of and attached to. Then there are the “projects unfinished” that I would really like to see how they turn out but there just isn’t enough time to do them all before I leave. The last sizable chunk is the fear of unknown, the fear of change. Still combined with the fear and anxiety, is a tremendous excitement to see new things, and an intense enthusiasm for the chance to make an impact someplace else.

I’m not really sure exactly what this new job and city will hold for me. I have my own hopes, and I think my past experiences will help me tremendously with the transition. Like a little kid, I’m filled with excitement about the possibilities (even if the logistics of moving 1600 miles is daunting). I am looking forward to working with the great people I met when I interviewed, taking on different challenges, and learning many, many new things. I’ll thank everyone in advance for your patience with my lack of posts, while I’m trying to pack my stuff and square things away at work all in four weeks.