Wow! I’m back!

Hey everyone!

You thought I was dead, or perhaps dismembered? Why would you think that? Weirdo…

Anyway, I want to start posting again! So, you can rejoice 🙂

Let me at least catch you up on what’s been happening with me in terms of librarianism since my last post. In my defense, I’ve been VERY busy 🙂

1. I was elected the President the NJLA Reference Section and served almost a year term by now.  We did a number of cool things with me as president. Also, for much of the time I mostly served without a VP, Secretary or editor of the newsletter, which is much of the organizational structure. I organized the NJLA Adult Services Forum, which had 9 different presentations/workshops, had a featured speakers, breakfast and lunch, and some display tables and such. It was a really good event and we got over 100 librarians to attend. While very stressful, also very rewarding 🙂
2. Also as President of the Reference Section: 1) I co-organized a meeting/day of programs with the History/Preservation Section which included a presentation on doing genealogy research. 2) I organized a tour of the Monroe Public Library’s makerspace as part of one of our Ref Section meetings. 3) I’m now working on putting together a meeting of Ref Section that will also include a panel discussion on “Furthering Your Librarian Career” – this will include an all-star panel of librarians, which is awesome. Looking forward to it. I might need to bake something for attendees 🙂
3. I COMPLETED the library’s contract negotiations and signed a contract after a 4 year struggle to get this done! We, well, gave up a good number of things in my opinion, but preserved some important things and at least created some important assured structure for the workers. It was a HUGE relief to get this done after so long and so many meetings and so much work. I, well, ATTEMPTED to resign my post as union rep after this. Epilogue: no one came forward to take over my position and in that time, the board, well, contested something in the contract so…back to it. This REALLY frustrated me as I was attempting to move onto different professional endeavors.
4. I had 2 job offers and another very good interview for a dream job. I almost took one of the positions, but turned it down at the last moment because I sensed lots of instability in the offering library. Turns out I was right to turn this down. Though, this didn’t necessarily get me additional respect at my current position…
5. I wrote and WON a grant to build a MAKERSPACE at my library! I also got additional funding from my library board. This is a HUGE project that I am largely undertaking by myself, because, well, my library is disorganized. However, this is going to be a very sweet thing and I”ve already made many plans, ordered all the equipment and started training, staff training, advertisements, program planning, etc, etc. We will have the following things:

– 3D printer and scanner
– photography creation station – SLR camera, tripod, green screen, lighting, Adobe Creative Suite, high end Dell laptop, printer, etc.
– music recording station – midi keyboard, Garageband, Macbook Pro, mixer, microphones, headphones, etc.
– Aduino kits
– Makey Makey kits
– robotics kit
– LEGO educational kits

1. Spoke the other day on a panel discussing creating Makerspaces at your library for the BCCLS Tech Committee. Probably had 75 people in attendance. I was on a panel with some SERIOUS librarians who all have functioning makerspaces. I was the only one who didn’t have it up and running yet. I still killed it though (note: that last statement came after 4 Founders Centennial Beers :))
2. I’m close to creating the largest Comics and Manga collection the BCCLS system (75 libraries) – I WILL create the biggest collection soon!
3. I”ve held LOTS of cool events as part of our DIY series and many more since I last posted. Last month I held a Beer Brewing and Tasting Event with a local brewing club. 55 people showed up, and many of the 20s/30s crowd that we are looking to attract. We had a cool history display of the history of beer in Hoboken, lots of snacks, book display on brewing/tasting books, and more. We brought in the dudes from 902 Brewing from Hoboken, who were GREAT. “Tastings” ended up being full 12 oz pours! Haha, totally fine by me. I might have had several myself 🙂 http://902brewing.com/

Also, my work has undergone some series personnel changes. My colleague reference librarian and friend moved onto a position in another state. She seems to be doing really well and liking her new location. I miss her lots but wish her all the best in her new location 🙂 We also brought in a librarian as full time who has been working part time for a while now. She is also AWESOME and I’m definitely looking forward to working with her and doing fun and cool projects together. There is also a “dude” (haha)  – ok, a new LIBRARIAN in the YA department who is part time but HOPEFULLY will be full time very soon. He has lots of good ideas and should also be sweet to work with. So despite some, uh, administrative roadblocks, I’m very excited to work with both of these young and enthusiastic librarians. Cool things await 🙂

There’s plenty more too. Been brewing beer again and want to start all grain brewing. Built a Wort Chiller and am attempting to build a Mash Tun. Brewed a partial Mash Oatmeal Stout the other day. So…yunno, beer!

Finally, I ran for NJLA Executive Committee this year as a Member-at-Large. The official results are not out yet, so I can’t say yet…. 🙂

That’s all for now! More to come soon I hope.

Today’s post has been fueled by:

FELA KUTI

 

 

 

 

 

 

Founders Centennial IPA

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! See you soon 🙂