I’ve decided to call it a day with this blog. It’s been going for almost 7 years, and has seen me through four jobs, two countries, my wedding, lots of changes in focus, and many many holidays. I started it when I had no idea how to get involved in the profession, and through times when I was far too busy with committees.

I’ve met so many people because of it - thank you all for reading for all these years. I really appreciate all the comments and links and friendships.

Why end now? I just hit a point where I was struggling to find things to post about. And so it’s time to move onto something new, whatever that is. I will be archiving and then selectively removing pages from this blog, but goodness knows that darned Library Songs page is always gonna be here.

The fun continues over at Semantic Library, and Libraries Interact where I will continue to blog.

Alyson over at Chapter Two has a great post on managing professional development. We all know we should do it, but for some of us managing all the things we want to do that fall into that category can quickly spiral out of control. She writes,

“Something that I’ve always struggled with, personally and professionally, is that I find it very, very difficult to let opportunities slip by.”

I fall into this boat too, but as I’ve written before I’ve had to make it a priority to keep this in check, especially committees. Others have written in the past about the tendency for people to be asked to do more and more things once they become active in an association or write and present regularly, which of course is wonderful but can mean that obligations add up quickly. But it can be just as satisfying to suggest someone else for that paper or committee, giving more people a chance to participate.
It is hard to let things go or pass you by, but I figure that in the long run you’ll have more energy to keep being involved with projects and committees instead of burning out under a huge workload. I, at one point, was a member of six committees across ALIA and ALA which I would never repeat! Alyson has a great list of what she will and won’t be doing, a good way to work out what you really do have the time and energy for.

As for me, I’m putting most of my efforts this year into the paper for ALA (with Alyson), the paper on newgrads and writing (so close to finished now!), and the Semantic Library blog. I’m really learning a lot from writing and talking to people about it. The rest of my free time over the next few months is dedicated to travelling!

Take a look at the fun and engaging way that Les bibliothèques de l’université d’Angers are promoting their LIBQUAL+ survey this year (via Marlene’s Corner).

LIBQUAL+ often comes across as being a bit, well… dry, but this is a great example of the library not taking itself too seriously and having fun.

The session that Alyson, Andrew and I will be presenting about NLS along with Loida Garcia-Febo about IFLA’s New Professionals Discussion Group is in the ALA Annual early bird programme [DOC] -

NMRT President’s Program/Membership Meeting: International Insights for New Librarians
Thanks to technology, people around the world are becoming more connected. How can new librarians take advantage of international opportunities? A panel will discuss the New Librarians’ Symposia (NLS), organized by Australian Library and Information Association to meet the needs of new librarians and library school students, as well as IFLA’s New Professionals Discussion Group. The NMRT Membership Meeting will follow the panel discussion.