A Month Later...

Here I am.  One month since I left the hallowed halls of Uni High School.  I miss the place everyday.  I miss the students.  I miss my co-workers.  I miss the quaint, comfortable, humble library.  I won't lie when I say my last day was rough.  It was cut short, too, which I wasn't prepared for, and I missed giving it a proper goodbye.  (My poor son had a bad day at pre-school, and I was needed at home stat.)  The ending was abrupt, not what I wanted it to be, and maybe that's part of the reason why I miss it so much.

 My bag, all packed up and ready to go.  :(  Such a true statement on it, too.

 The hallway outside the library.  All clean and ready for the summer.  I never saw it this clean and empty during the school year.

But...the good, no GREAT news is...I have been hired to be a school librarian!

That's right, faithful readers, I have been given the position of Library Media Specialist at Mahomet Seymour Junior High School.  So, not only will I be a school librarian, but I will be a MIDDLE SCHOOL librarian!  This was my DREAM!  I have already met with the principal several times, and she seems very supportive of me.  (However, she does want me to weed the collection down to maybe ten books, so I'll have to work with her on that.  OK, maybe a BIT of an overstatement, but the lady wants the old books GONE.)

Mahomet is a small, but growing town, about 15 minutes west from the Champaign area, where I have lived my whole life and where the greatest public university is housed (UIUC, duh). The school district is very different from where I previously worked in Champaign, and change is always good (although a bit scary at first).  The principal is already being supportive of changes I want to make, and she wants the library to be completely overhauled during the next couple of years.  She wants students to WANT to come into the library to read and research, she wants me circulating throughout the library, involved with students' reading choices and levels, collaborating with the teachers, and making the library a comfortable, safe space.  Hey, I want to do all of that stuff, too!  We have grand plans to tear down a wall this summer and make a reading loft, which if that happens before school starts, will be a dream come true!

Oh, and one more thing: The library has a registered Little Free Library.  AWESOME SAUCE!  I did some research on LFL's last fall, and I've always wanted to be involved in one.  Now, I get to do that, too!  The principal said she bets the students don't even know about it, so that'll be one thing I get to pump up, advertise, and get students to help with. 

It's gonna be a busy, whirlwind first year.  It's going to be scary at times, frustrating, stressful, but above all...IT WILL BE OUTRAGEOUS FUN!!!  Keep tuned, because you know I'll be writing about it all along the way.  :)