On New Adventures

A lot happened in my professional life this summer. About two months ago, I was offered a position with Skokie Public Library in their newly-created Learning Experiences Department. It was an opportunity the likes of which I had neither anticipated nor expected at this stage in my career. So I submitted my resignation from my job in Missouri; went into crazy planning mode to ensure that my now former department would be good to go once I left; ran an unconference; and moved to Evanston, Illinois.

For two weeks now, I've been the Youth & Family Program Coordinator with Skokie Public Library. My job is part collection management, part program coordination, all thinking about how the library can continue to meet the needs of young customers and their families, even as those needs are continually evolving. It's a marvelous new adventure.

And with new adventures come new goals. At the beginning of this year, I shared my 2014 storytime goals, which I'd been documenting here on this blog. Since my professional responsibilities in my new job are significantly different than those I had in January, however, I've been rethinking and adjusting my professional goals. One big goal adjustment has to do with this blog.

Specifically, I'll be posting with less frequency. My goal is to post once per week. This reduction is a result of several factors, including the fact that since I am new to my job, I don't yet have a full grasp of what I'll be doing that might be of interest to readers. And I don't want to waste anyone's time by posting content that's not useful!

While I'll be posting new content here once per week, I'm also working on lining up guest posts. There are so many amazing things happening in librarianship, you guys, and I consider it a privilege to be a platform for other folks to share their ideas outward. So look for those posts in addition to my own. (And if you're interested in sharing a program or idea as a guest blogger, shoot me an email at amy.e.koester(at)gmail.com!)

It's a time of transition around here, folks. I am grateful for your patience over the last month and a half while I was away from the blog, and I appreciate your support as I find a new normal for this space. I love being able to share with you, and I look forward to discovering what that looks like going forward.

~*~

Oh, and I've had a ton of people ask me if I'll be changing the name of my blog because I no longer live and work in the Show Me State. Nope! I'll continue to be the Show Me Librarian. After all, this blog has been all about showing people what I've been up to at my library, and that's not going to change.