A Different Breed of Library

So I would say that 6:00 dawns early. But I would be lying. Because dawn implies some sort of sunlight. And for the record, the sun wasn't shining at my house at 6:00 this morning. And I probably was "just in the middle of a dream" when my alarm sounded. (And that's a Bangles reference. Because they rock. And so does that song. Which you can hear here :).)

But I did manage to drag my sorry butt out of bed. And get ready for the day. And it was so nice to go out and find my car all icy. NOT. It hasn't been getting cold enough here lately to ice over. So I found sweet irony in the fact that it iced over last night, since today I had to get going before daybreak and had to be to the service center for training by 8. So I had to de-ice, which put me about 5 minutes behind schedule. So I decided to go the interstate way through Tacoma, because I figured I knew this way and it wasn't too hard to figure out. And thus I figured it would be quicker in case I got lost going to back way. Well, I didn't think rush hour traffic in Tacoma would start at 7! Yikes! But, apparently, it does. We came to a complete stop at one point when the lane I was in was trying to merge with the interstate. So, I was a little nervous. I really didn't want to be late. And thankfully, I wasn't. I was there about 5 minutes early, and I was the 2nd person there. Out of 4. As the day went on, the four of us got to talking and discussing things, and it turns out that at least 3 of the four of us (the 4th wasn't in on this particular conversation) have been looking for work and applying for library jobs for a long time and constantly not getting the jobs. One of them even used to work in the library system as a substitute and people knew her, but she wasn't getting the jobs. And I guess the position she finally got (as a library aide, same as me), she was told that 134 people applied for that job! It's just crazy! So I am not the only one. I guess when you are "competing" with that many people, even having an interview says a lot. And I had 4 interviews over the past year and a half, including this last one. I'm thankful to have this job. And the benefits are phenomenal! Oh yeah, and they pay you for everything. I get paid for 2 hours of reading the New Employee binder. I get paid for the training I attended today. I get paid for the travel time to the training. I get paid for the mileage to get to the training. We get 2 personal days a year, in addition to vacation leave. And they will pay me for my vacation leave (up to 120 hours) that I don't use when/if I leave the job (or library system), etc. etc. All cool bonuses.

But I will say this... The library world here is a lot different from the library world at HLML! The service center is the "hub" for all the libraries that this library system serves, of which there are 27. There are over 300 employees in the library system. It covers 5 counties. So none of the branches process or order or mend or select their own materials. Even the major reference questions get referred to the hub, where they have a collection of Reference Books. Not that each branch doesn't have some reference materials. But the Reference Collection is maintained at the hub. I remember working in Technical Services at HLML and how much I loved that job.
And part of it was that I was able to do a lot of different jobs. It's weird to think of the library as not having those things done "in-house." I know they weren't done in Ashford, but somehow it just felt different. Not bad mind you. Just different. We got a tour of the whole facility and all the departments from selectors, to acquisitions, to cataloging, to processing, to the computer peeps. And man oh man do they have some computers! We saw a room full of servers. 50 servers, to be exact. With a ton of battery back-ups. And around another corner was the "switchboard" thing where all the telephone lines come in. And those have car batteries as battery back-ups! It was wild. Anyway... I drove home the back way. I think it was quicker, and now I know I can make it that way, so yay :). It was a long day, but a good day. I think I will like this library system. I know I am already adding books to my "to-read" list that is plenty long already, just from some of the conversations we had today at lunch. I am excited to get back into the public library! And there doesn't seem to be a lot of job turnover. Pretty much everyone that talked to us today had worked there for over 10 years. So, there seems to be lots of longevity there. Plus, most of them said they started out as a page or a library aide and moved up the ladder. So obviously there is a lot of internal moving within the library system, which is a good thing. Oh! And another thing I forgot until this morning (Thursday)... They even have a print center in the service center where they do their own printing! They have a huge paper cutter, a Hidelberg printing press, a folder... It was wild to see all those things there. I've seen them before, since my ex-in-laws have a printing business, but it was so weird to see them in a library center!

So, that was my day. I'm going to relax and enjoy my evening. I'm going to probably watch some tv and read. And sleep :).