A new job on the horizon
Those of you who've been following my posts about my job search have probably noticed that I haven't said anything about it in a while. I've been holding off making any kind of formal announcement until everything was settled, but now that I have an official offer letter in hand, I can share the big news: starting at the end of July, I'm going to be the new Reference and Instruction Librarian / Special Projects Coordinator at Connecticut College, in New London, CT (here it is on the map, if you're curious). As well as all the things implied by the job title, I'm also going to be doing some outreach to the English department — so I'll be putting my overeducation to good use, and in a highly congenial setting. I've come to really like the small liberal arts college library atmosphere after the past couple of years at Swarthmore, and when I went for my interview and a follow-up visit, I just really liked everyone I met and everything I saw at the library. To say I'm thrilled with the way the job search turned out is, if anything, an understatement.
I've already found an apartment in New London, and am now enmeshed in preparations for moving. New London is a small city, but big enough to have an arts scene, good coffee, a soon-to-be organic food co-op, and an early music festival. Plus it's got so much maritime history I may just have to take up messing about in boats. In my spare time I'm pondering what life will be like in "the Shire," as a friend who moved to New England a few years ago calls it. I'm already noticing how many references to Connecticut there are in Wallace Stevens' poems; while apartment-hunting, I also got to visit James Merrill's home town of Stonington, which is just up the coast from New London. I've never lived in Connecticut, but I'm intrigued by all the poets it's produced.
I'm going to miss Philadelphia, but I'll be able to get my big city fix (not to mention my opera fix) in New York and Boston, both of which are close by. And I'm certainly going to miss all the great people I've worked with for the past two years; thank goodness for library conferences, and for e-mail.
As of yesterday, I'm officially a librarian, with the master's degree to prove it, and as of next month, I'll have my first official professional library job. I'm still kind of amazed that it all worked out — but amazed in a good way.
WooHoo! Congratulations, Amanda!
Congratulations!
Huzzah indeed! I’m glad to hear about the new place – I wish you joy of it 🙂
And, do you know, I just found a marvelous copy of The Wind in the Willows today – it’s a hardcover, nicely typeset, and has lovely illustrations. I admit being sadly drawn in by the bargain book table at times, but I have a soft spot for such things.
Hooray and congratulations!
Congrats on all counts, Amanda!
Huge, huge congrats on the degree and the job–and the Shire [grin]!
My favorite movie about a librarian is Only Two Can Play, with Peter Sellers.
I hope that you will enjoy your new job. I saw a lecture once in Maine about how Wallace Stevens is all geography, even more than Charles Olson. And that he’s referring to real places and real people throughout his seemingly fantastic poems.
Geoffrey Hart was maybe the name of the lecturer. I forget now.
hooray!!! congratulations!!
Thanks, you guys!