Ok, first things first. The possibility which I was writing about in my last post has become real. I have been offered - and have accepted - a job outside of libraries. I’m feeling both excitement and trepidation about this. It’s similar to how I felt when I first decided to move from Australia to the USA.
I am packing my bags and moving from Libraryland to Regulatoryland*. I don’t know if I’ll return to Libraryland or not, but I’m planning on taking my new life in Regulatoryland seriously. I’m certainly not visiting for a short holiday.
Although sometimes I have been pessimistic about the future of libraries, those notions are not what is driving this decision. It’s ultimately a personal choice about what is best for me at this moment. The bigger questions about the future of librarians are just background.
How can I continue to maintain a blog called the exploded library if I am not actually working in a library?
This blog has rarely been about my day-to-day work in a library. It’s been more about various ideas seen through a library-related lens. That’s unlikely to change, because for the time being I’ll keep my librarian’s perspective - it’s who I am. The difference is that now I’ll be someone who uses libraries, and who cares a lot about libraries. I will represent that important but sometimes challenging client, the librarian client.
Until next Thursday, I’m working at the Australian Taxation Office’s library. The ATO** is a very large organization - employing over 25,000 people. Serving that many potential clients is not easy, and so something the ATO Library is constantly doing is getting into the heads of our clients (and potential clients), to work out better ways of helping them do their work. In my current position, it would be very helpful know what a very engaged user is thinking about library-related issues. That’s something I may be doing here in this blog.
This blog is about to enter a busy period, as it does occasionally. There are quite a few ideas for posts floating around in my head, which I’d like to write down before I start my new job. This means I’ll be posting every other day for the next two weeks or so.
*Because of how I interpret the APSC social media rules, it’s better if I don’t disclose here which agency I’ll be working for. It’s just simpler this way.
**My experience of working for a tax collecting agency will be something I’m blogging about soon.
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