Today the explodedlibrary celebrates an anniversary – it is eleven years and one month old. It reminds me of eleventy-one, one of my favourite fictional numbers. I also think it’s a good day to call it quits.
This blog has often had some association with library and information issues, and even when it didn’t consider these core issues, it embodied a librarian’s perspective. But what is left when these issues are rarely covered and when that point of view starts to fade?
I have been working outside the library profession for over eighteen months now. The policy and regulation job was initially an escape from the most dysfunctional workplace I have ever experienced, and I thought that it would be a temporary hiatus in my library career. Leaving libraries was a difficult adjustment, but now I’m finding that this refuge feels like home. I had kept an eye open for opportunities to return to libraries, and had identified a few possibilities, but on each occasion I suffered cold feet and decided not to even apply for any of them.
Last week I experienced an interesting insight into this change. I asked the librarian at my work for help locating a little fact that I needed for a project I’ve been working on. Not long ago, I would have been extremely embarrassed to be asking another librarian assistance for something like this, especially when I had the skills and experience to find this information for myself. But last week, I decided to ask for help, because I was short on time, and even more crucially, I wanted to preserve my focus on other parts of the work. It worked out ok and I’ll probably do it again.
I hope to continue blogging, but if I do, it’s going to be on a new blog. I considered the possibility of rebooting this blog so it better reflects who I am and what my interests are today. But when I considered these changes seriously, they seemed jarring and would not work well with what already exists. I think it’s better to just close this one and leave it be.
One of the best things about blogging is that it’s given me chances to interact with some amazing bloggers over the years. The camaraderie that existed amongst the librarian bloggers in those first years was amazing, and I’m thankful that I was able to participate in that. Thank you also to my readers and commenters who have tolerated my irregular and infrequent updates over the years.
When I get my new blogging project underway, if I’m able to contact you, I’ll let you know about it. I may even edit this post to provide a link.
Goodbye!
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