Bittersweet

     Tonight was the last Manitowoc Public Library Board of Trustees meeting I will attend. As I listened to the budget discussion from the cheap seats, I realized that as of next month I will be seated at the conference table discussing the same issues with the Franklin Public Library Board of Trustees. We will tackle budgets and policies and technology issues and all of the other things that impact public libraries. And I’m ready for the job. I start in just 20 days, and I really am counting down. I can’t wait!

     What I’m not sure about is leaving home. It’s not as if I haven’t left before. Three days after I graduated high school I moved to Milwaukee to work for the summer. From there I headed to Illinois where I went to school, married and had my first baby.

     Eight years later I returned to Manitowoc – for just one year, I told myself. I meant it. I had every intention of returning to Chicagoland or, at the very smallest, Milwaukee. There is an old Yiddish proverb, Der mentsh trakht un Got lakht, which translates as Man plans and G-d laughs. I’ve been here for 29 years. The Big Guy has a keen sense of humor.

     But now I am leaving. Half-filled boxes fill my dining room. I have an apartment waiting for me in Franklin. I even bought new towels (something that really must be done more often than once a decade).

     When the library trustee who’s been on the board since I arrived told me he’d miss me, I wanted to cry. When I saw the look of surprise on the face of a local merchant with whom I’ve planned years of downtown activities, I wanted to apologize and tell her I was joking.

     Leaving home when you’re 18 is expected. As a teen, I never thought staying in Manitowoc was even an option. Leaving home at the far side of 50 is a little different. At this point, I thought I’d stay. I’m comfortable. I’m also realizing just how close I feel to the people with whom I’ve worked during the past three decades. Certainly, I will make new connections. It will be different, though. I will truly be standing on my own, without the benefit of being Bea and Nash’s youngest daughter, or Patrick’s wife, or Jessica, Nashira and Katie’s mom.

     Am I up for the challenge? Indubitably! But I’m certainly happy that I’m close enough to visit!

Background check

Here I am, a middle aged librarian.  I'm a grandmother, too, complete with graying hair and sensible shoes.  I fit the stereotype.  I even knit.  Yet somehow, it took four weeks to dredge through my past.  Though my life is not quite as boring as my children seem to think it is, I really haven't done anything to trigger an intense check of my past.  Yes, a few motor vehicle violations (some parking, some speeding), but all my other interactions with law enforcement have been either in the context of my job, or social.

It seems the good detective who conducted my background check focused a great deal on my educational background. True, I didn't take a straight and narrow path through my undergraduate studies.  I took courses at a variety of colleges and universities. And I changed focus a few times. And, yes, I attended college under three different names in two different states, but I told the officer all of that up front. If I had falsified any transcripts, wouldn't it look better if I took all my credits at one school, focused on one degree, and excelled in all of my classes.  No one who's lying would have handed over the ragged stack of transcripts that I did.

Which brings me to the question: What if someone did have some indiscretions in their youth?  What if he smoked pot -- even if he never inhaled (a reference that will only be caught by readers of a certain age)?  What if she did default on a loan?  What if the divorce was messy? What separates a worthy candidate from an unworthy candidate? 

Sure, when I post something on facebook or twitter or this blog, I think about possible repercussions. I conduct myself as the bearer of a good name.  I don't want to embarrass myself, my husband, or my children. I don't want to sully my parent's good names.  But what if I had messed up in my teens or twenties? Would that mark me forever unworthy?  Even decades later?

True, I don't know what line I would have had to cross in order to be disqualified as a department head in the City of Franklin, but it does make me wonder.  It also makes me think that the likelihood is great that I will be working with a team of people who think before they act, who care about the organization at least as much as they care about themselves, and who are what they seem.

Maybe the background check was good thing afterall. 

It's official!

The letter of resignation is in my director's mailbox. The moving boxes are piling up at home. I have been offered and accepted the position as director of the Franklin Public Library in Franklin, Wisconsin, a sprawling suburb south of Milwaukee. I start in a month.

Must tell you, the process is quite interesting. I saw the ad for the position. I applied and quickly received a phone call telling me that I would be contacted once the application period closed. Wow! That was impressive.  Already I knew that the Franklin Public Library Board of Trustees was conscientious. Good sign #1. Then, quite soon after the posting closed, I received a call to set up a phone interview. Good sign #2. The head of the search committee explained the process and the interview began. The questions were applicable to the job. Great sign! No nonsense about how I'd get out of a room with no windows or doors, or who I'd lunch with if I could lunch with anyone living or dead. (By the way, the answer to that one is easy. I'd lunch with my parents. I have so much to tell them about the grandchildren and great grandchildren they didn't get to meet and about my new and rather unexpected career in libraryland.)

The next step was an in-person interview. First I toured a beautiful library -- and I know beautiful.  Manitowoc Public Library overlooks both the Manitowoc River and Lake Michigan. During the day it bathes in natural light streaming in from a two-story wall of windows. Aisles are wide enough for me to focus on titles even with my trifocals, and there are lots of places to sit and peruse selections.

That said, Franklin Public Library is housed in a beautiful single story building in the federalist style. The entrance is inviting and immediately demonstrates that the library is devoted to the community -- and vice versa. When you walk into the library proper light shines down from skylights above. Service points are immediately to the right (circulation), center (reference and information), and left (children's services). The collections fan out from the hub, and are surrounded by a variety of seating options, including chairs around a fireplace, and access to an outdoor garden and patio. Yes, Franklin Public Library uses its outdoor space, as well. All four seasons will be lovely at this library!

One of the features I really like is that some marketing-minded librarian decided to put face-out shelving amidst the shelves of spine-out shelving. This makes it easy to find the books you seek, both by giving you great clues as to what materials are shelved in the area, but also giving the eyes a rest from reading words on their sides. I can't wait to shake the hand of the person who did that!

Then the interview. I met with the Search Committee and found everyone quite pleasant. Again, the questions made sense. The committee got to know me, and I learned a bit about the library.  I left feeling good about the interview, but one never knows. I was thrilled with the phone call inviting me back to be interviewed by several staff members. I returned to Franklin, noting that it really isn't as far from my home town as I thought (which will come in handy until my husband and I can both move). The people I met were delightful. This could be good.

Then I waited. I knew when the search committee was meeting to make their decision about whom to recommend to the full board, thanks to the requirement of library boards to post their agendas. That night my husband and I ate dinner rather quietly. As the minutes ticked by, I was steeling myself for the disappointment. Then the phone rang, and the head of the search committee told me that I was their #1 candidate.  All this had happened in just two months. Now all I had to do was be approved by the full board, pass a physical and drug test, and survive a background check.

The first two were easy. The full board approved my appointment.  I signed the necessary paperwork. The library posted the appointment on their website and facebook page, and I was interviewed by the local paper. The physical and drug test were without issue. I thought the background check would be, too. Little did I know that Franklin's finest would not see a grandmotherly librarian, ask a few questions, and give me their blessing.

I needed to produce all of my transcripts -- all the way back to high school, not just graduate school (which I had with me when I met the detective). I needed to discuss various jobs, including my part-time gig as the business manager for the Manitowoc Symphony Orchestra, and provide contact information for my parents and sisters.  I resisted the urge to provide the cemetery's address for my parents. I didn't know if the detective had a sense of humor, and though I now know that he does, I probably made the right choice. The detective visited Manitowoc to talk with my neighbors and friends. He called a variety of police departments to ask about my driving record. He even visited the college where I earned by BA. Now, I couldn't recall anything that would have disqualified me, but I was certainly happy today, almost four weeks after Franklin publicly announced my appointment, that the detective called to say all was well.

So tomorrow I begin to train my successor and earnestly pack up my office and home. I've had the same job for 13 years (my longest tenure ever), and have lived in my home for 25 years. It's going to be a busy month.

Access to information

As a librarian, I talk often about access to information.  After all, libraries aren't just about books anymore.  Actually, we haven't been for quite awhile.  At your local public library you can find newspapers, magazines, music CDs, movies on DVD, toys, artwork, seeds, and much, much more.

Today, while enjoying myself at a community picnic, replete with salads, desserts, charred meat, and lots of good friends, I spied a nook e-book reader on the table.  Of course, I asked if the owner knew he could check out books from the library.  He didn't, so I took out my smart phone and showed him how we could do it via Overdrive!

Then, the conversation turned to languages, I had the opportunity to promote Mango Languages, on online language tutorial also available through the library.  Again, I demonstrated the site on my phone.  That lead to a lively discussion about different methods of teaching languages. 

Do I think libraries will maintain their viability in this electronic age?  Absolutely!  Libraries provide essential resources -- for everyone -- regardless of ability to pay.  Not only are libraries viable in the information age, but they keep the people in our communities viable as well.

Who knew munching on hamburgers, potato salad and home-made kosher dill pickles would lead to a blog about libraries.  I guess anything is possible in the information age!