Starting over again

I really am interested in blogging as a personal practice, and I need to jumpstart myself into continuing with this blog. I've turned into a lurker, reading other people's entries, and serendipitously wandering from blog to blog, finding all sorts of gems. I rarely leave a comment, which again reeks of taking and not contributing.

However, when I started, I thought that I could use this as a way to comment on issues or happenings, and to organise my thoughts. I like the way that there is a community of bloggers, who comment and commmunicate with each other. So, in the hope of launching myself back into the blogosphere, I'm starting again.....

I had a change of jobs last November - went from academic to public librarianship, which should provide me with lots of fodder for comment. They're two very different environments and both speres have their good and bad points. I've heard that the direction I've taken is usually the opposite to the norm - most librarians would move from public to academic.

So what have I been doing lately?? Well, I've been covering for my boss who's on leave for the last 7 weeks, which means I've had a quick and dirty introduction to the realm of financial management. Luckily she's come back in time to handle the budget! I've learnt a little about our local museum, and had to manage my first book launch.
I've also had to deal with disgruntled members of the public who've been billed for damaging books. Not my favorite part of the job, but it gives an interesting perspective on the different ways that humans act.

So now I'm back to my regular job which seems to be divided into two parts. One is to handle the staffing, associated rosters, timesheets, etc. (erk)

The other is to coordinate a couple of awards (for young writers and artists). I'm currently overseeing the mailouts for these, which involves stuffing 700 large envelopes, and sending them off to schools and libraries. Sounds simple, but last week, I'm sure I gained a few (more) grey hairs in the process. eg the courier who was supposed to pick them up and take them to a central mailing house, dropped them at the local post office, just across the road!!

The great thing about this job is that I seem to have the authority to make more decisions, than I could working in a larger, and hence more bureaucratic organisation. A lot of things seem to be left up to common sense, which I like. On the downside, the technology in the place is antedeluvian.