Now That's Impressive

We have had a little bit of pressure here at work lately since the mayor mandated a 3% budget reduction for all city departments receiving money from the general fund (including the library). We have all been wondering where the cuts will ultimately come from and the speculations have run wild.

Today the mayor announced salary freezes for senior city executives and a 7 day furlow in the few city departments where salary freezes will not be put into affect. This includes the mayor, and gives back a 4.5% cost of living increase that went into effect in January. He's got my vote. ;)

In other news, I got an e-mail today from KCLS that I could re-apply to their hiring pool and increase my "score." I am almost thinking about doing it for the interviewing experience.

Books and Other News...

With everything else that has been going on, I forgot to be excited about Kirsten Miller's new book:


I was lucky enough to be one of the first holds on this one, even though it is coming out tomorrow and I put the hold on it today. If you liked Kiki Strike: inside the Shadow City, you should really check out this one, too. I will post more about it later, after I have actually read it ;) (notice that I said "check out" and that the link goes to the library catalog...)

In other news, I did not get the job that I interviewed for last week. I am not very upset about it, because I got good feedback on the interview and I still have my position to apply for--which is the one I want anyway. Also, I heard that one of the other people that applied was very qualified--so much so that they would have been crazy to pass her up. Ach well, das tut mir leid.

Three for the Price of One

It is interesting how similar the promo for Bionic Woman is to the cover of Scott Westerfeld's new book, Extras. Scott talks about it a bit here. In his series, this is called "surg" (short for surgery) and is cosmetic--mostly. Unless you are a Special. Then it may have some bionic type use. I am looking forward to reading Extras to find out what the significance of the eye surg on the cover has. It comes out October 2nd--although I have heard that some lucky folks have already received theirs.

I watched the Bionic Woman with the B-man last night. It was pretty good, although I hope it gets better. The special effects were fun and I love Katee Sackoff from BSG. She will only be in the first couple of episodes though. Michelle Ryan seems so soft though, so unlikely to be a hard, tough bionic woman. I suppose this is part of the plot and we will see her character become harder and more remote as the season wears on. No Painkiller Jane here (um, thank goodness...). The show is getting terrible reviews on IMDB. I don't think it was bad--I would watch it again--but I also can't really remember the original series very well.

I had my interview on Monday and it went well. From what I hear the competition on this one is stiff, so maybe I will get my wish and get a chance to interview for the job I hold now. I don't know what to hope for in that catagory. Just have to wait and see.

Is that coal down there, or diamonds?

And as I told my sister to do her homework, I realized that I have some of my own to do. I can't believe that I am going to have two totally unrelated sisters who are lawyers. They are both so smart and classy. I am so lucky!

Ok, back to the homework. I have been researching librarian interview questions. I have a hazy recollection of the questions asked at my last couple of interviews. As I look up examples, it is interesting to me how different other systems are from SPL. Most of the examples seem to come from the mid-west and do not include any questions on diversity. What is that about???!!! Does Indiana have no diversity? No people of color or different ethnic backgrounds? Or maybe they just don't care? I have a hard time believing that.

Any-who, researching interview questions on Google is somewhat difficult since the words "reference interview" are often on the same page as librarian, as it is common knowledge that one conducts the other and it is a hot topic out there in internet land. It will probably be on the list of interview questions. I am up on that one though, so I wish it would get out of my way and stop making my research so darn hard!

Otherwise, the few examples I have found have been somewhat useful. Now I need to compile a list of ones that will most likely pertain and write up scenarios and examples. Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go...

Fluttery Tummy

There have been two developments in library land today. The first one is easy. I found a potential missed opportunity and rectified it. A local agency usually has one of our Book-It Danger: Books! presentations but was missed because the former Teen Services Librarian took another job. In introducing myself to the agency, they mentioned that they usually have that program, so I quick as a super mod scooter did some inquiring and found that not all the spaces were full. Then I put in motion the necessary steps to get it scheduled with Book-It and the agency. Whew! Missed opportunity diverted!

Second development...a TSL position is opening up in a library that I have worked at quite a lot. And...in response to the fact that I will undoubtedly be applying for that job, my job will now be posted as well... Soooo, now I really have to brush up on interviewing so that I won't be out of work in a few weeks.

I have been meaning to put together a list of topics for interviewing. What I have had rattling around in my brain since the last one is:

diversity
behavior issues
teamwork
controversy in the work place
general tasks: reader's advisory, reference, outreach and programming, selection and collection maintenance
flexibility and perseverance
technology

And of course, I have eliminate my habit of downplaying my skills. I am the best person for the job!

I am nervous and excited all at the same time....

Locked-in at the Library, Conclusion ;)

And it was! So much fun. I sort of hated being the one telling them what to do. I wanted to play, too. We ended up with 29 out of the 30 teens coming to the Lock-in. LA and I set up the gaming equipment and there was Wii and DDR. The kids had a great time playing and when the cord to one of the projectors got cut by the access door they recovered from the resulting "bang" and allowed us to find another cord without freaking. We also showed anime movies, played Apples to Apples and let the teens use the computers. We found out about a new popular website called "ask Peter" that is a rather spooky/scary joke site. One little girl got upset at around 2 in the morning and we had to call her dad to pick her up. Oddly/luckily he was awake and got there in about 5 minutes. Another boy got a stomach ache (probably too much pizza) but he made it through. Nobody got kicked out and I got almost 4 hours of sleep! The Boy claims to have only gotten 2.5, but I think it was more. Only one teen wasn't picked up in the morning and that was quickly remedied--they were hoping we would send her home on the bus, but after we explained that we couldn't do that, the mother came right away.

I had my interview this morning. I think I did well, but I won't deny that my stomach is tied in knots right now.

Next post will be of the all ages show that I took The Boy to. Much of my family was there as well and there will be some pictures.

Application Blues

Ok, so I would actually love to get that job. I have got to stop trying to make myself believe that I don't want something just because I am not likely to get it. I should just start believing that I will get it.

The interview went really well. I could see some stronger candidate swooping in to snatch it out from under me. I also got to see who went before me in the interviews and I know them both. One person has about the same amount of librarian experience as I do, but is lacking the circulation savvy and database experience that I have with the system. The other one is someone I have worked with before and I am sad to say that I don't think she will get the job. She is just too picky about the position she takes and will not take an entry level position as her first librarian job. You have to be willing to make sacrifices in order to get where you want to be these days. Although, who knows, maybe that perfect job will come along for her. I don't want to sound catty, but I know her fairly well, and like her too, but that is my opinion of her chances.

There were more interviews after mine, so I can't assume that mine went best. I will just wait patiently, biting my nails, to get that phone call.