Start spreading the news…

Start spreading the news…

June 7, 2012, 14:52
Filed under: Non-library stuff | Tags: moving

A couple of weeks ago I received some rather exciting news. My husband’s company have decided to send him to New York to set up a branch of their operations there, and I’ll be going with him.

We’re moving at the end of July, although I’m finishing work at the end of June so will be able to concentrate fully on the packing and other preparations after that. The biggest thing at the moment is arranging for most of our possessions to go into storage – we’ll take a few things with us but as we don’t know how long we’ll be over there for (a year in the first instance, but it could be longer if it all goes well) we don’t want to ship everything out just to have to bring it all back again. We are both hoarders by nature (especially when it comes to books), and getting rid of long-treasured possessions is proving really challenging, although the thought of the storage costs is a great way of measuring whether or not certain things are actually worth keeping!

Handing in my notice at work was rather sad, this has been a fascinating place to work and I’m going to miss it – and my fantastic colleagues – very much indeed. Everyone has been really supportive and excited for me, which is lovely, and I’m looking forward to keeping up with what’s going on by following the various blogs and podcasts.

In the first instance I won’t be working in New York, although we’ll review this later on depending on how things go. I’m actually really looking forward to taking some time out of the 9-5, and will be making the most of the opportunity to explore the city. Voluntary work and a language course are top of my list of things I’d like to take up fairly soon (as well as allocating time for jogging, swimming, yoga,  knitting, reading, etc etc!), but can wait until we’ve settled in a bit. I’m also fully intending to keep up my professional awareness, maintaining my CILIP membership, and will be looking into joining the SLA &/or ALA too. If London is anything to go by I’m sure New York will have plenty to offer in the way of CPD opportunities, and I’m looking forward to seeking them out.

And of course I’ll also be writing up my Chartership portfolio – I’ve got as far as the first draft, but have decided that trying to get it to a submittable standard before I leave is just not sensible. I also like the idea of being able to come back to the draft after a month or so off and revising it with fresh eyes. I’m still planning to submit in the autumn, which should be perfectly achievable, and my mentor has promised to keep an eye on my progress from afar!

As for the future of this blog – well, who knows. At least in the first instance it is likely to feature less about libraries and more on the universe and everything, though I’m still in two minds whether to start a new blog completely and let this one languish until I have more library stuff to talk about…

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