The Title Pool Annex

Talked a little about this on the twitter, but I need to get this all down so maybe I can really process it. And believe it. Because damn, that was fast.

Last year our YA librarian H announced she was retiring, and I applied for the job. I got good feedback, but they went with another candidate, S. As it turned out, S is a great fit, and I really like her a lot. I was a little surprised last month when she told me she'd applied for a job in Pittsfield, but it was clearly a step up for her, even though she didn't think she'd get it.

Last month~ish, we got an internal job posting to replace someone who's retiring (L). Sadly, the job was downgraded to PT, with no benefits, but even at the same number of hours it was still an upward move for me (more responsibility, better hours, an actual desk) so I talked to our director P about it. She said she was trying to nudge the hours so it could come with benefits, and to hang tight. It sounded really promising, I was afraid I was reading too much into it but it seemed like a done deal.

Tuesday when I got to work, there was a sign on the whiteboard congratulating S for getting the job. P pulled me into her office and told me that while she couldn't get any benefits for L's position, obviously now everything was changed, and was I still interested in the YA job? She'd have to talk to the search committee because it had been sort of a tie for second place, I guess? but did I want it? (I said yes, duh.)

NOT EVEN HALF AN HOUR LATER she told me I had the job. 32 hours a week, full benefits. And I just. I mean, I'm happy but

Like, if you wrote this into a script you would get dinged for lazy writing. There's no emotional ramp-up at all! Which is maybe why I'm still not really having ~feelings~ about it. It just seems a bit distant, like I can't get invested. And I'm not entirely convinced that it's real.

(It didn't help that when P was telling me when my start-date would be she was talking about how I'd have to sit with L to learn how to catalog and I was like "L? Why not S?" and she said "you're taking L's job" and in my head I was all "I FUCKING KNEW IT, IT'S NOT REAL" and then she corrected herself and I said "jesus fucking christ, P" right out loud because WOW and we all laughed for about five minutes but it was scary for those three seconds.)

Anyway, I will start shadowing S and training after the holidays, and January 20 will be my last regular Saturday. And I have a lot to learn but none of it is beyond my capabilities. This is going to be GREAT.