Well, I've been transferred from the Civic Center library to the Arabian branch up north. I won't be a completely unfamiliar face, though. I've spent the past 30 years or so (mostly as a customer) at Civic Center and I don't plan to let a little thing like a transfer stop me from visiting (that plus I only live a mile away). I love Civic Center. It has the most unique children's room I've seen anywhere in the country. If you haven't been there, you must go. Even if you don't have kids. We have people come from all over the world taking pictures. Here are just a couple teasers. On YouTube there are a couple videos that people have taken.
If transferring around the system is what it takes to get a full time librarian job in Scottsdale then I'll play along....... but only for a little while. As gas prices rise again (just went up 6 cents a gallon yesterday) it's going to be more and more difficult to afford to work so far north on a part time wage. It's a matter of economics. It would be irresponsible of me to let it go on for much longer. I'm glad to have a job in a library, don't get me wrong. Some don't even have that. But I also have a responsibility to pay my creditors. I just left 10+ years of a 50-70 hour a week job a couple years ago and have no intention right now to take a second full time job and kill myself again.
I passed on a couple full time possibilities after graduation because I wanted to start my career in the library where I grew up, so I knew I was making a sacrifice; I just wasn't fully aware of the difficulty people have in moving one step higher to full time librarian. Oh well; live and learn.
But, on another note. The Arabian library (my current home for the past couple of days) is nice too. I work with a great bunch of people and the design of the building is unique. Working in a branch is different than the "home office". I'll post some pictures next time.
Well, I'm off to the city awards ceremony now.
Michael
