The countdown is on — only 39 days until my graduate school career is over and I have to, you know, start a real career.  These last few weeks have been very busy. Midterm season has come and gone, and I started a new part-time reference librarian job. It’s important to see how other operate in order to get new ideas, I think. I am getting a better sense of the kind of librarian that I want to be, both in title and in field. Had I gone to another graduate school, I would be done already. I might have been a law librarian in Pittsburgh, or a legislative librarian in Washington D.C. But then again, I would be a completely different person.

I decided early into my undergraduate time that I wanted to be a librarian. I knew the field was flexible enough that I would never be out of options as technologies and communities change. I believe in libraries in every single way. I worked hard through college and applied to graduate schools. I got accepted and continued working. But now, on the cusp of graduation from graduate school – what comes next?

This last year has been a patchwork of different experiences, both personally and professionally. I am happy with how they’ve all turned out.  I’ve led library instruction classes for apathetic undergraduates and devoured good wings with good friends. I’ve gone on job interviews and even gotten a few of them. There are a few things I wish that I would have made time for, but pacing is important. Life is a long proposition and there will always be opportunities for those who are engaged and tuned in. A lot of things are going to change in 2014 and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.