Whether you’re a new librarian moving to take your first job, or an experienced librarian moving to greener pastures, here are some suggestions that might help.
I’m not saying I followed them all, but I should have! 🙂
Before you move:
- Take care of business. Give adequate notice, file paperwork, clean your desk, get your medical and dental checkups in before your insurance runs out, return all your library books. 🙂
- If you can, give yourself some time
between jobs – especially if you’re moving out-of-state. Acquiring a new, license, registration, cell service, cable, electricity, etc., can be daunting if you’re working full-time.
At your new location:
- Be a team player. It’s easy to think of yourself as the “outsider,” but work is more fun when you work together. Be interested, be helpful, be approachable.
- Know what’s going on. It’s your home now. Who’s your mayor, your congressman, your baseball team? Subscribe to the local news in print, feed, or online.
- Join your union – or at least hear them out. They’re the folks working to earn better wages and benefits for you and they’re a good source of job-related information that you might not receive elsewhere.
- Figure out who doesn’t mind answering questions, who doesn’t like to be pestered, who likes to joke around. Work with that.
- When you get that mountain of papers about insurance options – read it! And don’t miss the deadlines.
- If you’re offered the chance to sign up for deferred compensation of some kind, do it right away before you ever have a chance to miss the money. Later, you’ll be glad you did.
A few don’ts:
- Don’t get discouraged. If your new library is like every other library – there’s too much to do and not enough people to do it. Relax; do the best you can do.
- If you’re in a position of authority, don’t make drastic changes right away. First, find out what works and what doesn’t, and why things are done the way they are. Be respectful.
- Don’t eat the boiled peanuts. I hear they’re terrible! 😉
Images credit: Openclipart.org