Work Impressions

Moving, working full time, and having a family make blogging a little more difficult then it used to be. Work has been going well. I've already set up a couple of programs and I'll start teaching computer classes in January. There are things I miss. There is not a lot of interest in science-fiction or fantasy, so the sci-fi/fantasy collection is very small. Unless its young adult, LPL simply doesn't buy the new books in those genres. No Brent Weeks, no Ken Scholes, no Brandon Sanderson. I feel extremely lucky that they do have Naomi Novik and Jim Butcher, even though they only buy the paperbacks and not the hardbacks. I also miss my fiction team. The librarian who is in charge of fiction isn't very excited about anything. She's one of those who thinks that anything new is a pain and a hindrance and she doesn't want to deal with it. So where I get excited about social media and graphic novels, she kind of deflates my enthusiasm with her negativity. I've almost stopped telling her about the things I'm working on.

There will be more changes coming though. The director is retiring in the summer and the Children's Manager is retiring in March. I hope we get someone excited about changes. There is another librarian I work with who has a lots of plans. Plans to change the layout, online services, and classes. I have plans for social media, reorganizing the DVDs, and Reader's Advisory. It'd be great if they find someone as excited about changing things around as we are.

A few thing still frustrate me. I don't like Horizon (the catalog system). There are some searches it just can't handle, like limiting by type of item and location. I can't make my own lists. And I can't place holds for patrons on more then one item at a time. Some administrative procedures frustrate me too because I can't get a clear answer on how to do it. I ask, and get told to ask someone else. And it just goes round and round.

And I also occasionally answer the phones "Central Library" instead of "LPL Reference Desk."

Moving On

After a summer of interviews, interviews, and more interviews, I have accepted a position at a public library in Virginia.

I'm having mixed feelings about this. I don't feel nearly as good about this move as I did when we moved to Montana. But we all know how that worked out, so maybe this is good thing. When I flew down to Virginia a week and a half ago, the staff were all very excited and kept telling me how much they wanted me to come and work for them. And I really want to go work with them, but I'm not sure how well I'm going to fit in. They may be expecting a programing, social media guru, and I'm not that. Yes, I've done my fair share of programing and I know how to use social media, but those aren't my best areas of librarianship, and I'm not sure how much of lit and RA skills I'll be able to use there.

So, expectations.

Yes, I believe I'm having some expectation anxiety here. I didn't have much of those for the Glasgow job because, 1) I hadn't met the staff beforehand; and 2) I was going to be the head honcho. I could use all of my skills in whatever way I saw fit.

After word reached the Glasgow library staff that I was moving, one of the assistants told me that the Board was considering asking me back. I don't know if that happened at the last public board meeting or in a private meeting, but it's come as a shock. A part of me wants to stay here. A part of me really wants to run this library. I know I could do good here.

I also know I couldn't work with the current board. About two weeks ago, one of them appeared at story time with her grand-kids. She hung out afterwards and tried to talk to me. This is the first time any of the board members have attempted this, outside of board meetings and the polite "Hellos" they've given me in the grocery store. I'm afraid I didn't let her say much. You know how scary quiet people can get when they finally loose it and explode? Yep, that was me. Its possible she wanted to talk to me about coming back, but if it was, she choose the worst way to start a conversation with me. Maybe if she hadn't started off by asking about my job hunt, I wouldn't have become an angry Fluttershy.

But, the board hasn't tried to contact me since, so if were reconsidering me, they haven't been very vocal about it. Its not like they don't have my phone number and email. There are other ways to reach me besides hanging out at story time.

So the mixed feelings probably aren't going to go away until the uhaul is packed, the car is loaded and we pull out of this little, middle of nowhere town.

Being artsy

This past month has been a rather creative one. First, I found a blog called the Sketchbook Challenge, which is all about getting art down in a sketchbook instead of leaving it in your head. To help, they issue monthly art challenges, and have a Flickr group where you can upload your art to show off your stuff and enter contests and get inspired by others. So I joined. I haven't gotten as much on paper as I have in my head, but its a start. July's challenge was circles.

Its also been a big crochet and knit month. I finished a skirt for Emma, which wound up not being the right size (she grew) which I've decided to try and sell. I'm like to get $15 for it, but I can negotiate. It should fit a 9-12 month old, provided she isn't a really tall baby.

Once I decided to sell it, I started to think of other things I could make quickly and possibly sell. So, can I interest any of you in a headband? (or a scarf? sorry no pictures yet, they are still in the making) If you don't like any of these, I can custom make one.

Emma Highlights

Our little wiggle-worm is will be 12 months and 3 weeks old on Sunday. Its high time for an update, don't you think?

Likes:
• eating with her fingers, even if its not a finger food, like soup and pudding,
• animals, especially the neighbor's dog,
• music,
• "reading", she will open her books, flip through the pages and babble to herself.

Dislikes:
• the vacuum -- its big, makes a loud noise, and she once tipped it over onto herself,
• Daddy leaving the house without her,
• going to bed.

Blindsided in Glasgow

And here I thought things were going so well.

We've been very busy in the Johnston household. First, we moved from Japan to Boise, ID. Mark had several interviews lined up and he aced them all. So we were going to stay in Boise. Then he found out he couldn't start right away, like they told him he could. Because of his international background, it was going to take a month to complete his background check. But that was okay, because he had another job offer in Utah. So we moved to Utah and stayed in my parents rental in Roy. He had to wait to pass his CDL before he could start training, but that was okay. Training wouldn't start until the end of April anyway which gave him time to study.

Meanwhile, I had been contact with a little library in the middle of nowhere Montana that was looking for a new director. A gentleman from their local workforce services department had found my information somewhere and invited me to apply. He said the board was interested in giving me an interview and they were figuring out how that interview was going to take place. I didn't want to drive all the way out there without some sort of compensation. Gas is expensive, and if I was going to travel to an interview without a firm offer, then there were better options then this place. But, they decided to try a Skype interview. Unfortunately, none of them knew how to work Skype. The first twenty minutes or so of my interview was my instructing them in how to connect with someone though Skype. They hadn't bothered to try to research that before the interview, and none of them had an account set up. Thank goodness one of the board member's spouses had a Facebook account (You can now Skype through Facebook. Its kind of neat.) or the interview probably wouldn't have taken place at all.

I thought the interview went well, but not fabulous. To my surprise, the next day they called and offered me the job. I accepted. That was on a Wednesday. The next Tuesday we drove off to the middle of nowhere Montana.

Flying into Boise to arriving in Glasgow, MT took 18 days. Things were falling into place. We didn't have a place to live yet, but we had several leads and another board member was kind enough to put us in her basement while we waited. It didn't take long. Housing is very rare here. There's an oil boom happening in North Dakota, and Glasgow is close enough to get spill over from that. Plus the railroad has been hiring, so there's a large influx of new families and not enough housing to go around. I think if someone were to build an apartment complex, it would do very well. So were extremely blessed to find the rental that we did as quickly as we did. We moved in on April 25th, only a week after we arrived.

I had started work on April 19th. I wasn't suppose to start until we found housing. But with nothing to do but wait on that, I decided I may as well be working; earning some money and learning about the library's systems and the community. I got no formal training. One board member gave me a tour of the library. The previous director volunteered a couple of hours to give me an overview on some of the administrative procedures. My total training time with other people had been less then 8 hours, barely a full day. The previous director had been very sweet in letting me call her whenever I have had questions. The staff have been marvelous in showing me how things have been done. But most of the systems were a matter of trail and error. At the same time I'm making lists of contacts, finding out the current status of several different projects and grants, getting my name put on all the library accounts, sending out press releases on current library programs, brainstorming new programs, deciphering the budget, creating staff schedules, reading book reviews, ordering new materials, researching prices for new library furniture, and creating new incident procedures. I'm learning how the current procedures work so I can figure out what, if anything, needs to be changed to be patron friendly and/or efficient.

As of May 3rd, 5:30 PM MST, we are jobless again. And I don't know why. That night was my first board meeting. I had meet all of the board during my interview of course. Since I started work they had all dropped in to say "hi" and "welcome" but not much else. The first thing they said to me was "You're not really what we were looking for. You're not what we expected so we're offering you a severance package. We think its very generous. You'll be given two weeks pay. Do you have any personal items in the office? No. Then we'll have your keys. Bye." I tried asking what is was I've done to make them come to that conclusion. They won't tell me. Only that I don't match their vision. They're sorry for the miscommunication. More like no communication. How am I suppose to work on their vision when they won't tell me what it is?

The longest conversation I had with any of them was on a car ride back from a library federation meeting in Wolf Point. I had gotten a ride out with another director from Malta. (I was a stop along her way, and when I accepted her offer, I didn't know who, if any, of the board member were going.) Since I arrived I had been warned to beware of a couple of the board members. That they seems like nice people, but they were very hard to work with. This particular board member had struck me as being kind a bully, and I'm wary of bullies. So I was that thrilled to be riding with her, but I did want to get to know her and what she wanted for the library. Our conversation was not very enlightening. She had a few ideas of what she wanted. Booktalks to all the book clubs in town, visits to the schools and unincorporated towns in the county, which I was all for. But she didn't know how many book clubs there actually were in town or how to reach any of them, other then her own. Nor did know how many towns there were in the county. So I put that on my list of things to research. I'm afraid I wasn't very forthcoming with my own ideas because a lot of them were, and still are, half formed. I had only been on the job for a week and was still feeling overwhelmed with everything I had to learn. It didn't help that we had just come from a federation meeting where I had learned even more was required of me. I don't know if that car ride was my undoing, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

And the terrible thing is that I keep thinking of things to make the library better. Other views on our situation: Something Rotten in the Town of Glasgow Fired Librarian's Tenure a Short Story

Pigeonholed

In my last job I was an Adult Services Librarian in a large library systems. I worked in the central library where cross-training and mixing of departments was not done. The people at the circulation desk never watched the reference desk, the children's librarians never ventured off of their floor, and the only time the adult reference librarians visited another department, it was probably to borrow their color printer. And that's just between the public service departments. Interaction between them and technical services was even more problematic, unless you were a II or a department head. I believe there were over 100 people working at the central when I was there, and although I could recognize a great many of them, I couldn't name them all. Many I only knew through email and never saw face to face too.

I worked in one of the smaller branches for a few months as well, and it was nothing like central. Everyone knew each other, by face and name, and helping out in each others departments was a lot easier because there was only one or two people in each group. Having the adult reference librarian "in charge" happened more often as well because they were next in line in the hierarchy. So when the manager had to leave, it was usually the adult reference librarian who ran the library until the manager came back.

So all I did was Adult Reference. I did programs, worked on committees, created staff genre training classes, and had a few other non-public related duties; but, the majority of my time was assisting adults on the reference desk, or over the telephone, or by email. Now that I am looking for another job, it seems like that experience isn't enough. A lot of jobs I'm seeing want supervisory experience. Have I been in charge of other people? Yes. Many times. Was it in an official capacity? No, because that's what the volunteer services department was for, or the reference manager, or whoever had the "I'm in charge" phone that day. The same goes with working with vendors and budgets. Another department handled that. I was just a librarian.

Five Weeks

That's all the time we have left in Kan'onji, five weeks.

Has it almost been a year already? It seems so. I'm not ready to think about packing and moving yet. Yes, I am a bit homesick and want to go back to the States, but at the same time, there's still stuff that I would like to do here. We haven't made it to Kyoto yet, or the Naruto whirlpool. I have yet to experience an onsen (pregnant ladies aren't allowed, and neither are kids under six years old) or kabuki or karaoke. We have also wanted to explore Kobe with some friends of ours. We've been trying to get together almost since we arrived. It still hasn't happened yet either.

And we don't have a job to go back to, which is kind of scary. I've been looking since September too, when half of Mark's co-workers had to leave Japan because of visa problems and we thought the school was going to financially crash and burn. Mark's been looking since December. There is a Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) job that he may be up for near Osaka, and if we were going to stay, it would be for an ALT because they work in the public school system and have normal 8-5 hours and weekends off. So there is that possibility, but we're not sure how much of a possibility it is. Either way, it still means moving.

Immigration Update

We have a date for Emma's hearing. February 14th. Great day for a hearing, eh?

Mark's boss will be coming with us, so we will have an interpreter with us this time. Cross your fingers that all goes well.

Song of Ice and Fire

There haven't been many series that I've been able to keep up with since moving to Japan. Luckily, my Texas library has allowed me access to ebooks and downloadable audiobooks. If I didn't have these, I'd probably be reading more classics, since they are public domain and I get them at sites like Project Gutenberg. But because my library card is still good, I've been able to read George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, also known as A Game of Thrones. I'd been wanting to read the series before HBO adapted it. It was one of those things on the "to read" list that I could never quite get to. I'm not sure when it first aired on TV, but I started reading A Game of Thrones (book 1) shortly after Emma was born. I just finished A Dance with Dragons (book 5). This is a series that will surprise you. I've thought many times that I knew where the action was headed and how the plot would resolve itself, only to have all my expectations go awry by some new plot twist, usually in the form of a character death. If you don't like your protagonists to die, don't read this series. Like Joss Whedon, George R. R. Martin is not afraid to kill off popular characters. No one is safe from his pen. Martin has changed my mind about characters too. Those that I started off hating, I'm now liking. Some that I thought would be integral to plot have faded into the background. Maybe they'll come back later, maybe they'll stay scenery, I don't know. That's one of the things I'm loving about this series. I can't predict it. And its why when book 6 comes out next year (cross your fingers) I'm immediately going to get my name on the check out list. (If I bought #6, I'd have to buy all the rest, and right now baby food, clothes, and plane tickets are a higher priority.)

. . . and then we were deported.

No, we haven't been deported, but it seemed like we were going to be for a little while.

What Happened:

Right before Christmas, Mark got a phone call from the Immigration office in Takamatsu. He had no idea what they wanted because the person who called didn't speak English and Mark couldn't figure out what he was saying with his limited Japanese. So Mark's boss contacts them and they tell her that there's a new procedure that we need to go through for Emma. They say that we just need to go down to their office with some documents so they can update their files, or something like that. They there's no rush on it, take on your time. So we do. We have a lot of little day trips planned for after Christmas and New Year's, so we figure we'll stop by on our way somewhere else.

We made it to the Immigration office on the last day of Mark's vacation. But things are not what we expected when we arrive. Instead of waiting in the nice, bright main Immigration office, we're sent to wait in a dark, gloomy corridor by an electronically locked door. There's another family there, so we don't feel that anything is wrong. An immigration officer takes our documents to make photocopies and when he comes back, he leads us to a cold vacant room, with only a table and a couple of chairs in it. We still think things are okay, until he pulls out the "Flowchart for Deportation Procedures."

Wait, what?

Yep. The real reason they wanted us to come in was to inform us that Emma has overstayed her visa and they are starting an investigation against her.

When babies are born to foreigners in Japan, they automatically get a two month visa (which we didn't know)and Emma's expired in August (which we didn't know). We should have gotten her a new one then (which we also didn't know)but we didn't. We weren't able to get all her US documents until September, and you've got to have a passport before you can have a visa. Besides, we spent a lot of time at the city office in Kanonji making sure she had all her documents in order. They told us she was fine, that she didn't need anything else, and we believed them.

Oh, and the officer who is telling us all this, doesn't speak enough English to explain what is going on. The only fluent English speaking officer is out at the airport manning the customs desk. So we've got this guy trying to get us to sign a bunch of forms (all in Japanese) who can't tell us what they're for, and all we know is that its about deportation and Emma.

I had visions of being escorted to a bus with her and made to get on a plane that evening. But, after a few phone calls to Mark's boss, we learned that she was not being deported, only that she is being "investigated". My six and a half month old is being investigated by the Japanese government.

This is only the start of the craziness. We have to go back in about a month for a hearing. They didn't have a date for us, but they will let us know when they schedule it.

We may be able to drag this process out until our contract ends in March, or if we get a new job in the states, we could leave early and avoid it all together. I can't help thinking that this could have been avoided if they had just sent a note in the mail or something. They know she was born. They know what sort of documents she needs and by when. Couldn't that have come in a welcome packet? A sort of "congratulations on being born, here's what you need to stay legal" thing? I would have found that more useful then all the nursing they gave me.