Tombrarian

As I mentioned before, UNLV Libraries will be hosting the LOEX of the West Conference in June. As of today, there are only about 20 spots still open. You can find out more about the conference and register from the nicely redesigned (eh-hem) site.

The first month at the new job went by in a flash. After all the preparation and anticipation about getting here, I’m having a hard time getting my head around the fact that I’ve been on the job for a month and that we’ve been in Vegas for over 6 weeks. My most simplistic reaction is that I love the job but am not thrilled with the area. My standard response is that where we live is “pleasant and convenient, but not necessarily exciting.” But I’ll reflect more about the area at a later time. I want to focus here on the new job.

It may be premature to say I “love” the new job, but the potential is there. One of the big draws is the building itself. I have posted some pictures before. Every morning when I enter the building, I feel fortunate to be here. I also feel fortunate that I get to see mountains wherever I go. There are some mornings when the sky is bright and clear and the mountains are gorgeous. As much as I am a city boy, I still can appreciate being surrounded by mountains.

Another big draw for me was the prospect of working at a larger library. The staff here outnumbers the staff at my old library approximately 110-30. The student body outnumbers the old students 28,000-5,000. So, it’s quite a different atmosphere. Certain aspects of working at a small school did appeal to me. I liked that I knew just about everyone. But I’ve been here a month and am still meeting new people and my position will require me to interact with many other departments, so I’ll be working with a lot of different people and getting exposed to a variety of new ideas.

The other really big draw for me was that this position is a tenure track position. I know a lot of people would do anything to avoid tenure track, but, in my previous position, I sought out a few publishing and presenting opportunities on my own, so being in an environment where such work is expected and supported should be rewarding.

One unexpected benefit is that after I arrived, I was asked to be the Film Studies liaison. One of my concerns about the new job was that I might not have as much involvement with film as I had with my previous job. But with this new twist, I probably will have more. Also, I found out that we are the repository for Toronto’s Worldwide Short Film Festival.

Another benefit is access to cool stuff like this: http://gaming.unlv.edu/dining/index.html

Posted some pictures of Lied Library at UNLV: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomspix/sets/72157600800200347/

Moving across the country is certainly a crazy endeavor, but we made it. We arrived on June 19th, lived out of a hotel for almost a week, and moved into our apartment on the 25th. Started looked at houses last night.

I started my new job as Head, Media and Computer Services at Lied Library at UNLV on July 2nd and it has been going very well. I have a lot to learn, but that’s part of way moving 2400 miles was appealing. I wouldn’t travel that far to do the same old same old. As of now, the biggest part of the learning curve is getting acclimated to the size of the place. The university I’m coming from, La Salle, had about 4500 students; UNLV has about 28,000. The library has about 35 librarians, which is the size of the total staff of Connelly Library. Connelly had 9 librarians. Lied has a total staff of 112. That’s a lot of names to learn and plenty of people to meet with, which has been the bulk of my time since getting here.

With so much to do and learn, I hope to have plenty to report. Having the time to report it is, of course, the big issue. I do want to post more often, not only to keep track of my thoughts about what I’ll be doing here, but also to keep in touch with those I left behind on the East Coast. We’ll see what happens.

I know posting about why I haven’t been posting is antithetical to the whole blog concept, but I feel compelled to do so because (a) I had previously mentioned 2 big events coming up (Computers in Libraries 2007 and the Philadelphia Film Festival) and then fell silent and (b) my life has suddenly become chaotic, but for a good reason: I have accepted a new position. Beginning July, I will be the Head, Media and Computer Services at Lied Library at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

That said, our semester here is winding down, so, perhaps, in the midst of the chaos of moving across the country, I can squeeze in a conference and/or festival update.