One of the things about a blog I just (re)started is I know no one is reading this. I have no followers. This means I can find my feet and write about whatever for a bit till I figure things out. What do I want to write about?
Basically, I'm a librarian. I'm not working as a librarian anymore, I quit last year because I was beginning a new adventure - I went back to school for a PhD! I'd done this once before back when I was 28 years old I left a job as a library assistant 2 at a university library in the US to go back to school for my Master of Library and Information Science at the University of Western Ontario.
So back up. I am from Canada - Toronto originally. One of my parents was from Canada, the other from the States so I have both citizenships and can move freely between both countries. I graduated from undergrad during a massive recession in Ontario but Michigan was doing better at the time and with my fresh Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto and experience working in my college library, I was able to secure a full-time job with benefits at the University of Michigan in one of their libraries as a library assistant 2. It was a job.
During undergrad while working at my college library, some of the librarians tried to convince me to go on to library school but I wasn't ready, I wanted a break from school and I was broke. Broker than broke and needed to work for a bit. But after 3 years of work, I was still thinking about their suggestion and had decided that libraries were where I wanted to work and I wanted to make a real career out of it. I didn't want to spend my life job-hopping in dead-end jobs. I applied back home in Ontario at Western for two reasons, one, I don't know how anyone affords to go to university in the States, and Western had a good reputation.
I moved back to Canada and got a part-time job, this time in a public library and started back to school at Western and earned my MLIS. When I'd applied I'd assumed that I'd be returning to academic libraries, this time as a librarian, but during the time I was studying I discovered that I actually loved public libraries. This began a 25 year career in various public libraries at every level from entry-level librarian to CEO and everything in-between.
Starting just about 2 years ago, I reached out to a professor at Western to ask about whether it would even be realistic for someone my age, with my experience to be accepted to the PhD program there. I was happily shocked to be not only remembered by this professor from 25 years earlier, but also encouraged that my experience would actually be a possible asset! By January of last year I'd put together my application package and formally applied and low and behold in February I got the acceptance!
Next came a flurry of activity. I started getting my house ready to sell and making plans. A couple of months later I put in my notice at work, a couple of months after that my house went on sale and in September I started as a PhD student back at Western.
Surprisingly selling the house was the biggest stumbling stone. It took a few months before it sold, making my first two semesters pretty tough. First semester I was actually commuting from two hours away in for classes and my house finally closed during my second semester and then the apartment I rented on campus required me to move to another apartment so that they could renovate my apartment.
Which brings us to today. I'm in the temporary apartment, working on my final course, I'll have to move again by September back to my regular apartment and I'm getting ready for my qualifying exam this fall.
What a roller coaster the last year has been! It's been stressful and hard, more than I'd hoped for with the house taking so long to sell and close. But here I am.
This was the best decision of my life.
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