Do I dare to eat a peach?

Or apply for my first professional job, for that matter?

A position has opened up over at Salem State College Library--they're looking for a full-time reference and instruction librarian. Now while I'm not quite finished with the MLS, I'm wondering if I'm close enough to the end to go ahead, take a chance, and throw my hat in the ring (especially since I'll probably be done with my summer semester by the time they'd get around to offering anyone the job, which would mean I'd at that point only be one course away from having my MLS). It might be interesting as a dry run for the Fall if nothing else, but who knows...

Guess I'd better start polishing that resume!

Now with less ass!

Thanks to a last-minute change in registration (switching my History of the Book class from history to library science credit), I've been able to leapfrog my way to being 5/8's of the way done with my MLS. Two more courses this summer and one in the fall and I'll be 100% librarian--a truly weird thought, considering I've spent ten of the past twelve years working as a library assistant. Professional librarianship is just around the corner now, and while I'm excited as all get-out to embark upon this career path, the question of exactly how I'll get there from here is beginning to become less and less theoretical and more dauntingly practical every time I think about it.

Of course I'd be tickled pink if I could stay here at Harvard--better yet at Widener!--but I'm more than prepared for the possibility that there won't be any rooms at the inn when I start my job search in the Fall. I know a lot of people graduate from Simmons and take library assistant jobs simply to get their feet in the door of the Harvard system, but I refuse to make a lateral move like that after all of this work. So I'm either moving up or moving out. Until I finish with my history degree we're going to keep the job search local, but if by thesis time I still haven't landed a decent professional gig we will expand our horizons. The wife has made it clear that she won't tolerate anything beyond the Northeast, but there may be some wiggle room in the case of California or Chicago.

Or perhaps Seattle...