Three Resignations in Two Years: On the Road to a Meaningful Career

By Brianne Colombo
Member Services Librarian for the PALS Plus Library Consortium and for the Alfred H. Baumann Free Public Library
(Email: colombo@abwplibrary.org) 

In the past two years, I’ve resigned from three full-time director positions in public libraries. This is not a fun fact about my career that I understand as failure. In fact, it’s a reality that I now regard as progress. 

My interest in public libraries began when I was young. Growing up, I spent hours in the stacks, and in the summers, I volunteered to help with the summer reading program at my local library. When I was 17, I was hired to work at the circulation desk. Throughout college and graduate school, I spent most of my nights and weekends shifting collections; helping patrons print plane tickets, find tax information, and format resumes; mailing overdue notices; checking material in and out; setting up and breaking down tables and chairs for storytimes, lectures, and the knitting club; unloading the overflowing book drop on federal holidays; and generally, doing all of the “other duties as assigned” work that fall on public library support staff.

My first full-time job was in academic publishing, and for a very brief year of my adult life, I thought I might leave libraries altogether, until the director of my hometown library offered me a dual-role position: I would be the Head of Youth Services and Assistant Director, contingent on my applying and finishing an MLIS in one year. I was 23.

In perhaps the busiest year of my life, I finished a 36-credit graduate degree, which included an hour-long commute to school. This was while working full-time in a brand new position, to which I rode my 1970s yellow Schwinn Breeze with a twin carrier basket on the rear wheel. The position was incredibly fun.

We were a busy library with a bustling Children’s Department. Storytime sign-up involved a parade of strollers wrapped around the length of the building and parents faking residency to enroll their toddlers. I spray-painted all of our rusty, tired book carts in rainbow colors. There was a brightness to work. The four consecutive summer reading programs we hosted had almost 1,000 children participating each summer. It was sheer insanity for four years (and 10 total years of service) at my hometown library — and I loved it.

When a nearby library had an opening for a director, I applied and got an interview. Then a second-round interview. Then a third. I was told in my final interview that I was the best candidate, but the board was hesitant to hire me because I was only 27 (yes, a board member slipped up and really said that). The library also offered me a salary far below the NJLA recommendation. [Editor’s note: Here’s a link to the NJLA Personnel Administration Subcommittee, 2020 Minimum Starting Salary Recommendations, Professional Positions.]

I stood my ground and before accepting, negotiated my salary (twice) in order to reach the NJLA-recommended minimum. I loved my then-current job as a Children’s Librarian, and it was heartbreaking to resign. 

However, I was excited to walk into a brand new challenge: a small Essex County library that was underused, but had excellent funding. Inside, I found the most amazing staff members: a small group of dedicated library workers who wanted to work together to get the public inside the library doors. 

As a first-time library director, I couldn’t have asked for anything more from a staff. In three years, we did a lot of work. We increased events by 43% (with 900 programs offered and over 12,000 participants!). We increased overall circulation by nearly 20%, with a digital circulation increase of 225%. We partnered with the schools to create a new summer reading program, which resulted in twice as many children participating as ever before (and nearly 65% of all children in district schools participating!). 

Under the Library Board of Trustees, I oversaw a two-year landscaping improvement project that redesigned all of our sidewalks and plantings, and added a new digital sign as well as a welcoming reading garden with a patio space for outdoor programming. We launched a new website; conducted a social media overhaul; and reconfigured, weeded, and developed an entirely updated library collection, which had been left stagnant after a 2012 renovation.

We partnered with local businesses, township departments, organizations, and nonprofits to offer excellent programming for the community. We also implemented large annual events. It was a whirlwind success — with our staff of four full-timers and four part-timers.

However, in early 2020, after a struggle for staff salary adjustments, health care coverage, and other issues, I did something I never thought I’d be brave enough to do: I took a stand, and I resigned without another position lined up. I was living with my sister at the time, and financially, I knew I could take a brief career pause. 

But then, a global pandemic hit. I took on some consulting work for a Passaic County library; and very quickly, I started another director position that lasted only 6 months, and then was offered a larger director position at a Bergen County library. After a trial period of only three months, whereby I was still working alongside the retiring director, I knew the position was not going to be the best fit for me. Another resignation. 

All along, I have been seeking a career and a place that supports the core values of librarianship: Access, Diversity, Intellectual Freedom, Sustainability, Service, Lifelong Learning, and The Public Good. I truly believe that public libraries have the power to change lives, and that magic — that type of work — is what I aim to center my career around.

I’m currently working as a member services librarian for the PALS Plus Library Consortium and for the Alfred H. Baumann Free Public Library (in Woodland Park). Both positions are part-time, rewarding, and offer constant reminders about what I do love about public libraries. Amidst a global health pandemic, economic stress, a national social justice crisis, and during an extended opening and closing of doors for businesses, services, and public libraries across the state and nation, I feel I have played a small role in assisting libraries to overcome and meet new challenges, and extend services in new and exciting ways. 

Librarianship is a job that I do with pride and sincere gratitude. I am honored to have served so many communities in my young career, and for all of the experience that has guided me closer to understanding the type of position, library, and community that I want to work for. I don’t know exactly what’s next for me in the great land of libraries, but I know that whatever I do next will be meaningful. 

More about the author: “My interests lie (broadly) in animals, antiques, daydreams, design, etymology, fables, fairy and folk tales, gardening, literature, gelato, music, plants, poetry, sweets, and travel. Aside from working in libraries, I’m an Adjunct Professor of Literature at the County College of Morris, and I write children’s book reviews for the periodical, School Library Journal.”

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Access the NJLA 2021 Recorded Conference Sessions by Sept. 30 — Including Some Great Ones on Graphics and Collection Development

By Pham Condello
Managing Librarian of Youth Services, Old Bridge Public Library 
(Email: phamcondello@gmail.com) 

Even as the pandemic marches on, the NJLA’s Conference Committee has already started planning for an in-person conference at Harrah’s from June 1-3, 2022, in Atlantic City. We’ve missed seeing everyone in person and the amazing interactions that can develop between people.  I know I first met one of my true-blue friends while working at the conference registration desk. That wouldn’t have happened if it had been a virtual conference. So yeah, we miss people.

But, you want to know one of the benefits that is being offered to you at the virtual conference and not the in-person one? It’s the ability to access all the presentations after the conference has officially ended. Which reminds me: Have you taken the chance to review the excellent training sessions that await you? 

All sessions have been uploaded to the platform for your viewing pleasure. Simply log in with your conference credentials and navigate to the sessions tab. The platform will remain accessible until Sept. 30. Want to generate a certificate with your viewed sessions? You can do it yourself from your Account tab!

One of the presentations that I found most useful was the GIF into Canva: Tips and Tricks for Canva Users. I know there are many of us who have to make our own posters and flyers. Sometimes it can be tedious. We tend to be the jack of all trades at the library, and we definitely have our strong attributes, but how many of you get entirely flummoxed and grind your teeth so badly from frustration that your dentist is currently fitting you with a mouth guard, when you can’t get an image to cooperate? No? Just me?!?

Presenters:

• Jennifer Franzese, Supervisor of Patron Services, Roxbury Public Library.
• Kerrin Graul, Senior Library Assistant, Roxbury Public Library.

Make your visions come to life! Learn how to liven up images, embolden fonts and even create GIFs using the Canva interface and bring your library marketing to the next level, even if you've never touched Canva before! This workshop covers how to:

• Make brand kits.
• Include QR codes and hyperlinks.
• Use simple tools to liven up images and text.
• Add textures to images.
• Create layers to make a more dynamic and inviting banner.
• Group/ungroup elements.
• Use all of the above to make a dynamic GIF!

There are times in my life, when I open the library and find tons of donations in the book drop, hidden in the alcove in the lobby or in the food collection area. Some of these books are in amazing condition and are out of print. It’s like I hit the jackpot!  However, there are also those times where I sigh, and can’t believe I have another five boxes of mildewed books from somebody’s basement that makes me roll my eyes and cough, which then makes me announce to the people around me that it’s dusty, my allergies are acting up, and it’s not COVID. [SMILE EMOJI]

That’s why I think the 3D Collection Management program is aces and everyone should review it. It answers the following questions; Do you have an issue with discarding books? How do you meet the demand of the public for a certain title?   

Presenters:

• Kenneth French, Head of Collection & Materials Services, Montclair Public Library.
• Linda Tripp, Collection Development Librarian, Somerset County Library System of New Jersey (SCLSNJ).
• Morris Balacco, Head of Collection Development, Fort Lee Public Library.
• Yvonne Selander, Collection Development Manager, SCLSNJ.

Libraries large and small face the challenge of meeting patron demand for popular items, managing donations, and discarding deselected materials. Collection development experts discuss their experiences in these three crucial areas of print and electronic materials management.

I was only able to highlight two presentations within the word count limit for this article.  So please take the time to review the sessions that were offered, because what was useful to me may not work for you. There really was something for everyone at the conference. However, you have only until the end of September to view the archived sessions. (And yes, I know to throw out those mildewed books.)

More about the author: “Pham Condello is a Co-Chair of the Conference Committee and is a Member at Large for the NJLA Executive Board. When she isn't volunteering her time at NJLA, she is working as the Managing Librarian of Youth Services at the Old Bridge Public Library and making unnecessary purchases because she loves stuff.”