You do what for a living?

I'm a librarian.  I suppose that's a bit redundant since the name of this website is Ellen The Librarian.  Sort of lays it all out there, gives it all away.  Still, though, there are times that I can hardly believe it, too.  Almost two years ago I decided to quit my full time job working for a Member of Congress to go back to graduate school for a Masters in Library Science.  It was a risky move.  I went in with, what I thought was, open eyes.  I knew that the job market wasn't great, I knew that there weren't that many positions out there but I still thought that I could make it. 

It turns out that, despite me very much underestimating how poor the job market was, I was right.  I could do it.  I graduated last December with my MLS and I already had a full time department head position.  Within the next five months I had moved up to be the library's Head of Information Services and Assistant Director.  I was incredibly lucky, people retired, people got new jobs and one by one I moved up to fill their vacant positions.  Now, don't get me wrong, it wasn't all luck.  I worked for these positions.  I've had a Director and a boss who believes in me, at times, more than I believe in myself.  She has pushed me and put her faith in me.  I like to think that I have risen to the occasion. 

This blog will be about my day to day life as a reference librarian, an adult services librarian, a business and non profit resource center librarian, a programming librarian, a collection development librarian, an administrative and management librarian.  I wear many hats in my job which is why, at times, it is so difficult to answer the question: You do what for a living?  Here's hoping that this blog can clear up some uncertainty.