But first, a look back and the highlights of this year (I'll save the lowlights for when we're sharing a bottle of wine face-to-face).
At the beginning of the year I finished up my work on Outstanding Books for the College Bound. Almost a full year later and I'm still really damn proud of that list.
Shortly after, I was able to drop the "Acting" from my job title of Acting Branch Manager. I also joined the adult collection development committee, which has been really great.
In May, I did my last storytime. I'm sure I'll do it again, maybe if it's just filling in, but it is no longer part of my regular job duties, and probably won't be again for quite some time. It's been bittersweet. (BUT! This fall, with the new storytime schedule, and me working a slightly different work schedule, there is now a storytime that I can take L to! So now I get to go to storytime, which is great.)
In June, I transferred to a much larger branch in my system, which was a big change, but one I'm really enjoying. After about a week there, I went off to Las Vegas for ALA. Angela and I got to present on tips and tricks for reader's advisory with nonfiction and I got to hang out with old friends and make new ones. We took the most epic group selfie to make Rachel jealous. But I got her twitter handle wrong when mocking her with it. And then, in the airport on the way home, I won $40 in the Dolly Parton slot machine.
In August, I started a tumblr documenting my attempts to explain pop songs to L. L now has more tumblr followers than I have on all my other social media accounts combined. And then multiplied.
This fall, I was asked to give my ALA presentation again at a staff day in a nearby library system, which was really nice. And now I'm working on updating it (highlighting new books) because I'm giving it again this May at the Maryland and Delaware Library Association Annual Conference, which is very exciting.
I also started a new project on the website, suggesting read-alikes for the books with the longest holds lists. That's been a really fun challenge that I (hope) is something our users are finding useful.
And, of course, I read a lot. After 2 years on YALSA committees, this was a bit of a recovery year. I read a lot less. I've also found I'm much more willing to drop a book part-way through if it's just not working for me at that moment. And, now that I'm no longer officially a youth services librarian and am doing more with adult collections, I read a lot more adult titles, which is a really big shift.
So... I read 147 books. 58 were YA, 7 were middle grade (?!) and a whopping 79 were adult. (yes, I know that math doesn't quite work.)
77 were by women, 67 were by men. 37 were titles I would consider diverse. 20 were translated works. 57 were comics and 11 were adult romances. 37 were nonfiction, which is a low percentage for me especially as many were 'required' but it makes sense after 2 years of nonfiction-heavy years because of my committee work. And only 43 books were required reading (so, for committee work [last minute OBCB reading and my pre-Cybils reading] and assigned reviews).
So... that's my year. Next year, I want to read more diverse titles and more works in translation and more romance.
How was your year? Oh, and here are some of my favorite books of the year:
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