the two sabbaticals, or the sabbatical strikes back.

I'm not sure what comes next.

If you don't have time to read the rest of this post, I've front loaded the most important part.

Last year was a pretty big year, what with a year-long sabbatical and a book contract and all. I turned 50, and the 25th anniversary of my very first day at my very first professional library job occurred a couple days before my birthday. I thought a lot about the fact that I've now tipped over into having been in this career (more than) half my time on God's green earth.

2025 turned out to have some surprises in store. Robert got a new job (v proud of him, by the way). We moved. We put our house on the market and most of our stuff in storage.

As of January 1, I'm no longer the User Experience Librarian at the University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries, although I do retain my rank and tenure through the end of 2026.

I'm still working on the book manuscript. Our schedule slipped just a little bit, but we expect to submit it this spring. I'm still working on both articles. Those schedules slipped a little bit too, but, again – we expect to submit them this spring (or maybe early summer).

Once those are done, I'm not sure what comes next. I've enjoyed librarianship, but I've also come to realize it's changed ... a lot ... from what I embarked upon doing at the turn of the millennium. Some of those changes have been fun, and others I'm less certain about.

If the 2025 sabbatical was a sabbatical from a regular working schedule, then I guess that makes the 2026 one a sabbatical once removed. Is that like a second cousin of your garden-variety sabbatical, perhaps?

Until it becomes clear what the next step is, I've decided to lean into liminality. Reading books printed on paper again. Writing, or thinking about writing. Taking aimless walks, and also taking walks to the coffee shop where I sit and eavesdrop on other people's conversations. Now and then having conversations with folks where the word consulting appears. Trying new recipes. Letting my mind wander while I wash dishes.

I'm happy to report that I believe I have finally recovered from a full blown case of Microsoft Teams. I hope I'm fully immune to it now.

For years I've been saying, jokingly, that I should get a job at Trader Joe's where I will be praised for enthusing about garlic aioli mustard and advising about the best frozen snacks. I guess we'll see!

Just as long as whatever this is, it doesn't turn out to be Sabbatical 2: Electric Bugaloo (will anyone even get this? see an explanation), I feel like I can be okay with that.

Thanks for reading.