More About Clearing My Mind

I realize that some of my librarian friends might take the title of the first post on this blog the wrong way. Please allow me to clarify what I mean by "clearing my mind of libraries."

In my retirement I feel I am still very tied to libraries, particularly Oregon libraries. I am involved with a number of projects that involve libraries. I am working with some colleagues to plan Oregon Reads 2014 which will be modeled on our successful Oregon Reads 2009 statewide community reading project. We plan the 2014 version of this to be in celebration of the William Stafford Centennial in Oregon. I am also working with the Friends of William Stafford to help them plan and coordinate, to some extent, the centennial of Stafford's birth in 2014. I am also working on a project with the Oregon Council of Teachers of English to produce a new literary map of Oregon that will be co-sponsored by the Oregon Center for the Book at the State Library. I did a first draft of a database of over 300 Oregon authors who might be included on the map. I am also volunteering at a Head Start center close to my home, reading to 4-year-olds once a week (never got to do that as a working librarian, but I am making up for it).

I think the "mind clearing" is more about my 25 years at the State Library and my responsibilities as State Librarian than it is about library-related work per se. When I planned this trip I didn't know how hard it would be to separate from my job, which was pretty all-consuming. Actually the separation has gone well, but this trip will still be of help in that regard. Of course if I see any interesting libraries in my travels, I will be sure to check them out. Watch for that in this blog!