A big announcement.
I’ve been sitting on this news until I had a formal offer letter in hand, but now I do, and now I can say it: I have a new job! In mid-September, I’m going to be the new Librarian for English and Comparative Literature at New York University‘s Elmer Holmes Bobst Library. I’m in the midst of a very rapid move (as moves go) to the big city while wrapping up various projects here before I go.
I’m still a little dazed by the sudden good news. The multi-year job search had ground my morale down to a nub, and I’d managed to convince myself that I’d never get anything I wanted ever again. I’m also superstitiously afraid that talking about any of this will jinx it, and I’ll get flattened by a falling grand piano because the gods are fickle like that. But I’m trying not to borrow trouble.
I’m going to miss my colleagues here a lot, and all the students and faculty I’ve worked with during my time at Connecticut College. But I was ready for a major change, both professionally and geographically. The day I interviewed at NYU, there was just a palpable sense of fit. (On both sides, evidently!) I’m thrilled about the prospect of building literature collections on a large scale, doing a lot more specialized outreach and instruction, and potentially getting more actively involved with the digital humanities. And, since this is a tenure-track position, turning the Potential Book Project into an actual book project.
And being back in the city after too long an absence, even just sitting on a park bench in Washington Square gathering my thoughts? Magic. So was getting to see various New York friends again, and imagining actually living in the same city with them instead of a three-hour train ride away. I feel like I’m returning to my natural habitat. And I’m already jumping up and down at the thought of all the operagoing I can do.
In the meantime, this is my new favorite photo blog: The Underground New York Public Library, a visual record of what people are reading on the subways of New York. It’s mesmerizing, and it fills me with joy. I especially love this lady and her copy of Augustus John: Drawings and her turquoise glasses. And this guy, balancing his collected Borges on a box of Raisin Bran as he reads.
I still can’t believe I’m actually going to live there. Those of you in the greater NYC area, look for me reading on the subway come fall! And those of you outside New York: now you have to come visit!
Woo hoo!!! I am so happy for you.
Huzzah!!!
Congrats on your move. I enjoyed meeting you and knitting with you while you were in CT.
Likewise, and thank you!
Mazel Tov! I think you will be *much* happier there. What neighborhood did you pick?
I’ll be in faculty housing for the first couple of years — so right in the same neighborhood as the University. I still can’t believe my luck.