Living in a post-school world

I'm done. (With school anyhow.)
I finished up in early May, and it's taken a little while for me to readjust to life without school. I've been reading all of the novels and comics I've had to put off in favor of text books and articles. (I heart Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Anansi Boys.)
So what does the post-MLS world look like for me?

• I'm training for and working at DCL's public service desks at library branches across the county.
• I'm coordinating DCL's library stories project, which aims to boost library support and funding using real-life narrative, video and images of patrons, staff and volunteers. This finds me studying up on videography and interview techniques, and becoming a pro at using flip cameras and camcorders.
  
• I've got a research project going about leadership and trends. I get to interview Front Range library leaders and local elected officials, and help my organization spot trends and prepare for the future.
• I'm preparing to speak at graduation in August. (What to say? What to say?)
• I'm gearing up for a very fun speaking engagement at Internet Librarian in October. I'm also excited that my mom and aunt (who has always dreamed of visiting Monterey), will join me in CA. They'll take a gander at the sea-life and tree-life while I geek it up. Here's the description for my program:

We're All Marketers Now

Experiments in marketing: using patron stories and 2.0 social tools to spread library awareness and support in hard economic times.

In 2008, three groundbreaking works challenged library marketers and advocates to rethink their approach: OCLC's "From Awareness to Funding," Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody," and Seth Godin's "Tribes." Discover how one public library is making the most of pointed, people-powered marketing to increase library support on the cheap. Efforts include patron library story sharing, an ongoing and growing online conversation about the essential community role libraries play, and a new library marketing campaign based on OCLC’s findings. Tools include inexpensive flip cameras, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Word Clouds and more.

• I'll be serving as the publicist for the Indian Park School House Association's summertime fundraising melodrama once again. I also get to design the poster and exercise my artistic urges.
• Working on some new websites for my husband's guitar school and a local history organization.
• Above all, relishing all of the extra time I have to spend with family now (they are the very best, and I sure am glad I get spend life with them).