Before 7AM I am looking up at the sky as I stand on the VRE train platform at Burke Center. I peer over the tree line to see if the shade of blue of the sky pleases my eye. I peer down the track to determine the mist quotient to determine just how hot and steamy will it be today.

Immersed in reading and texting while riding on the train, I remind myself to look out and look up as we cross the Potomac River approaching Washington DC. I don’t want to miss the majestic Washington Monument and greet Thomas Jefferson as he steadfastly stands in his memorial. Interestingly enough, it was said of Jefferson that

he had placed his house and his mind “on an elevated situation, from which he might contemplate the universe.”

Between the L’Enfant train stop and Union Station, I look over the massive parking lots and up at the rear of the United States Capitol. Those parking lots remind me that real people go to work there everyday and what they accomplish there is not insignificant to all of our lives.

Coming up out of the tunnel from Union Station on the struggling red line Metro train I look up to see first government buildings, then neighborhood streets and finally I see the dome of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Knight’s Tower. I have arrived at the Brookland-CUA Metro station to come out from underground and look up at my new workplace the Pangborn Engineering Building at Catholic University of America.

As I approach the building…
I look up…
I laugh as I realize that’s what librarians do …look up information.

I’m ready to :
…up the stakes
…raise the bar
…reach for the stars
…stretch my mind
…elevate my game
…boost morale
…advance the front
…spread the word
…promote …enhance …progress …anticipate …dream…

To look up and look farther and do more.

Isn’t Facebook fun? I can keep up with friends from afar – especially my students. Those interesting kids from the Class of 2009 are now posting their thoughts and worries about going to college. They are shopping for dorm stuff, some can’t wait to leave home, they wonder and worry about new roommates, and they ask “am I smart enough for college?” This summer, I can relate. I, too, made the transition from high school to college.

In May, the last question of my day long interview for a university librarian position was “you’ve talked about helping the 1st year students make the transition to college, how are you going to make the transition from high school librarian to college librarian?” Good question. I began my new position as an academic librarian on a college campus on July 6.

One month in – how am I handling that transition? Some days are better than others. I, too, ask the question…am I smart enough?

Being on a college campus is – fun. Being in a community of fellow academic librarians is – fun. [Beware*****Library humor*****What is a group of librarians called...a shelf of librarians?] I had the opportunity to attend a Journal Club meeting – how cool is it that a bunch of librarians all read the same scholarly articles and then get together to discuss them and talk about how the topic impacts their university community? I smiled about that meeting for days! That was fun.

I would advise my students just beginning college to re-configure their personal learning networks. I read many blogs and am in email contact with other librarians from public libraries, high school libraries and university libraries. My emphasis has necessarily changed and I search out other academic science librarians to see what they are reading and what they are doing and recommending. The tools I use to do this are constantly changing – though I wiki, tweet, facebook, igoogle for calendars and documents, and IM; I now need to do it [m] on my mobile phone as I’m a commuter for three hours a day.

I still read some favorite blogs as they have become my learning network for technology in education, and I am wondering if the integration of tech tools moves faster in high schools than it does in college? Jeff Utrecht on his blog The Thinking Stick gives an international perspective and speaks of stages of learning networks. Doug Johnson and Joyce Valenza are prolific bloggers about technology and education and libraries.

But my online reading is more content specific these days:
EurekaAlert!
NSF Discoveries
Confessions of a Science Librarian
ACRLog
Humanities, Librarianship and Technology
Points of Reference
Marginal Revolution

My professional memberships have changed as well to include ACSA (Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture) and ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education,) as well as SLA (Special Libraries Association – which has the best list-serv ever!) and ALA (American Library Association.)

Going to college for me means the job is bigger. The campus and community are bigger and more diverse. The subject matter is, well, college level – undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral research level.

The needs of my library users are the much the same. They need the library open. They need qualified people to answer questions, even if they only need to know how to make copies. The need service, instruction, quality materials, and a place to think and work.

Oh, yeah! I’d also advise my high school students and friends to go to the bookstore and buy a college shirt. I like the red one.