As many of you have already heard, my personal news is that I’m retiring from Millikin University as of January 15, 2008, although I expect to move from Decatur by the end of the fall 2007 semester. This has not been an easy decision, because I still feel happy and useful here. But it's time. It seems smart after all to want to move on while the glow still lingers both around me and in my mind? My stint at Millikin as University Librarian (since Summer 1999) has been the best job all the way around that I have ever had – what an exquisite way to conclude a professional career!  (And let’s overlook the small irony that this has taken place in a part of the country I would never have imagined myself living...) A life in a profession, academic librarianship, that I pretty much fell into without any particular plan but which has turned out to suit me exceedingly well – something which, and this amazes me even more, is also the case for the management/administrative part of it. I’ve been so lucky!  In Staley Library, I have had absolutely the best staff ever, smart, hard-working, dedicated, cohesive, respectful, all without taking either themselves or me too seriously - just seriously enough.  Too, they care a lot about each other and about me, and we all watch out for each other even while our mutual high expectations keep us going.

At Millikin I have also had solidly collaborative relationships with many wonderful faculty, staff and administrators across the spectrum, I’ve loved that!  One of my greatest professional satisfactions is making things happen through connections, a quick phone call or e-mail maybe, a hallway exchange, or even meetings (my meetings are messy but we get done what we need to, and pretty much within the allotted time). From the very beginning of my work life I have wanted to get involved in everything, stick my nose in, moving things along; and management, what else is it if not that? Fortunately I don’t always need to be right or get my way -- or at least I don’t so much any more?  Either way, Millikin has been a fine environment for having my tentacles everywhere productively without having to worry excessively about hierarchy or professional safety.

A bonus has been my involvement with study abroad for the past three years. What fun it has been to do something entirely new, and to work so directly with individual students to help them pursue academic adventures around the world! I owe a particular thanks to the library staff for bearing with good grace my spending so much more time with this activity than the "overload" designation might have suggested.

And in with all this, I have also taught a bit outside the library, in the IN120 Cultural Events seminar. In that role, I have gotten to read some fine essays about events on campus and what these have meant, or not, to the students.

But if you absolutely need even more details about my professional past and present, here's my vita.

Meanwhile, I am moving back east, perhaps not as near the ocean as I'd like but at least nearer, and also within driving distance of my granddaughters, other relatives and many friends too.  I have bought a house in Lenoir, North Carolina, a big one in anticipation of guests! Now all I have to do is pack up my belongings here in Decatur --  something that looms Sisyphean but which I certainly don't have forever to complete.

And then the question, "But what will you DO when you have retired?"  I borrow my answer from a friend who says, "I don't know, I've never been retired before!"

In the library, Cindy Fuller will take over as director, something which pleases me a lot and I know you will be pleased too. Cindy is Millikin all the way, starting as an undergraduate when she was a Staley Library student worker! She now has two master's degrees, including her recent Millikin MBA, and an impressive variety of professional experience along with a fine sense of humor. Well but you already knew all that.

My earlier library newsletters.

So, wishing you the best of holidays and much joy in the future. And thanks to all for making Millikin such a great experience for me!