I am back!

Hello! I don’t know about you but I had plans for 2020. But COVID-19 and white supremacy had other plans for my life. So I am writing a quick blog post to just check-in and to stick to some of my plans. Personally and professionally I felt like I was in survival mode and I wanted to switch into more of a thriving mode then all hell broke loose. So here is a rundown of what I have been up since I last wrote a post.

• I am still a Liaison Librarian at Edward G. Miner Library which is located at the University of Rochester Medical Center. I wanted to write a quick blog post about my new position but I decided that I won’t do that. So I will give you a quick job description. The departments that I am a liaison to are Environmental Medicine, Medical Humanities, Pharmacy, Physiology, Cardiology, Hospital Medicine, General Medicine, and Internal Medicine. In these departments, I support the clinical and academic side.
• My promotion from Librarian I to Librarian II was approved and will go in effect on July 1st. I am glad that this is happening.
• I am was working from home since March 16th then in May I was furloughed. Before COVID-19 I never knew of the term furlough. I knew about being fired, laid off, or terminated so I had to learn this new concept. Anyway being furloughed has been interesting. The good news is that one day I will be back at work full time.
• I had plans to attend my first Medical Libray Association(MLA) conference in Portland, Oregon and that has changed so hopefully, I can attend their virtual conference. My poster proposal was approved so that will be displayed virtually which I think is cool. I definitely will be making a post about the MLA Conference if I am able to attend so that you can have a link to the poster. The poster will be created with 2 other health sciences librarians.
• I am glad that I have great colleagues in this profession that I now can call my friends. So we have a weekly virtual lunch together which has been great! I can laugh, cry, and be my true authentic self. I am grateful for this.
• I co-created LibVoices and now I am one of the co-hosts of the podcast. Check it out and follow us!
• I started a professional Instagram page, my handle is LibrarianJamia. Follow me if you are on the gram!
• Black Lives Matter has gained the most acceptance since the movement started. Even businesses have issued statements in solidarity with Black people. We shall see if they will truly follow through with supporting Black people. I think I should archive the statements that libraries have put out and then follow up somehow. This is a very different and interesting time. I truly hope that change will happen soon.

Well this is all that I have for now. Thank you for following me! Please let me know how you are handling things during this time.