I’m very happy to say that I have been successful in my recent application for the position of Assistant Librarian at the Victoria University Architecture & Design Library! All right!

I went up to Wellington on the Monday before last for my interview, and to visit the Architecture & Design campus. The Te Aro campus (where my library is) is a considerable way away from the main university; a twenty minute walk down a steep Wellingtonian hill.

When I finally arrived at the big red building, the first thing I noticed was the student projects hanging up in the large atrium area that connects the departments and the library. I was thrilled to see that they were creative architectural concepts for a new Upper Hutt Public Library!

That’s not the only interesting project that the A&D faculty are working on. The Digital Media Design department are working on an online space for teaching and learning in Second Life! I went to visit the department (while waiting for my 2pm appointment with the search committee) and met the technician working on the project. They hope to teach ‘mixed-world’ lectures - where students bring their avatars into a virtual classroom, and webcam images of their lecturers from the ‘real world’ appear on view screens in that environment. They have really awesome workrooms there - filled with nice Mac Pros and big monitors. They have three projector screens set up at one end of the room, side by side. According to the librarians, someone in the Architecture department is also working on a Second Life project. I really hope that, through my new position, I’ll be able to somehow get the library (and myself!) involved in projects like these two!

I start at my new library the day after Queen’s Birthday Weekend, 5 June, meaning that we have only about six weeks to get us moved into a new place in Wellington. We’re also agonising over where we’re going to live, and trying to work out where the supermarkets are in Wellington Central! I’m going to really miss Christchurch, and especially the people I’ve worked with at Canterbury Uni, but I’m also looking forward to discovering another new city.

As for Michelle, she has a job interview of her own to go to in Wellington the week after next! She’ll be interviewing for the awesome position at the OFLC that she’s hoping to get. I really think that it would be a dream position for Michelle. So now we have our fingers crossed for a positive outcome there, too.

Thanks everyone for your kind words, encouraging me to go up there and try out for the job and wishing me well for the interview - it worked!