my day job just got way closer to my calling

Exciting news: I've just accepted a position as the Research Archivist for the Oral History of American Music (OHAM) collection at Yale.

For the past three years, I've worked full-time as a copy-cataloger at Yale while also working online towards a Master of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois (yes, that did get very hectic along with my music career). Why pursue an MLIS when I already have a Master's degree in music, as well as job in academia which provides numerous perks (including medical care for my husband and I)? Well, the main reason was so that I could be eligible for higher paying academic library jobs, which might in turn allow me to work part-time and devote more of my life to music.  Another reason was so that I could be eligible for MORE jobs, and thus increase my chances of working in a music library or collection, so that my day job might really be meaningful to me. I'm not quite done with my degree (four weeks to go), and imagine my delight at having already found a position that meets both criteria!

The position is part-time, and the collection features interviews and recorded memoirs of American composers, some of whom I have worked and studied with. As you may know, I wrote my Master's thesis on collaborating with composers. Needless to say, this collection is of great interest to me. In fact, I feel pretty silly for not having known about it when I was writing my thesis!

Logistics and interests aside, I have to admit that being offered a professional position -- this will pretty much be the first time my job title won't have the word "assistant" in it -- in the field of music librarianship (not to mention at an Ivy League institution) is very affirming. It makes me feel that my hopes and plans have been realistic, and that I have made some good choices about what to study and how to approach my career. It's also great to know that my "useless" music degrees carried as much weight as, if not more than, my library degree in making me qualified for this job.