Yesterday was my former-intern/former-student/coworker's last day of work with us. We are all pretty crushed because she is so great! She is exactly the type of person who should be a librarian. To make things even worse is she is leaving the state. She is heading down to North Carolina.

She has a good reason. Her wife is going to Duke University to take part in a Master's Degree program so she can become a Physician's Assistant. They have already gotten an apartment even though they are not heading down there until next month, but my sidekick, as I call her, is a little down because she still has not been able to get a position down there.

She has been working pretty hard to find something. The big problem is that there are 5 library schools in the area so most of the entry-level positions are set aside for them. Now, she just graduated from library school so she is not sure that she is ready for something higher up. She is searching in other fields so hopefully she will land something soon.

The good news is that they are planning to come back up here in two years when her wife is done with the medical program. That is a relief because the RI library community really should have her as a part of it. There is also a hope we will be able to hire her back when she comes back. It would be so great to have her as a part of the team!

The good news is that I will still see her a few times before she and her wife head south. We are both going to the Rhode Island Library Association Conference, which will be takign place in the beautiful seaside community of Newport ... yep, where all those beautiful mansions are located.

We have also scheduled a chance for she, I, our spouses and mutual friends to get together for dinner before the she becomes a Southerner.