Regardless of the reason for leaving one’s library – whether a new opportunity, retirement, or something else – there is obviously business to attend to before departure. Everyone’s circumstances are unique, and you may not have the luxury of time to attend to things as you wish. If you do, here are some things to consider before heading off into your next chapter, with thanks to Liz Gray, Sandy Gray, and Dave Wee for their insights!
Get your collection in order.
An inventory and/or weed may be overdue, so this is the time to get work done that you’ve been putting off. Perhaps this means dealing with a non-fiction print collection that is underused, with the goal of creating valuable extra space. Don’t forget about attending to your digital collection as well!
Have policies, procedures and lessons updated, documented and organized in one place.
Use a shared drive (Google or school network, depending on school policy) to house all library documents, ensuring that nothing is left living solely on your own computer’s hard drive.
Be specific, for example: ” When a box of new books arrives, here is a bulleted list of the 14 things that need to be done before the book gets placed on the new book display for students to check out” (Wee, 2024).
Sandy remembers an AISL conference where recently retired Sara Kelley-Mudie presented on this topic, discussing “high-level considerations right down to explicitly labelling all keys”. She suggested not only leaving contact information for all vendors but also reaching out to them to introduce your successor (if known).
Leave a detailed budget with supportive documentation to support line items
Provide your successor with as much data as possible to support budgetary decisions & priorities.
Address any personnel issues within your staff
Similar to getting your collection in order, do this to make your successor’s transition much easier.
During transition, focus on function and avoid the drama
Approach the transition with an objective mindset. In Liz’s words, “one woman’s nemesis might end up being another woman’s best friend, and the person who never collaborated with me might end up making beautiful music with my successor.” This is relevant for both internal & external hires.
Make sure your job description is up to date
This is particularly important if the people hiring are less familiar with your day-to-day work, especially regarding changes that have occurred since your hiring. You want the description to reflect what you currently do, with an eye to the future as well.
And if your successor is a current colleague, include them in decision-making processes (such as database renewals, lesson planning, and acquisitions) wherever possible. Have them invited to meetings alongside you, and ensure they are included on relevant email distribution lists.
This is all great information! When I left my last job, where I was a solo librarian, I wrote up something like a 30 page handbook for my successor. I included all the little details about the day-to-day running of the library, all the procedures, research projects, etc. I figured she could hit the ground running by following the handbook, thus giving herself time to figure out how she wanted to change things after she’d tried how I had done it. She was so grateful for the help!
Lucky successor! Mine might be less glamorous – I’ve got a “Year in the Life” Google doc, where I’ve been tracking everything by month, with links to all docs.
Excellent, practical and kind advice. This might be the first time I have read anything on the topic. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Maria!
Thank you, Shelagh, and congratulations! Your message resonates with me as I, too, am retiring at the end of this year after 25 years at the school, 18 of them in the library. I’m thinking about additional items to attend to, such as my Canva account, making sure projects are accessible and transferable to the school-wide account. Ensuring Kahoots and other products/projects platforms are transferred or deleted. I will also wrangle with disentangling my worklife and homelife on my Apple Account later in the spring.
I’ve got library files wrangled into a shared Google folder for our whole dept; great tip about Canva!
Thank you, Shelagh, and congratulations! We’re all going to miss you!
Thank you, Nicole!