Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers! In honor of the holiday of giving thanks (and a not-quite-annual tradition on this blog), I wanted to take today to write a bit about things I’m thankful for in the library. I’m not going to be comprehensive (at this point in the term the memory is a bit fuzzy) or try to fit it into a predefined list (too hokey). Instead, I’m just going to write a bit of thanks and call it a good day.

1. East Bay Wrimos This was the first year that I signed up the library as an official Come Write In partner for National Novel Writing Month. It has been a long, exhausting month hosting write-ins every weekend, but the people I’ve met and gotten to know better over the course of the month has made it all worth it. (Even the running around like mad trying to figure out how to work a colleague’s coffee maker when my order for coffee hadn’t been received so there was no delivery one weekend). It has been great to write with other people, listen to their stories, and share laughs as we all do this crazy, novel-writing thing. It makes me happy to see so many people, who wouldn’t normally come to campus, come to the library and have a great time.

2. Students I’m continually thankful for my (mostly) wonderful students, both in the classes I teach, the ones I see at the reference desks, and the ones that come for help in my office. They keep me on my toes and make me remember why I love to teach and learn. I’ve felt especially grateful this year for students I’ve had in previous terms who’ve come back to say hi, get help on research for their current classes, and introduce me to friends who need a bit of research help, too. It makes being a teaching librarian a lot of fun (and makes doing grading seem a little easier, too).

3. Colleagues I love having colleagues I can collaborate and learn with at my library. A couple of colleagues and I were in the same faculty learning community this year and are just finishing up an article manuscript together. It has been great to share the learning experience and article writing experience with them.

4.  Generosity This is the fourth year we’ve participated as a library in our campus’ Bountiful Basket food drive. I’m always so grateful for the generosity of my colleagues in giving to the food drive and how we are able to represent the library in another positive way within our campus community. Plus, it is always fun to see just how many cans of green beans we get each year. 😉

So really, I’m thankful for so much of my work and my ability to keep learning and sharing. I hope that you have many things to be thankful for this year, too, dear readers. I’m also thankful that next month is December and I should have some more time to write and share here. Because, as always, I’m thankful that you read this blog, dear readers. It is always a journey. Allons-y!