Career decisions

Recently, I've been thinking about my career. More specifically, about what I would do if I decided to no longer be a rare book cataloger. Now, don't get me wrong. I really like my job, and I have no intention of leaving the profession any time soon. I do have some fears, I guess, about the longevity of rare book cataloging, though, and I think often about that most dreaded of interview questions: Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?

Someone, during an interview actually, gave me a great answer to that question recently: "In 5-10 years, I hope to be the best cataloger I can be." The lip-service answer, of course, is something about moving up into administration, being the head of a department, supervision, blah blah blah. That's just ... so not me. Realistically, I sort of imagine I will end up in that kind of role someday, but it's not what I'd want. I actually want to be one of those crusty old types who just catalogs the books. Knows everything. Follows orders. That would make me happy.

But. What would I do if I weren't a cataloger? I have no idea. I really can't come up with anything, mostly because I'm lazy, and until someone is going to pay me to sit around and read books, or exercise, or watch movies, I don't have any brilliant ideas. Teacher? Critic? Editor? That last is perhaps the most reasonable, but the publishing industry is scrambling these days, and besides. My grasp of grammar isn't really that great. Some type of journalism? I dunno. I need to write a lot more, and a lot more regularly, before I really get the sense that anyone would want to read what I write. And what would I write about?

Not so long ago, I pondered what I might go back to school for, if not my dream MA in English lit. I came up with linguistics. I like languages and learning about languages, and how we use language ...

Basically, I think I have skills, interests, and inclinations in things that aren't terrifically lucrative, or even conducive to "real" jobs.

Something to continue pondering, I suppose...hopefully, the world will still need catalogers for a little while longer.