In Which I Live in a Hyperbolic Chamber

(photo by Jim LaPaz)

It's been just over two weeks, but I can say, with and without hyperbole, that I am in love with my job, that this is the best job I have ever had.

Oh, it's going to be a lot of hard work. As Assistant Director of the Waukesha Public Library, I am in charge of the direction the library takes where technology is concerned. There are other pieces to my job, but that's the big one. That includes keeping the equipment working and up-to-date, finding new technologies (hardware and software) and ways to implement them in the library, and many many other things.

That means doing a lot of reading and research, working with national groups like Library Renewal and EQUUAC (ALA's Presidential Task Force on Equitable Access to Electronic Content) as well as local groups like the WLA and WCFLS and the CAFE program.

I've spent two weeks meeting people and being in meetings. Listening. Talking. Learning. It will take six months to a year before I have a sense of what this job needs. There is so much to do and so much I want to do, I don't know when I'll find time for it all.

And I love it.

I've never been happier. I've never felt like I fit in a place so well from the start. No disrespect to the other great places and amazing people that I've worked with, but this is the first time I feel like I'm a part of something. This is the first job I've ever had where I wanted to have personal stuff at work.

For the first time since 1994, I'm not looking for work. This is where I want to be. I can make a difference here. I can learn a lot here.

This just feels right.

Where have you've gone, Johnny Klima?

I've been in IA for a few weeks now. I keep forgetting to bring in a camera to take pictures of my new library digs, but I'll have some soon. Our college runs in trimesters and today's graduation. That means that next week is an interim week with no students and I'll have some freedom to come in and snap away.

There have been two questions I've been getting from everyone: what do you think of IA? and How's the new job? These are both fair questions. Honestly, what else are people going to ask me about? My feelings are those of general happiness and contentment. It's very interesting to go from a large public library, to a small college. I know that I've come in right at finals so I'm not seeing how the students use the library normally, AND I haven't worked on the second floor where the students can check out bones (yes, containers of skulls and spines in pieces that students have to assemble) which is busier than the third floor where my office [wait until you see pictures] is. The new trimester starts in two weeks and I'm excited to see how things work.

However, it's only been a few weeks and I don't know that I can give a fair assessment of what I think. There is a lot of unknown in my life right now (i.e., this is the first time I've worked in circulation and then I'm the manager on top of that, this is the first time I've worked in an academic environment [my time at Rutgers digital libraries does not count as we had no patrons], and this is my first experience with chiropractic medicine). This unknown makes things difficult since I'm spending most of my time reading and learning. I feel little behind the eight ball to get caught up, but that's all self-imposed behind the eight-ballness.

On top of that, at this job I have faculty status, which means I am required to do professional development and service to the college/chiropractic community. Well, I'm required only in the way since it's tied directly to promotion and advancement. So I'll have to do scholarship. Which is fine; I kind of like the idea of writing papers, or editing a journal, or overseeing a committee, or who knows what I'll get into. At my last job, while outside work like that was not discouraged, it wasn't actively encouraged. And it did little to help me as far as performance reviews came. No one would be upset if I published something in School Library Journal, but no one would necessarily laud it either. [that's probably unfair and it sounds a little bitter towards my last job; I guess I'm just trying to say that the public library had no requirements like this, and therefore doing stuff like this was more for personal edification than anything else]

Then there's the whole IA thing. I'd never been to IA before I came out here in Feb 2006 to interview for this job the first time. There's a lot to learn. We're trying to find: grocery stores, fish markets, meat markets, restaurants, doctors, dentists, bookstores, libraries, craft places, printers, etc. that we like. We've moved far enough that most of the stores (particularly when it comes to food shopping; and this is important because we REALLY like to cook) are not the same as the East Coast.

My point is, we're happy, but we're not settled yet. There's a lot to learn.