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mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Welp, another disillusioned and somewhat desperate would-be librarian to add to the collective. I've been lurking in this thread for a while, but with my latest get-a-reasonable-job effort running out of steam, I think it's time to start contributing.

I seem to be lucky in that I do have a library job, just in a sector that I don't particularly want to continue in. I'm an assistant in a commercial law firm library, and have been for...well, four years now (Though in two different firms). I can't complain too much about my job - it paid for me to do my masters part time, which I finished this summer, and I don't know how else I could have funded that. (I'm in the UK)

But commercial legal libraries is just not what I want to work in, and not what I spent two and a half years working towards. I guess Ideally I'd want to work in a museum or gallery library (yeah, me and a million others I guess) or a university library. I did a graduate trainee year in an an academic library, but I've seen very very few academic library jobs since I started looking properly May-ish. And those I have applied to...nadda. Its getting very disheartening.

And all the time I'm spending even more time in commercial libraries, and realising soon I'll NEED to get that qualified position, and I'll stand a bigger chance (any chance) getting it in commercial libraries, and then I'm trapped there. If I'm not already...

Ah well! I have decided that I need to become an expert in copyright.

Also, has anyone ever written an article for a library journal? Know how you would go about doing that?

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mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

nesbit37 posted:

More or less, yes. Its not a 100% requirement, but the way the market is right now and the number of lawyers and librarians there are out there without jobs your going to be hard pressed to get a foot in the door without a JD unless you know someone. My girlfriend's father is a law librarian without a JD and he has said multiple times that today there is no way he would have gotten the job he has without one, nor will he hire someone without one.

That's interesting - in the UK it is still the case that you don't need a law degree to become a law librarian, I don't know anyone who has one. I don't get the impression that's going to change anytime soon over here.

Indeed the impression I get that despite my current desperation it seems easier over here in the UK than the US - I don't think there's any need yet for an additional masters along with your Lib sci masters.

Though maybe I'd be able to get a job easier if I had...

mediadave fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Oct 12, 2011

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Having decided that digital preservation should be the way my career should go, I've started volunteering at the UK National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park on occasional weekends to try and get that experience. (Also spending a week volunteering in digital preservation at the Wellcome colletion library). Despite being a 'National' museum it's a pretty ramshackle affair, pretty much staffed entirely by volunteers. The archives have been arranged in, some sort of order by a gruff fomer engineer*, but they have a huge collection of software they want catalogued (and possibly classified), and a library of computing books that they want classified.

Does anyone know anything about cataloguing software? What metadata etc to use?

Likewise, does anyone know anything about creating or adapting a classification system?

I have searched the few journals available via CILIP, but surprisingly could find nothing relevant on those subjects.




* An order based on location rather than type, so maybe down the line I'll have a go at looking at how you should arrange an archive, but when I went on a bank holiday for the express reason of finding out about what I could do he showed no interest in showing me how to do anything, so we'll see.

mediadave fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Jun 9, 2012

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Well! Finally have an interview, and a good one too - assistant librarian at Lincoln's inn, an inn of court which is like a college/professional association for barristers (lawyers) in the uk. Not the complete jump out of legal I'd been looking for, but certainly out of commercial.

I'm pretty surprised I got an interview, as I realised after I sent the app form that I'd made a couple of stupid mistakes, which could still come and bite me and blows away my whole 'attention to detail' thing. Will also need to take a morning off next week. Too late to get it off from my current boss, so I guess I'll need to call in sick. Oh well.

mediadave fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Jun 27, 2012

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

Lady Demelza posted:

I was going to reply to mediadave, but hopefully he got the job and won't need any advice about archives. For anyone else in the UK who finds management of archives thrust upon them with no prior training or experience, there is a one-day Basic Archive Skills Training Day, run by the Archive Skills Consultancy Ltd. It's a good overview but it is quite pricey.

Annoyingly I did not get the job.

I had gone to the same place for an interview there a few years ago - on that occasion they asked me a load of technical questions that someone at my stage and the job I was going for (graduate trainee!) had no chance of answering - this occasion they continued with that policy. It was quite strange, on a few occasions when I replied to their "Can you give me an example of when you would do x" questions with what I still think were solid answers they asked me if I could give another example. I'm still not sure exactly what they were looking for. And alas, there was one question I simply couldn't answer. Plus, they noted and pointed out the stupid mistakes I'd made on the application form.

I may look into that archive skills training day - the National Museum of Computing turned out to be - well, maybe not dicks, that's probably unfair, but the couple of times I went out there (at not insubstantial transport expense) they showed absolutely no interest in me and clearly didn't care or desire that I was there at all. I did however volunteer very briefly at the Wellcome trust digitisation programme - digitisation and digital preservation being issues I'm very interested in. Again annoyingly however the big boss did give me a very nice, in depth talk about how I should have been an archivist, not a librarian. Well I aint doing another masters, no sir.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Given that I really want to get (back) into the academic sector and have a lot of experience in the legal sector, do you think it would be weird/creepy/stupid/futile to just, well, email academic law librarians and ask them for advice? Try and arrange a tour or two if possible?

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

Big Bad Voodoo Lou posted:

Where are you located? And do you have a JD?

I'm afraid I don't know what a JD is...I'm UK based - so perhaps the library and Information sector here isn't directly comparable as to the US, but I'm sure we're facing exactly the same issues. I'm based in London, so plently of Libraries - but also I'm sure plenty more competition.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

mediadave posted:

I've started volunteering at the UK National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park on occasional weekends to try and get that experience. (Also spending a week volunteering in digital preservation at the Wellcome colletion library). Despite being a 'National' museum it's a pretty ramshackle affair, pretty much staffed entirely by volunteers. The archives have been arranged in, some sort of order by a gruff fomer engineer*, but they have a huge collection of software they want catalogued (and possibly classified), and a library of computing books that they want classified.

I pretty much gave up on this for a while as the woman that ran the museum never got back to me about getting references etc to actually become an offical volunteer. But I've decided that I'm going to take a step back from looking for new jobs for the sake of my sanity, and so I do need to do something more so I can resume from a better place a year or so down the line. So I'm going to join - hopefully - the committee of a group, the UK CILIP Multimedia Information and Technology Group Multimedia Information and Technology Group.

I'm also am going to volunteer at the National Museum of Computing, and make myself get something out of it. (It turns out she did have my reference but just never got back to me).

If there are any UK based library goons who are also looking for something to put on their CVs I'd be more than grateful for company however! It is in an interesting place (Bletchley Park, and all the history etc there.) It is a 'National' museum, that presumably is only going to get more professional and renowned as time goes on, and there does seem plenty of work to do. Plus you can pretty much volunteer anytime and any amount, occasional weekends etc. I think it'll look very good on a CV. I hope.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

Tremynci posted:

Archives Skills Consultancy is indeed good (and have a good range of PDF overviews), but there are some less pricey, if less flashy, alternatives if you need to get to grips with recordkeeping quickly. There's the forum on https://www.archives.org.uk (the website of the Archives and Records Association -- free registration required); that site will also give you contact details for the geographical region or specialist section most relevant to you, if you'd like to arrange a face-to-face talk with a real person. The ARCHIVES-NRA JISCmail list can be annoying, but it's a really good source of helpful goon-in-well-type advice. So's the the Information Management section of the National Archives' website: the Archives Sector Development team are also amazing and friendly and helpful and froody. For that matter, you can also send me a PM -- I am a UK-based archivist (my policy package is basically a rip-off of stuff sent me after a JISCmail plea, and I think ASD are gods), and I'll gladly answer any question (within reason), help you with research, or point you to someone smarter than me. Just be prepared for "Get an archivist in to deal with that, mate" to be part of the reply... :)

Many thanks - and be aware, I may well take you up on that asking advice.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Well, After several years of trying to move from the commerical Legal library sector to Academic libraries I'm finally getting some interviews.

Admittedly this is via applying for the most basic, sub information assistant positions despite my qualification, graduate traineeship and qualified-level experience, but hey it seems that's the way it is. I suppose, at least if I do get a job in an academic library that stuff isn't going to dissapear off my CV for further down the line. I'm not really pissed off, I recognise the job market is poo poo, I'm just kicking myself that I've pretty much wasted three years.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Hmm, I've looked at the job I've got an interview for on Friday and am a bit split. Library services assistant - largely patrolling the library and keeping the users in line, undertaking minor repairs etc, moving materials within the library - so not even on the issue/help desk. Is that too low a position at my stage? Would it actually hurt my career? Last week I had an interview for a digital assets assistant position, which was for an interesting job that could well have led places that I would have liked my career to go, but well I didn't get it. Ugh.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

nesbit37 posted:

It depends on the institution and where you want to go. If you want something bigger there or it is a well known place with local connections its probably a great way to get your foot in the door for something larger. That happens regularly where I am, but we also have fairly high turnover. If people just sit at their jobs forever at that this institution and never leave then unless you can use it to build connections at other area institutions it might not be worth it.

Unless you are giving up some other position that is more closely associated with what you want to do long term I do not think it will hurt your prospects. Its always better to be doing something related to the field you want to be in than just unemployed or doing something completely unrelated.

Yeah, put like that...it's in the academic library of a large and renowned university in London, basically the sort of environment I really want to work in and as large a library service as you can get (except perhaps national libraries).

I do have a technically very good position at the library/'information and research department' of a commerical law firm. I do a lot of research, also purchasing of books and journals, cataloguing, liasing with user departments and suppliers...basically all the good stuff librarians do. Its just that I don't want to work in a commercial, office environment like that. It's very much not the reason I got into libraries. I guess an academic legal library would be the best fit, but from what I've heard (and this certainly could just be sour grapes, not least from me) at the moment it's very hard to get a good job at a university/college if you don't already work there, and certainly if you don't have current experience of working in another academic library.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Has anyone worked an evening or weekend job at a university?

How would you answer a question in an interview about, say working an evening or weekend, having no supervisor immediately available and being asked difficult questions, or being asked to do stuff you're not quite sure if you should be doing for users?

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

U-DO Burger posted:

For difficult questions, I ask for the details first to give me time to think. Then if it's something that I know I can't answer, I refer the patron to someone who should be able to answer it. Hopefully you're not working solo, so you can ask your co-workers for help until you get more accustomed to the job. Some academic libraries have online librarians available 24/7. Ask them if they have this, because it's something you should refer people to if you can't answer reference questions.

Know how to find your library's policies/guidelines so you have something to refer to when asked to do something you're not sure about. If you think this problem should go to your supervisor, give them his/her contact info, and ALSO tell your supervisor yourself. If it's something that really isn't mentioned anywhere in policies, consider whether or not doing X is in line with the library's mission, and act accordingly. Write down all the details so you can ask your supervisor about it afterwards.

Something important to figure out ASAP is what actions in the ILS are permanent and what ones aren't. Altering stuff to satisfy the patron can really gently caress things up if you're not careful.

Ask the interviewer if the library uses Gimlet. It's a really useful tool to consult in exactly these situations, and it helps to break the divide that usually exists between the morning crew and evening crew.

Thanks for the advice! I got the position - a weekend 'reading room invigilator ' position at a prestigious university library. Very happy, for the first time in a few years my career seems to be progressing.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Lots of debate in the UK library twitter community about the rebranding of the UK professional body - currently CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals).

http://www.cilip.org.uk/about-us/brand/pages/rebranding-cilip.aspx

They've sent out a survey about the rebranding, with suggested names such as 'The Knowledge People' and 'Inf Pro UK'. Presumably they were there to make the only sensible option 'The Information Association', look great by default. Notably none of the suggested names has 'Library' or 'Librarian' in them...

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
I'm feeling optimistic and enthusiastic about libraries again. Does anyone have any good books/ videos/ articles etc I should read?

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

mediadave posted:

Thanks for the advice! I got the position - a weekend 'reading room invigilator ' position at a prestigious university library. Very happy, for the first time in a few years my career seems to be progressing.

After ages they've finally arranged for training and inductions...during the week. Hmmm. My work week job isn't one for flexible working or short notice holidays. And I think I've used up any leeway with, you know, going to interviews etc.

If it was just once I could call in sick, but it'll be at least twice possibly three times. Hmmm. I'll have to ask the Saturday job for a bit of leeway, which isn't a great start there...

Worse, they are being fairly reasonable and the training is mostly after working hours, but I live and work in London and this job is in Oxford...

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

mediadave posted:

Thanks for the advice! I got the position - a weekend 'reading room invigilator ' position at a prestigious university library. Very happy, for the first time in a few years my career seems to be progressing.

Well, 10 months later and I'm still enjoying my saturday job. It and it still gives me a bit of that buzz of excitement at working in libraries that I had when I got my graduate trainee position, years ago now. (That buzz being half naievity and half at this point sheer nostalgia.)

I've been working in the commerical legal sector for just over six years now - and trying to get out of it back into academic for the past five and a bit years. Not that it's a bad sector for an information professional to work in - absolutely not - it's just not what I got into libraries to do. Plus in my current job I hate my boss, who sits directly behind me, which doesn't help.

The hardest part I've found looking for jobs etc was the need to keep the enthusiasm up - I'd get enthusaistic about looking for jobs, and then three months of fruitless application form writing later I'd think "Ah, screw it, the non commercial library world doesn't want me, and I've just received more responsibility or a promotion or whatever here, that'll help me looking for a job later." All the while getting further away from what I actually wanted to do.

So this saturday job has been great at, not only giving me academic stuff to put on my CV and hopefully interviews, but at keeping me in 'front line' librarianing, and in keeping my enthusiasm about libraries high, as how can't you be enthusiastic about libraries when doing a (pretty easy) job in a gorgeous medieval library in one of the most renowned universities in the English Speaking World?

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
I've started looking again for weekday jobs a couple of months ago. Have got an interview for a good academic job - well, a qualified rank job anyway, so I need to do well in this. Proves that my weekend job is actually having an effect though, so regardless of how this particular interview goes at least, I guess, it's proof of theory.

The big problem of this job is that it's in a different city to the one my fiance and I live in, and my fiance has a job that pays about twice what I can exepct, so we won't be moving. So I'd have to spend a huge proportion of my salary and four hours a day or so commuting... Probably still worth it though, especially given the amount of wah-ing I've done about my career over the last few years.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

apdear posted:

I'm interested in working in the legal sector. I haven't attended library school yet, I'll start this Fall. I have a JD though. Just curious- do most law librarians have JD's?

I have some time on my hands until school starts, are there any skills you recommend brushing up on- even if they're basic skills, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts? What programs did you mostly use at work- Lexis, WestLaw, Bloomberg? Many people on this forum have suggested learning html and other web languages. Did you find that your co-workers possessed these skills?

It's good to hear you are moving toward your deeper goals- academic sector. I totally understand your sentiment when you write that it's easy to just say screw it after months of application writing. If you don't mind sharing, I'd like to hear your thoughts about the difference btwn librarianship in an academic library vs. the work you do now.

Hey, really sorry I didn't get back to you - I had the final weeks before my wedding and honeymoon to arrange so things were a bit busy, plus i didn't get the job I went on an interview for so as far as libraries went I went into another mini funk.

But anyway, I work in the UK where things are a little different, and perhaps a little less crazy jobs/qualification wise. (but only a little less, and rapidly getting crazier).

In the UK most law librarians don't have law degrees/JDs - I certainly don't. Seems to be general humanities degrees like History (which is what I have) for the most part - and library masters of course.

So far as skills, I'd say general Microsoft Office skills - we use things like Excel far more than actual library management programmes. I think most commercial law libraries are too small/poor/cheap to buy any proper library management software. It'd probably be a good idea to have an example or two of how you were able to create a mini catalogue from excel/access for whatever made up purpose. Learn conditional formatting!

Also HTML. You probably don't need any hard coding skills, but in my experience the library dept usually has a heavy responsibility for the firm intranet as well. In my experience I'm usually the only person who has learnt beyond the absolute minimum though so I don't know if these'd be needed in job, but probably good for applications etc.

So far as legal databases go we use Westlaw, Lexis Library and Nexis UK, Practical Law and of course a whole load of other sector based online databases. Westlaw is far easier to use than the rest.

There is a big difference between academic and commerical legal I find. Pretty much different jobs. A large part is of course the environment - working in an office alongside and with users who are commercial office workers and lawyers is going to be a lot different than working in a academic library with students. But the big difference is the research load. In an academic library a big proportion of your reference work is going to be 'where is this book' and 'the printer isn't working'. (I guess dept liaison librarians may be asked more technical questions.). Wheras in a commercial legal library users will just come in and ask super specific legal queries, like "If I have a plane registered in South Africa and owned by a UK national which is detained in Kazakhstan, which jurisdiction should the case be heard in?" or such like. And even though we can't actually answer those questions (both because we're not lawyers and because it's super difficult) we still need to be able to tell the user where they should be looking. A frustrating part is trying to get across to users that not every legal situation has an answer written down, which is why there exists jobs such as lawyers in the first place.

Research work like that can be really interesting, but it can also be stressful and unsatisfying, especially depending on the nature of who is asking.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-27556659

The famous Glasgow School of Art designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh has been extensively damaged in a fire, and its iconic library has been destroyed. Fortunately the building itself was saved, and they say it'll be restored. We'll see, thankfully no one was hurt.






apdear posted:

Thank you so much for getting back to me! Great advice. I will continue to build my excel skills (advice that another law librarian has given me as well). I volunteer at an academic library and the "the printer isn't working" question comes up multiple times a day :) I think working at a firm and answering specific jurisdictional questions, etc, could be really interesting. My concern is the speed in which the questions must be answered. Hopefully the schedule isn't too crazy. Some questions just take a long time to answer. Did you find most entry level law librarians at the corporate level to be fully versed in legal jargon? Or is the learning curve pretty steep at the beginning? Are there good training programs at firms for newly hired law librarians? My library program will offer a few law library courses, but not many. I haven't found a good website with resources, links, information on what aspiring law librarians should be doing to get the proper training since most library programs only offer a few courses and many law students graduate having taken only one legal research course and never even using Bloomberg.

Are there any other programs you recommend learning or can you direct me to some legal research resources or the other sector based online databases you referred to?


Again, im in the UK where qualifications etc aren't quite as crazy as the US (though the nature of the job market means its rapidly becoming that was I imagine), but I didn't have any particular sector or legal knowledge before I got a job in the legal sector - though I did have experience of working in a library.

I'm afraid I don't really know of any training programs...I mean, I've been sent on the occasional seminar or whatever, but nothing that is available online.

I guess I'd look up the websites of the American Association of Law Librarians http://www.aallnet.org/, (and if you're interested he British one, the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians http://www.biall.org.uk/ )

Most of the databases are behind paywalls -- so you'd have to ask at the library of your school and hopefully they'll have access (if they have a law dept they will do). One to look at, if only to see how messy things can be, is worldlii http://www.worldlii.org/ - a database of databases of publically available legal information. Finding foreign legal information can be fraught.

If you're really interested I'd see if you could get a bit of work experience at law firm libraries - I reckon they'd be pretty receptive and it'd help your CV and help see if you're actually interested. There may be a mailing list for queries and discussion on legal library topics - the UK has Lis Law https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=lis-law , perhaps one of the American legal librarians can direct you to an Amefican one.




I have another interview on Wednesday, this one is a Senior Library Assistant, Lending services supervisor. Hmm, presumably I'll have to deal with queries about dealing with problem customers and making judgements on queries and disputes - not something I've really had to do on an organised basis.

I do need to think up better examples. I always get stuck on the 'team work' question. This is more a general interview question than libraries really, but what sort of things do people use for examples of team work, (of course, where there's been a challenge or obstacle to overcome as well)? I can't really think of any examples of the law library that would transfer to adcademia (I mean, we do do a lot of teamwork when it comes to research projects, but if I bring up that then I think the interviewers would just think "This isn't relvant to what we do, he doesn't even know what it's like in an academic library!" I guess I can bullshit a bit about some of the other projects we do, like developing the new know-how database or weeding etc, though they're more individual projects really.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

nesbit37 posted:

It sounds like you don't really know what goes on in an academic library. For one, there are academic law librarians that are pretty similar to firm law librarians except they work with students and faculty. There are reference and instructional support librarians (liaisons), access services librarians, archivists, emerging technology librarians, digital services librarians, etc. all of these and more fit under academic libraries, and the main difference between who academic librarian serves and how their role plays out is that their main patron base is higher ed. students and faculty.

Oh for sure, of course. The sort of thing I meant by team research work we do in the commercial law library is things like in depth business development research like creating lists of investment funds based in Toronto investing in natural resources, etc.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Ahhh, I think I have accidentally screwed myself.

I've been trying to get out of the legal sector into the academic sector for a few years now, and my applying has grown a bit...scattershot. Not that I've applied for any jobs that I wouldn't take or aren't qualified for, but I am now applying for jobs I probably wouldn't have gone for a year or two ago - like the job I had an interview for last week. This was an exclusively back end cataloguing position (no real contact with users), temporary until April, a very long awkward commute, and low paid. I've now been offered this position, and in any other situation in the last six months I'd have happily accepted, despite the downsides, as it would be in the correct sector, I could network like crazy, I might turn out enjoying it etc...

The problem however is that I have another interview, this Wednesday, for another position at the SAME academic library service. This one is a library assistant, permanent, in the old library. Beautiful setting, nicer locale (commute wise). As I'm already doing that job somewhat at my Saturday position (which is at the same institution, and frankly is the only reason I'm getting these interviews) I feel relatively confident as much as you can for these interviews. Technically a library assistant position may be lower than a cataloguing position, but I think I'd enjoy the work more. And this could be the only chance I'd get to work in the old library of an ancient university, which is a genuine interest.

Which is why I'm freaking out a bit. If I reject the temporary cataloguing job, and don't get the library assistant job, I'd forever kick myself. I've been trying so long and so desperately to get out my current job that it seems stupid to reject anything. But if I accept it, and then get offered the other position, a position frankly I'd love to do...well, if I accepted that position after accepting the other position it could screw my career with this entire institution.

I guess I should call their HR dept - tomorrow, I only got myself a could of days to think - and see if there's any way I can accept this position pending the interview on Wednesday. or maybe I should just accept the cataloguing job, in many ways it's technically better. Might be better for CV (despite the temporariness of it.)

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

Insane Totoro posted:

Also this isn't somehow in Pennsylvania is it?

No - Oxford, the UK.

Ugh, I'm just no good at these situations. I should have told the recruiting manager when she called that I had another interview, instead of just asking for a couple of days to think. Ah, you live and learn...

I have to get back by end of Wednesday - so I guess I can go to the other interview and see how I feel it went. If it was an obvious washout I can just call and accept the other one, if not... well, then more awkwardness.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

mediadave posted:

No - Oxford, the UK.

Ugh, I'm just no good at these situations. I should have told the recruiting manager when she called that I had another interview, instead of just asking for a couple of days to think. Ah, you live and learn...

I have to get back by end of Wednesday - so I guess I can go to the other interview and see how I feel it went. If it was an obvious washout I can just call and accept the other one, if not... well, then more awkwardness.

Well, I ended up taking the temporary job anyway and in hindsight I don't know why I was feeling so sick with stress about it, so I guess I'll be working at the Bodleian library! Woo! Admittedly in five months time I'll be frantically looking for another job, but at least then I'll be doing so from a different position.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011

mediadave posted:

Well, I ended up taking the temporary job anyway and in hindsight I don't know why I was feeling so sick with stress about it, so I guess I'll be working at the Bodleian library! Woo! Admittedly in five months time I'll be frantically looking for another job, but at least then I'll be doing so from a different position.


Well, That was the quickest promotion I've ever had! I took the first job I was offered - the temp job, until April. It is actually a lot better than I'd expected, the only real problem is the commute, which is a bastard (currently I'm commuting from London to Oxford). But where i'm working now is just so much more relaxed than my previous job in a law firm! It's amazing the difference, the physical stress you carry that you don't even notice that just dissapears when you don't have to worry about, for instance, getting into work five minutes late, or when you don't have your boss literally sitting directly behind you (potentially) looking over your shoulder all day. (I should say that a large part of that stress was due to the boss rather than job).

Anyway, on the first day I come in for this job, literally first half an hour, my boss tells me there is another position open - basically the next one up, and it was closing that afternoon so I could apply for it if I wanted and if so should apply now. well, that wasnt something I'd been thinking of as i hadn't even started this job, but I checked the job description and there was nothing I really couldn't do, and the pay increase would be very helpful (I took a big paycut to take this job), so I chucked in a crappy application. Got an interview, had it today and mainly was worried about not embarrassing myself - and half an hour later was offered it.

Though this is the first job I've had where I'm actually worried about not being up to snuff - I'm nowhere near competent in the job I've just started and i'll be moving up into the position above, in which I'll be supervising...the position I'm currently doing. I hope this is imposter syndrome and I'm not actually crap (I may well be crap).

I also feel slightly guilty as I've spent the last few years moaning that it's hard to get into the academic sector because they only recruit from within, and I think I've been the benificiary of exactly that...

mediadave fucked around with this message at 12:04 on Oct 11, 2014

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Oh yes, I'm working as 'metadata assistant' on the university's resaearch archive - basically institutional repository, where the articles, papers, theses, data (coming soon), of the university is stored. With new open access requirements this is going to become a lot more important for UK universities.

Only problem is that it's in an office on a bit further away from the main 'campus', so you don't really feel so much a part of the main university or library service, and it's also not what you'd call 'front line' library work. But I do still have my alternate saturday job in a reading room which, now term has started, is definietly front line.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Talking of which I am doing that saturday job AS I WRITE and it has been pretty frantic this morning(these few posts have taken ages to type in short spurts) - because it is start of term and the start of hordes of eager and confused young students, start of weekend deliveries from the external storage stacks, and the library is currently undermanned at least a couple of positions...and in its infinite wisdom that library/university has decided that library staff should staff the counter at the main entrance instead of porters/security, which means that not only are we further undermanned but we'll be dealing with even more tourists than normal.

mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Our university is moving the special collections out of the beautiful old medieval library they've been stored in till now, to great new storage/reading rooms nearby. Predictably some academics are up in arms about this. Apparently we're cheapening the library, selling the library out to tourists, depriving future students of the chance to work in such rarifying conditions and so on.

Except of course the new reading rooms are actually beautiful - wood panneled and everything! - the old library will still be a reading room open to students, tourists won't have any more access that they do now (currently occasional guided tours pass by the end of the library so they can glance down into it) and you know, medieval libraries that get freezing in the winter and roasting in the summer aren't actually the best place to keep old books, despite the asthetic fit.

I think the main reason these academics are annoyed is that they'll be losing their privellaged access to their special little corner. (Of course the library was open to all readers previously, but it was a bit more hassle to get into it and was probably a bit intimidating.)

mediadave fucked around with this message at 15:41 on Oct 25, 2014

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mediadave
Sep 8, 2011
Does anyone know any good resources/ forums / mailing lists etc relating to Open Access?

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