06.17.08
Evolving
It seems that this blog is evolving or devolving…or possibly even revolving. I don’t know. What I do know is that like many things, what I originally envisioned isn’t exactly what it’s become or might become. Which is why there hasn’t been much action.
See, there are lots of really great library blogs out there. I’m trying to decide if I personally have anything new to add to the blogosphere. Right now, I’m not so sure that I do, but I’m going to keep going for a bit longer.
So, what I feel about writing about today is a reflection on my first year on the tenure track. I’ve just passed my one year anniversary. Honestly there were times I wasn’t sure I was going to make it this far.
It’s been a challenging year in many ways. Often things do not turn out like you expect, and while I didn’t know what to expect exactly, I was thrown by a lot. Maybe that says something about me. I don’t know.
Being tenure track is interesting. One of the biggest challenges has been finding time to work on the research and service parts of my requirements while performing my actual job. If you are a reference and/or instruction librarian, you can understand how much of our day is taking up just doing the work. Actually it’s probably like that in all library departments, but I can only speak for the areas I’m familiar with. Often I had weeks where there weren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that I wanted to. Finally, I’ve developed a system that seems to be working for me and am getting that balance, but it’s been interesting. One of the best tools I’ve discovered for keeping it all together is Remember the Milk, the online to-do list. Between that and my day planner, I’m fairly on top of all my commitments. But I’m still working on getting the universe to add 20 more hours to my week.
I’ve done a good amount of presenting at conferences this year and co-authored a paper published in a conference proceeding. However, I struggle with trying to determine if I really have something worth presenting about. Who wants to go to conferences to hear the same stuff over and over? So, I’ve decided to pull back a bit over the coming year to work on some ideas and projects. Maybe in another year I’ll have something to talk about when I see how my ideas work.
It really does take at least a year to learn your job. In fact, it probably takes longer than that, but it has taken me about a year to really get my feet under me and learn about the university where I work. Every place is going to be different and there is so much stuff that you have to kind of sit back and observe. I’m trying to be tactful here, so I’ll just leave it at that. Those of you in academe will get what I’m referring to. As to my actual job duties, the biggest area where I’m still developing is in instruction. While I’ve been teaching for awhile, face-to-face library instruction is really different. Turns out I’m pretty good at it. Yet, there is still so much more for me to learn.
In general, it’s been an interesting year. I’ve learned a lot about myself also and hope that I’ve grown professionally and as a person by taking the lessons to heart. I did come in with the expectation that there would be a spirit of a team and support for new librarians. What happened is that I’ve had to look outside of my workplace to find support from colleagues and to find people to share and collaborate with. While this can be seen as a negative, it really has been a positive because it’s meant that I’ve been exposed to so many creative, innovative, intelligent, and wonderful librarians and library-types that I might not have reached out to in different circumstances. I’ve stepped out and become part of a greater community.
I look forward to what the next year will bring on this interesting journey towards tenure.
03.26.08
I’m on the tenure trek for sure
Somebody was kind enough to describe us as worth reading! I certainly hope so. And on that note, let me talk a bit more about tenure trekking.
I’m going into my ninth month at my job and it’s been an interesting ride so far. Some of the biggest stress has been caused by the whole tenure thing.
Now stress isn’t always a bad thing, no matter what people might think. In this case, it’s probably lighting a fire in me (or under depending on viewpoint and what you need) to do things that I would normally be reluctant to do.
Like presenting. I’m an introvert who normally would avoid talking in front of large groups of people. It’s likely that I won’t be sleeping much in the next month because I’ve got five presentations spread out over three conferences. Craziness! But it’s also good for me. As a presenter, I’m more likely to meet more people because they will approach me about something I’ve just talked about. Being a shy person myself, it’s not as likely that I’ll just turn around and start talking to someone. (So if you see me and I seem uncommunicative, I’m really not!)
On the other hand, I’m actually involved in less things that I’d normally be inclined to get myself into because the stuff I am doing needs more attention. I tend to be somewhat scattered. But I’ve really had to narrow my focus because preparing presentations, doing research, writing, serving on committees, and such takes up lots of time. Yes, I have lots of long weeks sometimes, but I also wouldn’t change it.
Being fairly new, I’m still trying to figure some things out and am still looking for where my talents and skills best fit. However, in general, I’m lucky to be in a place that gives me freedom to explore things. There are some advantages to being in a smaller academic library where things aren’t so compartmentalized. (Just an aside for those of you who are on the job search. And btw, we have two positions open here!)
So far, it’s turning out to be an interesting journey. I’m learning more than I ever could have imagined. And I’m glad to be on this path.
12.17.07
On track
One of the big issues that I’m going to have with being a tenure track librarian is finding time for the research component of my duties. I’ve been in my position for six months now and have come to realize that unlike teaching faculty, it’s difficult to have office hours and set aside time to pursue scholarly activities.
What do I need to be successful with what is often viewed as the most important part of the tenure process? I’ve sat down to think about what will be most helpful in keeping my hair and sanity intact.
Time management – This one is probably fairly obvious. But it’s one of those areas that can be extremely difficult when you have multiple demands coming at you. Particularly when you are dealing with a whole campus that wants something NOW!
Supportive management – It certainly helps to have a supervisor, department chair, dean, etc. who understands that you will sometimes needs time away or in a quiet, undisturbed office to work on your research, publications, scholarly projects, or whatever it is you are doing. But I’ve also discovered that I need to speak up to get this.
Clear goals – Since research and scholarly activities are truly time consuming, I also have discovered that I have had to become focused on what I’m pursuing. Currently, I have two specific interests that I’ll be working on for the next year or so. These are likely to change somewhat over the next six years. But if I want to really accomplish anything, I needed to narrow my interests somewhat. Yes, there is lots of exciting stuff going on in library land, but you can’t be involved in everything.
Colleagues to collaborate with – This is turning out to be a great thing. Collaboration helps my research because I get outside ideas and direction. This is really helpful also because I am fairly new to the field. And sometimes you get to divvy up some of the work on larger projects. That’s never a bad thing when you have limited time!
As these things have started to fall into place, I’ve become more comfortable with this piece of my track to full tenure. Soon I’ll share my thoughts on whether academic librarians should be tenure track.
11.26.07
On track
Welcome back from the holiday weekend everybody! Hope you all had a safe and relaxing time. One of the nice things about working in an academic library is that we generally close for a few days over major holidays.
I’m fairly new to my position (started in mid-June) and am a tenure-track professor. While there are some things that are definitely appealing about eventually gaining tenure, the process also is a bit daunting. Hopefully all of those out there who are also on the same path have someone to mentor you and help you along the way.
One of the issues that I’ve been thinking about recently is scholarly publishing. Scholarly research work is extremely important in academia. And once you’ve done the work, you are highly encouraged to seek out a way to get that work published in a peer reviewed journal or some such thing. Fortunately, I’m working with a colleague and will be getting published in a conference proceeding in the spring. This is taking some of the pressure off this aspect so that I can focus on other scholarly pursuits in the next few years.
But scholarly communication in general is changing. Should journals or conference proceedings be the only recognized form of scholarly communication to meet tenure requirements? I say no. Part of my problem with journals is that often work is not published until at least a year later, making the research potentially out-of-date. And with so many people publishing to meet tenure requirements, I think that the potential is there for what is printed to be of a lower caliber. In the end this does a disservice to everyone in the field. Wouldn’t it be better for researchers to take the time to conduct good studies, compile adequate data, carefully analyze the results/conclusions before rushing to get something published?
Also, I personally get tired of seeing the some information stated in slightly different ways by different authors. It would be better to see more collaboration between researchers in some of these areas. I have to wonder if we wouldn’t get a better product if people were more willing (and encouraged) to cooperate with each other rather than compete against each other.
Most of us will readily admit that librarianship itself is a rapidly changing field. I think if we consider how we approach scholarly communication, we can better meet the needs of current and future librarians.
