Not that long ago, I think my attitude toward my job was: "Whatever you want me to do, just give me a clear idea of what you want." Maybe that changed after I reached the magical ten year mark (which means I at least get some sort of pension some day if I walk away now). Maybe my disagreements with policy have gone from being relatively minor to being major.
At any rate, the longer I work here, the more ideas I have about how things should be done; ideas often drastically at variance with library and departmental policy. I just recently discovered something about the policy views of the person who will soon be heading the department I have been interested in moving into for many years. Now I'm beginning to wonder if I would even want to work there under this supervisor. I don't really want to take a position where I think I'd be arguing with my superiors on a regular basis, or having to constantly bite my tongue about issues that get to the heart of what I think the function of a public library is. At the same time, given how unhappy I am working in the public service side of things, it still might be worth my while to switch to a behind the scenes position.
(Theoretically, I guess I could work my way up the ladder and become one of the persons setting policy. That doesn't seem to be the way things work, however. The people who think like the administrators are the ones who end up becoming administrators. Furthermore, the head of the library normally does not come from inside the library. Anyway, moving up in public service requires kissing the public's ass an the administration's ass more than I now have to do, and I can't be arsed.)
I'm not really looking for advice on my specific situation, since I probably would need to get more detailed than I have in order to seriously discuss it, and what I've said is more than enough detail. But in general. . . What do you put up with? How do you weigh these things? How much power does anyone in an organization really have?
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 17 March 2005 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)
I'm not so much concerned about power as I am ensuring my particular niche stays a nicely particular niche for the moment -- and that's the case, I am far from micromanaged and the results have spoken for themselves, and I always seek to improve them (this quarter I've started a new process that speeds up getting material on reserves even more quickly, something we already did very well -- there's always more than can be done). Arguably I have a certain 'power' in that I can implement a variety of things, suggest others and coordinate further decisions, and compared to others I know -- most particularly with my good friend Stripey, who has had to deal with a hellish situation in the past few months -- I'm sitting pretty.
My basic concern is salary combined with job classification stasis, and my supervisors know I'm displeased. Should there be an improvement, great -- if not, I'm out, and will look for better paying work elsewhere, possibly on campus, possibly not. Good pay may well be an illusion as much as power in public service jobs but I've survived well enough -- this will have to change soon, however, and the UC knows this as a whole.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 17 March 2005 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)
Ned, I hope you are remembering or recording the improvements (streamlining, other problem-solving) you've made, since that's good interview material--as I'm sure you're aware. In case you do need to look elsewhere eventually.
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 17 March 2005 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)
Trust me, in terms of the resume update (which is long overdue anyway), I have a LOT to draw on.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 17 March 2005 03:08 (twenty-one years ago)