No Change is Good Change

The committee structure of Library is designed in such a way that if you really wanted to get anything done, it would be virtually impossible. Now, this scenario works very well for those who don’t want to make decisions or take action on anything. Those of us who actually want to do new good things are at a loss. This week Boobie, Doc, and I were to meet to restructure the committees – no new idea was left standing when all was said and Boobie was done… Strike another blow to progress!

Poster Session

I had a proposal for a poster at a regional meeting accepted. I did the work, submitted the proposal, designed and implemented the poster with literature to explain the material. At the last minute I could not attend the poster session (due to a family emergency) so I arranged to have the poster presented by a coworker.

Miserly came to my office and in a truly patronizing and condescending manner informed me that if I could not have presented my poster, I should never have submitted a proposal! I was shocked (why you ask?) since this matter was none of his business and he had no right to address me in such a manner. His anger is bubbling to the surface in an ugly way, harassment…

Searching Committee

Miserly came to my office to “share” with me once again – something he has taken to since the student evaluation “thing”. He began by interrogating me about why I did not attend the talk given by our faculty candidate earlier in the day. I replied that I had work that I needed to take care of (what’s it to ya?) . He proceeded to inform me in a patronizing and demeaning way, once again, that he was sure the candidate noticed and probably thought that he had made a negative impression on me and would not be getting the job.

What an odd assessment since I had attended several meetings that day with the candidate and was to attend lunch and dinner with him as well. I was fairly sure he didn’t even notice my presence/absence.

When I consulted with Steady about this issue, she too was surprised by Miserly’s assessment. As members of the Search Committee, I understood our role as performing the Search for the candidates, not making the definitive hiring choice.

Are we to be Helpful?

I think so. There has been an email battle with Blondie and this is how it started. The Reference computers would not print articles that they should print. I sent an email pointing out the problem to the other Reference librarians and let them know that they could print for students from the Reference Desk machine. Blondie took this as a directive from me and she took major offense.

We are not to tell each other how to handle our teaching… Some of us choose to be more pedagogical…and not do things for the students…

Chill out there crazy women! I wasn’t telling you what to do and I don’t care what you do at the Reference Desk. You don’t want to be helpful, fine with me!

How dare you say I’m not helpful! Why would you say such an awful thing to a colleague?

I don’t know, maybe because you chose to take the opportunity to attack me over a non-issue and are known to all who visit Library as the rudest, most unhelpful, meanest Reference Librarian?

What do you WANT from us?

I am so tired of hearing librarians ask our users, “What do you want from us? How can we be relevant to you? Please tell us what to do!” It seems to me that WE need to tell them what we have to offer and why they need us. It is pitiful to watch these exchanges. The faculty from other parts of campus are confused that we don’t seem to be grounded in our value and therefore, pause to question our value. It is not a good strategy.

That was not helpful…

“You should not talk to your co-workers about disagreements that you encounter at work!”

That is what Miserly came to “share” with me today. It is not helpful to try to discuss problems with others. Attempting to build a consensus or reach understanding is not to be done. You must be quiet and just suck it up. I see a pattern here…

Territorial Library Issues…

I notified Library faculty of a discipline-specific web resource that I was presenting to some faculty. I requested that Bully-boy link to the resource on the library website main page. He refused to do that and essentially buried it several layers deep in the website. In a feeble attempt to (not) solve the conflict, Miserly and Boobie suggested that the site stay where it was, but changing the names of the links to it might help?? I pointed out that this would just lead to further confusion for those using the website. This was logically ridiculous and unhelpful and I proceeded to appeal to other faculty members who stuck their heads elsewhere to avoid taking a stand.