My career has changed recently. I’ve had a management role - only in an acting capacity during a maternity leave absence, but nonetheless I got to experience a lot of the good things and bad things which managers have to deal with. I’ve learned from this experience that I can do this management work, and wouldn’t mind doing it again. The experience also made me appreciate the perks of not being a manager. My new role (I’m not naming my new workplace here, other than to say it’s a Australian government agency) is not a managers role, and I’m really enjoying just having to worry about doing my own job.
But it’s not entirely back to how things were before. I am officially the second in charge of this library, and when my supervisor is away, I am in charge.
It’s a big change for me to be a senior librarian, someone who is responsible for coaching and mentoring less experienced staff. It reminds of two people I’ve worked with before who were more senior than me - one example I’d like to emulate, the other one I’d like to avoid.
I don’t want to be like the senior librarian who would roll her eyes in disdain when asked for assistance or advice with research, because it was all too easy for her. This person was extremely set in her ways, and fought tooth and nail to resist any change or improvement in library services or operations. I don’t want to be like the person who would speak glowingly of all the people who used to work in the library and expound on how better things were before. I don’t want to be the one who was constantly backbiting and undermining her manager. Most importantly, I don’t want to be the senior librarian who made sure that she was always given the most interesting and challenging research queries, and never shared any insights she learned from her research.
But I do want to be the senior librarian who gave rock solid support to the library manager, who could speak for the manager and was usually more approachable, being around more often and slightly less busy. I want to be like the one who would attempt to help me with my problems, even if they weren’t in her area of expertise, helping me identify the next steps and solutions by talking through the problem, and then, gently encourage me to work these things out for myself. I want to be the one who could be open to my crazy ideas about new-fangled library technology, suspend disbelief and tell me what I’d need to do to get these ideas accepted by management. I want to be like the senior librarian who shared her knowledge - whether of research techniques, or of the organization.
But it’s not entirely back to how things were before. I am officially the second in charge of this library, and when my supervisor is away, I am in charge.
It’s a big change for me to be a senior librarian, someone who is responsible for coaching and mentoring less experienced staff. It reminds of two people I’ve worked with before who were more senior than me - one example I’d like to emulate, the other one I’d like to avoid.
I don’t want to be like the senior librarian who would roll her eyes in disdain when asked for assistance or advice with research, because it was all too easy for her. This person was extremely set in her ways, and fought tooth and nail to resist any change or improvement in library services or operations. I don’t want to be like the person who would speak glowingly of all the people who used to work in the library and expound on how better things were before. I don’t want to be the one who was constantly backbiting and undermining her manager. Most importantly, I don’t want to be the senior librarian who made sure that she was always given the most interesting and challenging research queries, and never shared any insights she learned from her research.
But I do want to be the senior librarian who gave rock solid support to the library manager, who could speak for the manager and was usually more approachable, being around more often and slightly less busy. I want to be like the one who would attempt to help me with my problems, even if they weren’t in her area of expertise, helping me identify the next steps and solutions by talking through the problem, and then, gently encourage me to work these things out for myself. I want to be the one who could be open to my crazy ideas about new-fangled library technology, suspend disbelief and tell me what I’d need to do to get these ideas accepted by management. I want to be like the senior librarian who shared her knowledge - whether of research techniques, or of the organization.
