This very full three inch binder is the cumulation of three years of academic work. At MPOW, we have what many academic libraries have and what I refer to as “pretend tenure.” It is not tenure, but we are not staff. We go through a review process at 3 and 6 years, but we do not face the faculty panels, just a committee of librarians.
I started out enjoying the process. Remembering projects I worked on, some good, some that were excruciating, poke my eyes out bad. It was interesting. After a couple days of printing out screenshots (yes, printing, we are not allowed to submit electronic things) I was tired of it. Your work life should never be able to be properly represented by some pieces of paper. Those papers do not speak to the people I met at conferences. The conversations I have had with librarians from whom I have learned a great deal.
It is also a very prescribed process. All the papers must be in a certain order, prescribed by the governance documents of the library. The only creativity I was able to squeeze in was my theme and some clip art. I felt very confined by the process. There was no room for leeway. I am not a lover of rules, but you already knew that.
I am just glad it is turned in and over.
Now I have to go pack for Internet Librarian. Tomorrow, at this time, I will be in lovely Monterey, CA.
–Jane, safe travels fellow ILers