Belated Reactions to the New Job
Belated because it has been a busy weird weekend with SPN's ending announcement, Scott's arrival with the Uhaul, and so on. (As soon as the second pod comes, we will have ALL OUR STUFF! Wooooo!!)
Okay, so, first week is a lot, and luckily it was spring break so it was low key. I'll get to co-teach my first class this week. Multiple people have reiterated the importance of giving myself time to learn the collections and go easy on myself, which I'm not sure is either because of something indicative of my personality or as a function of the broader culture, and very welcome either way. So I spent some quality time here and there just darting through the vaults, looking at things. Which. They have almost everything, so there's a lot to look at: A whole shelf with all the Shakespeare folios. The vast ranges of incunables, of manuscripts, and so on. It's overwhelming. They've also gone through multiple different cataloging experiments over the years, so they are arranged in various areas of Dewey, LC, and Accession Number, so it's all rather wackadoo. It will take time to learn.
Everyone is very nice and I've had lunchmates every day except for Friday, which was mostly a function of almost everyone taking the last day of spring break off. (It was basically me, another curator, and a handful of grad student workers all day.) So that's neat.
My office used to be a kind of storage area, so I'm in a weird spot outside the library, behind the office of another curator and across from the registrar, who they are going to move in the near future so we aren't climbing over each other. Thus far I've been teaching myself to say "hello!" as I come into the area so I don't startle her, but it's also a little awkward because her little cubicle thing makes it so when I come in I can't tell if she is there or not. The door to my office is also solid wood so I haven't closed it yet, as that seems rude, but eventually I will get to the point where I need to concentrate and will have to do it....
I was having some imposter syndrome last week but I am feeling better now. We'll see how long that lasts though...
Okay, so, first week is a lot, and luckily it was spring break so it was low key. I'll get to co-teach my first class this week. Multiple people have reiterated the importance of giving myself time to learn the collections and go easy on myself, which I'm not sure is either because of something indicative of my personality or as a function of the broader culture, and very welcome either way. So I spent some quality time here and there just darting through the vaults, looking at things. Which. They have almost everything, so there's a lot to look at: A whole shelf with all the Shakespeare folios. The vast ranges of incunables, of manuscripts, and so on. It's overwhelming. They've also gone through multiple different cataloging experiments over the years, so they are arranged in various areas of Dewey, LC, and Accession Number, so it's all rather wackadoo. It will take time to learn.
Everyone is very nice and I've had lunchmates every day except for Friday, which was mostly a function of almost everyone taking the last day of spring break off. (It was basically me, another curator, and a handful of grad student workers all day.) So that's neat.
My office used to be a kind of storage area, so I'm in a weird spot outside the library, behind the office of another curator and across from the registrar, who they are going to move in the near future so we aren't climbing over each other. Thus far I've been teaching myself to say "hello!" as I come into the area so I don't startle her, but it's also a little awkward because her little cubicle thing makes it so when I come in I can't tell if she is there or not. The door to my office is also solid wood so I haven't closed it yet, as that seems rude, but eventually I will get to the point where I need to concentrate and will have to do it....
I was having some imposter syndrome last week but I am feeling better now. We'll see how long that lasts though...