2012 - year of responsibility
Good luck to everyone for the new year. I hope that it has been treating you well, especially those of you who have been having a rough time recently.
The year has properly started, and begins to fall into routine. Four days of work, followed by a weekend of relaxing and cleaning, with some fun thrown in for variety (today's fun, impromptu tennis at a surprisingly empty set of courts). I wonder how many people are looking forward to getting round to watching a dramatisation of Danish coalition negotiations on iPlayer? Probably rather fewer than share my excitement about the continuing new series of Sherlock.
Routine, though, is an illusion, soon to be shattered. The next two weeks of work will consist of steady progress through my responsibilities and records, the aim being to make sure that my colleagues are fully briefed on what I have been doing, and know where to find the relevant documentation. The third week will be the first in a new job, running a library. There will be support from more senior people, but I think it will be a lot more serious than last time I pretended to run a library (the new people are giving me management training and everything).
I've had a tendency to complain about things going on in my workplaces in the past. My notice period has been interesting for the relative freedom I have felt to do this a little more openly, and to take action that has at least in part been political. Power without responsibility, etc. Luckily, I am aware of this tendency, and have been thinking about how best to control it when I'm in a more authoritative position.
Putting my money where my mouth is will be a trend for the year, as my application to volunteer at the Olympics has been accepted. How the training for this will fit in with the ridiculous amount of holiday we have planned and starting a new job is not yet clear. I am slightly concerned that I am going to walk in the first day and book the whole of my leave allocation immediately.
But I do think that contributing to the Olympics is important, and I hope that I am being given the chance to do my job, but for the first time ever with no filtering of the people coming up to me and asking questions. I've never worked in public libraries, in part because the idea of absolutely anyone asking me absolutely anything and having a legitimate expectation of a useful response is intimidating.
The year has properly started, and begins to fall into routine. Four days of work, followed by a weekend of relaxing and cleaning, with some fun thrown in for variety (today's fun, impromptu tennis at a surprisingly empty set of courts). I wonder how many people are looking forward to getting round to watching a dramatisation of Danish coalition negotiations on iPlayer? Probably rather fewer than share my excitement about the continuing new series of Sherlock.
Routine, though, is an illusion, soon to be shattered. The next two weeks of work will consist of steady progress through my responsibilities and records, the aim being to make sure that my colleagues are fully briefed on what I have been doing, and know where to find the relevant documentation. The third week will be the first in a new job, running a library. There will be support from more senior people, but I think it will be a lot more serious than last time I pretended to run a library (the new people are giving me management training and everything).
I've had a tendency to complain about things going on in my workplaces in the past. My notice period has been interesting for the relative freedom I have felt to do this a little more openly, and to take action that has at least in part been political. Power without responsibility, etc. Luckily, I am aware of this tendency, and have been thinking about how best to control it when I'm in a more authoritative position.
Putting my money where my mouth is will be a trend for the year, as my application to volunteer at the Olympics has been accepted. How the training for this will fit in with the ridiculous amount of holiday we have planned and starting a new job is not yet clear. I am slightly concerned that I am going to walk in the first day and book the whole of my leave allocation immediately.
But I do think that contributing to the Olympics is important, and I hope that I am being given the chance to do my job, but for the first time ever with no filtering of the people coming up to me and asking questions. I've never worked in public libraries, in part because the idea of absolutely anyone asking me absolutely anything and having a legitimate expectation of a useful response is intimidating.