Dear Diary,
While I love everything about this Residency, the only complication is the uncertainty of having only a 2-year contract. For example, we were asked to present again at the next Indiana Library Federation Conference but it is not taking place until November 2007. But my contract ends August 2007. So I had to decline the offer to present. I just can't honestly commit to present in Indiana when I may be forced to seek employment in another city. That was really hard but I feel that was the only realistic decision.
I offered to assist if I am still a Hoosier, next year. But that is just part of the experience. Gotta take the good with the not so good.
Also, we had a reception at the main library and I ran into a lady I had helped when I worked in the Law Library. She was a server at the reception and came up to thank me again for all the helpful information I gave her. That really made me feel good because she was one of the first legal research questions I received and it took me a long time to find the answers she needed. Phew! But it reminds me of why I became a Librarian.
**BONUS** I got a funny but flattering email from the editor of the Journal of Academic Librarianship. He said he does not know if I am more nuts for writing the Pirate Teacher Active Learning Exercises' article or if he is more nuts for deciding to publish it! Ha! Ha! That also made me feel really good. I worked hard on that article and he said he could clearly see the "considerable content" even with all the humor. THANK YOU!!! Finally! He said it should be published in March.
I was notified that my 4th Reference Review will be published next year, maybe in February. Yippee!!
I re-submitted my Cheminformatics' article for Peer-Review. This is a hard process. I had to submit a "Revision Outline" highlighting all the changes I made to the original. Luckily I had created a rough draft of just such a document before I knew I would need an outline like that. So now it has been accepted again for consideration along with my Revision Outline. We learn as we go, eh?
Speaking of my publications, I have gotten a couple of odd phone calls following the publication of my "Weary Helper" article wherein I compare Librarianship to my stent as a Private Investigator. I have gotten requests from fellow Librarians to work on "cases" for them. And today I got a request from someone to investigate people at Notre Dame or who claim to have been at Notre Dame...I decline all requests for 2 good reasons. 1st, my manager told me when I first arrived that I am contractually prohibited from other employment and 2nd, I have not worked as an Investigator in over 8 years. All of my contacts have switched careers or moved out of the city.
Also, I met with my manager and she reviewed the timeline for my "marketing projects" for electronic resources in general and Refworks, in particular. I am really excited about coming up with marketing ideas and she has agreed to let me begin a committee focused on publicity. We will discuss it in greater details next week. I have already come up with a name for it. Since the The Electronic Resources and Serials Access Department is called "ERSA" I shall call my mini-committee ERSA-Minor...Get it? It is a play on words; the constellation Ursa Minor contains the group of stars commonly called the Little Dipper.
