Business is based upon the timely analysis and application of relevant and precise information. With this in mind, how are financial shortfalls resolved in the corporate world? With responsible consideration, foresight ... and due consideration afforded the on-site information professional, of course.
CFO: "We're in financial trouble."
Executive Office: "Why?"
CFO: "Because we've mishandled our accounts. We don't have enough money."
Executive Officer: "It's time to get rid of unnecessary expenses. What do you suggest?"
CFO: "Stop the daily flower delivery; delay staff paycheques; close the library and fire the librarian. You know, the 'frills'."
Executive Officer: “What ever. Do it.”
It's true. It happened on Friday. I see elements of Slippery Slope or even Avalanche happening here. With such responsible consideration and foresight, it's no surprise the corporate debt goes unpaid.
Incidently, as I write this, I've received a call from the company asking that I come to negotiate an independent contract for my services. Now, as an independent contractor, do I wish to enter into an agreement with a company that exhibits an inability to honour its financial responsibilities?
I'll write a bit more about it in the coming days. In the meantime, this librarian has resumes to prepare.
Showing posts with label corporate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corporate. Show all posts
Monday, December 17, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The Corporate Tumult: Comes with Mouth-Breathing Morons & Knuckle-Dragging Idiots
My apologies for the delay in posting a new scribble to this blog. I had to fly out-of-province for some family business. Now that I've returned, I'm in the process of negotiating a contract with my present employer. Things are a wee bit hectic.
However...
There've been some interesting happenings afoot in the professional life of this librarian. Most of it revolves around the misunderstanding of what we librarians contribute to the corporate organisation. Throw in an IT consultant ("I've been coding since the '70s!") who feels that librarians "don't know nothin' about nothin'"; directors who believe that the library/librarian are simply administrative assistants and, in this case, should fall under the direction of the Business Communications department (Isn't that Marketing, etc?); the fumbling micro-management of the 'certified' Communications manager who insists upon hand-held instruction to get his head around this librarian's Master's degree-in-practice before determining what this librarian is to do; and, the CFO who really doesn't "understand why the librarian is involved in any way, shape or form with this company's information. Aren't there serious disclosure issues here? Our secretaries can do the same work for less money!" So let them. (See: Let's set the tone... for a description of my role within the company.)
It's frustrating and I'm looking for a new job, but we're heading into the Holiday and winter months in a professional field that really seems to be drying up in Canada on the best of days. I can see where this is heading, unless the stars are in my corner & I employ some of that professional savvy...
KA-BOOM!!!
I love my work; there's a reason why I became a librarian. However, time & time again it's an uphill battle for basic recognition and respect for our professional contribution. (That's our ongoing 'Library Advocacy' in Pro-Speak.) I know that I'm not the only librarian with such frustrations; librarians meet at the pub for a reason. I'm fast reaching the conclusion that the ROI (yes, 'Return On Investment' in Corp-Speak) is too low to continue with this schlep.
I'll let you know what happens in a day or two. In the meantime, I have a mail merge to do. No one else in-house can figure out MS Outlook and imported Excel address lists. Lucky me, as the result of my efforts towards Information Literacy, I'm now in charge of the company's mail. (The degree of information illiteracy in the corporate sector is stunning.)
LegLib
However...
There've been some interesting happenings afoot in the professional life of this librarian. Most of it revolves around the misunderstanding of what we librarians contribute to the corporate organisation. Throw in an IT consultant ("I've been coding since the '70s!") who feels that librarians "don't know nothin' about nothin'"; directors who believe that the library/librarian are simply administrative assistants and, in this case, should fall under the direction of the Business Communications department (Isn't that Marketing, etc?); the fumbling micro-management of the 'certified' Communications manager who insists upon hand-held instruction to get his head around this librarian's Master's degree-in-practice before determining what this librarian is to do; and, the CFO who really doesn't "understand why the librarian is involved in any way, shape or form with this company's information. Aren't there serious disclosure issues here? Our secretaries can do the same work for less money!" So let them. (See: Let's set the tone... for a description of my role within the company.)
It's frustrating and I'm looking for a new job, but we're heading into the Holiday and winter months in a professional field that really seems to be drying up in Canada on the best of days. I can see where this is heading, unless the stars are in my corner & I employ some of that professional savvy...
KA-BOOM!!!
I love my work; there's a reason why I became a librarian. However, time & time again it's an uphill battle for basic recognition and respect for our professional contribution. (That's our ongoing 'Library Advocacy' in Pro-Speak.) I know that I'm not the only librarian with such frustrations; librarians meet at the pub for a reason. I'm fast reaching the conclusion that the ROI (yes, 'Return On Investment' in Corp-Speak) is too low to continue with this schlep.
I'll let you know what happens in a day or two. In the meantime, I have a mail merge to do. No one else in-house can figure out MS Outlook and imported Excel address lists. Lucky me, as the result of my efforts towards Information Literacy, I'm now in charge of the company's mail. (The degree of information illiteracy in the corporate sector is stunning.)
LegLib
Monday, November 5, 2007
Back into the Stacks
I’m heavily involved in detail work today. Lots of editing, comparison of lists to ensure that duplicate databases mirror one another, and administrative paper work are coming together surprisingly well to create a good Monday. My schedule for the week is filling quickly, and I feel that something is actually being accomplished.
Taking a wee break to rest the cognitive gears this morning, I read Amazing Things Found In The Stacks. With a laugh, I recalled the instances when streakers sped up & down the stacks of the university library in which I was once employed. It always seemed to happen on the third/top floor of the library and at each exam or mid-term period. Granted, everything of note that was to happen in the library seemed to happen up on the third floor. As I’ve mentioned, there were flashers and streakers, but also a variety of illicit invitations, romantic canoodlings, emotional tantrums & breakdowns, and love and drug deals made or broken with expected consequences. I still shake my head: How does exposing one’s wang to a study group of foreign students give one satisfaction? Why the library? Why, ay all? You know, I have a Psych degree, but I still don’t understand it. Perhaps I should make another trip into the texts found around the BFs?
Yes, I started out as a student assistant in one, then another, academic library throughout my undergraduate years. In fact, it was the experience of an academic library that inspired me to become a librarian. Things move quickly and, even before I completed my graduate LIS studies, I assumed the management of a law library. Really, it was running the full show as a solo act: loose-leafs, promotion, budgets, vendor negotiations, information literacy, alert services, research, and advocacy, amongst others, added spice to my day. It was business in support of the practice of law. This gig lasted for 2 ½ years, until I was cherry-picked into the Big Smoke to act as a research librarian for the legislators of the province. If you wish to learn professional-level office politics, spend some time in an office at the very heart of provincial politics. I moved on.
It is tough finding a professional librarian position in Canada. Competition is fierce for the handful of quality positions that are all-to-infrequently posted. Eventually, however, one was found and here I am. I find this corporate librarian gig in mergers & acquisitions interesting for the time being. Turn-around times are intense and fixed to an immediate (and dizzyingly stratospheric) dollar value; the quality of my work influences the outcome of business transactions. As the sole MLIS in-house, I approach my work as an advocate of the profession, promoting the ‘librarian’ as the ‘information professional’ in a forum where success for all is based upon accurate and timely information. I am acutely aware of the responsibility of organizing and disseminating company information. I enjoy my work and am proud of my contribution; however, I find myself increasingly missing the academic library experience, the original inspiration for my becoming a librarian. Exam-time crazies, the excitement of academic pursuit, the professional knowledge that the library is the center of learning, the collegiality, are aspects I wish to colour my profession life, as odd as that might sound. This is a rose-coloured perspective, I know, but in actuality my rose-coloured glasses fell to the side a while ago.
Turning to the experience of my professional colleagues, other than the obvious making application to positions available, what need I do to return to an academic library? I am concerned that I am pigeon-holed by the nature of my professional experience. Curiously, while many of my applications to academic libraries go unanswered, I am sometimes told that I have "insufficient experience". This comment never fails to make me laugh: four years professional librarian experience, coupled with a further six years library assistance experience is construed as “lack of experience”? What makes my lip curl, just a wee bit, is when the same position goes to a new graduate. I do congratulate and offer the very best wishes to every new grad.
It’s time for me to get back to work. There are no streakers here today, and all the stacks are ‘virtual’, but I can still hope....
Taking a wee break to rest the cognitive gears this morning, I read Amazing Things Found In The Stacks. With a laugh, I recalled the instances when streakers sped up & down the stacks of the university library in which I was once employed. It always seemed to happen on the third/top floor of the library and at each exam or mid-term period. Granted, everything of note that was to happen in the library seemed to happen up on the third floor. As I’ve mentioned, there were flashers and streakers, but also a variety of illicit invitations, romantic canoodlings, emotional tantrums & breakdowns, and love and drug deals made or broken with expected consequences. I still shake my head: How does exposing one’s wang to a study group of foreign students give one satisfaction? Why the library? Why, ay all? You know, I have a Psych degree, but I still don’t understand it. Perhaps I should make another trip into the texts found around the BFs?
Yes, I started out as a student assistant in one, then another, academic library throughout my undergraduate years. In fact, it was the experience of an academic library that inspired me to become a librarian. Things move quickly and, even before I completed my graduate LIS studies, I assumed the management of a law library. Really, it was running the full show as a solo act: loose-leafs, promotion, budgets, vendor negotiations, information literacy, alert services, research, and advocacy, amongst others, added spice to my day. It was business in support of the practice of law. This gig lasted for 2 ½ years, until I was cherry-picked into the Big Smoke to act as a research librarian for the legislators of the province. If you wish to learn professional-level office politics, spend some time in an office at the very heart of provincial politics. I moved on.
It is tough finding a professional librarian position in Canada. Competition is fierce for the handful of quality positions that are all-to-infrequently posted. Eventually, however, one was found and here I am. I find this corporate librarian gig in mergers & acquisitions interesting for the time being. Turn-around times are intense and fixed to an immediate (and dizzyingly stratospheric) dollar value; the quality of my work influences the outcome of business transactions. As the sole MLIS in-house, I approach my work as an advocate of the profession, promoting the ‘librarian’ as the ‘information professional’ in a forum where success for all is based upon accurate and timely information. I am acutely aware of the responsibility of organizing and disseminating company information. I enjoy my work and am proud of my contribution; however, I find myself increasingly missing the academic library experience, the original inspiration for my becoming a librarian. Exam-time crazies, the excitement of academic pursuit, the professional knowledge that the library is the center of learning, the collegiality, are aspects I wish to colour my profession life, as odd as that might sound. This is a rose-coloured perspective, I know, but in actuality my rose-coloured glasses fell to the side a while ago.
Turning to the experience of my professional colleagues, other than the obvious making application to positions available, what need I do to return to an academic library? I am concerned that I am pigeon-holed by the nature of my professional experience. Curiously, while many of my applications to academic libraries go unanswered, I am sometimes told that I have "insufficient experience". This comment never fails to make me laugh: four years professional librarian experience, coupled with a further six years library assistance experience is construed as “lack of experience”? What makes my lip curl, just a wee bit, is when the same position goes to a new graduate. I do congratulate and offer the very best wishes to every new grad.
It’s time for me to get back to work. There are no streakers here today, and all the stacks are ‘virtual’, but I can still hope....
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