The IT Man Out of Libraryland

So it's a new year and a new me.

Here's a Caution for you all: do not get too comfortable in your 14 year Libraryland career as, all of a sudden, with no prior consultation (nor thought apparently), the higher ups at the organisation may decide that a restructure is required.

Said restructure may take place with an aim to make the organisation "Sector Leading", which apparently involves having no Library Technology Coordinator (and also no Library Manager!).
And so One has found one's job to be "at risk of redundancy" and then after the "consultation period" confirmed to be not required.
Various spurious sounding "reasons" were stated: rationalising IT in the library; the two positions were too close-knit with each other; having IT staff in the library is inefficient over-servicing; lines of communication were too long; etc.

Suffice to say that One is now a few months out of Libraryland, at a loose end, and looking for the next thing - One may even consider starting a rogue freelance library along with the now incorrectly named Supervisor Grand Chief K.

Having received appropriate compensation payments, one's calculations show that I shall not have to find gainful work for nearly a year - although Salsa Girl's extensive eyerolling seems to say I may have miscalculated slightly.

In any case I’m confident I’ll land on my feet and, knowing how hard it can be to escape the vortex of Libraryland I may well end up back in the biblio-chaos.


It has been a hard thing to say goodbye to 14 years of being at the one workplace. One notices the severe lack of all the daily interactions, conversations, cakes, challenges, cakes, successes, failures, cakes and everything else that is a part of the swirling maelstrom that is working in the library - even the “work” part will be missed believe it or not.


One is also now not allowed to be a part of the many library secret societies - or "user groups" as they are called - and will dearly miss the discussion, cocktails, networking, lunching, helping each other out, biscuits, and even the bickering, that comes with interacting with so many others in a similar role.

It is sobering in thought - and also in practice - to never regularly see the many people of Libraryland that one has been involved with for much of the 14 years of service.


Still, one is diligently pushing forward and tackling - to the best of One's ability - the task of day after day of doing nothing but relaxing.
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