Comments on: Open Thread Thursday: Movin’ On Up

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:58:07 +0000

Thanks!

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 01:52:14 +0000

That’s an interesting take, Eric. It totally makes sense; put yourself in the position where you can affect the change that you want to accomplish. Perhaps it is a different interpretation of the saying: “be the change you want to see in other people”; in order to make the change you want, you have to move to where you can.

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 01:46:49 +0000

Good luck on the job hunt!

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 01:45:04 +0000

“because bravery-based librarianship is where the (only) future lies”

That’s an awesome line! I will have to steal it!

Yeah, I can understand the importance of the carry forward. You want to take that spark that got you going in the first place and keep it alive by the time you arrive at a destination where you can do something for it.

By: Eric S Riley

Eric S Riley — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:21:13 +0000

I think the thing for me has been to develop an aggressive promotion chase. One of the things I learned early on was that if I let a promotional opportunity go that ship had sailed and that I would be either a) left to the devices of someone whose management style I may not like or b) that I would be stuck in place and would require leaving the job in order to advance. Both of these outcomes have happened during my time as a professional librarian, and neither of them has been fun. The field is very tight professionally, and opportunities for advancement come usually upon the death or promotion of others. If you want to advance professionally, and you don’t want to be 70 before you get there, you have to be extremely proactive in making it happen.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:07:06 +0000

The major lesson that I learned from my current place of employment is that you don’t have to be remotely competent at your job to be promoted and that a supervisor thinks I’m only good for cutting up strips of paper for weeding projects. I guess the lesson is to stay motivated (and keep your resume current), so that I can find an employer that places knowledge, skills and abilities first.

By: thewikiman

thewikiman — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 07:37:22 +0000

For me (and you’ve heard me bang on about this before, Andy) the most pertinent thing is – will people like us who don’t currently rule the world but have lots of ideas and ideals, be able to stay true to them when we eventually DO rule the world? So much fresh enthusiasm and exciting new plans come from the biblioblogosphere, but only a small percentage of us are in very senior positions where we can turn our ideas straight into reality.

So I hope we can be brave enough not to leave all that behind as we move on up – because bravery-based librarianship is where the (only) future lies.