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Tuesday 1 December 2015

Here's what you missed

Well, nearly a year of increasing momentum has culminated in a month of HUGE change for me. So seeing as I'm gradually adjusting to the breathless pace of my life at the moment it's probably time to - er - stop and take a breath, right? I still believe that one of the most important times to slow down and reflect is when you feel like you don't have the time to do so. So here I go, putting my reflective hat on...

Err, not exactly what I had in mind. Source: Martin Thomas on Flickr.
Well, the headline, really, is that in November I left my job of 4 years at Trinity College Library to start a job at the Department of Engineering Library (probably abbreviated to CUED library from now until forever) as the Assistant Research Support Librarian. I've been asked how it's going a lot and it's hard to come up with anything more insightful at the moment than "WOW is it different!" That seems to encapsulate the majority of my impressions so far. Granted, many of them are more nuanced than that but I'm pretty sure the people asking me aren't asking for a point-by-point run down of the job description. But to provide a general summary, it's a role for a qualified librarian, so a big step up in that respect. Then add to the general differences between College and Departmental libraries a big difference in size of team, in culture and so on, it's quite a change. Fortunately it's a change that suits my personality and interests very well!
Source: Nicholas Raymond on Flickr.
Part of my inability to form many impressions, however, is that the library is actually currently being refurbished. We are supposedly getting it back this week, but the fact remains that at least the first month of my job has been in a hugely transitional phase for the entire organisation. On the plus side, not being in the library has meant the library has been embedded in the department in a very interesting way. We're currently in the new Dyson Centre for Engineering Design, complete with students walking through with robotic vehicles they're building, and a suite of 3D printers!
My job is primarily to support the researchers, PhDs and academics, but has also involved taking on Inter Library Loans, design work, some aspects of the online publishing of the research output of the department, getting involved with more Future Lib projects and getting to grips with our unfortunately patchy access to the British Standards. Another aspect has been lots of professional development. It means I've been rushing around to various courses, conferences and meetings which it would take too long to summarise. I hope to be able to use this blog more often to reflect on some of the things I'm working on and write up courses I go on, but we'll see what time allows.

So, goodbye Trinity! It has been a great place to work and I contributed to some projects I'm really proud of there (indeed, my final Labours of the Month blog post just went up today!), but I am also very thrilled to be taking on new challenges in an area that I have always had an interest in with CUED's brilliant team!
Goodbye, Yellow Brick Wren... Hello CUED Library! Source: David Gruar.