Narratives of Academic Librarians: Chapter 3: The Mistake

Chapter 3: The Mistake

I knew there was a chance I wouldn't get to keep the job.

I had put out some applications and that’s what I always tell students too.

Anyway, it's amazing (before that job)- 40 or 50 applications, I couldn't get an interview. 

(Now), after that job, it didn't matter what job I applied to, I at least got a phone interview.

It's amazing how much that experience changes things.

I had a few interviews. I had a job that wanted to hire me as an instructional technology librarian. 

But it was going to be a significant pay cut, and my partner at the time was like, “I'm not moving to [ U.S. state].”

My family wasn't going to be there, and I don't know if I'm ready for this right now. 

It was just a series of, you know, it's just a series of I'm getting bad vibes.

I had a potential job offer with the federal government, which- the interview was too creepy. 

Basically, you had no personal life. 

Everything you had to do was reported.

I did not have a job lined up when my job ended.

That was the first time I had been unemployed since I was a teenager.

It was a very weird experience. 

I was fortunate. They gave me a temporary contract, so I at least had something for a few months, but I was unemployed for the first time in over a decade. 

I interviewed for a job at an academic institution, to be a [leadership role in the library]. However, when I went to see what would have been my office, they're like, “okay, you can't use your office between these 8 hours each day.” 

I said, “why not?”

They said, “well, because we've got somebody else who wants this office and they get it between those hours. If you want to use it, it has to be outside of those times.”

I said, “Well, where do I spend the rest of the time?” 

(They also said), “you'll be the only person in the library so you're responsible for everything. You'll have to find somebody to cover when you go to lunch.”

It was just increasingly bad vibes. 

I turned it down. 

Then I had an interview at another academic institution.

Interview went really well.

I took the job and started.

This was to be a [library leadership position title]. 

I actually had librarians that worked that were my employees. 

It was a very different structure from what I was used to.

My first week there, I realized I had made a terrible mistake at accepting this job. 

I thought I was making a smart choice.

Seemed like a good opportunity and I lived a few minutes from campus.

I couldn't afford- so the area is extremely expensive.

Rent at the time you were looking at a lot per month. 

They said, “yeah, well, there's some, you can find some nice places for X amount.”

They were only paying me so much a year. That's expensive. 

I had to live some miles away, which was less per month. 

If I left my house at 7 AM, I could be there by 7:25. No problem. 

If I left even a minute past 8- minimum of an hour, maybe an hour and a half commute. 

It was the same way coming home.

We were considered a major U.S. city metro area, so that was a problem because I was supposed to be there [for a set scheduled 8 hours].

No, you either had to be late or you had to be early. 

There was no in-between. 

Same with leaving in the evening. 

Within the first week I also started to realize that the person who became my supervisor, really just detested every single idea I had. 

By day three, I realized that I also got in trouble with the academic institution leader, very quickly, which has never happened before or since.

During our interview, they said, I would love to continue this conversation when you get back to campus. 

So, my first week back, I emailed them and said, “Hey, you know, I'm on campus now, so just let me know, I'd love to have lunch with you and discuss.”

Because that's what I was used to in every other place I had been. 

Well they wrote to my supervisor and said, “why on earth does your faculty member think he has permission to email me to ask me to go to lunch?” So, and then my supervisor had questioned me, “why I wanted to have conversations with the academic institution leader behind my supervisor’s back.” 

I'm like, “wow, okay. I have screwed up this, this is not the place for me.”

I would describe my entire experience there as that- everything I did was frowned upon.

Any new ideas I had, as far as technologies, any of that.

It was to the point where I was ready to quit the profession.

I was like, I could go get a job working at Walmart and not deal with these frustrations.

So, I was ready to quit. 

Fortunately, I was still working on publishing with my previous mentor and that was kind of keeping me afloat.

The librarians that worked under me and, and beside me were great and I liked the students. 

That was probably what kind of kept me afloat.

I just kept applying to other jobs. One of which was looking pretty good, and then they canceled the search. 

One, which is where I'm at now, I had been told, “never apply for a job there. It's a terrible place.”

But I was desperate.

It was for an xxxxxx / technology librarian position.

I put in the application, I was offered the job and took the job. 

That's the end of that chapter.