Maybe it's the cold (which granted is probably still nicer than rain), the kids, my teen services assistant leaving, or the general lack of cool people here, but my mid-sized Canadian city is really losing its appeal by the day. My conference proposal for next year was declined too - which is actually a good thing, because I can't say I was overly excited about talking about problematic teens in front of a few hundred other librarians. If I play my cards right, the director might still let me go to the conference in Newfoundland ... although our new outreach librarian is now his new favourite person, and maybe he'll want to send her instead. She's taken over my office - we are supposed to be "sharing" a desk, but it's now essentially her space and I am out in the teen area all the time.
Sometimes I really wish I could just adopt the "I don't give a shit" attitude, and not care about low attendance at programs or kids who wreck all my stuff in the teen area, but when I try to, it just makes me even more pissed off when they do something bad. My aforementioned muffin has a theory about me doing the Iraq library tour before I can go to nice libraries in Barbados, Italy, Australia, whatever, which makes me feel remotely better about working in this city. The idea that I had before about "this is just an extended travel experience, so suck it up, because while travelling is not always a walk in the park, it does make for a damn good story" is just not working anymore. I'm totally divided about whether I want to try and work with kiddies next time (who would appreciate all things Little Wolf) or in a more snooty university setting - or even try to get a job at library for a corporation, where I might be fundamentally opposed to what the company does (Teck Cominco, etc) but would make shitloads more money. I may not even be able to get a job in those two types of libraries, but it never hurts to try, right? Or maybe it will hurt, but at least it will hurt somewhere else than in this particular city.
4 Comments:
Does someone want to comment on the fucked-up font for those last two posts, or should I do it? Not sure what happened there ... apparently it's not as easy to cut and paste from Word to Blogger as I thought it was.
1:35 p.m.
Why would you be opposed to what Teck Cominco does? I work with Earthwatch and we are likely (at least like to think of ourselves) as the number one NGO watchdog on corporate mining activity. Teck Cominco is at the top of the list for modern and enlightened mining. They are tackling issues from decades ago when they didn't do great things (but no one knew they shouldn't do them then and they broke no laws). We and groups like ours will hold their feet to the fire but if you are going to pick on a corporation, find one worth picking on. Teck Cominco are a good corporate citizen and if all companies were like them, I wouldn't have a job in my organization....wait, never thought of it in that way! LOL.
Anyway, you might want to research things before spouting off on a good company. If you want some suggested bad ones, just check our website.
3:15 p.m.
Um well, that is harsh. Everyone thinks Tech Cominco is a badie. Seriously. I know a dozen librarians who would say the same thing. That's how we public libraries comfort ourselves...at least I'm not working for some bio-pharmaceutical company...at least I'm not brow-nosing in the ivory tower...I'm working with real people.
6:02 p.m.
Ok, so anonymous #2 obviously knows what I'm talking about, but #1 doesn't ... I wasn't specifically picking on Teck Cominco, they were just the first name that came to mind (because I went on a library tour there when I was at library school and the librarian kept saying "I'm not at liberty to say" to every question we asked).
That being said ...they may not be incredibly evil, but they do still work with places like the Potosi mine in Bolivia, where the men work under practically the same conditions they did 400 years ago, and can only work for 10 years before their lungs get filled with crap that kills them. Their only solace is in chewing coca leaves, drinking 90% alcohol (and leaving it at shrines in the mine dedicated to the devil, because god does not exist there), and the knowledge that their families will have money after they are dead and gone.
But anyways, I'm sure they are good corporate citizens, and the main point I was trying to make is that if one is used to working with kiddies and teens in a public library, working at Teck Cominco (or Petro Canada, or a law library or medical library) would be very different. Plus I probably couldn't get a job for them even if I tried.
4:33 p.m.
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