Salvete!

> On 9/28/11 2:12 PM, "Karen Coyle" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>>  I think a great question would be: what would you REALLY like to be
>>  doing? And I'm meaning that professionally, not "I'd rather be
>>  sailing/sleeping/drinking a beer." Pretend that the daily niggling
>>  bits of the job are gone and money is no object -- what would you do?
>> 

    This is fun in a what did you do over the summer sort of way. :)

    I used to say that one of the things I'd do if I won the lottery would be to run an experimental Library. As it turned out, I didn't need to win the lottery. My Board was pretty cool and let me implement a lot of the stuff that I wanted to. So I feel like that's out of my system now. (At least the part of the experiment that involved running a Library on a shoestring budget. I'd still like to try and run a Library at some point on an adequate or dare I say plush budget.) 

    I worked a lot of different jobs before finding Library and Information Science. I can safely say that you haven't lived until you've tossed cones out on the Jersey Turnpike and watched a chronic offender's undercarriage be mercilessly ripped out from under him by a metal stool. (Not my initiative, no one was hurt, but I bet he never ran the booth again.) Gordon Ramsay is a kitten compared to a lot of Chefs. When you knock on a total stranger's door and ask after their political support, you have a lot better idea of why things take forever politically. I'm still not sure if Children's Reference beats literally smelling the roses all day. 

    I love learning, I love writing, and yes, get thy tomatoes ready, I really like books. I wanted to do research, but my experience was in public. Thankfully my Patrons egged me into writing stuff anyway.

    I live in a bubble. I have an incredibly modest standard of living. When a colleague suggested to me that I become a technology consultant for small Libraries, my immediate response was "Oh I can't, they can't afford to pay a consultant." In the back of my head, I was thinking "Why just technology? I write a hell of an annual plan and I know plenty of people that dread that. I index, too...hmmm". The solution was to have a hell of a sliding scale. Inner city school, you don't get to pay me. Very rich foundation looking for an awards panelist, show me the money, please.

    I do what comes to my doorstep and it is usually awesome. If nothing shows up, I research or write documentation. The field is diverse. Go play. :) I can't think of anything better to do. Our field basically assists people that need help. So that's what I do, that's what I like to do, and I can't think of much else to do.

Cheers,
Brooke