The end, but also the beginning!

Finally the end is here. That is, the end of negotiations! I was negotiating for a couple of weeks and for what? To get a nice “no”.  At least I tried. Anyhow one day before the deadline I met with Mr. Chief Librarian who told me that he conferred with his people and they said no way. He could not deviate from the template letter of offer that they provided. By this time I wanted to sign the letter anyhow so I nodded my head and signed away! Am I glad that was over!!! Now I can worry my head off about achieving tenure while still being a good mother. While excited about being offered this continuing appointment I’m still weary about working with my colleagues. Why do you think that is? Well I’m not the best at math, but here it is:

3 contract librarians + 1 continuing appointment positon=?

You fill in the blank! Out of the 3 of us I was the lucky one! I feel like I’ll be swimming with the sharks when the announcement is made about the filled position. The department and even the whole library is divided with each candidate having their own corner cheering them on. Well what happens when your corner doesn’t win? No one wants to lose, but we all need to lose gracefully. Let’s see what happens. I hate politics in the workplace, but it looks like I’ll have to tread lightly and be extra sensitive… at least while I’m working with the other contract librarians.

Negotiations and the Librarian

Okay, so I’m not currently on the tenure-track. Yet! I’ve been offered the position and I’m currently in negotiations! Yikes! That word “negotiation” can strike terror and fear in the heart of any librarian. Maybe it is stereotypical, but I don’t believe that a lot of librarians feel confident negotiating. I know that I didn’t. The union representative I spoke with believes that the librarians are too timid and need to be more active in this area. But it is scary looking across the table at your boss, the Chief Librarian. I scanned briefly this article about negotiations on LIScareer.com.

At the institution that I work at, librarians are part of the faculty union. I was encouraged to seek help from the union regarding our collective agreement and what I could/should negotiate for. First of all the salary was pretty much non-negotiable, but the union did say it was pretty fair. The one item I wanted to negotiated was a bit trickier. What was it? Recognition of my previous 2 yrs as a contract librarian at the same institution. I wanted to jump to year 2 on the tenure track (instead of year 1) and fast-track the process. And why not? While on contract I performed the same professional duties as the tenure track/tenured librarians. This included teaching information literacy (IL), serving on committees, collection work, faculty liaison and research consultations. The Chief Librarian assured me that I could do this, but I wanted this option explicited stated in the letter of offer. Sound simple, right? So I thought. But, alas, I am waiting for a positive response. In the meanwhile the clock is ticking away!

Multi-tasking

Today hubby took the little one (LO) out while I had a few hours to myself. What did I do with my free time? In 1.5 hrs I did the little one’s laundry, vaccuumed my car, disinfected LO’s toys, cooked dinner (shake n bake), washed my car, watered the lawn, prepared breakfast, brushed my teeth and had breakfast/lunch. All in that order!

Before the LO I was a great multi-tasker. I worked 2 jobs while attending library school effortlessly and it was a thrill to be that busy. However I multi-task now out of necessity not for the adrenaline rush! It is difficult juggling work and my responsibilities as a mother. I never thought it would be this difficult! I don’t know how a lot of women do this on their own. However, I am learning to plan ahead, try new things and see how it goes. For example, I now cook once a week (Sunday) and this is enough for my weekly lunch as well as dinner for me and LO. But just when I’m comfortable with a new routine something changes and I need to adapt again. I can sincerely list multi-tasking, adaptable and open to change as soft skills on my resume!

Hello world!

Welcome to Tenure + Librarian + Mom. A Interminable Rumor is actually an anagram of tenure librarian mom. I just love anagrams! I went to the Internet Anagram Server (http://wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html) and found some interesting anagrams for tenure librarian mom. I loved A Interminable Rumor, but other favorites included:

• A Biennial Terror Mum  (as in, the terrible twos a mom going through the tenure process!)
• A Liberator Inner Mum
• Brain Email More Runt
• Brain Memorial Tuner
• Brain Email Net Rumor
• Tenure Brain Immoral
• A Brainer Let Mom Run
• Tenure Mania Brr Limo    (as in the whole crazy tenure process leaves me cold, get me my limo stat!!)

This blog will chronicle my experiences, ups (hopefully lots) and downs (hopefully few), during the tenure/continuing appointment process while juggling the demands of motherhood.