M is for Malpractice

Don't ever go to the hospital in my town. Now I realise that I'm not giving you much to go on as I don't mention where I come from. So just to be safe, stay away from all Australian Hospitals.
Why should I, a librarian, be steering you away from the medical care of the Australian medical system and what are my qualifications that you should heed my warning? I have just watched one of the local doctors photocopy the best part of four volumes of the Encyclopaedia of Family Health. Now, I'm a Children's Librarian, so I have recommended this particular tome on many occasions. I do however feel that it is probably not an adequate substitute for Actual Medical Training.
Before any medicos tell me I am doing their profession a disservice, let me be clear that I don't know the difference between a registrar and an emeritus professor of surgical cuttinguppiness, so this doctor may well be one of the most junior in their profession. Given the frequency with which I attend the local hospital to have myself stitched or plastered, it is still fear worthy.

World Record Vomiting

Everything old is new again.
Matthew (the well dressed librarian) is posting about ties again, so perhaps it is time for me to post about my personal attempts to make vomiting an olympic sport.
Yes, I've been at it again. This time it was on a four wheel driving trip. We were five hours from nowhere and I decided to see if I could make the trip take longer by getting out of the car every fifteen minutes and projecting my lunch into the bush. Oh, should I mention two car loads of friends watching?
And not one of them helped me to die quietly, no matter how often I screamed "kill me, kill me arghhhhhhhhhh, kill me"

And the moral to this tale?
Well Dressed is classier than ADHD

I'm back, now where was I?

Where oh were has the librarian gone
oh where oh where can he be.

C'mon folks, I'm the ADHD librarian. What did you expect?
I know I've been forgetting about my loyal readers (how have you both been).
In truth, I've been trying to remember to work whilst at work, and whilst at home I've been working towards a Master of Business (Arts and Cultural Management)
Because I decided that I want to be a library manager again, but this time I plan to know what I'm doing. That said, I have recieved a new dose of inspiration so I am back again (again).
How long will it last?
Well that depends, if I can stop procrastinating about my uni work, you probably won't get many posts. So you can probably look forward to two a fortnight, all designed to coincide with another bout of procrastination.

old bio info

John has worked in a State Library, a University Library and several Public Libraries.
He is currently working in the Australian 'outback' having decided this was a great way to fast track a career that had been (up till that point) decidedly slow tracked. And having spent more time acting in higher duties than in his own job, this has proven to be correct.
Despite living in the outback John does not say crikey or poke venomous reptiles with sticks. Although he has been bitten lizards and redback spiders.
John is constantly playing with the net, new technology, dismantling and re assembling the shelving, doing things he shouldn't be and not doing things he should. He is, in short, the sort of librarian who drives his manager to distraction.
His disastrous attempts to do things new ways are matched only by his spectacular successes in convincing people it was worth a try and that he has learned from his mistakes. He is likely to come to work on a Monday morning with broken bones, stitches, a limp or boot prints on his face due to an unfortunate Rugby habit.
His tendency to talk about himself in the third person is problematic in real life but quite useful when writing brief biographical information for a blog.

even older bio info:
it is my attempt to get laughs and make sense of why in God's name a kid with ADHD who almost forgot to attend high school would consider taking the nine years needed to complete four years of university and then run screaming around a public library.

copyright reform

I submitted this to LIS News, but you get to read it here.
yes, you no longer have to buy multiple copies of the same song in order to listen to it in different places.
You can now copy your vinyl records straight to your ipod (I knew if I held onto them long enough they'd be useable again. Ha music industry, now I'm never buying '1986 just for kicks' on CD. The future's so bright I've got to wear shades!)
And for librarians, 'format shifting' of material such as newspapers becomes easier. (Although libraries who could argue they were doing it to maintain access to archival collections could do this in the past).
Let Attorney-General Philip Ruddock tell you about it himself

Abstract

Skin of Your Teeth Library Management:
How to Survive Falling Up the Career Ladder
This paper will look at what it takes to manage a library and how to get it. It will consider the necessary skills to manage in libraries, covering a range of examples from the supervision of a small team to working as ‘The Library Manager’.
Falling up the career ladder is not an unusual occurrence in Australian Libraries. While librarians without management training may find themselves floating just out of the depth in unfamiliar waters, the alternative is too often managers without library experience. This second group can find themselves splashing around at the opposite end of this metaphorical pool.
As such, this paper will present several methods of dealing with the management side of librarianship. Looking closely at what will work for those who have not studied management as a discipline and need to learn on the job. It will also consider how to decide which style of management will suit you as a manager and your organization. Possible ways of managing staff with more knowledge and experience than yourself will be explored in some depth.
Throughout the paper, consideration will be given to acquiring and using;
* Library Knowledge
* Interpersonal Skills
* Conceptual Thinking
* Self Management
* Balance
The management theories promoted by popular business psychology books will be examined in order to asses their potential for providing relevant information to the accidental library manager. As Library managers are often required to present information in formal settings, consideration will be given to the skills of public speaking and internal promotion. Emphasis will be placed on presenting information to a board of directors or an elected council. Finally, the benefits to the library sector of librarians acquiring formal qualifications in a management field will be examined.

The Mad Librarian

The fact that I am a librarian is the source of much amusement amongst rugby players in town, all of whom have macho jobs like plumber, electrician, builder, unemployed or prison guard. I have therefore been dubbed "the mad librarian". This was highlighted last Saturday when I made a fantastic tackle on a MUCH larger opponent. It was textbook stuff, my shoulder into his guts - driving forward and sitting him on his arse. It was so good that he couldn't hold on to the ball. I stood, proud, strong, a rugby player!
Then, from the stands I heard a voice "hit him again, his books are overdue". So it seems I'm still the mad librarian.
As a postscript, I didn't do anything else interesting that game and we lost by a large margin. I still have this reoccurring fantasy that I can play the game.

listen to this man, he has the smartness

So, now thay you know I will be talking at the ALIA new grad symposium, you are probably wondering how I convinced anyone to give me a chance in front of impressionable new librarians. Well, here for your reading pleasure is my 'about the author' I'll put up the abstract later.
During 2005, John, a librarian with two years post-graduate experience found himself in the Manager's office. While this had not been unusual during his ten years as an Assistant Library Technician, on this occasion he was not being pulled into line, but was 'Acting in Higher Duties'.
For six months this Library was made glorious summer by this son of ALIA (not the trucking company). During this time John discovered that his experiences at the bottom of the pecking order had prepared him wonderfully for many aspects of library management, but that there were some things for which he was woefully unprepared.
Having now returned to his own duties, John has enrolled in a Master of Business program in order to prepare himself for his inevitable rise to power in the cut and thrust world of Libraries.
In the meanwhile he has taken time out from his latest assignment to distil the wisdom learned during his time in the big leather chair of management and to present it as...
Skin of Your Teeth Library Management:
How to Survive Falling Up the Career Ladder

Just a spoon full of sugar

At some time in my childhood my parents decided that they weren't going to spend much time together any more. (Someone without ADHD might remember how old they were when that happened). Anyway, I stayed with Dad. This meant that I became responsible for my own life quite early.
Somehow however I seem to always work alongside women whose sons (of around my age) are hopeless looser. They always then assume that I too am a work shy commitment phobe. I, in return, become snarky and settle back to live down to their expectations. After all, no point trying too hard when they've already decided I'm a layabout. Please believe me when I say always, I mean without exception there has been a woman like this at every place I have ever worked.
Today for example, my boss decided my desk/office needed a spring clean. Fair call, I forget things if I can't see them. So I put everything on my desk. So, how does the boss do this? John, tidy your bloody desk! (like one former manager would have said) No, we got stuck into it together. I felt like a fucking five year old whose mummy is teaching him to tidy his bedroom.
It was all I could do to keep myself from singing Mary Poppins numbers...
Just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down
medicine go dooown
medicine go down
Just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down
In the most delightful way.
Remember to put your barcodes back in your toy box when you're finished playing with them. Then we'll always know where they are.
Look what I've found. You've been looking for your favourite marker pen haven't you.
YES MUM!

Life, study, work and getting back on track.

Well, it's about twelve months since I became one of Dexy's Midnight Runners and it has been an improvement. It has however, not been the "fog lifting" I can see clearly now the rain has gone, road to Damascus experience that many ADHD people report. It has however given me a lift in my productivity, a better level of focus and an opportunity to redesign my life so that my "oh look shiny thing, mmm I wonder what the Pope does at night, that's a nice book, Oh I like beans, mmm where are my car keys, hi how are you, what was I looking for again?" doesn't dominate my life.

Work is where I've seen the biggest improvement, which may in part be because I spent a while as manager and as such I understand my role a bit better now. Study has also improved, three subjects into my masters and I've only failed one assignment. And I still managed an overall pass in that subject.

Where I'm failing to make up ground is however at home. I don't like taking my evening dose because it ends up with me awake till 3am staring at a dark ceiling while my brain solves all of the world's problems. As such my time at home with the wife and kiddies is my braindead coming down time. Something which is failing to make them feel like they are the most important people in my life.
My GP is keeping an eye on some non-stimulant options which have recently been approved in Oz and I might try switching to that and seeing if it is a better fit for me.

fame

The ADHD librarian will be speaking at the ALIA New Graduated Symposium this year. Although, I will be using another name. http://conferences.alia.org.au/newlibrarian2006/
ALIA New Librarians' Symposium 2006
Pathways and possibilities
Fri 1st - Sat 2nd Dec 2006
The John Niland Scientia Building, Uni of N.S.W.
Sydney, Australia

Come along, while you may not know who I am you can assume that whichever speaker you liked most was me.

Back in the saddle

Well folks,
I'm back. I say this now as if anyone is still reading, but well aware that I didn't blog long enough to develop a fan base, let alone loyal readers willing to forgive this long interlude. So where have I been hiding?
Well, dosed to the eyeballs on my new meds, I've been working. I know I know, you didn't expect that of me did you. But in fact I have, I've spent the last 18mths in higher duties of one sort or another. Including six months as a LIBRARY MANAGER. Ye Gads! But it is true, and to top it all off I did it well. The staff all still like me as much as they ever did. The patrons still come in and use the service, the doors stayed open and all went to plan. I now however have a new Library Manager and a new 2IC, so I slip quietly back to my role as kiddies librarian.
This should give me more time to type up the occasional post, perhaps with tales of management to scare all the new graduates.

The results are in and I'm as fruity as a nut cake, ADHD, dyslexia and a genius to boot. The psychologist suggests that a lot of my problems may be learned behaviour. That is to say I was bored stupid in school and so I spent my time amusing myself in my own brain and let my subconscious obtain all the information I needed in order to get a pass mark.
The suggestion is that I could get away with this in school, it got somewhat harder at Uni and that the workforce was "a piece of piss" right up until someone wants me to pay attention to detail or manage a long-term project. The trouble is that as a manager I am now required to do both those things on a regular basis.
The trouble I'd had before in other positions usually involved me doing the job in a half arsed fashion and never writing up the reports or finalising the accounts. Usually people were forgiving because my half arsed attempts worked out well, in fact I've proven that me in "half arse" mode is often better that my colleagues at full tilt (did I mention the genius bit).
So whereto now for this nutjob? Well the psychologist reports to the psychiatrist who reports to my GP and then we decide if I can 'burn new neuropathways' using just the power of my own (genius level) brain or if we figure that as I have ADHD I'll never get off my arse and sort it out myself so I should be dosed to the eyeballs with Dexedrine, Adderall and Ritalin.

weekender

well it is a weekend desk shift, which means that I get to spend my weekend on the public desk, the tumbleweed pic is to show you how busy it was. I'm so glad we're open weekends over the summer school holidays. Everyone in town has gone interstate so I'm left here with the drunks, no hopers, internet addicted and some tourists (oh and two casual library assistants).
The tumbleweed is also here because we got one at rugby training on Thursday night. It blew right across the paddock.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm, not much else to report.

Am I too outspoken?

Well whatever the reason, I'm not going to be the new library manager. Don't worry, I'll cope, If I was looking for a library manager I wouldn't employ me. Not enough senior experience and too much of, well of something. But my time will come, after all I'm getting the experience now. By the time they readvertise the position and interview the next batch of people, I'll probably get a good few months in the job, call it three months as manager and before that six or so months as 2IC and I'm looking good for the future. I've been too lazy though and haven't enrolled myself into any management training, but if I get off my arse and get some I'm good to go.
Still it would have been good to have got the job, I might have gone down in flames, but I might just have pulled one out of the hat and given it a good go?