Observations From the Archive

[mizarchivist]

I have spent a fairly large part of my professional life as a "lone arranger." Someone who works by herself. There are variations on this theme- sometimes you're the only one at all, I was the only one in my department. This is no longer true. We've had a p/t assistant for a while, but for much of that time he or she was only doing one limited project for the most part. Maybe 2 if you include some reference. Now we have a p/t professional who shares my office, and our p/t student is about to graduate and when she does, be promoted to full time, new job description, and all the perks. Yeah, she's that good. We have a department. It took a while to get used to the 1 and 2 half-time. going to 2 and 1 half will be less of a transition, I think.

So, I spent years making due. I came up with new projects on a fairly regular basis, but there really is a limit on how much a single person can manage. I subsisted for several years, took several months to adjust and help transform parts of our infrastructure, and now I have the time and capacity to grow, and I am. I just got back from a 3 day conference, which did not feel like a waste of time, over my head, boring. I don't remember the last time I felt that way. I'm extremely fond of my colleagues, respect them hugely, and I am grateful for their contributions.

Our work's (fiscal) new year starts in April, and I think it's going to be an amazing one.