Note: This is the eighth in what is hoped will be a series of columns about the experiences of those in the academic law librarianship profession - ed.
This column is supposed to talk about my trials and tribulations as an academic law librarian. There hadn’t been many trials or tribulations recently though. So the last couple of columns have mostly been about whatever struck my fancy. But the wonderful thing about life is if you wait long enough something goes wrong or, if you’re a glass half full person, something goes right.
I recently published an article in Law Library Journal. Hurray for me (which I mean in the manner of Templeton the Rat in the animated movie of Charlotte’s Web). And I must admit I was quite pleased with myself. However, if you’re worrying that I may have developed an enlarged ego, you’ll be relieved to know that my pleasure was short-lived.
In case you blinked and missed my article, it discussed the law librarian job interview. The goal of the article was to arm newer law librarians and those law librarians returning to the job market after a prolonged absence with as much information as possible about the interview process. It sounds innocuous enough, right? But then two things happened.
First, people started reading the article. I understand that such behavior is completely reasonable. If you publish something, people are entitled to read it. I guess I just hadn’t thought the publication process through to its logical conclusion. So I was surprised to find newer law librarians not only reading my article but also using the information. Then I began to worry. Would I be the Pied Piper leading all the newly minted law librarians to drown in the ocean of failure as they followed my advice? Would I single-handedly be the ruination of the future law librarians of America?
The next thing that happened is my library started interviewing for a newly created reference librarian position. In a twist of karmic fate, I was able to see the impact of my article first hand. It never occurred to me that my own creation would be used against me! Each candidate did a great job interviewing. But my colleagues would come out of the interviews wondering how the candidates were coming up with all these questions. I wasn’t going to point it out, but, eventually, they did discover that I had included sample interview questions as an appendix to my article. So while the article worked great for the interviewee, the interviewer wasn’t as happy about it.
Now you have to understand that I’m your typical perfectionist. I hate making mistakes and am my own worst critic. So I immediately tried to figure out where I had gone wrong. I liked the article I wrote and still thought it had value. I just didn’t expect the aftermath. I couldn’t help but think that there was some way I could have prevented my worries. What if I had just added one more disclaimer? I finally calmed down and realized that I cannot hold myself responsible for how people use the information I provide. And if the article armed job candidates with a little too much information, I think better they have too much information than too little. However, for my next article I’m envisioning a safer topic like “The Flora and Fauna of Academic Law Libraries.”
