Slaving away ... at what?

Thus begins my third week as the Preservation Librarian at LPU (Large Public University). I think I'm going to like it here, though I am still working without any kind of a performance agreement. I was promised that we would discuss this sometime last week. It didn't happen. I was also assured that I would have my employee ID number, which allows me to have such things as an ID card, access codes to disarm the security alarms, and a key to my office, by the end of week two. This hasn't happened yet, either. So ... What am I doing? Well, I've been reading through documents in a shared file on my computer to get a feel for just what it is that goes on in my department. I've been talking to my staff, student assistants, and graduate library assistant about what it is that they do here. And I've been contacting the woman who held this position before me to find out such things as what this jug of odd-smelling colorless liquid is under my desk. Turns out it's just water. As it kind of smells like paint-thinner, I'll be disposing of it shortly.

I will have some direction in my actions this week, since I have four meetings to attend. Two of them are today. I'll meet with my staff to discuss metadata for the new web re-design and then meet with a new representative from the commercial bindery we use for many of our repairs. Later this week I'll attend the Collection Development Workgroup meeting and the Library Liasons Meeting. Evidently I'm going to be the liason to the Honors College next fall. So what is it I do here? I go to meetings.