Thursday, May 11, 2017

Interview Post: Cecily Walker


Biographical

Name?

Cecily Walker

Current job?

Assistant Manager for Community Digital Initiatives, Vancouver Public Library

How long have you been in the field?
I've worked as a librarian for just over 8 years now. I worked in user experience for about 3 years before making the switch.

How Do You Work?

What is your office/workspace like?

Sparse. Even though I've had this job for awhile, I was temporary for two years and moved around a lot. Boxing up desk toys and office accoutrements lost its allure. I have a single monitor setup, an L-shaped desk that gives me additional writing space (even though the L is facing the wrong way) an ergonomic chair, and an office with a window that opens.

How do you organize your days?

There's no real rhyme or reason to it. I usually start with email, and then I handle questions with my direct reports, as needed. I have semi-weekly meetings with the Community Digital Initiatives team, and a weekly meeting with the supervisory team in my department. The rest of the day is spent either on administrivia, project management, or keeping my door open in case anyone wants to stop by for a chat/with questions.

What do you spend most of your time doing?


Procrastinating. ;-)

Officially I'm a supervisor, unofficially I'm a project manager, and both of those things require that I spend the lion's share of my day removing obstacles, facilitating discussions, and helping my direct reports be successful. I also do a fair amount of email/Slack chatting, so there's rarely a moment that I don't have fingers to keyboard.

What is a typical day like for you?
Mostly quiet, with infrequent bursts of fussing about/keeping projects on track. Nothing terribly exciting.
What are you reading right now?
Joan Didion's South and West. I don't know why I'd never read any Didion before now, but better late than never. I love the way she paints pictures with her words, and I'm intrigued by her assertion that the notes in her notebooks aren't always true, but over time they become more true than the original story. The pieces in this collection were written over 40 years ago, but the people and situations she describes sound similar to the political circumstances we find ourselves in today.
What's the best professional advice you've ever received?
I don't have a pithy aphorism to share, but it has meant a lot to me to meet and connect with librarians of colour, especially Black librarians, and to lean on them when I find myself experiencing difficulties that arise from cultural differences. These women and men have helped me understand that no, I'm not imagining things. They've also encouraged me to look outside my workplace to find inspiration and opportunities, particularly speaking opportunities. As a result of their gentle encouragement, I managed to give a keynote at the LITA forum this year, which thus far has been the height of my career.

What have you found yourself doing at work that you never expected?
Working with community partners to build a digital collection of the Women's Memorial March Quilt. Even though my library places a premium on community-led librarianship, I wasn't prepared for the emotional labour involved with working with a community that still lives through the trauma of Vancouver's Missing and Murdered Women.

Inside the Library Studio

What is your favorite word?
Mellifluous

What is your least favorite word?
A tie between squid and custard.

What profession other than your own would you love to attempt?
A pyrotechnics engineer. Whenever I get frustrated with library work, I find myself looking at the explosives and pyrotechnics program at one of the local polytechnic schools. I think blowing things up would be cathartic, and I imagine I'd never go home in a bad mood at the end of the day.

What profession would you never want to attempt?
Surgeon. Bodies are gross. Well, not the fact of bodies, or when they're intact, but I can't even stand to watch the surgery scenes on Grey's Anatomy, so I'm clearly not cut out for this.

Everything Else

What superpower do you wish you had?
Teleportation, though I suppose that might have to go along with invisibility. If I could teleport, I'd never have to worry about not fitting into airplane seats, and I could see my friends/loved ones whenever I wanted.

What are you most proud of in your career?
That I'm still here, even though health challenges and a lingering suspicion I'm not cut out for library work make it difficult to stay in this line of work.

If you're willing to share, tell about a mistake you made on the job.
My chronic illnesses mean I live under a near-constant mental fog, and I don't read closely/comprehensively on the best of days. The biggest mistake I made was convincing a boss to upgrade a product we used based on features I thought were offered as part of the upgrade, when they would cost us more on top of the upgrade. I'm glad I don't have to worry about this anymore in my current position.

When you aren't at work, what are you likely doing?
Tweeting, marathoning shows on various streaming services, hanging out with my cat, or having a few pints with friends.

Who else would you like to see answer these questions?
Tara Robertson


Cecily is on Twitter as @skeskali.

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