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Help. I am stuck in the disconnect between my old-school librarian's dedication to customer service (read: cannot say no to someone who asks for my professional help) and the actual demands of my job, which is fast paced and perhaps places more emphasis on the librarian as faculty member than on librarian as service provider (btw, it's tenure track, & I'm already tenured).
- Do you have a rule of thumb you follow to determine if you have the bandwidth to join someone's research or evidence synthesis project?
- E.g., do you have a limit on the number of unfinished projects you'll attach yourself to before you join another?
- Do you ever choose NOT join someone's project, even if you do have the bandwidth?
- Then, how do you say no? I'm looking for actual wording here, hoping that if I practice saying what others say, I'll figure out how *I* want to say it.
- Is there a pared-down service you offer instead of full participation on a team? Such as, "I cannot join your team right now, but I can spend one hour to critique your search strategy & return that to you," or something like that?
- If you choose not to join a project, do you try to find another librarian/info specialist who will?
Over the summer I did tell one SR group, "Your project sounds really interesting. However, if you want me to join, I won't be available until mid-September." And that worked--even though they were champing at the bit to get started in July, they waited for me.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm pretty sure I've typed a version of this email several times over the past year and always deleted it. But surely I'm not the only one struggling with project overload, right???
Jane
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Jane Yatcilla
Health & Life Sciences Information Specialist
Purdue University Libraries
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