On the Meaning of "Fall"

...With the crazy pace of work at the moment, my thoughts are that "Fall" doesn't designate the autumnal season when leaves fall off of trees, as much as it describes a quick, dangerous plunge. Ah, another school year begun.

It really is enjoyable to have students on the campus again, and to get more real action at our reference desk. But my mounting "to do" and "should have been done five months ago" lists are becoming precariously long. I could use a couple of 60-hour work weeks to catch up... only 1) I've got a husband I'd like to see more than occasionally, 2) I've also got my classwork to contend with, and 3) I, um, just don't want to. Ah, well.

On the bright side, although October will be filled with travel and presentations... it will be filled with travel and presentations! So it means more of being busy (and less time to catch up on it), but it will be fun and rewarding. I'm particularly excited to get to present in my hometown of San Antonio--it's nice to have such a great reason to go back. Plus, I get to talk about Library 2.0--and what's not to like about that? Spreading the word about blogs, wikis, and the greatness in general of the social internet... now that's more like it.

Today was UNT's Fall Convocation, which is a ceremony for faculty and staff at which our president gives a sort of "state of the university" address. It's not required, but it's quite informative (and features free breakfast), and I was pleased even more than last year with President Bataille's address. She mentioned the UNT Libraries' NEH/LC grant for digitizing newspapers, for one, but also she's an incredibly interesting and sincere speaker. Even when she's citing statistics, she makes them relevant and relatable, not sleep-inducing.

And--this was the really fantastic part--I got to speak to her in person. I stayed afterward awhile talking to a colleague, and when I turned to leave the Union, I saw Dr. Bataille standing with just one other person. When they finished talking, I walked over to introduce myself and tell her how honored and glad we were that she came to the Libraries' annual New Faculty Reception last week. It was nice to speak with her, even if briefly!

Then I was invited by Melody Kelly, our Associate Dean, to sit in on a library Strategic Planning meeting. It was a kind of follow-up activity to the interview I did with her yesterday, which is for the SLIS course I'm taking, Advanced Management of Information Agencies. It was interesting sitting in on a real meeting after having discussed the history of the plan--now that I'm actually full-time, I get more out of courses like these by seeing the theories implemented in my daily work.

Which reminds me... I've got lots more e-mail to get to. Ciao!