Notes from a Corporate Life: Thoughts on information and libraries in corporations, music and other things.

I have an old friend from high school who knows nothing about what I do. In fact, in a recent letter to me (yes, we still write letters back and forth by choice), he said, "Tell me what corporate life is like. Do you tell someone to make the coffee?"

As I tried to describe to him what it was like, I realized I'd become immersed in the corporate world - and in my career in the corporate world - to the extent that I couldn't really see it any longer. It had become second nature to me, and I (wrongly) assumed that everyone had a sense of what working in a corporate setting was like.

Now, don't get me wrong - I really like corporate work. In my library career, I had started in a public library. I was there for about eight years, and then went to an academic library (at a community college) for about a year and a half.

Due primarily to financial necessity, I took a job at West Marine, where a friend at the time worked. This job had nothing at all to do with libraries. But what it revealed to me was a working setting where money was not an issue (this was the mid 90s). If you needed something, you bought it.

And job roles? Well, those were a lot more squishy. You didn't really just do what your job description said (in contrast to public and academic positions) - you did what needed doing, and what interested you. In fact, you were encouraged to go outside of your role, to bring your skills to bear where it was needed, to act on your ideas.

This was a huge shock to me at the time - coming from a prior work setting where money was always tight, where you did your job, no more and no less. You had people spell you for breaks, and you took your 15-minute break like clockwork. Overtime was frowned-upon or non-existent.

As I continued to describe my current work life to my friend and force myself to take a look at what "corporate life" was like, I started to realize how strange it was in some ways - how totally removed it can be from, say, doing landscaping, or police work, or any number of other jobs in the world.

This is not a new revelation, by any means. After all, the world already has Dilbert and "The Office" and movies about working in a corporation. But I realized I wanted to share some of my experiences, particularly from a "librarian" point of view. I know there are librarians and library students who ask the same question my high school friend did, and have the same questions. (And no, I don't get to tell anyone to make coffee, unless I'm at Starbucks and I'm paying them to make it.)

So that's the background for this blog. I will not be sticking just to the Sun experience, or to the corporate experience, or even to the librarian experience. I expect to cover whatever seems to need writing about. I have no idea whether anyone will read this or care. I'll also tell you occasionally about new bands I'm listening to, because I think secretly I've always wanted to be a DJ as well. Who knows, you may see a podcast someday. Stay tuned.

Scott