new job

I have started a new job. I entered into this change voluntarily and happily, but I'm not sure how good it is so far.

I feel myself digging in my heels on a bunch of things - admin mostly, things like requirements for joining the union, filling out time cards etc., stuff that I never really had to think about at my old job. Never thought I'd miss the university bureaucracy! Or maybe I'm just forgetting the challenges of adapting to a new system - I was at my old job for 8 years after all, and it's been a long time since my first week there.

The situation here is this: this is a processing and distribution centre for a municipal school district. Books and media materials are received here and individual teachers can order them and have them shipped out. A few months ago, the longtime staff of 4 women, all of them library professionals, ended up retiring literally on the same day. Which left the place kind of rudderless. Since that time, 2 support staff - clerks, really, with no formal training in library processes - have been running the place. It's unclear who here has the knowledge to train me to do my job, and even less clear who is my actual supervisor, since the supervisor position seems to be the last one they are filling. In fact, it's a bit unclear what my job actually is.

I am an extremely high-capacity worker. I can handle a large volume of work and it doesn't panic me or cause me to become frozen or stressed out. In fact, I have more or a "bring it on!" mentality, and for me, when it comes to work, more is better. I become more focused and efficient the more work I have to do. I suppose that makes me a true multitasker.

However, I do need some initial direction, and I definitely need context. Library work is very relational: everything seems to affect every other thing, so it's important to get each thing right. You can't operate in a vacuum. I haven't had a really comprehensive introduction to the way this place works, the relationships between the two units (mine, and the one next to mine, where my apparent interim supervisor works), or even my own day-to-day responsibility spectrum, which, on my 3rd day here, has resulted in a little bit of anxiety.

Luckily, I am a fiddler, a natural gamer, and I can usually feel my way through these kinds of situations (example: it took me about 3 hours yesterday to figure out, using a library software package I'd never touched or seen until the previous day, how to run labels for videotapes. One of the clerks told me it took several people a whole day when the system was first introduced. People who had formal training in the product). So I know I'll be all right.