MaxLibris

I am in my fourth official week here as the Technology Coordinator for the Greater Midwest Region of the NN/LM.
Here is what I’m enjoying so far about Chicago:

• Lilacs - there are lilacs everywhere it seems and as I recall they don’t grow very well in the South so it’s bringing back memories of my glorious youth in WI
• Mass Transit - I take the bus and/or train to work and to play every day and so far it’s been great, save for the few experiences like:
  • the man who had to be taken off the train because he was pulling down his pants (can I say manscape?)
  • the drunks
  • the man who was trying to sell everyone pirated software

  I take the Red Line L to the Pink Line to get to work but sometimes I take one of the express buses to the Pink Line.

• Lake Michigan - being so close to the lake is awesome. I will say that I don’t go TO the lake very often as of yet, but my plan is to change that. When I take the bus to work in the morning, the bus goes along Lake Shore Drive. The lake looks different every day!
• Chicago - well, the city herself.  It’s a pretty outstanding place to be if I do say so myself.  The architecture alone could keep you busy for ages.  I just picked up “The Devil in the White City” - so I can learn a bit more about the history of this fantastic city.
• Art - I have been to the Art Insitute a few times and revisited it when I first arrived in early May.  This is the first museum in a city of which I live in that I will become a member of, with no reservations.  There are so many other museums in town that I want/need to visit!!
• Neighborhoods - so much diversity in so many different types of ‘hoods.  I live in Uptown which unfortunately is NOT my favorite neighborhood, though I do like the Buena Park part of it - I’m sort of hoping to move to perhaps Andersonville or to Lakeview in the next six months.
• Academic Life - I like being ON a university campus.  There are lots of perks and benefits to it - however there are downsides.  The bureaucracy can drive one up the wall - and the paperwork is mind-boggling.  Other than that - I love it.

As far as my job, this is what I have been working on:

• Inventory of technology in the office
• Getting rid of old/redundant technologies
• Learning about NLM and NN/LM
• Preparing for my first trips (June 6 to Milwaukee is my first official trip)
• Meetings with Library Systems to decentralize our server and make us more accessible to the rest of the University (something that has not happened in too long)
• And probably many other things - but at the moment I’m too sleepy to remember