Re: job description/title

["Alice H. Yucht" <YUCHT@ZODIAC.RUTGERS.EDU>]

a rose by any other name...

Several years ago I attended a corporate prof. development
workshop on "Managing Multiple Demands" (!!)
Anyway, at the beginning of the program
the leader asked us all (about 150 corporate middle managers...
and me, probably the only educator, and certainly the only
school librarian in the room) to jot down 5-10 job functions
we would be doing at work, under normal circumstances.  I
played his game, and wrote my responsibilities in corporate-ese.
eg:
Examine current literature for new products in the field;
Develop and present resource and training workshops for
in-house personnel;
Confer with other managers re: resources usage and allocations;
Prepare promotional displays and materials for target audience;
Supervise clerical maintenance of division inventory;
etc, etc.
The workshop leader asked us to switch papers with someone else,
and 1) figure out the other person's job title, and 2) prioritize
the responsibilities.
My "partner" could not figure out what on earth my job title was.
When I told him I was the "Director of an Information Resource
Facility for a major educational consortium" he was very impressed,
and even invited me to lunch with his other corporate clones.
When I did finally admit to being (not just a) school librarian,
he acted as though I had duped him!   Somehow, he didn't think
my "real" title was as important an occupation as my creatively
corporate monniker.

Now, my current business card says I am an Info-Trekker (as in
guide through the mountains and mazes of information available)
 and Professional Library Manager.  But my students introduce me
to their parents as Mrs. Why: the library teacher who makes us think.
Most important to me, though, is that the kids *want* to introduce me
to their parents, and *willingly* admit that I make them think.
Isn't that what our jobs are really all about?

Alice H. Yucht, MLS.    <yucht@zodiac.rutgers.edu>
Old Turnpike Elemiddle School,  Tewksbury, NJ
"She who laughs, lasts." - R. Barreca