Friday

Thursday night was a pretty good night. I was able to take care of some studying, though not as much as I would have liked, and then head over for Thomson House for a night of socializing. Based on my knowledge that the Archives stream had a class and my knowledge that they tend to go out for a beer afterwards I thought it would be pretty safe time to show up and meet some people that I know. It turned out that my timing was just about perfect; most of them were in line as I arrived.

I jumped in line behind them and order a pitcher of a blond locally brewed beer. While it is not my favourite drink I believe that it was what I was drinking all night.

In about an hour most of the archives people had left, but a few general GSLIS students remained. Gradually the first pitchers turned into second and third pitchers. It seemed that most people were having a very good time. One particularly enjoyable part of the evening, at least from my point of view, was the discussion I had with a separatist. I think that she didn’t quite know where I was coming from or what to expect as feel I took a pretty pro-Quebec stance, though was solidly against isolationism. Later in the evening we were swamped by Manitobans, there must have been 4 or 5.

At about 1:30 I finally realized what time it was time to head home. I was back in my room before 2:00, only a little worse for wear.

On Friday I awoke at about 11:00. For about 15 minutes I just stayed in bed listening to the radio. Eventually I got up and started doing the morning internet rounds (weather, news, email, blog, etc.). At about 11:23 I realized that I had been planning on attending the Faculty of Education Faculty Council meeting, which was to start.

After a few quick mental calculations I realized that I might have just enough time to take a quick shower and still make it. Unfortunately when I arrived at the bathroom I found it occupied, and with this my plans were ruined. I went back to my room and tossed on some clothing and got ready to go. Within about two or three minutes I was on my way, slight hangover and all.

As the meeting was to be in the Education building that was where I went. The only problem is that I couldn’t find the designated room, even though it was supposed to be on the main floor. After asking about 3 people and spending 10 to 15 minutes looking for it I was about the second person there. One of the only non-support staff there ahead of me was my cataloging professor. I continued to sit alone, talking to no one, as the others began to file in over the next few minutes. By the beginning of the meeting most of the library school faculty were sitting within a five-seat radius of me.

Eventually the Dean showed up and things began. As Friday was Australia Day we started with a brief themed slide show and Vegemite sandwich tray. Soon enough we were down to business.

The heart of the meeting had to do with Faculty of Education space allocation. It seems that the university is engaging in a major planning exercise of which we are a consequential element, particularly the library school. Unfortunately a few squeaky wheels dominated a fair bit of the meeting, even though the issues that they were raising weren’t really relevant to the current discussion. I was even able to ask a few questions, both of which I feel were quite reasonable.

Attending this meeting was quite good as it gave me a much greater understanding of several issues, including; departmental staff dynamics, faculty staff dynamics, McGill administration, strategic planning, and university committees.

After the formal meeting, with most of the faculty from the library school, I went on a tour of a potential relocation site. I, as with several of the faculty members, were pretty impressed with the potential of the building that we toured.

It was a damn good thing I didn’t back out just because I didn’t have time for a shower.