Hannah Hiles | 5 February 2016 | Durham NC
“Incidents” sounds a little dramatic, and maybe a little alarming, so I should begin right off the bat by saying this is a positive post!
This is an interesting class for two reasons – it exists in multiple spaces. On the one side, it is my Practicum class. It is taught by Dr. Bird, and I have assignments, and there are my fellow students. On the other side sits Duke – the place I commute to three days a week.
Within the side of my practicum that is the classroom side, we were encouraged to discuss a “critical incident.” From the discussion board's prompt:
Describe a “critical incident” that happened to you during the first few weeks of your practicum. It might have been an encounter with a patron (good or bad). It might have been an incident with a co-worker that was frustrating, challenging, or triumphant.
Many of the incidents listed were not, unfortunately, glowing positive radiant happy times in the library. I was glad, though, that I could offer something like that. The critical incident that I shared was – amazingly – a departmental meeting.
My first departmental meeting with AUX, and the first departmental meeting I've attended of any job that didn't make me feel like I was wasting my time, going unheard, and being slowly driven crazy by an onslaught of corporate acronyms.
The critical moment I relayed was that there, in that department meeting, I learned something about what it is that I very much desire from my workplace environment. I desire equality and a strong sense of culture. I want to be in a place where people have problems that they solve together, through mutual frustration and triumph. Where roundtable discussions happen about projects that they're excited about – and where your coworkers are excited for you.
Because magically, I saw all of those things at my departmental meeting.
It may have not been much of an “incident,” but it was a critical moment for me!