Flea, I interviewed with the library at the University of C-U IL about 18 months ago. They flew me in for a face-to-face and general tour. Didn't get it, obviously, but the people seemed nice. They were pretty straightforward about ongoing consolidation at the time, but only when I reached the f2f stage. Another thing to keep in mind is that, while they have a defined benefit pension option, it is nigh criminally underfunded. That could change over the next 20-30 years, but it's still a gamble. Also, they kept mentioning that there was a train that could take you to Chicago for $15, and I kinda wondered why a ticket out of town would be considered such a strong selling point. A friend of mine from IL said that C-U is a delightful, lefty liberal town(s), but she's been in NC for 20 years now. I would have taken the job in a hot minute if offered, fwiw.

I knew about the state budget situation. But the thing is, with my spouse employed in a good federal job and my kids in good schools and my homeownership, this was going to have to be a really good offer to convince me to move. And I HATE being lied to. I think I will write to ask for clarification before withdrawing my candidacy, but they'd have to have a pretty good tap-dance to convince me not to do so at this point.

Yeah, I would think you'd want to have that clarified before even going there, given everything.

Dana, crap, I'm sorry.

Consuela, how you doing?

OMFG my job is trying to kill me today.

Is WGN basic cable, or broadcast?

I'm gonna say Cable.

While lying in bed not quite willing to disturb the cat to get up even though I should have some minutes before, I took one of those quizzes, this one to tell me if I was Type A or B. It said I was definitely Type A. I find this hilarious. And laughing about it disturbed the cat so I could get up.

Thanks for the encouragement and advice everyone.

Sorry about the news Dana.

My new coasters for my oddly nice work desk arrived, so there's that.

[link]

Don't let it win, Jesse!

Gud, those are totally awesome.

Consuela, how you doing?

OK, although I think my nose is infected, sigh. Gonna have to start taking the antibiotics they gave me. And my biopsy is later this morning. I'm going to treat myself with an awesome salad for lunch, I think...

flea, my university (basically a carbon copy of the one where you are interviewing) has been consolidating physical library branches for 20 years, on the grounds that if you are accessing services from your office computer, it doesn't matter if they are 100 yards away or across campus.

As a faculty representative on the U library committee I've seen the Sturm and Drang of this, particularly on the part of older faculty, but the librarians have been pretty satisfied with the results. There hasn't been a reduction in the number of librarians (dramatic cuts in support staff have driven the economics) and they kind of like being grouped together as a unit, with each responsible for curating an electronic presence for their discipline.

I'm no expert in this but the library Dean tells us that the old way can't stand, if only because the interdisciplinary nature of scholarship these days means that people with an interest in classics may be spread across campus in traditional classics departments but also in public health, policy, gender studies, environmental affairs, Asian studies, and other far flung departments, and they aren't well served by a decrepit vestigial library in the basement of the Latin-Greek building, far from their own office. Scholarship and physical space just don't line up the way they used to. Well, that's what she says, anyway.

So it's possible that these folks were just waiting to make a pitch to you for the consolidation they have planned and to rouse a chorus of testimony about how well it is working out.