Fellow Amongst Kindred Spirits

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Print Networks conference programme cover

Perhaps it’s not surprising to find more librarians and former librarians than usual at a research conference about book and print history and the book trade – but I was certainly in my element amongst the researchers at this week’s Print Networks conference in Newcastle. Indeed, I even found two more musicologists and a music practitioner amongst the kindred spirits, so I didn’t really need to try very hard to make my point that printed music history is indeed a branch of book history. Glasgow printers also got a look-in, so my talk about Glasgow music publishers wasn’t out on a limb geographically, either.

Then there were trade catalogues, book pirates, Stationers’ Hall, slave narratives, radical newspapers in Birmingham … just so many interesting papers!

Having spent the first part of the week in Newcastle, the last couple of days were ‘mine’, an agreeable blend of sociability, along with mundane catching-up at home, and (ahem!) more research.

A Lost Work, aka, a Ghost Publication

An old copy of a classical piece in a Mozart Allan edition raised some interesting questions – could I resist following them up? Indeed I could not. I’ve found another lost work – or as I prefer to call it, a ‘ghost’ publication. It would have been so very nice to have tracked this down. The advertisement absolutely reinforced a point I make in my forthcoming book. But it’s in neither Jisc Library Hub Discover, WorldCat, the British Newspaper Archive, Abe, Alibris, eBay, the Sheet Music Warehouse, Google Books nor Archive.org. There’s no mention of an editor or compiler for this collection, just a title. Oh, bother!

London suburbs

And a London Gent supplying Mozart Allan with Light Music?

It gets worse – another advert at the back of the same classical piano piece appears to suggest that a light-music composer who published almost exclusively with Ascherberg, Hopwood and Crew, also published a few early works with Mozart Allan – but using a different first name. Two of the works published by Mozart Allan also appear later with the first name he was mainly known by. This is interesting. I’ve spent several hours yesterday and today trawling eBay (and treating myself), whilst on the trail of this gent. Yes, I know the book is already in preparation. Anything I find won’t go in the book, but research doesn’t stop when a book is published, does it?!

Change: If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got …

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Woman walking on footpath, approaching crossroads

I’m conscious that my blog posts in recent months have been on several recurring themes. Since they reflect my preoccupations over this period, I don’t regret this focus. However, this week feels a bit like a turning point. (One giant turning point for the country, as it turns out, but also an unrelated turning point for one recently retired small librarian.)

So, following the maxim at the head of this post, now is a time for looking forward rather than back.

  • My librarianship career was sandwiched between two periods of doctoral study – the one I didn’t complete before proceeding to librarianship training, and the one I worked for part-time in my spare time, a quarter of a century later. That led to the long-term partial secondment to Research and Knowledge Exchange. I have often blogged both about my own expectations of myself; about other people’s expectations and perceptions; and about the perils of making comparisons with other people.
  • I was an academic librarian throughout my whole career, but since 2012, I combined librarianship with postdoctoral research. Many of my blog posts have mused on the challenges of combining two roles.
  • I have blogged about looking back over this double-stranded career, my achievements and disappointments.
  • I’ve blogged about things I’ve discovered during my research.
  • I’ve blogged about practical processes – like working on a monograph, using Zotero, researching using databases, and instructing students in library-based research methodology.
  • I’ve blogged about fellowships and other forms of recognition.
  • I’ve also blogged about library initiatives, such as my work in diversifying the library collection to include more music by women composers and composers of colour.

All Change!

But I’m not a librarian any more. I’m semi-retired. I need to stop defining myself as a ‘librarian who also does research’, and redefine myself as a part-time academic.

I now have a single role: my contract as a part-time post doctoral research fellow. It means I have a lot more ‘spare’ time, so I can spend some of that on research, too, as need requires.

I must get out of the habit of unequal comparisons.

I can also visit Dundee more often, in connection with the Friends of Wighton – where I’m honorary librarian, a completely different role to being an academic librarian in a Higher Education institution.

And I need to spend more time looking forward, and less looking back. The future holds opportunities:-

Temple of Janus, the Greek god of new beginnings

It is very, very tempting to look around for ‘things to do’. For groups to join, and possibly opportunities to volunteer for. At the same time, I realise that there’s a risk of taking on too much, too soon. There’s also something very appealing about just waiting for new opportunities to present themselves in their own good time. One might already have done so – time will tell.

People have asked if I’ve got a holiday planned at all. I’m sure this would be a sensible thing to think about, especially considering that last summer’s annual leave was spent finishing the first draft of a book! But I need to know that the finalised book, edited and indexed and all, is on its way to the printers before I can take off on vacation. So – no, nothing planned as yet. August, maybe!

Officially, Post Doctoral Research Fellow

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
AI generated phoenix from Pixabay

Starting today, that’s my new official title. Prior to my retirement from the Whittaker Library at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, I was seconded part-time to Research and Knowledge Exchange. Today, after a brief break, I return as a post doctoral research fellow, since I plainly can’t be seconded from a role I no longer hold.

Reincarnated / ReinKarenated

It’s strange. Today, I sit at my working-from-home desk – same desk, same research work to do, same hours – outwardly, nothing has changed, and yet everything has changed, because I retired from Professional Services and returned to Academic Services. Research is now my sole role, not a small chunk cut out of my 9-5 library existence, and I’m a Research Fellow rather than a Researcher. It’s what I’ve always wanted.

Karen has been reinKarenated, you could say.

What’s in a Name?

‘That’s not how you say my name!’

If I explain the embarrassment of my name, the pun will make more sense. My family pronounces my name ‘Kar’ to rhyme with car, rather than the conventional ‘Kar’ to rhyme with carry. Don’t blame me!

I stopped trying to correct people a very long time ago – it’s not other folks’ fault that my parents decided to pronounce my name distinctively differently. If you’d spent several decades being thought prickly for insisting on an unusual pronunciation, you’d understand why I’ve given up on that!

Call me what you like – I’m a research fellow, and I’d better get on with indexing my monograph ….

A Brief (the Briefest!) Hiatus between Librarianship and Research

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Freworks

After a memorable retiral from the Library last Friday, today (Monday) is a day’s annual leave, and tomorrow is my birthday. It goes without saying, nothing work-related will be happening until Wednesday! That’s when I am officially a Post Doctoral Research Fellow.

Meanwhile – please just imagine me indulging in fine dining and more cake than usual!

Image by Steve Raubenstine from Pixabay

Fellowship Announcements: not One, but Two

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

My final days as a librarian are characterised by a combination of exhaustion and adrenaline. This cough is determined to flatten me, but I’m equally determined to plan ahead for pastures new!

I woke, coughing, at 3.30 am yesterday.  In broad daylight, no less.  I reflected grimly that, whilst I didn’t deny believers their joy at the summer Solstice, I personally would have preferred to have greeted the sun a couple of hours later.  I coughed, made tea, and finally got up and read a book.

My decision came back and bit me in the heel later. I needed a wee power-nap at lunchtime. In the evening, I sat down to look at my new, 1951 catalogue (which came packaged in original 1966 wrapping, addressed to the last owner) in daylight … and woke to find myself sitting in the dark.  No disrespect to the original compilers; I was just exhausted.

It wasn’t just the Coughing

I wasn’t just tired out by coughing and sleeplessness. I’d had so much excitement that I think I was just suffering from an excess of adrenaline followed by the inevitable slump at the end of the day!

All my chickens metaphorically hatched yesterday.  I can now relate that, after a long time planning and waiting, I shall be starting my new, semi-retirement role with a new  job title, and I couldn’t be happier.  I have been promoted in semi-retirement!

Post Doctoral Research Fellow

As a Performing Arts Librarian, I was partially seconded as a postdoctoral researcher.  But you can’t be seconded if you don’t hold the original post any longer, so when I retire, I will have a new part-time contract with a new title and job description. This pleases me enormously.

And in 2025, a Heritage Collections Fellowship at IASH

I’m extremely proud to have just accepted a six-month fellowship at the University of Edinburgh, at the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities. Between January and June next year, I’ll be researching the archival collection of papers from Thomas Nelson, the Edinburgh publisher.  There’s something singularly appropriate about a retired scholar librarian researching an archive in  another academic library, particularly such an eminent collection. I’m particularly pleased because one of my strengths is in placing what I’m researching into its wider cultural and historical context, and this massive collection of papers certainly offers plenty of scope for that. 

To begin with, there’s that new Audible book I bought the other day – nothing to do with Nelson, but hopefully giving me understanding about significant economic trends that would have impacted their trade.  (Just let me stop coughing enough to listen to it …!)

Comfort Zones were Stretched Today

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Whilst I was going through archival materials today, looking for music-related documentation, I came across all sorts of non-musical correspondence. I wasn’t surprised. Sometimes, it’s rather nice to see what falls out of Pandora’s box, after all. All the ‘extra’ material vastly enriches the ultimate narrative. And other tidbits just raise a smile:-

Parisian pavement cafe
Parisian pavement cafe
Raasay, Western Isles
  • I found one publisher offering to order whisky from an Inverness wine-dealer for another publisher holidaying in Raasay. Very fraternal!
  • I found someone looking forward to ‘frizzling in Paris’. (Considering Glasgow’s set to be 4 degrees Celsius tonight -in mid June – I can empathise!)
  • Then there was a job application letter. No clues as to the manager’s selection rationale – things were very different then – just, pencilled across the top – NO.
  • I found a terse letter from a professor who was distinctly unimpressed by the unavailability of a book (no, not a music book) that he wanted to purchase:-
Perturbed Professor

‘It’s damnable that such a valuable, well-written & cogent book should be off the market.’

But in 1947-1948, Britain was in economic crisis. There were restrictions on business activities, and if a publisher decided a reprint was non-viable then that, dear Professor, was that. Tough.  (I wanted to tell him that eBay and Alibris would have helped alleviate his evident distress.)

I found travelling salesmen being asked if they wanted any books from a particular series. Music-related ones, even? I sat up straight at that, until I realised that the subtext was probably, ‘these books aren’t selling terribly well, old chaps.’

It wasn’t until I got home that I got myself into deep water:-

I looked up what was happening to the British economy in 1947-1948. I knew there WAS a crisis. Britain was in recession.  I had never heard of ‘convertibility’ in the economic sense, and I find myself only slightly the wiser after a bit of Googling!  World War II had taken its  toll, and on top of this, the US had insisted on convertibility, it seems, and we very quickly descended into an almighty mess.  However, such a simplistic summary doesn’t sound exactly satisfactory.

I’m undecided whether I need an Oxford Short Introduction, or can I get by with a more basic understanding?  Oh well, plenty of time to ponder on that! (But if you’re a modern historian reading this, and you can think of something that would give me an intelligent layperson’s overview of post-war economics, then please do get in touch. Thank you!)

READING LIST?

  • Complete Idiot’s Guide to Economics
  • The Economics Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained 
  • Economics for Dummies
  • Rough Guide to Economics

Funnel or Estuary? Where’s your Research Going?

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

When I am thinking about research directions, in my mind I have an image of a funnel. Getting further and further into an ever-narrowing topic can be enthralling, but I worry that such a narrow topic might not interest a wide enough audience. 

Admittedly, there are circumstances when narrow specialism is exactly what you need. An eye surgeon who specialises in one particular part of the eye, is exactly what any prospective patient would hope for.

Three cheers for absolute specialists!

However, a broader field in my own kind of subject means I am likely to engage with an interdisciplinary audience. It offers more places to share my findings, and more people to interact with. At this stage in my career, I find this quite appealing. I wouldn’t want to end my career as the woman who was the expert in just one songbook, just one singer, or music in one closely defined location.

Estuary

So, the closest antonym (opposite) that I’ve found to a funnel, is an estuary. I like my research to fan out into different strands over a broader area.  For me, I find I’m more likely to generate impact this way.  But it’s an estuary, not a garden hosepipe spray! That would be altogether too messy. In other words, research might lead in various different directions, but I try to focus my ultimate writing on one particular aspect at a time.  The book currently at the publisher’s has given rise to papers about post-war tourism, Scottish music in the diaspora, and the impact of technology on music publishing for an amateur customer base…

How do you visualise potential research topics? Does consideration of how narrow or  broad something is, form part of your deliberations?

Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paisley?

I have various ideas to pursue, all starting somewhere in Scotland, but my most promising one is the one that extends beyond Scottish music, and beyond Scotland. Possibly even beyond the UK. Another idea isn’t quite as broad, in one sense, but might throw up some new comparisons. I’m still mulling over this one!  The others would be interesting, but don’t offer the same breadth. One in particular is probably too niche to risk giving my full attention to.

Today, my research has been into the first of these ideas.  Delving into unlisted source materials has meant a whole DAY not really finding much with any musical connection. On the other hand, the amount of context I’ve discovered is immense.  I find it very helpful to know about what was going on beyond the publication of a few specific books. It IS relevant to collect data that tells me who the key protagonists were.

However, I’ll have to try to avoid following up intriguing stories that really DON’T concern me. The lovely old man who chased up the progress of his book in an admirably gentle, diplomatic way? It got to the editing stage, but didn’t seem to get published – no trace of it. But it wasn’t music-related, and has no place in my research. I really must not succumb to the temptation to explore the back story of every human interest story I encounter!

Guilty as Charged

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
The river Kelvin, with the University of Glasgow in the background

It’s about work-life balance, but it’s also about adjusting to a changing situation. I have no problem turning off my 0.7  librarian self when I leave the office, but research has always been something that occupies more than the remaining 0.3 of my working life.  Last year’s summer annual leave was spent finishing writing a book. Last Christmas, revising it.  HOLIDAY? That’s what other folk do!

So, when I find I have more time, what happens? I’ll need to watch this, when I am semi-retired.

I said I was having a day off, a proper day off, didn’t I? So, how did that go? Did I do all I set out to do? Did I keep away from research? No, I did not.

Guilty as Charged.

I finished my audiobook in a leisurely way. (It was Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity – it had to be leisurely!) So far, so good. I even made a note of his three key points:- Do fewer things; Work at a natural pace; and Obsess over quality.

Knowing that I was expecting the postie to collect a parcel this morning, I decided I’d better not laze around in bed reading the book about ultra-processed foods, so instead I went down for breakfast – and there I came unstuck. I opened my phone, headed right for my favourite website (Jisc Library Hub Discover) and started what can only be described as a literature search, for publications by a particular organisation. Oh dear, oh dear. The breakfast disappeared, the piece of paper beside me filled up, and I sent a couple of queries about a publication and an archive. Finally, it was clear that I’d need not only to tweak a paragraph in the paper I’m working on, but also to type up my Jisc Library Hub findings …

Glasgow Tram model at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

By lunchtime, I was disgusted with myself. I hadn’t even managed half a morning away from research! This afternoon, therefore, I went on an outing. I not only got my favourite red shoes repaired (which was somewhat urgent), but – more importantly – I visited Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, and saw the Glasgow City of Empire exhibition.

Having seen the groundbreaking work at the Hunterian Museum (‘Curating Discomfort‘) a couple of years ago, I had an idea what to expect, and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s thought-provoking. I found myself wondering where the donors of some of the exhibits had got their artefacts from, and whether they’d paid a fair price, or been given them … and under what circumstances?

I sat and watched Aqsa Arif’s film installation, ‘The Trophy Cupboard’ (Anam Ki Almari) in which a woman discovers items ‘collected from the Indian Pavilion at the 1888 Glasgow International Exhibition’. I need to go back and watch it again – I think there are deeper layers that I’d find, if I had seen it more than once. I make no pretence at being highly film-literate, as I’ve never studied the medium as an art-form.

Display board beside the film installation

There was also another exhibition about Scottish identity in art, but again, I need to go back another time. There’s just too much to take in on one visit.

On the journey home, thoughts of research returned to my head. There’s another sentence that needs modifying. (Will I do that tonight? Do I dare even open the document at this time of night?!) I cooked tea and started a dressmaking project to distract myself.

But before you ask – no, I didn’t get round to riding the bike today! I’m hopeless. So much for ‘practising for semi-retirement’!

Tomorrow’s another day.

In Training for a New Lifestyle

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I had to decide what to do about my outstanding annual leave, prior to my retiral at the end of June. So, I decided to take a very long weekend off (Thursday to Tuesday – you could call it a short week), to use up a few days.

  • Today, Wednesday, was a research day – as usual. I finished drafting a research paper. With no deadlines today, I allowed the ‘intellectual’ work to merge into a bit of eBay searching at 5 pm, to find the perfect specimens for a couple of PowerPoint images. (It was a rather complicated operation, involving looking for recordings in a particular year, in the British Newspaper Archive, and then searching for those titles on eBay. Not as easy as you’d think!)
  • My Out-of-Office was set at 5 pm.
  • Now, here goes. Tomorrow is holiday. I should be researching tomorrow morning – and the new, semi-retired me will still be researching on Thursdays. In fact, I have a PowerPoint to prepare, but – tomorrow is holiday. I have to get used to not working even when it ISN’T the weekend.
  • Friday to Tuesday are, likewise, holiday.

HOW AM I GOING TO KEEP AWAY FROM MY RESEARCH UNTIL NEXT WEDNESDAY? A WHOLE WEEK?!

3 Challenges for the Nearly Semi-Retired Researcher

For my first challenge, I have to resist leaping out of bed early tomorrow morning. I have an audio book to finish – the Slow Productivity book – and a paperback about ultra-processed foods to continue reading, so I should manage this – providing I have enough tea to keep me going.

And my second challenge is to eat as little ultra-processed food as possible, so food prep might occupy me a bit more than usual. The trick will be to strike a balance between healthy eating and actually benefitting from more free time.

Lastly – might I dust off the bike? We’ll have to see about that.

LinkedIn Wrote about Changing Jobs

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

‘Changing Jobs? It’s emotional‘, says Jennifer Ryan, Segment Editor at LinkedIn. I settled down to read her posting, which collates what a number of people have said about the challenge of leaving a job you’ve held for a very long time. A lot of their comments made sense.

Retirees, This is Not About You

But then, just when I was thinking, ‘this is helpful’, Ryan threw a curveball:-

It’s one thing to retire after a decades-long career, relishing a chapter successfully concluded, say authors Dorie Clark and Natalie Nixon, PhD. However, leaving a job you’ve held for years in order to start your own venture or go to another company is “a different emotional and practical experience altogether”.

However, I AM retiring.  And rather than starting my own venture, I am just continuing part-time with the interesting research element of my job, that has hitherto been a partial secondment

Don’t Look Back

What I must do, I’ve decided, is STOP LOOKING BACK. Remember the Biblical story of Lot’s wife? She turned to look over her shoulder and turned to a pillar of salt.

Relishing a Chapter Successfully Concluded?

So, I need to make a concerted effort to stop kicking myself for opportunities I didn’t get, things I didn’t achieve, and disappointments I could do nothing about.

After all, I got a PhD whilst working full-time. I raised a family, ditto. I was a Fellow of CILIP, my professional association, until I decided to let the fellowship go, now that I’m ceasing to be a librarian. I’ve been an honorary Fellow at the University of St Andrews, and I’ve been elected an honorary Fellow of IAML (UK & Ireland) – my other professional association. And my second monograph is at the publisher’s.

Who cares if I’ve catalogued so many jazz CDs that my brain-cells have practically ossified? (They haven’t, or I wouldn’t be capable of writing books etc.) In five and a half weeks, it won’t matter how many of the things are still waiting to be catalogued, because I won’t be cataloguing them.

Maybe I should start repeating this mantra:-

Don’t Look Back (Boston)

(I was 20 when this song was written.  And I only stumbled across it tonight!)