‘Holiday’?

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Today is officially the end of my annual leave. I drove to Cambridge so I can attend IAML Congress tomorrow. It feels as though I have been off work for ages, but a holiday it really was not.

I wake up thinking about unsatisfactory paragraphs. I dream of inconsequential details that will have to be changed. I had a couple of restful days in Norfolk, but even those were disturbed by nocturnal thoughts of untraceable bibliographical details and diurnal anxious thoughts about driving to Cambridge and finding my accommodation – because I have no sense of direction whatsoever!

So, here I am. I, my car and Don the Congress mascot, all safely in the right place, proof that motorway signs marked ‘to London’ can actually be correct in the right circumstances, so long as you get off when Google says so!

And tomorrow I can just be a delegate – no papers to give. I have avoided committing myself to writing anything else that would hinder The Book this year!

IAML Congress 2023

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

The International Congress starts on Monday and runs until Friday. I am only going to be in Cambridge on Thursday, but I’ve been handling comms for the event, so I look forward to actually meeting all the people I’ve been reaching out to for the past couple of months! (Above, you see Don, the Congress mascot, hoping that the drive down won’t be as wet as it is tonight!!)

After concentrating with all that’s left of heart and soul on my monograph, it will be strange to be there with my ‘music librarian’ hat on, my research into Scottish music publishers largely irrelevant to anyone but myself! It’ll also be a bit strange, to hear everyone talking about the future of music librarianship, when my music librarianship will be a thing of the past by this time next year.

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We were watching an old programme of Heartbeat last night – the one where Alf is told he’s retiring, and he comments that he feels as though he’s almost ‘not there’ already. I understand that feeling. I’ll hopefully still have my research existence. Maybe I’ll find another part-time existence somewhere else, too. But where? I have no secret plans – I’m just trusting that an irresistible opportunity will arise when I have time to pursue it!