Fellow on her Travels. Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I’m off to Tyneside for a conference. I went to university in Durham, had my first permanent job in South Shields, and my husband was born and brought up in Newcastle, so the north-east isn’t entirely unknown to me. I’m curious to see what the quayside in Newcastle looks like now – it must be a couple of decades since I was last there for more than a few hours.

‘Music for All’: the Rise and Fall of Scottish Music Publishing, 1880-1964

I’m looking forward to giving my paper at the Print Networks conference. 

  • Paper? Check!
  • PowerPoint? Check!
  • Power-dressing jacket?
  • Power-dressing jacket???
  • Power-dressing jacket left on dining room chair …. ????

Not to worry, I found a viable alternative on my way to Queen Street Station.  I’m really not into tailored dressing, anyway!

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 ….