Hiring students

In general I have avoided any subjects in this blog that might reflect internal politics. There are some in all institutions, of course, and as director I get to deal with them regularly. But I think I can reasonably describe some of the procedures that constrain (or inflame) internal issues.

Hiring students in US institutions is, in my experience, about as free from bureaucratic process as is imaginable in our complex society. Finding a likely body is often the hard part. Hiring need be nothing more than a one-on-one interview and a note to the HR office. Start to finish can be a week, or two at most.

The process at Humboldt is longer and more formal, in part because Humboldt has a contract with a union for student workers -- all student workers, except teaching assistants (who are not considered to be students).

To hire a student worker, I had to write a job description that was about as long as one for a librarian in Michigan. Then various committees and offices had to approve the job description before it could be posted, and it had to be posted to two weeks. When applications came in, I had to fill out a form to explain why I did not want to interview some students. I also had to invite members of various organizations to the interview, such as one that tries to ensure that more women are hired. No one from these organizations showed, so I also had to fill out a form that explained that they had been invited but chose not to come.

I was hiring for one two-year 80 hr/wk position, which could be split into two two-year 40 hour/wk positions, but could not be reduced to a 20 hour/week and a 60 hour/week position. I also was not supposed to hire anyone who would be there for only one year, though anti-slavery rules prevent enforcing that.

After I made my decision, various committees had to approve the process, so the students still cannot start work officially, and may not be able to until mid December.

From my perspective, it is hard to tell whose interests this convoluted process protects, except perhaps than the bureaucracy that invented it in the first place.

Videoconference

My seminar had its first international videoconference today with a connection to Michigan State's library, where my ever reliable (former) staff members Rick and John set up a connection in the voice studio that let my students in the Computer and Media Services' conference room listen to Christine's presentation about the Orchard Lakes Schools website, and afterward discusss a number of issues with here.

The conference room here had a few problems. We were all packed closely together to get into the view of the camera. The room became surprisingly warm (which I didn't mind in the least). The sound was good throughout, and the German students had no problem understanding what Christine said. They also spoke actively and intelligently, which is not easy to do in a foreign language, as I know all too well these days. Many of the claim that their English is not good, but in general they have a remarkable fluency.

The Institute has a videoconference apparatus that arrived a week ago and still needs to be unpacked. We may be able to use it the next time.

Offer

We made an offer an an apartment in Bartningallee 9 today. The process in Germany is more complicated, if anything, than the process in the US, and we had trouble assembling all of the papers that our lawyer wanted to see. In fact one paper is still missing, but he said we could reasonably make a tentative offer anyway.

This picture is of the River Spree, just minutes away.

The apartment has two bedrooms (one for guests) (readers take note) and a large living/dining room, plus an eat-in kitchen and two bathrooms (one of which has had the facilities removed, but not the necessary plumbing connections).

The views from the windows are spectacular: a broad panorama of west and north Berlin. Definitely a good place to watch sunsets. There is no balcony, which is unfortunate since most Berliners want a balcony, but on the 11th floor (12th floor in the US), does one really want to be outside? Not me!

There are a few minor other repairs that we would like to make (old carpets need replacing, and wall paper will need to be stripped from the guest room). Most of the changes can wait until Joan arrives and can manage the work. One of the advantages of this apartment is that we can buy the dishes and the small kitchen appliances and some key items of furniture (a bed, for example). It also has a piano, which we will buy. I think that is the main reason why Joan likes the place!

Apartment visits

Joan arrived yesterday and we spent today looking at apartments. It is very interesting to see places for the second time. Here are some of our reactions:

Lessingalle 8
We had never actually seen this apartment before and the view is stunning. It looks out onto the river Spree and west over the city. The balcony is good, the rooms perfectly reasonable in size, though far from large. It does, however, need complete renovation: floors, kitchen, bathroom, painting. The apartment is the cheapest on the list, but with 30,000 € in potential renovation costs, it becomes somewhat less of a good deal. The building is also mainly quit small apartments and there is some sense that they may not be very willing to invest in maintenance.

Bartningalle 7
This was long my favorite, and perhaps that is why I was just a bit disappointed on the second visit. The apartment is really lovely, but the multiple levels with connecting stairs could be a bit of a pain. We were also surprised at how relatively small the living-room and dining room were compared to the bedrooms. Big bedrooms tend to be popular, but not with us. The balcony was really nice.

Bartningalle 9
This apartment impressed me enormously when I first saw it, but then fell in the priority list when we started thinking about wanting a balcony, which it lacks. Seeing it today reminded me how well-designed the floor plan is, and the views are splendid. Joan came away very impressed and I found myself feeling much the way I had when I first saw it. It is also comparatively cheap. Some work would be necessary, but nothing urgent. The location is about as perfect as possible.

Altonaerstr 9
This apartment has almost everything: size, balcony, layout, splendid kitchen with granite counters, nice building. But the view is far less spectacular, since it is down on the 5th floor, and the location is a bit less convenient to transit. Joan didn't like some of the wall paper, and was less enchanted with the layout. It is almost too big for us. Do we want to buy that much more furniture?

Altonaer 12
A very nice Turkish family did a fabulous job of redecorating this apartment and making it absolutely soundproof. Unfortunately their taste was not quite our ideal. A nice apartment, but no longer on the list.

At the moment we lean toward Bartningalle 9. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Mud

The new Grimm Center Library is being build on a site that I pass every morning on my way to the Institute. In these autumn days, more and more mud accumulates at the construction site, and more and more mud seems to find its way onto the sidewalk. Today a colleague pointed out that it had migrated onto my suit pants as well.

In a way this clears up a minor mystery. One of the items prominently available in the rooms at the Guest House is a shoe brush. Not one for polishing shoes, but for brushing away dirt. Now I know why it's there!

Café Tiergarten

I am sitting in Cafe Tiergarten in one of the buildings in the Altonaerstr where we are thinking of buying an apartment. The cafe has a large outdoor sitting area, which is of course now (in November) quite deserted. Inside there are still about a dozen people at 4:45 pm. The big window is filled with plants. The tables have a marble-colored top, though I doubt whether they are actually real marble. My table has an interesting trapezoidal shape.

People here seem to know each other. I suspect that they live in the building. The age range is broad. An older couple sat at a table near me. The no smoking area (which I just noticed) mostly has middle-aged folks. A family with a very young child were hear only shortly before. The cafe has a menu in addition to the usual cakes and drinks. At this time of day few people are eating and the offerings are not very extensive. The smell is good, though.

Through the mirror I can see that a young girl, ten or twelve perhaps, is helping behind the counter. I suspect this is a family business, which is one of the things I like about the place.

A liking for this cafe does not necessarily go with a preference for this building. The other Hansaviertel buildings are at most 5 minutes away. It would be convenient, though.

Doctoral colloquium

The Doctoral Colloquium took place today. This is a session where all of the doctoral students at the Institute are encouraged (though not required) to come to present their dissertation proposals or findings, and to get feedback from faculty and other students. About half of our 50 or so doctoral students appeared to face three of the 4 full professors.

The doctoral program is large (too large, I think) because our Institute is the only place in Germany where a person can get a PhD in Library and Information Science. This is an advantage but also a problem since the majority are not resident in Berlin.

The problems the students have with their dissertations are typical of doctoral students everywhere. They have an idea about what they want to write about, but lack the methodoligical training to let them do the dissertation in way that turns it into a contribution to knowledge. Time and again we three professors asked methodological questions and stressed the need to use one or another social science approaches. Somehow the news came fresh to each student who presented.

Training students in methodology is hard even for programs with everyone in residence. We need to find some way of doing it despite the commute. Perhaps that is my next challenge.

More apartments

This week I visited two more apartments. In general looking at real estate is fun, but there is a point where both ice cream and apartment hunting cloy, however much ones loves them. Nonetheless the apartment flavors I had this week were not at all bad.

Altonaerstr. 9
This is not one of the most distinguished of the Hansa Quarter "Interbau" works of architectural art, but it is one of them. The architectual team was Swedish, and the apartments are wonderfully practical, with 4 rooms and 1055 square feet, and a kitchen big enough for a table. It has one and a half baths, a large balcony, and a 5th floor view to the west toward a large park and to the east toward the Hansa Quarter high rise belt. These views are not as spectacular as those from the Bartningalle apartments, but quite respectable nonetheless. In terms of resale value, the apartment has all of the requisite features (balcony, size, light), and the owners did an excellent modernization job recently. The real estate agent showed me another apartment in the same building that just sold for 180,000 €, and I can easily imagine from that that this one is worth something like the 210,000 that they are asking. The building has heated floors, which are a problem since there is nothing that can be done to replace pipes as they are. The building is saving money for a major change where new radiators will substitute for the floor heating. One nice plus is a very pleasant cafe in the ground floor. I had a coffee there on the week-end, and liked the range of people in the building (which includes families with very small children and geriatrics).

Novalisstr 2
This apartment is within a 20 minute walk of the University. It is a 1905 building with very extensive modernizations, but all of the old decorative plaster and French doors. The place is very large (1237 sq ft), though the layout is less practical than Altonaer 9. The two main rooms are big and open and could host a small ball. The bedroom is oddly long and narrow, and the kitchen has not a single appliance or cabinet. Oddly enough this appears to be normal with older buildings and not with new ones. Being able to choose what exactly goes into the kitchen is good, but having to select everything and get it installed seems like a pain. The assessments are quite low, which also makes me wonder how all the improvements to the basic building, like adding an elevator, will be financed.

Language

Speaking a foreign language constantly is an experience that most Americans manage to avoid. I have never worried deeply about the grammatical niceties in German, but I do find myself troubled now and again about the problem of choosing the right word. It isn't all that hard to communicate on basic things. Phrases like "I want" or "how much" roll easily off the tongue. But I spent today, like many days, dealing with the kind of sensitive administrative issues that directors everywhere naturally end up facing, and picking just the right words to calm rather than complicate a situation is non-trivial.

One of Joan's friends once said that in English she could be clever and in German only serious. Serious gets one a long way in politically complex situations, but a reasonable measure of subtlety helps even more and that is a level of linguistic mastery that escapes me still.

Or at least that is my feeling. I am slowly coming to believe, however, that there are non-verbal ways to express subtley of meaning. The tone in which one speaks, the facial expression, the body language generally all contribute to the meaning of words in ways that every actor knows, and even a slightly wrong word spoken in the right way can be highly effective. Such non-verbal signals do not work in print, of course. There the right word still matters. My only comfort in print is that I can check a dictionary.

Humboldt's main building

The building might be called something like "old Main" on a US campus. Here it is called the Hauptgebaude, which means simply "main building" with no imlication that it is old. Of course by German standards it is not. The structure was build between 1748 - 1766, and was originally a palace for Prince Heinrich of Prussia. The University itself was not founded until 1810 and claims (unabashedly and truthfully) to be the "mother of all modern universities." World War II bombing damaged the building so badly that it needed serious reconstruction, which means that its basic infrastructure dates from the 1950s.

A quote from Karl Marx is prominent on the grand main stair in gold letters. It says (and I paraphrase): Philosophers set out to describe the world -- we plan to change it. Interestingly enough the philosophy department is one of the few academic departments still in the main building. I had a meeting with them today about a grant project. They live on the second floor, which is a 3rd floor in the US and seems more like the height of a 6th floor when climbing the stairs.

Like many former palaces, the old building is a maze. Maps on the walls help, though I know people who were once students and are now faculty who claim that they can still get lost. I am beginning to know my way around parts of it, though. One of my regular lunch places is in the building, and I can find that quite reliably!

Remembrance Day

Remembrance day is the English equivalent of the various celebrations of the end of World War I on 11-11 at 11:11. St. George's Anglican parish in Berlin had a special service, but took exquisite care not to dredge up any unhappy memories about England vs Germany. No one said a single word about any non-contemporary war.

The homily was given by an Englishman who had spent his professional career as a minister in the German Lutheran church in Berlin. He also solved an historical question about Lutheranism in Prussia: some Prussian King (Frederick, I think) forcibly united the Lutheran and Reformed churches, at least officially. The "true" Lutherans still, apparently, refuse communion to anyone from a Berlin parish because of its enduring Reformed church taint.

I had a more contemporary celebration of 11-11 on Friday, when my secretary brought me a chocolate doughnut with an explanation that it was the proper thing to eat to celebrate the holiday. Why it is proper remained unclear. Perhaps an orgy of fat in memory of the starvation imposed by the (cruel and unnecessary) post-armistace blockade.

Rolls

Breakfast rolls are a big deal in Berlin. The proper morning pre-breakfast pilgrimage is to the local bakery to get fresh rolls. The cheapest are Schrippe at 0.15 €. They are a light and very crusty white bread, the sort that takes butter and jelly with remarkable ease, but can also be served at lunch (or breakfast) with very thin slices of sausage or cheese (and some tomato or cucumber). I doubt whether they could ever be classified as a health food.

Brötchen (little breads) is the more generic word that covers a far broader range of types than I remember from 30+ years ago. Brötchen with sesame or poppy seed have long been common, but the whole wheat varieties with sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds or other healthful nut-like products seem to have pushed the older white-bread types out of the front ranks. Those health-brötchen are not quite as crusty, but equally good. They cost more: 0.30 € at ordinary bakeries and as much as 0.70 € at real health-food stores.

Bread is not quite as protected by purity laws as beer, which is good because the laws would probably never have allowed adulteration with foreign substances like pumpkin seeds. But I doubt whether any self-respecting German bread has much by way of unnatural preservatives in it. Loaves and rolls do not last. One really has no choice except to eat them as quickls and completely as possible.

Choosing an apartment

It is not easy to choose an apartment to buy in a city like this where there are so many interesting possibilities and so many unknown factors. Below are some of our choices. We encourage our friends to offer their opinions, either via the comments or directly to us via email.

BARTNINGALLE 7
This is a particularly handsome building in the architecturally notable Hansa Quarter. The apartment is on the 12th and 13th floor, with a stairway leading up half a flight to the living room / dining room / kitchen area, and then another stairway leading half a flight up to the bedrooms and bathrooms. It has an east-facing balcony, west and north facing windows, and stunning views in all directions. The apartment itself is light and handsome – a real piece of architectural art with new wood floors and a new kitchen. It is relatively large 904 sqft, and and the monthly costs are high because the building is just getting new pipes, etc. It is the most expensive of the set at about 50% more than we paid for our E. Lansing condo.


BARTNINGALLE 9
This is another Hansa Quarter building with an award winning architect. The apartment is on the 11th floor with west and north views. The kitchen is good, the floorplan very efficient so that it seems larger than it actually is (818 sqft). Renovations on the building are complete so the monthly costs are in a normal (300 €) range. It lacks a private balcony, but has access to a common balcony that seems little used. The asking price is a mere 60% of the asking price of Bartningalle 7 (about equal to our EL condo). We have been warned, however, that apartments without balconies can be hard to sell or rent.


LESSINGSTR 8
This comparatively ordinary building (not one of the architectural prize winners), which means that it is not under any historic preservation protection (and therefore updating infrastructure is cheaper). I have not actually seen the apartment yet (a renter is there for some more weeks), but I did see sample apartment in the identical neighboring building and liked it. The views are west toward the river (though whether the river is visible is not clear). It has a balcony and a practical floorplan. It is small (785 sqft) and may need some modernization within the apartment. The price is the lowest of any (85% of our EL condo), so some investment may be reasonable. The location is within 5 minutes of the two buildings above, and they are all less than 5 minutes from the S-Bahn , the U-Bahn, and a decent grocery store.

ALTONAER 12
A very well-known Brazilian architect designed this building, which has a few oddities, such as an elevator that stops only on the ground floor, 5th floor, and top floor. Since this is a 5th floor apartment, that is not an issue, but the 5th floor has other odd features, such as a wide lobby space that was meant originally as a commons, but simply is not used. None of the apartments on that floor have balconies. The apartment itself was redone recently. It is totally soundproofed, has a good kitchen and new bath. The decoration is a bit baroque, complete with hand-crafted moldings along the ceiling, which was certainly not what the architect had in mind in the 1950s. Its price is almost the same as Bartningalle 9. The price is essentially the same as Bartningalle 9 and equal to our EL condo. The east-facing view is good and the location virtually next to Bartningalle 7.

Le COBUSIER BUILDING
This internationally famous and enormous building has 500 apartments and a layout that is hard to describe. Most apartments are maisonettes, meaning that they are on two floors with internal stairs. This apartment is large (1140 sqft) and has breathtaking 16th floor views, two balconies, and a view from the dining room window that makes you forget your food. It has all been redone recently in exquisite taste that fits perfectly with the building. Its drawbacks are the location – out by the Olympic stadium where drunken soccer fans roam – and a very long, narrow floor plan with windows only at each end. The owner has used the internal space intelligently for the bathroom and storage. The asking price is nearly as much as Bartningalle 7 (140% of the EL condo).

Visa for India

I went to the Indian embassy today to get my visa for the International Conference on Digital Libraries. The embassy is a modern building near the philharmonic and the art museum and right next to the embassy from Baden Wurtemburg (not really an embassy, of course, since Baden-Wurtemburg is just another German state, but it looks like an embassy).

The waiting area for visas was actually handsome. Comfortable seats, little tables, and a sense of art and style that German bureaucracies seem deliberately to remove from public areas (though the private ones are often handsome). The process went quite efficiently too. A machine issued numbers to people coming in. The clerk processed people with less fuss and more dispatch than I had expected. He asked me about the conference with what seemed like geniune interest. Then he charged me 75 € for the visa. The posted rate was 50€, so I asked why. American passport, was the answer. Rates for US visitors are higher. Since I had been to the ATM just before going to the embassy, I gave out all the money I had just acquired.

The one part of the process that was not efficient was actually issuing the visa. They had to process it for some hours, so I had to come back later in the day when the weather had turned anything but friendly (hail, wind, rain) to get my passport with the proper document glued to a page.

Eating out

I eat out a lot in Berlin. It is not just that the kitchen in the Guest house is limited to a two-burner hot plate with no oven or microwave. I can still cook a decent dinner when I am at home. But I am home much less.

My friend and colleague Peter an I eat out together at least once a week, and I have meals out with other colleagues too. It is partly because the food in restaurants is comparatively cheap (tonight for about $15 I had a fancy omelette and several glasses of beer to drink -- for essentially the same price I could have had pasta or pizza or some form of meat) or that it is reliably good, but mainly because it is how people socialize. This is not unique to Berlin. I remember eating out more in Chicago and friends in New York also take advantage of the splendid array of restaurants there. After years of living in East Lansing, it merely seems exotic.

It is also not a problem in Germany to get separate bills, which makes collaborative dining much less of a mad rush of calculations at the end. Generally the cash register will do it. If not, the waiters or waitresses will gladly separate items for you. Since tax is included, the math is much simpler.

Jogging

Since the University guest house does not have an exercise room with a nice elliptical machine, I have had to resort to more old fashioned means. A week or so ago I went to a nearby department store and bought some relatively expensive running shoes, after extensive discussion with the sales assistant (who, like most German sales assistants, really knew something about the merchandise). I wanted good shoes, since I have often had knee problems when running. In theory, good shoes can take care of that.

I was skeptical, of course, so I started slowly by running in place indoors for short periods. Over the week-end I ventured outside for a brief run to the local S-Bahn (elevated train) station to get a croissant for breakfast. That did no harm, so I did another run today.

The weather was pleasant this morning. Not too cold. No rain. I ran over one bridge that crosses the River Spree along the bank and crossed back at another bridge. It was a relatively short run (I am still taking no chances with my knees), but definitely pleasant.

Berlin makes some effort to make the river banks pedestian friendly. Along this part of the Spree, even though it is in the very heart of the city, there are houseboats with people living in them. These are not scruffy boats for people who can't afford an apartment, but well-kept and obviously expensive yachts. There is also a dirt path with overhanging trees and vines. You can be in the city and feel as if you are outside of it at the same time.

Jogging

Since the University guest house does not have an exercise room with a nice elliptical machine, I have had to resort to more old fashioned means. A week or so ago I went to a nearby department store and bought some relatively expensive running shoes, after extensive discussion with the sales assistant (who, like most German sales assistants, really knew something about the merchandise). I wanted good shoes, since I have often had knee problems when running. In theory, good shoes can take care of that.

I was skeptical, of course, so I started slowly by running in place indoors for short periods. Over the week-end I ventured outside for a brief run to the local S-Bahn (elevated train) station to get a croissant for breakfast. That did no harm, so I did another run today.

The weather was pleasant this morning. Not too cold. No rain. I ran over one bridge that crosses the River Spree along the bank and crossed back at another bridge. It was a relatively short run (I am still taking no chances with my knees), but definitely pleasant.

Berlin makes some effort to make the river banks pedestian friendly. Along this part of the Spree, even though it is in the very heart of the city, there are houseboats with people living in them. These are not scruffy boats for people who can't afford an apartment, but well-kept and obviously expensive yachts. There is also a dirt path with overhanging trees and vines. You can be in the city and feel as if you are outside of it at the same time.

Meeting the Alumni

Last night the Institute had its second ever meetig with alumni. The alumni list is extensive, since the Institute was the only place in the old German Democratic Republic that offered a library degree. About 50 people showed up for dinner on a night that was cold and rainy, and perhaps 10 or so more came to the reception at the Institute, but did not stay to eat.

Alumni meetings are not a standard part of the German academic landscape, and neither is any sort of placement service or other help finding students a position after they graduate. That has always been left up to them, as has much of the learning process. The old model was that faculty provided information, particularly in the form of lectures, and students learned enough at some point to write a paper and pass an exam at the end of their studies.

A lot is changing. The Bolognia process is reforming higher education across Europe along an Anglo-American model. This includes introducing new degrees, like a BA, which never existed in the German academic name-space, and new expectations for students to finish a far more structured program within a far more limited time -- generally three years (remember German high schools run 1-2 years longer than US high schools).

At dinner yesterday I talked to the alumni about how they can help current students in their job search. We are planning another alumni meeting in Leipzig during the German Library association meeting. That should reach a broader group, and particularly those who are in leadership positions within their libraries. I plan to repeat the same message there. We have no money at present to hire staff for a placement effort, so much of it falls to me to organize,

China plates

Why does Germany always look so extraordinarily rich? I know that on a per capita GDP basis it is poorer than the US, even below some other European countries. Beggars (including some Germans) can be seen on the streets, which was unthinkable 20 years ago. But the country still seems wealthy, especially compared to the US.

One reason is the solidity of German buildings. The typical US wooden tent in the form of a frame house essentially doesn't exist in this land of thick walls and codes meant to guarantee that buildings outlast their owners. Such things have a strong visual impact, but the little things are perhaps more striking.

I ate in a fast food Chinese reastaurant yesterday. In the US the food would come on plastic with a plastic knife and fork. Here the plate was china and the tools metal. No cloth napkin, but perhaps that would be going too far, even for Germany. The Soupenbörse (Soup Exchance), which is one of my regular lunchtime haunts, also serves its soup in china bowls. And when guests come to the Institute, we give them coffee in china cups.

I also looked at another apartment today, one of the most expensive that we have considered, but also one of the most lovely. This picture shows only one of its many grand views over the city.

Television

In Michigan I went for months without turning on the television. The Guest House of the University here has a TV in the living / dining room and I have been watching it during breakfasts and occasionally dinner. The nice clear German is good for my ability to understand what the students say, and I pick up some vocabulary as well. There are some differences, though.

German TV does not regulate itself by the hour and half-hour. The times are not actually random, since the schedule is of course published well in advance. But they sometimes seem random when a news show ends at 7:40 and a movie begins a couple of minutes later when the commercials end.

As I write this, I am watching the last bits of a movie in German about an Italian "commissario" who is working a case in Venice. From the opening credits I am reasonably sure that the movie is originally German, not just a dubbed Italian original. This is especially clear now that the cast credits are running at the end. The names are overwhelming Germanic with a strong admixture of slavic, but nothing that seems remotely italian.

It is 9:45 and news has just come on.

Physical

I had an appointment for a phyical today. The German insurance reqires a properly Germanic report on the state of my health, so that they do not have to rely on some sort of foreign analysis. The appointment was easy to get and the physician was punctual to within a couple of minutes. There were a other few differences too. In the US there is a scrupulous effort to avoid watching anyone undressing or dressing. That process is treated far more casually here, which certainly did not trouble me and saved a lot of waiting around time. The doctor also just asked my weight and height rather than shoving me onto a scale.

The oddest difference of all came at the end of the appointment. The insurance of course asked for blood samples. In the US, those would merely be mailed at some distant time, at least in my experience. Here they appologized that they would not be ready later that day and made an actual appoinment with the doctor for me to talk about what the results mean. They were not assuming any abnormality. It was just part of a more personable service. This could be easy to get used to.