Employee of the Month: Barry Flanch

The Library Communications Team invited Barry Flanch, Senior Systems and Access Specialist, to tell us a little about himself and his work. Barry elected to provide his own introduction.

A Few Words from Barry

I've been keeping Winston's library systems running for eleven years, which means I've spent eleven years watching people discover increasingly creative ways to misunderstand systems specifically designed to help them. My job is access. Authentication, account provisioning, database permissions, legacy systems, the weird exceptions nobody remembers until they need one at 4:57 on a Friday. If somebody at Winston can get into something they need for research, there's a decent chance I've had my hands somewhere in the machinery that makes it possible.

I like problems with answers. I like people who try something before asking me to try it for them. And I have enormous respect for anybody who can look at a system they don't understand, figure out how the pieces fit together, and come back with a better question. That's rarer than you'd think.

Outside Winston, I'm active on TalkyPoo, the vintage social-media platform where every post is an audio message. No feeds full of generated essays. No fifteen-paragraph “thought leadership.” You want to say something to somebody, you open your mouth and say it. People keep telling me synthetic voices are going to ruin that, too. They haven't fooled me yet.

@BarryTheHatchet, if you're over there.

And yes, I nominated myself for Employee of the Month. Read the form: the form said “nominations,” not “nominations of other employees.” I am not ashamed.