Bureaucratically Yours

What began as an innocent quest to obtain a copy of a Masters thesis as part of my preliminary research for an Independent Study Module (ISM) I planned to do next semester today descended into a massive clash with the bureaucracy as I unwittingly opened a can of worms.

The lowdown.

Friday afternoon was supposed to be a relatively free and easy one. I was to have collected 2 thesis - Lloyd Chia's on Religion and Popular Culture in Singapore and Bruce Kapferer's 1979 framework on affirmative rites from the library at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

But in the process of getting the first, I realised that I was unable to gain access because the library stopped collecting hard copies of dissertations since 3 academic years ago. Instead, soft copies have been uploaded to a central database.

But, the catch here is this - that database remains apparently inaccessible after 3 years because of "an outstanding copyrights issue".

And I only found this out after going from the current peridicals office in the library to the sociology department office to the information desk at the library and back to the sociology department office this afternoon to seek help after Lloyd's supervisor told me the department's hard copy is not open to undergraduates' access.

Don't get me wrong here. I seriously do not think it was the fault of anyone I came into contact with today. It was the fault of the system and the people who blindly implemented the new policy without making room for failure.

Everybody involved, from the librarians to the sociology department office staff were genuinely helpful, nice and cordial - I mean, the department staff even showed us the entire catalogue of plausible alternatives when they couldn't locate a hard copy of Lloyd's thesis, so that James would have something to work on to meet his deadline next week.

But something felt so strangely familiar.

In fact, it was so familiar that I launched into my anti-bureaucratic crusader mode without even knowing it. My friend, James, who also needed the same thesis, was quite taken aback at how I handled the whole affair with such consummate ease.

In fact, he thought my single minded pursuit of justice was a result of my harbouring some perverse pleasure from going about the whole thing.

And I must say that a lot of my immaculate expertise is due to my time in the army.

Today, I made sure I had the names of everybody whom I talked to recorded down and I made sure I didn't misquote them. Then I told them I would "keep them in the loop" when I copy the email I sent to the Vice-Dean, so that everybody would be appropriately informed. Everything was quite simply "in black and white."

Then there was the bureaucratic-speak, the bureaucractic smile, tact, complimentaries and handshake.

It felt strangely familiar because I realised this was what I did in the army for a year after I passed out of OCS 2 years ago.

What was different this time round was that I didn't bang any tables or pulled rank with anybody, quite simply because I had no rank to pull.

But what was the same was the usual sense of dread and disgust.

I am disgusted because our study, even at the undergraduate level, is almost entirely research-based. To deprive us of access to newly researched information goes against the whole philosophy that information and knowledge is cumulative.

To deny us access because of some outstanding copyrights issue that has been apparently outstanding for the last 3 years is not good enough an explanation for a university who is placing itself as a foremost place of research.

And in the interim, nobody seemed to know what is going on despite the 3-year period when the library went thesis-less.

It's really okay if the copyrights issue is sticky, but if making online sources available is so sticky then why can't arrangements be made for hard copies to be made available first?

The library decided to only accept soft copies because of a lack of space, but surely there must be a back-up system right? Especially since it's a new system and all, there must be safeguards when new technology fails in its initial implementation.

To be fair, a lot of what I heard today was through word-of-mouth from one person or another, so there may be more to it than what it seems.

But fact remains that at the end of it, I wasted this whole afternoon because of a bureacratic mess that involved the registrar's office, the library, the sociology department, the faculty, the computer centre and god knows who else.

In the end, I couldn't even get to ISEAS library before it closed for the weekend at 5.15pm. It basically means I cannot get started as I have originally intended, on my Cultural Anthropology paper that is due the following Saturday.

Meanwhile, I just have to take my Vice Dean's word that she will investigate and get back to me, especially since she replied to my email with such expediency.

And I just have to suck thumb and bear the brunt of somebody else's lack of proper planning and execution. And how I hate it. Period.