Work in this context refers to one’s employment – the activities that people do to earn a living and sustain themselves. It seems to me that, for many people, work is fundamentally an individual activity; they have their own capabilities and skills, and they are employed as individuals – even though they may well perform their work as part of a group. Hence, when it comes to valuing and keeping work-related materials, attitudes and approaches may well be slightly different to mementos and other things which are acquired in life outside work and which are more likely to be known about, understood and valued by an individual’s family and close friends.  These are just broad assumptions and generalisations, however they are based on my observations in some of the journeys recorded in this blog – for example, memento management, organising family photos, electronic bookshelf and electronic story board.

These musings were prompted when I started to deal with my last remaining unsorted bookshelf containing:

• Publications: books I have written, and books and journals which contain papers I have written
• Reports: work documents I wrote or to which I contributed
• Proceedings: seven sets of conference proceedings on a subject I was particularly involved in
• Specials: books or journals of particular significance to me and/or which are first editions or first volumes.

I hesitated to create a new OFC topic to discuss how such items can be dealt with because I thought the material was too specific and that any conclusions would not have wide applicability. However, when I got stuck into the Publications, and remembered that I’d already been dealing with work-related items in other journeys, I thought that perhaps some more generally applicable conclusions might emerge. We’ll see.