Okay, so this is my account of a “day in the life of a library…” for yesterday, Tues, July 28th. My log is rather long & maybe includes too many mundane, boring things such as hrs prior to & after work … sorry so just skip over or skim. Overall my work day was a rather quiet one since it’s summer & with the economy, budgets etc we were pretty much at barebones basics for class offerings + utilizing online offerings so not the most foot traffic in the library either.
5:25 am
radio alarm breaks the silence; lay & listen for about 10 minutes to the crazy old DJ guys of which I am NOT in their demographic of 55-80 yr old males but my tastes in various things are all over the place so this fits; wish I was at the cabin instead but get up anyway
5:40 am
daily routine: shower & shampoo, TV news/weather, muffin, vitamins & juice, pack lunch, dry hair, do make-up, get dressed
6:30 am
out the door for ½ hr drive to work; continue Audio book CD “Sophie’s World”
7:00 am
arrive at work – park in different lot due to regular lot being reserved for an event; just have to remember this at the end of the day
7:05 am
look over newspapers for current events, news etc; check e-mail & phone msgs – for the library acct & my work acct & respond as needed
7:30 am
open library, turn on lights, check all things are in order for the day
7:40 am
review projects for student worker; review my schedule for the day/week – possible mtgs, commitments etc.
7:50 am
catch up on reading RSS feeds accumulated since I last worked on Fri; answer main switchboard call re: if we have a mtg in our library classroom today – nope; student worker arrives so briefly go over day’s plan; back to RSS feeds; pulled out into the library to assess lighting problems (burnt out bulbs, low/high wattage probs etc); finish RSS feeds until more come in
8:45 am
sit in on weekly general college Student Services’ mtg – mtg was cancelled so instead read some of the “day in a life” blogs; I especially enjoy the creativeness of the blog names
9:00 am
water cooler chat about the bears (see later in my day’s activities) with a co-worker who grew up in that area & went there before it was a sanctuary; shared my Monday’s “awaken to a bat in the cabin bedroom” story with student worker
9:20 am
picked up snail mail forthe library & me; sorted through for save/recycle/toss; give to student worker for processing; rec’d my CE credits & participation prize for “More Things on a Stick : A Library Learning 2.0 Program”
9:40 am
processed our renewal for the database “North American Indian Thought and Culture”
9:55 am
mid-morning snack of peanut butter on 1 slice of whole grain oat bread as fuel for entering some new items into our tech system
11:00 am
check e-mails, RSS feeds again. A favorite blog is WebWorkerDaily when their entries deal with new technology/apps/bells & whistles etc.
11:10 am
update my “day in the life” log for the morning's activities getting it ready for my blog
11:20 am
assist student in what should have been a quick internet search re: Minnesota Indian tribes but we encounter probs with research computers – while using Dogpile.com Internet Explorer goes into error msg mode. After trying 3 different machines I abandon them & go to the service desk computer and search with quick success. Then off to the IT Dept to get further assistance. Brad troubleshoots with me and still we run into probs so he determines it’s needed to update the patches. We use Deep Freeze on these machines so they might not have been updated recently and Deep Freeze not been reset.
12 noon
quickly fix a few label problems on some videos
12:15 pm
lunch w/gals from other areas/offices/depts as a way to connect & catch up on what’s happening in other areas
1:15 pm
check e-mails & respond; iron out details of an upcoming mtg (where, when, contact people etc); give directions to student worker for a sm project; ck on status of backordered DVD & status of 2 DVD replacements that were ordered
1:50 pm
inquired about install of security cameras in progress; checked w/contract workers working on finishing touches related to recent glass installation for noise reduction
2:05 pm
reviewed e-mails rec’d back in regards to some catalog record fixes that I had requested previously; cleaned up some other catalog records
2:20 pm
read some links from a fellow librarian with good info re: twitter uses/stats etc since I’m getting ready to start up a twitter acct for our library
2:40 pm
tried to handle an upset student at the circ desk who didn’t have a student ID card (she opted not to get one) & who wanted to check out several DVDs (our summer session ends tomorrow); our library barcodes are on the back of the ID cards and until a student/employee brings in the ID card the 1st time we don’t have the barcode entered or activated in our circ system (separate system from the student services system that creates the IDs); and now IDs won’t be issued again until the start of Fall semester. Hmmm…might have to come up with a better way to work-around for these ‘last minute’ students keeping in mind it would provide them better service even when they’ve ‘dropped the ball’ … but does this constitute ‘enabling’ them? Ok, I’m pretty sure that the point of this blog session wasn’t ethical situations in the library but it is food for thought.
3:00 pm
prep library for closing; makes rounds to ensure library patrons are heading out & don’t need last minute assistance – summer session hours are short and I am the only library staff person on duty save my student worker (when I have one); lock up about 10 minutes prior to the end of my day.
3:30 pm
leave work; ½ hr drive home; continue Audio book CD (darn thing is due today & I’m not going to finish! Is it a sin for a library worker to return an item late???)
4:00 pm
meet GZ at my house for 2 hr drive north to see the bears! Quick drive-thru food order at Virginia, MN & eat on the way
6:30 pm
arrive at The Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary – this was WONDERFUL even though it started to rain right after we got there. It did clear up after about 45 minutes & we stayed until the end so back to the truck and on the road by 9 for a 2 hr drive back.
11 pm
home again; hurry up to hit the bed ‘cuz 5:25 am comes quickly and I do like more than 6 hrs of sleep – oh, well the evening was especially fun!
