Librarian by Day » day in the life of a librarian

Library Day in the Life Round 4, January 2010

Bobbi Newman — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:40:48 +0000

butterfly, because its pretty

Yes it’s that time again, time to start thinking about participating in the Library Day in the Life Project. Will you blog, Twitter, take photos, or show video? or some combination of all?

For those of you not familiar with the project in a nutshell library works of all types document a day or a week of their work life. You can check out the original blog post, my explanation of why I do it, or the wiki for more info.

Due to the high number of participants in July 2009 I’ve made some changes to the wiki hopefully will create a little order for those trying to follow along. I moved the previous list off the front page to its own page. I created a new page for Round 4 January 2010 and added a number column to the table.

I also made some changes to the format based on my observations from the last round.

Include your job title & type of library in your blog post or video to help readers
For the Twitters a hash tag for #libday4 (if you have a better one let me know, speak now or forever hold your peace).

Round 4 of the Library Day in the Life Project will begin on January 25th 2010. Any one who works in a library can participate. You may share your day (or week) on your blog, Twitter, Flickr and/or YouTube (or any other way you choose. If you have none of these don’t worry, just create a new page in the wiki and post your day there. Once you decided on your format(s)

Create a PB Wiki account (it’s free)!
Add your name, your job title (so we can see what you do at a glance) and a link to your blog, Twitter, Flickr and/or YouTube account to the wiki.
Start capturing your day.
1. Include your job title and the type of library you work in at the beginning of your post.
2. Include a link back to the wiki
Bloggers, Flickr & YouTube users tag your posts with librarydayinthelife. Twitters use the #libday4
After your first post come back and edit this page to change your blog link to a link to your tagged posts. please link directly to your day in the life post(s) and not to your blog in general.
Add your Flickr photos or videos to the Group on Flickr

Check out posts from some of the previous participants

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A day in the Life of a Librarian – Day 1

Bobbi Newman — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:48:52 +0000

I took these notes today as part of The Day in the Life project, if you would like to read more please the wiki, if you’re interested in how it all got started read this post

First some background info: I’m the Digital Branch Manager at the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries in Columbus Georgia. This is a brand new position that started when I did, May 18th. I’d share my job description but it’s changing everyday. Basically its my job to move the library from a website to a digital branch mentality. There is a lot more involved with that than just planning a new site. We have 8 branches (mine will be the 9th when it goes live) in 4 counties. That is a huge community to serve and a lot of people to introduce to the ideas behind a digital branch. So here is a look at my average week, I have absolutely no doubt it will be very different in 6 months and very different 6 months after that.

6:00 – get up make coffee, check email for emergencies, check Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook for anything that needs a response now. Check vanity feed.

Today was my first day with the rolling briefcase, my back loves it, my sense of style not so much

8:00 arrived at work, check voicemail, one from a vendor about an invoice. Emails, too many to count really, answer priority ones including an update to the website. How do I decide what’s a priority, no I dont’ read them all, I have a touch one time rule for email. I look at the subject line (these are important people! non descriptive subject lines are a pet peeve of mine) and who they are from.

then start to prep for admin meeting at 9:00

9:00 admin meeting

10:00 talked with Head of Teen Services about serving on The Super Friends. Ok we’re not really calling it Super Friends, well I am, because I like it and its my committee, but the official title is FIT or Future, Innovation and Technology Committee

10:15 more email including database vendors, setting up remote access with one, looking to expand service with another, I sent 23 all together

Turned in Tech Toys Wishlist
Called Chamber of Commerce about working with the Small Business Association

11:15 checked, Twitter & Friendfeed and the Day in the Life, after seeing at Tweet from a friend about the Day in the Life Project taking off (woulda linked but his account is private)

11:40 back to emails, seriously what is with the emails today?

11:50 Finshed up the question for an upcoming patron survey about the website and sent questions to Director & Deputy Direct for approval

12:30 email again, including answering a request for more info on the Tech Toys list

12:55 Start writing Digital Branch Guide, includes philosophy, vision & mission statements, goals, policies etc, its gonna be a book when its done. And yes we do need this.

1:30 take a quick look at Twitter, FriendFeed and GoogleReader

1:45 meeting with boss about The Super Friends and other issues

2:15 – lunch

2:30 back to writing the digital branch guide

4:00 leave for appointment with the optometrist, my eyes are great, hurray!
stop at the market on the way home for produce, walk the boys, workout, make dinner (BLT yum!)
talk with my sister on the phone about Wii Active, some research she needs me to do for her, yes get these requests from family all the time, this is for her work, she’s a pharmacist, and one of her friends dogs getting attack in the park by some dog not on a leash. We both freak out a little as we are both owners of smaller dogs, Big Dog is 18 lbs and Small Dog is 7 lbs. She has two beagles.
Check twitter & my blog

8:15 – sit down to write this post and read the over 100 entries on the day in the life blog

All in all this seems pretty boring as I’m writing it up, but it was hectic, Mondays always are and I knew I had to leave early.

Oh, I brought some reading home, it aint gonna happen.Similar Posts:

Library Day in the Life – Friday, Day 7

Bobbi Newman — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:40:47 +0000

Well this video concludes a week in the life of a librarian, I hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like to see more please visit the wiki.

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Library Day in the Life – Thursday Day 6

Bobbi Newman — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:04:18 +0000

For today something a little different

I took these notes today as part of The Day in the Life project, if you would like to read more please the wiki, if you’re interested in how it all got started read this post and this one.Similar Posts:

Library Day in the Life – Wednesday, Day 5

Bobbi Newman — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:23:51 +0000

6:00 up and at ‘em

6:30 get the call that we have a delayed opening, spend my time on FF and Blackboard

9:00 Arrive at work, check emails, check Voicemail – message from a database rep about contracts, send email in response.

9:30 Time for Management Team Mtg, this one is only once a month.

11:00 Back to my desk, answering emails, talk with Collection Management Librarian about one of our new ordering tools. Another Librarian asks me to help her with Google Calender. We’ve switched to Google for our email and everyone is still figuring out how to use all the tools. I help her and give her a couple of tips.

11:45 Decide funk is in part brought on by the cave that is my office and going out for lunch might help. So I walk to blocks to a local place with good salads

12:30 Back to my desk, check my calender, see I have a WebJunction Virtual Townhall Meeting – Focus on Staff Training at 1pm

12:50 – Log into WJ get some goo info about staff training

2:15 Time to order books! I’m ordering 600s and computer books this year, I think I’ll focus on cookbooks and pets. In the middle I chat with the Teen Librarian about the Teen Advisory Council and getting teens to volunteer to be involved with it.

3:00 Time to weed! I grab the list from the report I ran a month ago and walk across the street to the library, grab a bookcart from Circ and head into the stacks.

4:30 back to desk to check emails and get ready to head home. As I’m getting ready to leave I hit my head on a shelf and realize I’m bleeding, for a minute or two I think I have seriously cut my head and I’m going to have to get stitches and they are going to have to shave my head. Great. Two coworkers check me out and make sure I don’t need stitches. Have I mentioned my coworkers are awesome?

5:30 Home! Hang out with my Dogs, read a magazine, play Ps2 and wait for Lost to come on!Similar Posts:

Library Day in the Life Tuesday Day 4

Bobbi Newman — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:52:20 +0000

I took these notes today as part of The Day in the Life project, if you would like to read more please the wiki, if you’re interested in how it all got started read this post and this one.

6:00 wake up, wonder if the weather got bad enough over night that work will be canceled. Get up make coffee and realized that the library will be open today. Fret over whether or not I should just stay home, we’re supposed to get more bad weather this afternoon and I live 30 miles from the library. Decide to go in.

7:15 – leave for work. The highway isn’t great, everyone is going about 50, I see one accident and am almost in one when I have to brake. Ugh I’m over half way to work so I keep going, if I were close to home I’d probably turn around.

8:00 – Arrive at work. Turn on computer, while I”m waiting for my profile to load I chat with coworkers about the weather.

8:30 - check email and open the weather channel in a tab so I can keep an eye on the weather. In case it starts to get bad I want to leave and I have to decide by 3pm if I’m going to cancel my class tonight.

9:10 – post to Twitter asking opinions about a Flickr contact with photos of topless women in his account. I don’t personally care for the photos, I respect his right to have them, but I don’t like the idea of a library contact clicking on one of his comments and being direct to that. Responds vary, but it’s confirmed once again the Twitterati rule. I’ve deleted comments and blocked Flickr users before, but those were people who were making inappropriate comments, including ones that just say you’re hot or something to that effect. In those cases I don’t hesitate, but this one is more boarder line.

10:00 -Review my budget for this year, confirm that I do have the funds to add that new database. Email the rep that we’re going to move forward, within 10 minutes he emails me the forms and contract. Send paperwork to IT to be filled out and sent back to me.

10:30 Start to fret about whether I should cancel tonight’s class, it’s the first face to face one so I think it’s especially important. But I don’t want anyone getting hurt trying to make it in, I have students coming from over 2 hours away. check the local weather.

10:45 Leave my building and head to the main library to check my mail, note that it’s drizzling as I cross the street. Not good. Chat with a couple of coworkers about the past weekend.

11:15 Back to my office, It’s still drizzling and freezing. I check the weather and it look to only get worse. Decide to go home, so I wrap up my emails, back a few magazines in my bag and head out the door at 11:30

12:30 Home, whew! The drive was really bad in some areas. Glad I came home though. Walk the dogs, eat the Chipotle I picked up on the way.

1:00 Back to the computer, check emails, check Blackboard, fret over canceling class repeatedly check weather sites online.

2:00 Look at all the local schools and businesses canceling closing early, note that my library closed at 2pm due to the weather, decide it’s best to cancel classes. Back to reading.

3:00 – Down time, read, watch some Alias, play with the Dogs.

5:00 pm check email, blackboard and FriendFeed. Decide I”m taking the rest of the night off of work stuff. Play PS2 and read a fiction book.Similar Posts:

Library Day in the Life – Monday Day 3

Bobbi Newman — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:00:13 +0000

I took these notes today as part of The Day in the Life project, if you would like to read more please the wiki, if you’re interested in how it all got started read this post and this one.

I’m off work at the Library today because I worked the weekend.

7:00 coffee time! I take the dogs out, man it’s cold! I check my email, Friendfeed and return some comments from Facebook yesterday.

8:30 sign into Blackboard to finish reading posts, complete grades for this week.

9:30 I get ready to run errands. Lots to do today! First stop, my local library (not where I work) to return a couple of videos and pick up Season 2 Vol 1 of Alias, I’m rewatching the series.

Then on to check out a new (to me) gym. My old one closed. It looks really nice, so I’ll be going back at the end of the week to sign up.

I do some grocery shopping and somehow end up with more than I’d planned on getting.

12:00 back home put away groceries, and make lunch – brussels sprouts!

1:00 sit down to work on a workshop I’ll be presenting in Minnesota in April.

4:00 Done! personal time

7:30 9:30 – talk libraries on the phone with a friend.Similar Posts:

Day (Week) in the Life of a Library _____ Round 2 begins Monday!

Bobbi Newman — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:32:15 +0000

That’s right round two will kick off Monday January 26th. It looks like we have enough people interested to schedule round two.

Its easy to play along, 1) just blog your day or week which ever you prefer. Add your information to the wiki and 2 ) be sure to tag your posts librarydayinthelife. The original idea was to give people and potential LIS students an idea of what the average day in the life of a Librarian or Library-fill-in-the-blank was like.

I’m looking forward to seeing the new posts from new people and the difference between the previous round and this one. Ready, set, go!Similar Posts: