Librarian by Day » digital services librarian

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 in the life of a librarian – Summary

Bobbi Newman — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:47:35 +0000

As of writing this (10:30 am central time 7/19/08 ) there are over 30 people signed up on the wiki (thank you again Lori for having the smarts to make one!) I hope this can be an ongoing project with new people continuing to sign up and maybe people who participated now can do it again.

I’ve read some really great posts and I’m not even though them all yet. I do have to point out somone who took a different approach to the Project.

One of the other Librarians at MPOW has agreed to do a series of guest posts about her week July 28th – August 1st. She is our Collection Development Librarian, so you’ll be getting a completely different view of my work place.

Some information that probably should have been included in my first post - My job title and what it means. I’m the Digital Services Librarian at the Missouri River Regional Library, a public library in the Midwest serving about 85,000 people. So what does that mean? You’ve seen from the posts what I do some days, here is a more official run down of my duties

Identify, investigate, and use emerging technology to enable easy access to information
Anticipate changing community needs and interests
Participate in the creation and provision of information in digital media formats
Support online learning
Enhance the effectiveness of library information and instructional services
Explore new technologies for delivering services and information
Train staff and the public in new technologies for delivering services and information
Act as manager on nights and weekends to address patron concerns and issues
Provide reference and reader’s advisory services
Serve on various committees for the improvement of patron and staff services
Select materials and managed funds designated for subject selection

This post is part of The Day in the Life project, if you’re interested in reading more please visit the wike or if you’re interested in documenting your own day, please add your name and blog.Similar Posts:

Friday & Saturday – days in the life of a librarian

Bobbi Newman — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:13:07 +0000

Friday Technically I’m off because I work this coming weekend. I cleaned the apartment, cooked, went to the gym.

I also check all email accounts and see a request from one of the other Librarians, she needs someone to cover the Reference Desk for her Monday, I was planning on taking Monday off, but I tell her if she can’t find anyone else I’ll do. I end up doing it for her, which moves my day off to Friday

Time to work on presentations!

I’m cohosting a 4 day workshop (pdf) coming up that is hosted by MOREnet & the Missouri State Library teaching Librarians about how they can use web 2.0 at their library. We did a similar workshop in February and it was so popular that they asked us to come back and tripled our talk time.

I’ll be doing two presenations at our upcoming state library conference in October and even though it’s early I put some time into both of these.

I have three patron training classes left this year. We’ve been doing series of classes including basic and advanced (I teach the advanced ones). They have been really popular with the patrons. I take a look at what I have left and get to work taking screen shots.

All together I worked about 5 hours today.

Saturday I work the Reference Desk alone & I’m the Manager on duty. In the morning it’s a quiet day, I read blogs. Then at 11:30 things start to get a little crazy. One the circulation employees has to leave for a family emergency. I eat my lunch in 15 minutes then fill in at circulation until 2:00, waiving people over from the Reference Desk when they queue up there.

Back to the Reference Desk, more blog reading where I come across Amy Kearns poll on Library Garden. the rest of the afternoon is pretty standard, answering reference questions until I get a call from the Public Computer Center Clerk about some teen patrons misbehaving. I head downstairs to find out what’s going on.

At 5:00pm the library closes, I count money & make sure everything is locked up then head home. I’ll be back tomorrow to do the same thing!

Thursday part 2 – a day in the life of a libarian

Bobbi Newman — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:10:49 +0000

Thursday 7/17/08

7:30 coffee in hand I hit the computer to see what happened while I slept. I check my email accounts, Twitter, & FriendFeed. One of my Twitter friends lets me know the Day in the Life project made it into American Libraries Direct. Sweet! But I feel a bit nervous.

8:30 Now I’m just playing around, on the net, checking blogs etc. I don’t have to be to work until 11 today, I work till 9pm tonight.

8:50 Time to get ready for work! I’ll be back when I arrive at the library.

Cool gift from coworker!

10:40 arrive in the office, check voicemail; I have a message from another librarian about a program he’s canceling. I got his email about the same thing last night after I got home, so I’ve already updated the blog. Turn on computer and get the blue screen of death. Not good. I have to be at the Reference Desk in a few minutes and I don’t have time to deal with this so I head across the street to the main library building. I chat with the Circulation Manager about what times they need me to fill in over there, since they are short staffed.

11:00 I’m at the Reference Desk and I’m hoping it’s slow and I get get some ordering done, I order for the 800 & 900s. I get distracted listening to an interesting conversation the Circulation people are having, the minute I drift back to the net they start talking about a tail!. This gets my attention again, of course I’m hoping there is a monkey involved. Nope back to the net. Craving a cheeseburger and I have an hour to go!

12:00 Check my email start working on an email from the Technical Services Librarian who wants recommendations for magazines for some areas.

1:00 back to my desk, I scored some free pizza from the break room which solves the lunch problem. Then I talk with one of my fellow librarians about a couple of internet/blog stories from yesterday and how great it is to be able to share all of this stuff.

1:45 check voicemail, message from a patron who wants to sign up for next weeks computer class. I check the sign up sheet in google docs, add her name and call her back to let her know she’s all signed up. Which reminds me I need to get the presentation and handouts finished. (I’ll post these when they are done, but I”m not sure what interest they’ll be to anyone who doesn’t use my library)

3:00 Time to start ordering again!

4:15 Chat with my boss who’s been in meetings all day, we mostly talk about what we’ll need to work on next week. Then I check my email. Uh-oh one of the databases isn’t working right, I walk next door to talk with the Librarian who originally alerted me to the problem then back to my desk to send an email to IT.

4:45 I head across the street to work the reference desk and supervise.

6:01 It’s been a pretty quiet night so far and I’ve had time to rewrite this so it (hopefully) makes sense to someone other than me. Now to work on the Friday/Saturday post.

7:00 off the Ref Desk and head down stairs to give the Computer Center Clerk a break. While I’m there we have a problem patron situation to handle. Then upstairs to give the Teen Center Clerk a break. It’s nice and uneventful up there tonight!

7:45 Back to the Circulation office. My office is across the street and since I’m supervising I have to stay in the main building so I use someone else’s computer to write up these notes.

7:55 I just noticed there is a back log of new books that need to be shelved. The circulation department is short staffed and we’re a small library so most everyone pitches in. I’m going go shelve those before I have to start closing up. Also checked and locked some DVDs, the person who does this is out sick and they pile up really fast. Even though I did it for half an hour I’ m not even sure I made a dent.

8:40 Time to start closing up the library! I should be out of here by 9:15, if all goes well.

10:00 Home! I’m off tomorrow for working last weekend, so I get a 3 day weekend. Tomorrow I’ll be working on presentations!

I took these notes today as part of The Day in the Life project, if you’re interested in reading more or documenting your own day, please add your name to the wiki.Similar Posts:

Thursday Part 1- A Day in the Life of a Librarian

Bobbi Newman — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:35:16 +0000

Thursday- Another late day. In the morning I check all my email accounts from home, nothing major happening so I head to the gym. I’m in the office at 12:30, first things first check my voicemail Message about needing stats on Computer classes for board meeting I find them and hand deliver. I pop in my bosses office to talk about the Computer Classes are going and the stats for them. I need to get started writing the final report for the grant that allowed us to get the laptops and have the classes.

In the interested of full disclosure, unfortunately I became pretty ill last Thursday and had to leave work. I’m going to document my day today as replacement and I’ll publish it late tonight. Sorry for the delay!

I took these notes last Thursday as part of The Day in the Life project, if you’re interested in reading more or documenting your own day, please add your name to the wiki.Similar Posts:

Wednesday – A day in the life of a librarian

Bobbi Newman — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:12:30 +0000

demonstrating Google chat to patrons

Wednesday 7/9/08

Tonight is one of my late days because computer/internet classes are tonight. Nikki & I take turns teaching a series of classes that vary from basic to advanced. Tonight Nikki is teaching Microsoft Word so I get to be Vanna, assisting, troubleshooting & helping patrons when they run into a problem.

I get up and after making coffee, check all email accounts from home. Then since I don’t have to be at work until this afternoon I try to relax so I a play video game. When I get too frustrated because I’m dying I check FriendFeed and Twitter and see Lori Reed has created a wiki for the Day in the Life idea.! awesome! Apparently I do have the ability to start a meme.

I pretty much waste the morning though, it’s hard to be productive in the mornings when I work that night.

At noon I arrive in the office, check my email again, send replies, forward etc. I send an email to a database vendor thanking him for the personal training he gave our staff last month and ask him about database stats,

Then I head across the street, (library staff work in two different buildings) to talk with the Head Reference Librarian. Just general how are things going? Anything new happening in the Reference Department? Anything I need to know for my shifts on the Reference desk?

currently on display in the Art Gallery

Since the Day in the Life wiki is filling up I spend some time trying to convince my coworkers to write guest posts for The Day in the Life as none of them keep their own Library blog. None of the Librarians here have the same title or duties so I think it would be interesting so see a perspective from within one library.

Next I check Missouri Libraries group I created on Facebook, acknowlege that I spelled “libraries” wrong, hope tech support fixes, mark this down as public humilation for the month.

Then it’s time to check the digital camera for new pictures. We keep a digital camera that anyone can use in the main library, a couple of times a week I download images from it and upload them to Flickr. I took some pictures of the new Art show in the Art Gallery then uploaded the pictures, title and tag them.

Nikki & The Director pushing the mobile computer lab cart

At 5 Nikki comes by my office so we could push the mobile computer lap across the street to set up for the class. We set up for class, Nikki teaches and I assist patrons. We also demonstrated some things patrons wanted to know about that were not related to the class, like email attachments and the gmail chat feature. Around 8 patrons leave and we take down the computers and talk about how the class went. I head home around 8:30 pm.

I took these notes last Wednesday as part of The Day in the Life project, if you’re interested in reading more or documenting your own day, please add your name to the wiki.Similar Posts:

Tuesday – A Day in the Life of a Librarian Day 2

Bobbi Newman — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:14:06 +0000

working from the coffee shop

Tuesday: Today I telecommute! I telecommute for 8 hours a week. These seems like a sweet deal until you realize I actually work from home about 20 hours a week and I’m only allowed to count 8 of those hours.

I start the day off by checking my email accounts. Then I drink some tea and do the normal get ready for work things. But instead of getting my car, I get out my bike and ride to a localy coffee shop for fuel (I have a serious cappuccino addiction), atmosphere and increased focus, I do so much better when the dogs don’t act l ike I’m the worst mommy in the world for not playing with them every minute. :-) First up I order cappuccino get connected to the free wifi. Then I proof the blog post that kicked this whole thing off and hit publish. It’s quiet so far so I don’t have to break out the headphones, I open my work email and go throug those, then on to my gmail account.

Next I check on the Facebook group for Missouri Libraries (it’s growing wooohooo) and flickr group for Missouri Libraries, it’s growing slower but I’m hoping the two will turn into great networking/communication tools for Missouri Librarians

Now it’s time to check on MRRL’s blog schedule (I use google calender so I can access it from anywhere) see an opening later this month, so I add a Did You Know post of renewing books video for later in the month. While I’m at it, I respond to a comment on MRRL’s blog about movies we show both via a direct email and on the blog.

Time to start working on prefered searches video, we’re doing this series of instructional videos about how to use the OPAC. The videos aren’t fancy but they work.

I got an email this morning about a problem with one of our databases and sent an inquiry to the vender. When I get the reply back I forward it IT.

Then I put some time into a couple of upcoming presentations, one for the patrons about undiscovered library resources, one for an upcoming 4 day workshop on web2.0 and one I’ll be giving on Ocotober.

After that I head home then to the gym. Later I look over my presentations and make some notes.

Through out the day I also was active on Friendfeed, Twitter, Flickr and FacebookSimilar Posts:

Monday – A day in the life of a librarian

Bobbi Newman — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:05:27 +0000

my desk at work - there are notes all over it on Flickr if you're interested

Monday 7/07/08

Get up check both email accounts from home. In addition to my work account I use a gmail account for many things work related, email lists, notifications, etc. I address anything that needs immediate action, save the rest for when I actually get in the office.
Get ready and head to meet my carpool buddy, I carpool as often as I can, but my schedule is wacky so usually just one day a week.
Get to work, check email again (I get a lot of email). Actually got through email, respond, delete or forward as necessary.
Work on my budget, including review this years expenditures, and proposal for next years budget.
Prepare monthly report for Director for board meeting. including a compilation of comments and stats from MRRL’s blog, Flickr, Facebook etc, Library Learning 2.1 and any programs I’ve done in the last month.
Check voicemail, return call to patron who is having problems downloading eAudio book from NetLibrary.
Get tasked by director to check out patron complaint about Ancestry.com not working, check with the Head Reference Librarian, realize it’s software issue, redirect to IT.
Talk with Head Reference Librarian about possibility of new medical database and proposal she’s working on.
Work on Internet safety presentation I’m doing for the patrons in 2 weeks
Through out the day I’ve check FriendFeed, Twitter and chated with different coworkers face to face.
Car pool home (from here on out I’m off the clock)
Talk about work with coworker on the way home.
Write blog post about doing A Day in the Life, really hope it takes off.
Read library blogs
Check all accounts again before going to bed

I took these notes last Monday as part of The Day in the Life project, if you’re interested in reading more or signing up to write your own please add your name to the wiki.Similar Posts:

What is a librarian’s day like?

Bobbi Newman — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:00:49 +0000

My desk at the library

Wow I saw this come across in the search terms used to find my blog. I’m assuming it’s someone considering becoming a Librarian and I thought what an amazing opportunity! If I post about this and get others to do it too, it will allow librarians to share amongst ourselves (our positions are changing so rapidly) and also to let the public know what we do. I’m not sure I have the ability to start a meme, but I really hope other librarians will pick this up as sort of a meme and write about their day or week on their blogs

Since my days vary so much, I’m going to write about my week, look for it some time next week. In the mean time please consider doing this on your blog if you have one!

Edited at 7/9/08 2:30pm Central to add: This morning while I was busy playing videos games Lori Reed created a wiki for this idea where you can add your name and your blog to the list if you’re particpating. Go sign up! key is “library”Similar Posts:

2.0 round 2

Bobbi Newman — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:00:44 +0000

Anyone who knows Robin or me knows either one of us can easily talk your ear off about Web2.0, probably for a whole day, if you’re unlucky enough to be stuck wth us for that long. But what about 4 days between the two of us? Well, we’re about to find out. We’ve been invited back to present for MoreNet and the Missouri State Library at Summer Institute. We did 2 half day sessions at Winter Institute in February for a total of 6 hours. This August we’ll be doing 4 days, for a total of 18 hours, 3 times as much. Can we do it? Without a doubt, but will my vocal cords hold up? I’m betting on it! I’m really excited! It was great to be invited the first time, but gettting invited back is even better!

Robin’s been doing a series on her blog that includes most of what we cover, head over there and check it out if you’d like a better idea. Similar Posts: