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

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.

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.