#libday8 It's Friday, Friday!

Okay, so yesterday was pretty uneventful... but apparently busy enough I didn't realize that I wasn't posting... :-/

Today will be better!

7:30 am  - arrive at work. I get to work early because on Fridays I have "InfoDesk" shifts. Folks who work in the library can "volunteer" for InfoDesk (basically, Reference) shifts if they get supervisor approval, so usually, one of my office mates and I share a two hour shift on Fridays. I get here early to open the desk at 8:00 am and then she takes over at 9. Today, however, I'll be working the whole shift because she's got other obligations.  I love working reference though, so I don't mind! Also, if you're only here for an hour - it's hard to really get settled in.

8:00 am - InfoDesk open for business! Another library staff member came over to ask me about an ILL request he placed, so I looked it up for him (we're still responsible for ILL work while on the desks) and it looks like it's shipped. Hopefully it will arrive soon!

Questions answered today at the InfoDesk:
- Where is the lost and found?
- How do I print using a printcard?
- Where is room 230?
- I'm done using these books, where should I put them?
- Where have you been? Hibernating? (This from a regular patron who always says hi :) We only have InfoDesk shifts during the regular semesters, so I haven't been up here as much recently...)

ILL break - request for Know how: the guide to making money with Tupperware - sad part is, I think this may actually be scholarly... the patron is a History major and they found it cited in the Journal of Women's History... the book is from 1958...

More InfoDesk questions:

- I found this ebook that I want to read, but is there a physical copy?
- Where are the foreign language dictionaries? I'm looking for something very specific...
- (okay I'm paraphrasing this one... but) I can't be bothered to remember to bring my ID with me every day and I'm running out of guest passes... what should I do? Answer: Be Responsible. The rest of us have to...
- Is there a fax machine available in the library for patron use?

10:15 am - back in ILL
Just two of us today, so we'll split the day in half - taking turns on doc providers and email duties. Hopefully our student workers come in, otherwise we'll have to do some of their work too.

11:50 am - A College Library staff member called to let us know they used the nifty new book scanners to fill a request for us... of course, they couldn't save the request in the same way they usually do with the "Transaction Number" as the name, and it was not exactly a legible scan... but YAY for new technology! :)

12:00 pm - Lunch time!

12:30 pm - back at it. Still my Doc Provider/phone shift...

12:42 pm - best. request. today. "The Ethics of Sightseeing"

3:25 pm - another library on campus accidentally charged a "no loan" book out to a patron and then discharged it, putting it in transit to us. They emailed to let us know that it is still sitting on their hold shelf.

4:00 pm - Quittin' time! It's been a good week :)

#libday8 - We made it to Wednesday!

Got here at my normal time today - 8 am. The morning progressed as usual - lots of requests!

We found out there will be a change coming up in July that will affect some of our patrons - folks who have the library's "fee cards" will no longer automatically have access to ILL services. They can opt into a (more expensive) card that still allows access but we're not sure they'll all want to pay the (much) higher price tag. Ahh... budget implications...

2:13 pm - taking a late "lunch" today. I actually ate around 11:30 on a 15 minute break but of course I still get my hour long break too!

3:00 pm - Circulation Desk shift - BUSY! Missing holds and the whole nine-yards

4:00 pm - back into requests

5:00 pm - quittin' time!

#libday8 day 2

Tuesday!

8:00 am - arrive at work, load all programs

8:10 am - one of my coworkers is gone for the morning so we're responsible for the email account for the office too. Usually, we're not, so it's nice to have the extra experience!

8:15 am - and... requests!  I'm in the "regular" queue for a while...
- Lots of requests for Spanish Language materials today... many of which are available on campus!
-Someone is looking for information on Niue which is in Polynesia, so I'm sending lots of requests to the University of Hawaii!
- _Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies_? Yeah, okay - that's scholarly :)
- Lots of Preservation Department questions about their requests - they (usually) require microfilm and sometimes the lending library sends other formats...

12:00 pm - Lunch Time!! Meeting my dad today, we'll probably go to Chin's. Gotta break my dad of the habit of ONLY going to Subway... State Street is at our front door - don't limit yourself!! :)

1:00 pm - dodged a swarm of rapid grad students making a road block in the stairwell to make it back to work.

1:00 pm - back into requests. I'll be responsible for doc providers all afternoon, hopefully there aren't too many!

1:07 pm - Loving my Aloha 'Oe Pandora radio station- HAPA is on right now!

4:32 pm - wow, the afternoon went pretty quickly. Lots of requests... it happens.

5:00 pm - Quitin' time!

Welcome to #libday8 !

Good... afternoon all! (Yikes, where did the morning go?!)

Today is the start of the wonderful Library Day in the Life Project round 8! For those of you unfamiliar with the fantasticness that is this project, this week librarians from all over will track what they do in an average day or week and share with the world! This is the second time I've participated, and I love reading all the posts! I will, primarily, make blog posts here and post those links to my twitter and facebook feeds as well.



Here's a recap of my day so far to get you caught up!

8:00 am - arrived at work. Okay, well, let's be honest, it was really more like 8:03 by the time I got here. I take the bus so my "arrive" time is often a few minutes early or late... but I make up for it!

8:10 am - everything is finally up and running on my computer. I always have to open a bunch of programs (Firefox, Thunderbird, our server, and ILLiad) so it usually takes a little while

8:10 am to 9:10 am - dove in and started processing requests. Usually, I start in what we call our "regular" queue, which is basically the "newest" requests. Patrons will place InterLibrary Loan requests for items they want that our campus does not have, or for articles they'd like electronic copies of - either from our campus or other institutions. We have many other queues to watch too, and we usually rotate through them throughout the day as they all require different type of searching and some are harder then others!

9:10 am - I left the office (gasp!) for my Staff Development Committee Meeting. I've been on this committee for a few years now and it's a lot of fun! We do the programming (both work related and some personal growth type events as well) for the Library Staff which range from tech/how-to type things to staff art shows and travel brownbags.

10:15 am - returned back to the office after my meeting and went into the "Doc Provider" queue. From 10-12 and 2-3 every day, I'm responsible for this queue. These are articles and book chapters that folks have requested that we need to pay copyright on prior to giving our patron access. So, this queue involves going to publisher's websites and buying access to an article. I'm sure most patrons don't have any idea that we spend money to get their items for them - but doc providers can cost almost anything. We do have a limit - if an item is over $55 dollars, we send the patron an email asking them "Are you SURE you want this?" and if they say "yes" we buy it. If it's more then $115 - then we say "Sorry, no can do!" but - just as an example, on 'Cyber Monday' (the Monday after Thanksgiving in the US, where MANY folks make online purchases for Christmas) I did that queue all day and I spent $1143.83 of the University's money. Most people don't realize what they're really getting from their libraries! :)

During our doc provider shifts, we also "clear [the] copyright" list which moves new requests into the queues they should be in based on whether or not we owe copyright fees on them. 

12:00 pm - Lunch time! Started typing this post...

1:00 pm  - You know what my grandfather says... BACK TO WORK!! :)

2:10 pm - Doc Provider shift again... just bought a five page for $49... see what I mean? :)

3:00 pm - discussion of the likelihood that ghosts exist... of course!

4:59 pm - actually still talking about ghosts... :) Time to go home!

Library day in the life round 8!

Remember back in July when I told you every little thing I did for a week and it was awesome?! Well, it's about to happen again! #libday8 will run January 30 - February 5, 2012. I singed up today on the

wiki

And will make my posts again with the tag "libday8" on this blog. Links will also be posted on my twitter feed (@libraryfrog), and probably on Facebook too, just for good measure!

It will no doubt be a much different story this year... School is done, I now work in ILL, and ONLY in ILL (well, one shift a week at circ and info desk) but, I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless!

This... is my life

Oh, that's right... I have a blog to update!

Sorry I've been MIA this week. As my first full week in ILL, I've been learning a lot of new things and it's been pretty busy. I've also been taking advantage of the fact that I now have a lunch break to explore the great food options Madison has to offer! I should curtail that though, I can't get used to spending money for lunch every day! :)

This week has also been my first without homework, since I finished up grad school last weekend. I had a lovely dinner out with my family to celebrate, now I'm just waiting for the professional job offers to start rolling in... in my dreams! It's still a very tough market out there. I'm lucky I finished my degree already having a job, otherwise I wouldn't have been so well off.

We're also just slightly over a month away from the wedding, as if I needed more to do! Though, that too is going quite smoothly - just a few last minute details to worry about.

All in all, life is good - to use my father's favorite quote. Thanks for sticking with me during this time of transition! Hopefully, I'll have more time next week to get caught up on my RSS feed and find some great stuff to share with you all!

Lots of changes, Max... Lots of changes

Today is my last day as Operations Manager of the Google Book Project. I have worked, with various titles, on this project for over two and a half years. I came to this job because I had recently graduated from my undergraduate studies and was on my way to completing my master's degree and I needed full-time work in a library.

This is a library - and they had full time work.

...That was basically the only draw.

It was not what I wanted: it was not a public service position, it was not in a public library, it was not near my house, I could not drive to work (and therefore could not have much freedom during the day)... But, it was relatively gainful employment that would perhaps move me closer to my goals. So I took it.

I was never not applying for other jobs while here. Pretty much every public library job within a 50 mile radius was researched, applied for, pined after, and eventually mourned as it slipped away; a graceful, yet curt, form letter arriving in the mail. I applied for the jobs I knew I'd never get (seriously, HOW does one gain 'professional experience' when no one will hire you for a professional job?!), the ones that were geographically impossible, and even the ones that devalued the profession (professional librarians are PROFESSIONALS, we have degrees and we need them every day! Please, don't refuse me basic health care!). But, here I stayed.

Eventually, I began to gain new experiences and found new opportunities. I got to go to my first professional conference (WLA). I began to take InfoDesk shifts in the Reference Department and Circulation Desk shifts each week. I became an active member of the Staff Development Committee, I got to know more people across campus. I attended local conferences, talks, and programming. I grew as a person and as a Information Professional.

I kept working on my MLIS. (I even got reimbursed for some of my tuition!)

Now, I'm sitting at a bit of a crossroads - both personally and professionally. I will be awarded my degree very soon, and I'm getting married this Fall.

And, I'm changing jobs.

Tomorrow will be my first day in the Interlibrary Loan Department of the Memorial Library.

This is still not my 'dream job' - it is still in a basement, it still has limited patron interaction (though, more then before), I'm still in an academic library that I cannot drive myself to everyday. I will have to start taking lunches, which will lengthen my day by an hour - which admittedly won't be AS bad now that I won't have to do homework every night...

But, it is a stepping stone. Another in a long trail across a river of doubt and uncertainty that every early-career professional meets.

I plan to add this next notch to my belt, so to say, and take from this new experience as much as I can - just as I've done with every new set of duties, commitment, position and new opportunity I've taken.

Wish me luck!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

In a few weeks, I will be moving over to the Inter Library Loan Department here in Memorial Library. I am looking forward to the new experiences this position will afford - and learning yet another part of the library's work-flow! I will be continuing with my circulation shifts (at least some of them) as well as my InfoDesk shifts, which I'm very happy about.

The 'transfer' experience is very interesting - when positions with my classification (Library Services Assistant Advanced/Lead)  are vacated, they are opened up to transfers before being opened to the general applying population. This allows people like me, who may be looking for a change, a way to move to a "different job" without having to go through the entire hiring process. It also keeps good people who are tried and true in the library, so the new department know they're getting a quality employee.