Library Day in the Life: The Final Friday

I've been waiting all week to use that subtitle!


On Wednesday I said "short and sweet," so here's the short and the sweet of it: I have today off! I planned for a vacation day a while back. So I'm going to do some things I need to do, relax, read my latest book [The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa] and have a great weekend.

Hope you have a good one too!

Library Day in the Life Part 4: A New Hope

A long time ago in a suburb far, far away...

Hi, it's me again.

9:00am - I'm not there yet! This has been a really bad week for being on time. I swear this doesn't happen all the time.

9:05am - Or so. I start getting things ready for my book discussion, which starts at 10am. I just get my materials together, put out the coffee machine and supplies. I used to bring snacks, but my group has told me they don't really need that. This month we read About A Boy by Nick Hornby. My group is only a few people, but we always have really good discussions-- not just about the book, but other things we're reading, experiences we've had as they relate to topics in the books, etc.

I was nervous when my department head first asked me to take over the Thursday morning group, but it helped that the women who come were seasoned book groupers and very self-directed. I always make sure I have some discussion questions or extra information handy, but on days like today we didn't even really need it.

10:00am - Book discussion starts, I have four of my regulars this month. New people come only once in a while. We're not meeting in August, the end of the summer reading program is then so the next time we meet will be in the fall!

11:05am - We wrap up, I clean the room and put everything away.

11:15am - Back at the reference desk!

11:30am - Helped a woman looking for a book for her daughter's reading assignments at school. She had a choice of three, and asked my opinion on which would be more interesting to a teenage girl. You never really know, but we had two of the three on the shelf (the third was something I doubted a teenage girl would be interested in) so she took both and is going to let her daughter make the final choice. That's best anyhow, for all I know the girl could have offbeat tastes! I'm sure I read things people wouldn't expect me to read!

11:50am - Our IT person is in today, making adjustments and fixing some issues we're having. We've had a lot of trouble with our black and white printer lately, but I think this latest fix might finally do it! I hope so.

12:00pm - Lunch!

1:00pm - After staying at the reference desk for a little while post-lunch, I'm off the desk for the rest of the afternoon. We have a weekly schedule of who is on and off the desk on any given day, so that we each have a chance to work on things that either can't be done at a public desk or tasks that benefit from steady concentration.

I would hate to say that answering questions interrupts some of the work we do, because that makes it sound as if our priority is something other than helping people. When you're a reference librarian, your priority is answering questions. However, sometimes to get a project or task done it helps to have time away from the busy public desk. Usually my time off the desk is spent either working in the Local History room, weeding, reading reviews and selecting materials, or any other miscellaneous project I have going on at a given time. For example, when I was writing a grant to get a local newspaper digitized I often used my off-desk time to work on that grant. That way I could move wherever I needed to be (into the Local History room to look at our microfilm, back to a computer to write something up, off to make copies, etc.) and have the benefit of uninterrupted time to make headway on the research and writing of the grant application.

1:15pm - My department head hasn't been to lunch yet, she needs me to test the DVD we're showing this afternoon and make sure the volume is set. We're showing The Girl with the Pearl Earring today! Sometimes we get large groups that show up, although it's been pretty bright and sunny this afternoon. I know I would prefer to be outdoors on a day like today, so I'm not sure how many will come.

2:45pm - I've been going over our Local History Collection policy and attempting to put together some information that we could put on our website. We currently do not have any information about our Local History room on our website, which I think is essential. If we want to promote it that's an ideal place to do so. An interest in the collection would also help us create more support for our digitization goal. More support and higher visitor statistics for the room would help convince grant committees of our need!

I still don't know how the grant I wrote will turn out, they don't announce who's being awarded grants until September or so. It's exciting for me because I've never written a grant before, and you never know what could happen. If we got it, we'd get to start a huge digitization project that I would be up to my elbows in. Possibly shoulders. I'm not holding my breath though, there were a lot of libraries that applied... but I think I'm a good writer and I really gave it everything I had, held to every guideline they set down. So we'll see.

3:15pm - I've decided to spend the rest of my time today in the Local History room. There's still quite a bit in the library's file drawer that needs to be sorted, and today would be a good day for that. Chances are I'll end up in there until 5pm, it's easy to lose track of time! No clock in the room for one thing, but for another I just tend to get lost in what I'm doing when I'm going through our historical materials.

4:30pm - Going over our upcoming programs for the fall, I'll have to make a powerpoint for the city's local channel and signs/posters for everything over this next month.

5:00pm - Done!

Library Day in the Life Part 3: Dream Warriors

I could quote sequel titles in my subject headings for a straight month and not get bored. Please bear with my sense of humor.

One thing that drives me nuts about working so far from home is that no matter how well I plan, there's no guarantee I will get to work on time. Today is another one of those days-- according to my traffic alerts I get delivered to my email, my drive was quite clear. It's a good thing I left as early as I did, because it was certainly NOT clear on I-290. Grumble.

9:00am - Check the library's email. Take a call from someone trying to find a history title that ends up being a perfect teaching moment. Obviously our regulars know the drill of how the library system works, but there are always going to be new people to teach about the ins and outs of getting materials. It's actually refreshing when people will react with "Oh, I didn't know I could do that!" or "I had no idea you had this service" or "This is like a whole new world to me" and other such things. I'm so used to it I don't even think of it, but to someone who's just learning what's available to them it is a pretty great thing to have.

9:45am - Oh my lord! It got really busy all of a sudden. Someone left resumes in the printer from last night, I had someone from out of town needing to use the internet, another person called asking about how to do the downloadable books because they saw an entry in our catalog for an e-audiobook... yikes yikes yikes! And my department head was in a meeting, so I was riding this out myself!

10:05am - Back to my favorite project! (Automatic holds!)

10:30am - Still all by my lonesome. Have an out of country visitor on our quick internet! Ireland! For a midwestern suburb we really do get a variety sometimes...

11:10am - Circulation brought the hold cancellations over. Pretty straightforward. I showed my department head an email we got this morning about an OCLC item that apparently went back damaged. It was something we borrowed for one of our patrons, and was returned to the borrowing library who says that there was moisture damage. I'm not sure that we would have sent something damaged back like that, but then again sometimes things slip through the cracks...

11:30am - Suddenly the phones went crazy, I had to keep answering calls because Circulation was busy. Since we are a small library, the reference desk often picks up incoming calls, steps up to the desk to help check people out, etc. Especially when people are out sick or on vacation, then that sort of thing becomes crucial.

11:55am - We're trying to interpret OCLC statistics... something isn't adding up, and I'm not sure how they calculate these numbers! Hmmm.

12:15pm - Lunchtime!

1:05pm - A patron had an interesting question about saved input on websites and why it might be different on two separate computers. I tried to explain about cookies and temporary internet files. I think he was understanding what I meant, he also had grabbed a book on the internet that he said had a section about cookies, so he's going to read more in-depth about it at home. He just hadn't really known what he was looking for before we spoke-- but because we did, now he has a direction to go in. This just reminded me of something I read recently about how tech support should be considered essential reference.

It's like anything else we get asked advice for-- medical problems, legal issues, etc. Not everyone in a library has the education or experience necessary to give expert advice on technology. But I think some people just drop those questions like a hot potato because they themselves don't know enough to navigate the kind of questions out there these days. I for example know little to nothing about legal matters-- but I'm still expected to give my best attempt at helping people find legal information, and I think I should have a general knowledge of the basics in order to facilitate that.

So I'm completely in agreement on this. The point isn't for everybody to have in-depth knowledge about technology, it's to have a general knowledge that will help you answer basic questions and find the answers to (or resources for) the more advanced questions. Even if it's just saying, "You can call the tech support for (name of company) and they will walk you through it. Let me look up that number for you." It's better than simply saying "I don't know."

1:40pm - Ah, another good thing to bring up. Another person interested in our downloadables... except that he was from a library that is not participating in the program. And he was at two other libraries (his home, and another local) that told him he could use it. Problem is, that's not true. So I had to go through the details with him, and deal with a long, involved conversation that I shouldn't have had to have. And *he* had to run around to a bunch of different libraries just to finally be told, "No, you can't access this at all." While it's better that he finally talked to someone who had the right information, it's not good that he got false information from other libraries.

3:00pm - We're trying to figure out what a book on one of the summer reading slips is supposed to be... After some research and a phone call it turned out to be a totally different title than was written down!

3:40pm - Reading some CD reviews to pick some things to buy.

4:50pm - Didn't find a whole lot, I gotta say. Part of that has to do with the requirements for adding CDs to the collection. I do have to find a favorable review, plus I obviously have to believe that it will circulate here. That means a lot of mainstream musicians. Rap and hip-hop don't do spectacularly, so most of that is out. Once in a while if I see that a few of our patrons have holds on something in that genre I will put it in my cart. Sometimes it's just hard for me to find reviews that aren't talking about more obscure music. I guess my lifelong desires to discover new music that weren't well known yet have not come in handy...

5:00pm - Time to head home. The rest of this week should be short and sweet! You'll see why tomorrow and Friday :)

Library Day in the Life Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

Sorry, couldn't resist the goofy title!

Tuesdays I work from 1-9pm. Looks like today will be 1:20-9pm, since I ran into some very bad construction traffic on the way in. Eesh.

1:20pm - I finally clock in and relieve the staff member at the desk for lunch. Check my email, the blog, etc. for anything new going on.

1:40pm - Patrons looking for novels. One asked for Loving Frank, which we own many many copies of. We did it for our "Palos Reads" program last year. They've stayed in high circulation ever since, but finally we have a copy available on the shelf! Another person looking for our book for THIS year-- Luncheon of the Boating Party. I knew we had one, I had actually pulled it for our display of art-related books for the summer reading program.

2:00pm - Register for OPALescence online conference in mid-August. Not all of the programs are set up yet, but from what I've seen so far I should be able to pick up some interesting information. I'll only be able to check out programs on the first day during the afternoon, since I'm off the public desk on Thursdays from 1-5pm. The next day is an in-service for the library.

2:10pm - Decide to work on the automatic holds and the list of new bestsellers for September and October. Doing the automatic holds involves checking the list for the authors we offer, updating our lists in Excel for each author, then going through the lists to place holds for everyone. Depending on the author, it can be very time consuming... Patterson has a 2 page list, whereas LaHaye just has a few people. Since I haven't done it for a while, I'll err on the side of "I'll be placing holds for hours".

3:00pm - In the midst of my work we have a patron approach the desk who's trying to use our new downloadable audiobook service through Overdrive. She's having trouble getting the audiobooks to download through the media console, but I think she needs to have the console program up and running before she tries to download. We'll see if that helps her!

3:45pm - My department head tells us that starting Monday, we'll have a scanner by the Reservation Computer for the internet stations-- no more typing in card numbers! I think a lot of people will appreciate this, I've had many comments that people wished they didn't have to type the whole barcode out. Plus, this will help people get in the habit of carrying their card with them. They are supposed to according to our internet agreement, but of course not everyone does. I'm off to make a sign to alert patrons to the change...

4:30pm - My dinner break!

5:00pm - Back from my break for the rest of the night. Had to call another local library to set aside an item for a patron, now I'll be settling back into the automatic orders list.

6:40pm - Things have been pretty quiet tonight, they typically are. I'm working on my project, here and there helping someone find a book or sign them up for internet use. Tonight we do have a program, it's on Michigan Beach towns and the speaker just showed up. I took her into our meeting room and we hooked her laptop up to our projector. We only have about 10 or so people signed up, I'm sure we'll get a few more that haven't-- but I don't think it will be a huge group tonight.

7:05pm - Just checked on the program, we've got 20 people! Not bad! Sent my department head our list of new fiction for September and October, now she can finally insert that information into to our newsletter.

8:15pm - Program is over. From what the speaker said, it sounds like it went really well! Nothing else new to report.

8:45pm - About now I start making my rounds. Straightening chairs, picking up books left on tables, cleaning up any garbage left. I found a little girl in the adult computer room and had to tell her she has to go upstairs to use the computer. Makes me wonder how I missed her going in? I would guess a parent probably logged on, and then just let her go on the computer. Sigh...

8:55pm - One patron left, she apparently hadn't heard the two announcements! Yikes! In a couple minutes I'll go lock the doors and after 9:00pm put the money from the cash register into our safe.

9:05pm - As we were leaving, a patron pulled up and caught us JUST in time for someone (me) to run back in and get his flash drive from a computer. I was just about to set the alarm too!

A slow night, but that's about average. Good turnout for the program, and time for me to get some stuff done! On to Wednesday!

A Day in the Life of a Librarian: Day 1

I read about a blogging event going on this week, and decided I'd like to participate. It's called "Library Day In the Life" and the challenge is for those working in libraries to blog about the details of their day for one week. My main reason for doing this is for the general public and potential future library employees to get an idea of what we really do-- not what you THINK we do!

This first one will be a little boring I'm sure, let me find my voice for this project! I'll only explain the everyday stuff the one time, other days I'll keep to the highlights.

After driving a maniacal 30 miles to work on the Chicago tri-state, I arrive a few minutes before we open at 9am. I work for a small suburban library at their Adult Services reference desk as a librarian.

9:00am - Fire up necessary programs on staff computer... Millennium for the online system and catalog, VAM for managing our public computers, Meebo for IM reference.

Take statistics sheet for last week, tally and add up counts for AM questions, PM questions and any children's questions. File it away with a post-it noting the totals.

Check library email, forward a couple items to other departments. Print out a flyer for local play auditions that was emailed to us, asking if we'd post it. Put it up in on the community board in the foyer. Check my work email for messages from work-related lists, any emails from staff over the weekend. Looks like we'll be attending webinars for Tutor.com soon.

Check library blog for new posts. There's one about holds for book discussion groups. Also log into Firstsearch/OCLC and check Resource Sharing for any new requests or messages. Nothing yet!

9:35am - A phone call from a regular gets passed around to multiple staff members until I finally can explain the answer to his question in a way that he understands. A team effort!

10:00am - My desk partner and I field some patron questions. I help one man in using our online catalog here in the library. We go through the process of looking up an item, finding it's call number and walked him over to show him how the nonfiction shelves are organized.

10:30am - Receive a couple phone calls from a patron trying out our new Overdrive media service. She's interested mainly in music and e-books, and is wondering about both how the checkout process works and some technical details about downloading the media console. Answer to the best of my ability-- we're still learning too!

11:00am - Attempt to figure out the title or author of a book from a patron who remembers neither, but knows what the cover of the book looks like and that it's autobiographical and quirky. We don't figure it out despite my web and image searches on Google. Can't win 'em all! But know I will probably keep trying the rest of the day just to satisfy my own curiosity.

11:20am - Log a regular onto our 15 minute internet computer, since she forgot her library card. Policy says we can't look up their numbers for the hour long public stations, but at least we can get them on for a short time.

11:40am - Patron logs in a sheet from the adult summer reading program. This year the theme is "Master the Art of Reading"-- made for some really nice promotional material. I design much of our signs, brochures, posters, etc. and it makes the design process fun when there's a strong theme with a lot of possibilities to work with.

For every full sheet-- four books-- they get an entry into our monthly raffle. We already pulled for July, but we'll have some final raffles at the end of August at our closing reception.

11:45am - Circulation brings over hold cancellations and overdue notices for OCLC items. I check the cancellations to see why they might have been taken off, put any back on that need to be and look for alternate places to get items that we can't get within our consortium. Sometimes I have to call for direct loans on items from nearby libraries, other times I have to call the patron. No calls to make today!

11:50am - Help out a regular who asks for a female author that might appeal to her husband, so that he has something different from his usual picks. Nothing geared towards women, so I try a mystery author? Maybe Kathy Reichs' skeletons will interest him.

12:15pm - Lunch (half hour)

1:00pm - Holds over the telephone. Pull one from our shelves, request the other from another library in our consortium.

Trying to pick a book for my October book discussion group. I want to pick something to get us in the mood for Halloween but am between two books.

1:20pm - Holds holds holds...

1:45pm - My department head is putting together our next newsletter, and when asking for the next set of new books we both realize we haven't been getting the usual report that I use to do automatic holds and put together the list of new books. Oops!

2:00pm - Department head helps me make decision on book discussion group. Joe Hill it is! I've been wanting to read his stuff for a long time, I've heard he's very good. Then again, when you're Stephen King's son you have big shoes to fill...

2:20pm - Have a copy of the book list I need! Right now I'm looking at some web resources mentioned at a local history meeting I went to last week. We talked about researching the history of one's house, and someone from the Chicago landmark commission came to explain how they approach the process and what resources they use.

2:45pm - In the midst of placing holds and accepting summer reading forms I'm also working on the automatic holds and our list of new books for the fall. We have an automatic holds program we offer for patrons, where they select favorite authors (out of a limited list) that they would like to automatically be put on hold for. I'm the "automatic" in that equation, when I get the lists of new books coming out I grab our list of patrons who have signed up for that author and put them all on hold.

3:00pm - We get a fax of an ALA interlibrary loan request form from a local library that is not inside our consortium. It's a children's book, so I have to make a quick trip upstairs to the children's department to pull it.

3:20pm - A member of my book discussion group came in to sign up for a program we're having Tuesday night. Our group is meeting this Thursday morning, and it sounds like it'll be an interesting discussion!

3:30pm - Trying to help someone looking for a Discovery Channel program on DVD. Can't seem to find it anywhere, and doesn't even seem like it's on DVD at all. Another tough one that's not 100% solved.

3:45pm - Another phone call about a few books... I've still barely gotten anything done on the automatic holds!

3:50pm - Now we have two requests on OCLC! Better take care of those...

3:51pm - That was easy! One was lost, one was checked out. But I guess the report of automatically ordered books was not the one that I needed, so scratch the small amount of work I actually got to on it-- I'll have to wait til tomorrow to get the report I need.

4:00pm - Quick snack in the back room. I have another 30 mile drive to look forward to, so no dinner until after 6pm for me!

4:15pm - Patron calls in to ask if we can retrieve envelopes he left at a computer he was using. Logged him off and left them at the front desk to pick up when he has a chance.

4:30pm - The staff member working the night shift comes in just as my department head and I are trying to unravel an internet usage mystery. Turns out, a patron had a typo in their record in our system-- oops!

5:00pm - After tying up loose ends I leave for the day.