Blog update – moving home
The past month has been a busy one both at work, getting ready for the new academic year, and at home, planning the next month’s DIY jobs. Thankfully I’ve had a few days off from both over the Bank Holiday weekend and have been doing some much needed improvements on the blog.
I’ve been contemplating it for some time and this afternoon have finally moved myself from wordpress.com to wordpress.org. This blog can now be found at www.digitalist.info.
To keep up with my posts, which will get back on track shortly, please update your feed.
A day in the life of a librarian (r2) – Friday
So the week is at an end and so is this round of the Library Day in the Life project. The following is an account of my day on Friday 31st July:
07:00 – the usual morning routine; shower, tea, breakfast, feed the cats, catch the bus.
08:30 – arrived at work and checked personal email, Twitter and Facebook
08:45 – remapped the library staff network drive which I lost last night and sent out a reading list to a student. The only email to arrive overnight was to say that my mailbox is full so sorting that out was my first task of the day.
09:00 – desk duty. Only 4 books to shelve today. I took the stack returns down to the collection point.
09:30 – head count: 9
09:40 – the printer problem from Wednesday evening was back again; it’s sod’s law that all the hardware breaks down when theses are due!
10:10 – the LMS went down and so did University webmail
10:45 – the LMS came back up as I was going on my break. I checked in two previously returned items before I left. Over my break I checked email, Twitter and Facebook and caught up on sports news and checked the 5 day weather forecast – looking bad for my trip to the sea next week.
11:05 – back on the desk, rebooted self issue which had gone down as a result of the LMS downtime. Received a parcel of goodies; well pens, pencils and leaflets about a new database, from ProQuest.
11:30 – head count: 21
11:40 – discovered a problem with our Datastream software. Received upgrade instructions from the vendor.
12:10 – lots of requests for past student projects this morning, back and forth to the stacks.
12:40 – rebooted the self-issue again. LMS downtime was caused by a major power outage at computing services. Lots of rebooting of servers going on.
13:00 – lunch (same as yesterday). Looked at the cricket for the first time today. Australia 203-8. Best quote from TMS (Test Match Special) inbox “This is a collapse of English proportions!!” from David in Gerards Cross. Listened to the end of Filmspotting podcast that I started on the bus this morning.
14:00 – rearranged the piles of papers on my desk. Tried to resolve issue of upgrading Datastream by installing it on my PC. That worked so planned to try again with reader PCs later in the afternoon.
14:50 – answered a few BLA emails re: posting database deals on the website.
15:00 – demo of Perfect Information database
16:00 – break; email came through while doing the demo that my CILIP membership has been processed. Messed about in Commuities section of the CILIP website during break.
16:15 – tried to update Datastream on reader PCs but don’t have the admin rights.
16:30 – wanted to read a few chapters of Developing Information Leaders: harnessing the talents of Generation X by Marisa Urgo but got caught up locating an article for someone. Had a quick chat with my manager about use of library team email group as opposed to generic library email address and responsibilities for reading lists.
17:20 – left to catch the bus home. Home about 18:15, ate tea (pesto pasta) and received Sainsburys delivery, our first foray into online grocery shopping. Couldn’t settle so we decided to walk in to town, approx. 6 miles, along the tow path to get some ice cream – crazy I know but the ice cream at G&D’s is well worth it. The walk took a little under 2 hours. Caught the bus home around 22:30.
A day in the life of a librarian (r2) – Thursday
The following is written for the Library Day in the Life project. It is an account of my day on Thursday 30th July.
07:00 – as Laura’s on leave this week I’ve been getting up at 7. When we’re both heading out for work at the same time and there’s a fight for the bathroom the alarm usually goes off at 6:30.
08:30 – I got on the 07:50 bus and was in work by 08:30. I popped to M&S at the station to get some fresh milk – due to staff leave I’m milk monitor for the week! Back at desk checked personal email, Twitter and Facebook.
09:00 – shelving, I did about 10 books. There were probably only 20 total.
09:05 – emailed database supplier and supplier liaison officer about publicising a trial through BLA
09:15 – meeting with manager – they tend to be ad hoc, I often pop in to her office throughout the day to discuss things. Talked about my role and where she sees it going; much more focus on learning about the subject – sounds interesting. Started to investigate potential training events. Made some decisions about what pre-course services we can offer the new intake.
09:40 – emailed course coordinators about said pre-course services.
09:50 – answered emails, set up meetings for next week, looked at timetable for effective literature searching course running at beginning of term.
10:25 – coffee + RSS feeds
10:45 – wrote policy document on library marketing and communications.
12:00 – lunch (humus, pitta and carrot sticks) – popped in to town to buy birthday cards for colleagues. That’s 3 in 2 weeks.
13:00 – desk duty! As it is so quiet I took the opportunity to re-organise my files. I inherited so much paperwork when I took on this role but haven’t had a chance, or the inclination, to really go through it and decide what to keep and what not.
14:30 – desk update: 2 requests to add printing credit, unjammed the printer 4 times, asked IT to replace duplexer in printer to stop jamming problem, showed someone how to renew their books online.
15:00 – head count: 26. Yet another remote access issue, problem accessing Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization. Wrote an email template for all staff to use when answering these queries.
15:30 – break. RSS feeds – read this article from the Guardian
15:50 – returned to the desk. Received some stack books back from reader. Someone came to pay fines for a friend. Helped a man to use the door – he pushed the button to get out and then was waiting for something to happen!
16:30 – head count: 23
17:15 – the person on evening shift had lost track of time so changeover was delayed. Managed to leave about 17:30 and head off to catch the bus home. Lunatic bus driver had trouble with the brakes and sent us flying on a number of occasions.
18:30 – arrived home to find Laura sitting on the stairs with a cat on her knee. Put tea (left overs from sausage and bean stew) on to cook while I had a shower.
19:30 – after eating I put the second coat of varnish on the shelves in the garage, Laura had done the first coat earlier. A quick check of the emails, Facebook and Twitter and now I’m writing this post. Going to sit down at 21:00 to eat ice cream and watch The Inbetweeners on catch-up.
