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.

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.

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.

08:00 – the best thing about working the late shift is the leaisurely morning it affords you. Today I woke up at 8, made myself a cup of tea, fed the cats and returned to bed to start A Venetian Reckoning by Donna Leon. Since visiting Venice earlier this year where I was given a Donna Leon mystery to read I’m working my way through her back catalogue. I got up around 9 and moved to the sofa to eat breakfast and watch another episode of The Wire. I’ve looked back at the last week I chronicled for this project and there’s a lot of mentions of The Wire there too. Then I was on season 2, now it’s season 4.

10:00 – showered, dressed, did a few jobs in the kitchen and packed my stuff for the day. Left the house around 10:45 and caught the bus into town.

11:25 – stopped at the station on my way in to work to buy train tickets for the upcoming BLA committee meeting. I think I saw Jeanette Winterson.

11:40 – arrived at work, checked personal email, Twitter, Facebook

11:50 – checked work email, wrote a to-do list for the day.

12:05 – taking the post down to the post room I noticed that there was a screw loose in the door frame which was jamming it open – not a good sign when access is only available to those with a swipe card. I removed the screw which was really mangled and asked maintenance to replace it.

12:15 – chatted to manger about copyright and how there’s little information on the subject available for academics. One of the tasks I’ve been putting off is writing something on copyright for staff, she’s now going to take this on – yay!

12:30 – dealt with some database issues

13:15 – after a day away from Captivate yesterday I had to spend some considerable time on it this afternoon.

15:00 – renewals screencast finished and sent to team for feedback. Next time I do this remind me to leave the hardest one til last! Time to get started on reservations screencast – should be a lot simpler.

15:40 – covered the info desk during staff break. Checked library calendar for next few weeks and synched with my own. Topped up someone’s print credit – the only contact I had with anyone whilst on desk. Watched online tutorial from CASS looking for tips for my own.

16:00 – returned to the office thinking I need to do some work on my use of my calendar and to do lists – I haven’t found a solution that works for me yet.

16:15 – break time. It’s been reaining all day so I treated myself to a coffee – unfortunately it tasted like it was made with cream not milk, bleurgh. Checked my personal email, and Facebook.

16:45 – resolved a longstanding remote access issue for student trying to access ebooks.

17:00 – out to the desk. On my lonesome tonight due to staff leave. On a Wednesday there would usually be two of us here til 6 then me from 6-7. Spent most of the evening tidying up loose ends and writing induction plan.

17:20 – issued stack books to a reader; when she returned them I had a momentary yearning to do some research but I think it’s just a desire to have some time where I can actually get some reading done.

17:30 – head count: 23.

17:35 – problem with the b&w printer cannot be fixed by our IT team. I put an an out of order sign on it for overnight with the promise they’d switch it out in the morning.

17:45 – read library RSS feeds

18:05 – checked team webmail; replied to student with remote access issue. There seem to be a lot of these lately. Returned to my induction plan.

18:30 – head count: 21.

18:45 – just one visitor in the library this evening who came to claim his card well in advance of kicking out time.

19:00 – closed up the desk and left on time.

20:00 – home by 20:00. Laura had returned from visiting her mum and she was cooking Toad in the Hole for tea. We’ve eaten and are now sitting watching junk on TV whilst I write this post.

07:00 – no noisy cats this morning, I woke up to the alarm and not a minute sooner. It was gloriously sunny out which always helps me get back on the bike.

08:10 – I left on time (07:30) but there was a strong headwind so arrived at work a few minutes later than usual. After a shower I checked my personal email, Twitter and Facebook.

08:45 – answered some work emails mostly for BLA (Business Librarians’ Association), a group which I am web officer for, before heading off to LibStats training.

09:30 – LibStats training was “interesting”. LibStats is a new web based system being brought in for next year’s library stats collection. I’m not sure it was necessary to have an hour long training session for this. An online tutorial might have been better but as far as I can see it’s a simple system which anyone could pick up and use without training. I didn’t have high hopes of the training and this was compounded when the demo failed because too many people (20) using it at once made the system crash.

10:15 – on my way back to the library I helped a couple moor their narrow boat. They really didn’t have a clue what they were doing – I’m not sure people should be let out if they don’t know the basics.

10:40 – a quick coffee and a few turns at Scrabble.

11:00 – I had no responsibilities on the desk today but had lots of enquiries this morning. Here are a sample: exporting data from ORBIS, accessing market reports, loan extensions for students on placement, access to past projects.

12:30 – lunch (humus and roast veg baguette). Finished the ongoing Scrabble game – I won! Bought some carrot and walnut cake to have with my afternoon tea.

13:00 – returned to my desk to do some stuff online technically still on lunch break but found it difficult to avoid being drawn in to discussion of what stats we should be collecting, how this has been done in the past and how we want to do it going forward.

13:45 – sorted out a VPN issue for a student on placement who needs it to log in to one of our market research databases. Answered a few more emails.

14:25 – hit a wall, a cup of tea helped me through it.

14:30 – scanned some documents to send out to placement students. Today seemed to be a day for solving remote access issues.

15:00 – began to plan contents of induction packs. We’re completely overhalling our induction sessions for the new year. Work on it today involved designing a business card for the library.

16:15 – working on an updated floor plan for the library to go on the website and noticeboard.

16:35 – I learnt how to replace the receipt roll in the self issue machine. I think this was my greatest achievement today!

16:40 – caught up on library RSS feeds

16:55 – tidied my desk and cleared my in tray

17:15 – home time. Unfortunately sunglasses were not needed for cycle home.

18:25 – stopped at Sainsburys on the way home to pick up cat food; never mind that there’s little human food in the house so long as the kittens are fed eh?

19:00 – dinner (sausage and bean stew) and an episode of The Wire. I plan to watch In Bruge later – I’m in late tomorrow so I can afford to stay up late!