Sarah the Librarian

Ever since I started my current job I've been trying to write a post to sum up the unique niche in which I find myself, but I think maybe my day last Friday, might be better (and maybe more entertaining) than anything I've tried to write up to this point.  Just consider it a flashback to the old #librarydayinthelife. The quick outline of my job: I manage (pay for) all the electronic resources that the reference department subscribes to (I have a counterpart in childrens, but when in doubt, our department usually pays for it), but I'm also a regular run-of-the-mill reference librarian with regular desk shifts, print collection development responsibilities (000s), and I manage our department's (mostly) high school student assistants who help patrons with the public internet computers, do a little shelving, and help everyone in the department with odd jobs. 8AM - department meeting During August the library board doesn't meet, so we decided to fill the time we ...

For the first time since this whole Library Day In the Life thing started, I am not employed by a library. In fact, I'm not employed at all. Thanks to a perfect storm of circumstances, I've found myself stranded in a new city with my husband and I both getting the short end of the health stick. Some other time it might be worth going into the long story behind that last sentence, but right now, suffice it to say that job hunting hasn't been able to be my main concern lately. It's been a few years since I've been actively looking for a job and while I'm excited to have more of that experience I lacked last time around, it doesn't mean that job hunting is any easier. The tech skills that I so carefully cultivated in library school have really faded while working in a position where those skills were less important than other day to day responsibilities. I'm searching in a much bigger market, which means more jobs to apply for, but also much stiffer compe...

Tuesday, January 26, 2009 - This is my usual night to work, so I came in at 12:30 as usual. I didn't have any desk shifts this afternoon, so I returned to cataloging, which was interrupted by a few administrative details. In March we're starting a new anime club and our public information officer wanted to run a possible ad design by me, which led me to do a little more research about just exactly what we want this club to be so it does get marketed correctly. Mostly, though, I cataloged some more books that had simply been waiting far too long to be added into the collection. Most Tuesday nights now have programs, so the fourth Tuesday night of the month seems so calm in comparison. Generally everyone who works from 5-9 has a four hour desk shift of some sort. As is usually the case, mine was spent in our phone room. In between answering calls (there was a deadly lull from about 6 to 7) I spent the evening working on some ideas for my Intro to Social Media computer class a...

Monday, January 25, 2010 I forgot to post yesterday, but since it's only yesterday, it's easy to remember what I did. Monday was a very strange day for me because I had no hours scheduled at any of our public service desks, and I also had no classes to teach, programs to lead, or meetings to go to, so I essentially spent the whole day cataloging. As long as I've worked here, we've been behind on cataloging, but lately, with the last few stages of our move into long-term temporary quarters imminent, there's been a push to get caught up so that the backlog of books to catalog doesn't have to be moved yet again. I definitely made a dent in the pile yesterday. Spending the whole day on cataloging also gave me the time to deal with some problem items that I'd been putting off dealing with for awhile, so it was a pretty good day all around, even if I was seeing a little cross-eyed at the end of it.

Last week was one doozy of a week, so it was perfect timing that it happened to also be time for the second annual day in the life of a librarian. I worked on this last week, but forgot to post it, so before it's completely irrelevant ... Monday: started off the week by opening our technology center by myself part of that job is reconciling the register from the previous night - for the first time ever (I don't do this terribly often) the register did not balance & without someone else to watch the desk, I had to hang tight until someone could come help me out while working in the technology center by myself I had the inevitable rush of people who needed library cards/forgot their pin #/had never been on the internet before all at the same time after taking my break, I was shocked to discover that I was scheduled at our circulation desk on the opposite side of the mall that's currently housing our long-term temporary quarters, so I had to hustle over there as...

This summer I tried to resurrect this blog with a fun little game that was going around library blogs at the time. For one week librarians would detail what they did every day at work. Ever since the flooding that displaced us last June, anyone at my library doing that project would have been interesting reading. Unfortunately, things were so crazy and busy that I couldn't finish the first week I started. I have a feeling that this week will pose similar challenges, but it's an exciting week, definitely one worth recording. After spending the last six months crammed into a handful of small mall storefronts, we're moving into a significantly larger space in the mall, what used to be an Osco drug store. Finally, we will have room to take more of the donations our patrons have been dying to give us. Finally, the youth and adult collections will be in the same room. Finally, we'll get a real break room where more than one person can take a break at a time. Finally...

Today I was back in code enforcement answering phones, so rather than trying to explain all the intricacies of working in a city department dealing primarily in flood reconstruction, here's a list of the calls I answered today, and the things I did between calls to keep busy. We had some more new people in to work today, and apparently the temps who have been working in this office since the flood are apparently being let go, likely so city departments that need to find jobs for their employees have some place to send them. Talked to one of the volunteer coordinators to dispel the myth that flood victims will be fined for not mowing their lawns (I know the city's reputation isn't great, but I can't believe people would think we're that petty). a couple from Czech Village wanted to know if it was worth rebuilding their house because they heard a rumor that their whole neighborhood was going to become a park. Since it sounded like their house wasn't te...