I arrived at 8.45, having caught up on a few bits on the train.
At 9.30am Maryse and Malcolm from JISC RSC Eastern met with myself and the IT manager. They demonstrated a variety of their resources and discussed how to promote them to staff. They stayed for just over 2 and a half hours.
I then had 30 minutes to answer emails, deal with anything immediate and grab some lunch before heading over to my second meeting of the day. I had my first Freedom of Information related query so dealt with it immediately. I grabbed a sandwich to eat in the taxi.
I spent the afternoon at a local college with my counter-part. He had previously visited our LRC so it was my turn for a return visit. They are planning on starting to run Independent Learning Sessions as we do and are soon starting a trial. I spent quite a bit of my visit discussing how we run them, I am keen to be as supportive and helpful as I can so they can learn from what we have done. I really enjoy visiting other libraries and talking with other librarians.
Showing posts with label librarydayinthelife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label librarydayinthelife. Show all posts
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Day 3 of #libday6
Came in hoping for a more tranquil day than yesterday. Spent most of the morning chasing up some laptop trolley and equipment queries, and dealing with emails and other queries. Visited HR with a few suggestions for the upcoming staff development day. The HR Manager is always really nice and helpful. Covered the issue desk and patrolled over the lunch period as we have classes in. Wednesdays are always very busy days so I spend a lot of my day out on the floor.
Our new principal joined our team meeting at 3pm which was a great chance for us to get to know her better and vice versa. We decided to hold the meeting in the way we always do - with the LRC open and one member of the team on look out for customers at the counter. There is only an hour a week that all three LRC Support Tutors are in so we have to have our meeting in that hour even though it is a busy time. Afterwards I went straight to my fortnightly one to one with my line manager, the Vice Principal Curriculum.
The college Open Evening for prospective students started at 4pm, so we spent plenty of the day tidying up and making sure we looked presentable. I stayed until 7pm for the Open Evening. As it was fairly quiet it was a good chance to catch up on ordering resources and doing a bit of cataloguing.
Our new principal joined our team meeting at 3pm which was a great chance for us to get to know her better and vice versa. We decided to hold the meeting in the way we always do - with the LRC open and one member of the team on look out for customers at the counter. There is only an hour a week that all three LRC Support Tutors are in so we have to have our meeting in that hour even though it is a busy time. Afterwards I went straight to my fortnightly one to one with my line manager, the Vice Principal Curriculum.
The college Open Evening for prospective students started at 4pm, so we spent plenty of the day tidying up and making sure we looked presentable. I stayed until 7pm for the Open Evening. As it was fairly quiet it was a good chance to catch up on ordering resources and doing a bit of cataloguing.
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Day 2 #libday6
What an absolutely appalling day. I had a headache by 10am.
The ALS department moved into the rooms in the back of the LRC. There are problems with keys that I am getting sorted out - the Estates Manager here is fantastic. As predicted, having an area containing 8 PCs shut off on our busiest day of the week meant that it was more or less bedlam in here so I spent most of the day on behaviour management, finding people computers and generally trying to make sure that the place is still running approximately how it should while dealing with a whole series of complaints and people getting upset about lack of resources. Also, I'm trying to reassure the LRC staff that the ALS department moving in won't be a problem, but I can understand their concerns. We have spent 6 months establishing the LRC and just as things start to settle down we've had another big change. Of course, with all of this going on everything of a mangement persuasion that I should be doing was sidelined.
On Tuesday afternoons I supervise two Independent Learning Session - one from Fashion and one from Art. Both groups worked well as usual.
Here's hoping that tomorrow will be a better day!
The ALS department moved into the rooms in the back of the LRC. There are problems with keys that I am getting sorted out - the Estates Manager here is fantastic. As predicted, having an area containing 8 PCs shut off on our busiest day of the week meant that it was more or less bedlam in here so I spent most of the day on behaviour management, finding people computers and generally trying to make sure that the place is still running approximately how it should while dealing with a whole series of complaints and people getting upset about lack of resources. Also, I'm trying to reassure the LRC staff that the ALS department moving in won't be a problem, but I can understand their concerns. We have spent 6 months establishing the LRC and just as things start to settle down we've had another big change. Of course, with all of this going on everything of a mangement persuasion that I should be doing was sidelined.
On Tuesday afternoons I supervise two Independent Learning Session - one from Fashion and one from Art. Both groups worked well as usual.
Here's hoping that tomorrow will be a better day!
Monday, 24 January 2011
Day 1 of #libday6
Woke at 5.30am anxious about the week ahead. As always, left the house at 7.10 to get the train. Spent the first half of my train journey catching up on emails, Twitter and Facebook. The Curriculum Manager for Fashion joins the train half way to work and we always have a good chat. The college has a minibus that collects staff and students from the station which is fantastic.
Arrived at work at 8.40, to find the LRC Support Tutors locked out of their workroom which also contains the keys to classrooms that we issue to staff. I left the caretaker breaking into the workroom, and went to have a conversation that I had been dreading which went better than expected! Tweeted and got a nice reply from @SmilyLibrarian. As my workplace's only qualified librarian and the head of the service I often feel out on a limb and isolated, so such kindnesses from the LIS community Twitterati is much appreciated!
Came back to find that staff had access to the workroom, but that the lock would need repairing. At least we can get to the kettle now. Made some tea.
Spent the morning making amendments to the week's rota, replying to emails, chasing up a few odds and ends from last week (registers, Finance, HR, filling in staff development forms for upcoming events etc), checked through last month's finance report and caught up with one of my staff who works part time that I haven't seen since Wednesday. I was on desk and patrol duty from 10-11. We have to combine these two things as we are tight on staffing. It was a busy morning lots of students; in Independent Learning Sessions, in classes that have come in with teachers and drop in students. We've had lots more students sign up for the Six Book Challenge and staff are asking me to buy another set of diaries. It's the first time that the college has run it so I'm pleased that we've had such great buy in from ESOL and Functional Skills staff. Almost all the students that have signed up are usually not LRC users which is also great as reaching out to non-users was one of my challenges for the year.
I had lunch at noon. My new year resolution was to eat at lunchtime and I've been really good at sticking to it. I went up to the canteen (which I love!) and got ratatouille quiche, chips and beans.
At 1pm I went back on the counter, dealing with the unchtime rush: helping students find books, moving along students who aren't working, resetting passwords, triage on the laptops (we can reestablish the wifi connection to save taking them up to IT). One of the Faculty Directors called in and we had a chat about problems with the timetable which puts pressure on resources and rooms. The Networks Manager called over to fix something on my computer. Apologised for smell of chips and vinegar in my office but he said he likes it. At 2pm we had the combination of a large class of Public Services students and a large class of Motor Vehicle students - two of our livelier cohorts! - so spent some time on behaviour management. Our students aren't cheeky or malicious, they are just high spirited and can get noisy. Returned to my office at about half two and phoned the British Library about some Inter Library loans. Gave a new teacher an e-books tutorial over the telephone. Ordered the new Quick Reads that are coming out for World Book Day in March. Dealt with some emails: mainly laptop and room bookings.
At 5pm the LRC Support Tutors went home and I stayed on for evening duty. I put out the reservation notices in the bays for tomorrow, and prepared for the Additional Learning Support (ALS) department moving in to three rooms that have historically been part of the library. The front of the college is being remodelled so ALS are being relocated, possibly temporarily, possibly permanently. In order to make space for this we have closed down our AV and off air recording service and lost the breakout room that was created for us in the summer 2010 refurb. To make tomorrow's move (hopefully) smooth and safe I have shut off the back of the LRC so that they can bring things in through the fire doors. To do this we will lose 8 PCs for the day, and as Tuesdays are our busiest day I suspect that we'll spend half the day stopping the student going in the 'out of bounds' area. I'm anticipating a visit from an ESOL class at 7pm who are signing up for the 6 Book Challenge, and will be out of here at 7.30pm which will get me home just after 9. Mondays are long days!
Arrived at work at 8.40, to find the LRC Support Tutors locked out of their workroom which also contains the keys to classrooms that we issue to staff. I left the caretaker breaking into the workroom, and went to have a conversation that I had been dreading which went better than expected! Tweeted and got a nice reply from @SmilyLibrarian. As my workplace's only qualified librarian and the head of the service I often feel out on a limb and isolated, so such kindnesses from the LIS community Twitterati is much appreciated!
Came back to find that staff had access to the workroom, but that the lock would need repairing. At least we can get to the kettle now. Made some tea.
Spent the morning making amendments to the week's rota, replying to emails, chasing up a few odds and ends from last week (registers, Finance, HR, filling in staff development forms for upcoming events etc), checked through last month's finance report and caught up with one of my staff who works part time that I haven't seen since Wednesday. I was on desk and patrol duty from 10-11. We have to combine these two things as we are tight on staffing. It was a busy morning lots of students; in Independent Learning Sessions, in classes that have come in with teachers and drop in students. We've had lots more students sign up for the Six Book Challenge and staff are asking me to buy another set of diaries. It's the first time that the college has run it so I'm pleased that we've had such great buy in from ESOL and Functional Skills staff. Almost all the students that have signed up are usually not LRC users which is also great as reaching out to non-users was one of my challenges for the year.
I had lunch at noon. My new year resolution was to eat at lunchtime and I've been really good at sticking to it. I went up to the canteen (which I love!) and got ratatouille quiche, chips and beans.
At 1pm I went back on the counter, dealing with the unchtime rush: helping students find books, moving along students who aren't working, resetting passwords, triage on the laptops (we can reestablish the wifi connection to save taking them up to IT). One of the Faculty Directors called in and we had a chat about problems with the timetable which puts pressure on resources and rooms. The Networks Manager called over to fix something on my computer. Apologised for smell of chips and vinegar in my office but he said he likes it. At 2pm we had the combination of a large class of Public Services students and a large class of Motor Vehicle students - two of our livelier cohorts! - so spent some time on behaviour management. Our students aren't cheeky or malicious, they are just high spirited and can get noisy. Returned to my office at about half two and phoned the British Library about some Inter Library loans. Gave a new teacher an e-books tutorial over the telephone. Ordered the new Quick Reads that are coming out for World Book Day in March. Dealt with some emails: mainly laptop and room bookings.
At 5pm the LRC Support Tutors went home and I stayed on for evening duty. I put out the reservation notices in the bays for tomorrow, and prepared for the Additional Learning Support (ALS) department moving in to three rooms that have historically been part of the library. The front of the college is being remodelled so ALS are being relocated, possibly temporarily, possibly permanently. In order to make space for this we have closed down our AV and off air recording service and lost the breakout room that was created for us in the summer 2010 refurb. To make tomorrow's move (hopefully) smooth and safe I have shut off the back of the LRC so that they can bring things in through the fire doors. To do this we will lose 8 PCs for the day, and as Tuesdays are our busiest day I suspect that we'll spend half the day stopping the student going in the 'out of bounds' area. I'm anticipating a visit from an ESOL class at 7pm who are signing up for the 6 Book Challenge, and will be out of here at 7.30pm which will get me home just after 9. Mondays are long days!
Monday, 1 February 2010
Library Day In The Life - Day 4 and 5
Only just had time to do this between life and work and being ill....
Thursday was a bit saner. I opened the library at 8.30 and did my usual morning tasks (stats, journals etc). One of the work experience students was half an hour late so I started his day by telling him off. I then had to explain to them why the labelling they'd done yesterday needed to be redone. In fact I spent much of the day supervising and motivating them. I had created a rota for the them which I adjusted several times throughout the day. As the level of their abilities became clearer I became more able to anticipate how long tasks would take and what they would be able to do. As with the usual student assistants this is also a test of my communication skills... and my patience!
I made some headway on the keywords and on compiling a list of recommended websites for the faculties that I am responsible for academic liaison for (Humanities and Business & ICT). The keywords are going to take a lot longer than I originally thought - I had ambitiously thought I'd get them done by Easter ha!
Thursday night I went out for dinner with my friend in Soho. Looks like this was a mistake as I spent half the night being sick.
Managed to pull myself together to get into work an hour or so late on Friday and leave an hour or so early. I didn't take a lunch break because there was no way I could eat.
I didn't achieve any of the things I had intended upon achieving today but I did fulfill my job description - serving on the circ desk, supervising the space etc - and at least I was able to cover lunchbreaks. In our library we only ever have three members of staff working leaving us with at least a half hour window in the busiest time of the day where we only have one member of staff working.
Fortunately I'd already planned for the work experience students to spend the day with a member of LRC staff who was putting up a display for LGBT History month so I didn't have to supervise them.
I was also keen to go in to see a publishers rep who didn't turn up!
Thursday was a bit saner. I opened the library at 8.30 and did my usual morning tasks (stats, journals etc). One of the work experience students was half an hour late so I started his day by telling him off. I then had to explain to them why the labelling they'd done yesterday needed to be redone. In fact I spent much of the day supervising and motivating them. I had created a rota for the them which I adjusted several times throughout the day. As the level of their abilities became clearer I became more able to anticipate how long tasks would take and what they would be able to do. As with the usual student assistants this is also a test of my communication skills... and my patience!
I made some headway on the keywords and on compiling a list of recommended websites for the faculties that I am responsible for academic liaison for (Humanities and Business & ICT). The keywords are going to take a lot longer than I originally thought - I had ambitiously thought I'd get them done by Easter ha!
Thursday night I went out for dinner with my friend in Soho. Looks like this was a mistake as I spent half the night being sick.
Managed to pull myself together to get into work an hour or so late on Friday and leave an hour or so early. I didn't take a lunch break because there was no way I could eat.
I didn't achieve any of the things I had intended upon achieving today but I did fulfill my job description - serving on the circ desk, supervising the space etc - and at least I was able to cover lunchbreaks. In our library we only ever have three members of staff working leaving us with at least a half hour window in the busiest time of the day where we only have one member of staff working.
Fortunately I'd already planned for the work experience students to spend the day with a member of LRC staff who was putting up a display for LGBT History month so I didn't have to supervise them.
I was also keen to go in to see a publishers rep who didn't turn up!
Monday, 25 January 2010
Library Day In The Life - Day 1
Ha! I've just realised that the last time I blogged was my unofficial day in the life! Still, here we are...
Arrived at 8am to open up the library for 8.30am: turning on PCs and printer, filling printer with paper, putting money in the till, restocking the stationery shop, checking for bookings in the diary and new notes in the Circ Desk Message Book.
Stayed on Circ Desk til 11.30am (apart from my tea break). As usual on a Monday morning we have an entire BTEC sports class in taking up about 13 of our 18 PCs. I collated last week's statistics and checked to see if anything had been added to the 6 Book Challenge website. I then worked on cleaning up our catalogue's keywords - the bane of my life and a situation worthy of its own post. Massive problems with the printer (again - it's absolutely constant) so spent a lot of my morning explaining that to students. Also the internet was off or patchy until 10 ish which didn't help.
At 12 had lunch in our office because I couldn't be bothered to go up to staff room. I ran into the facilities manager who reassured me that the second recycling bin that we have requested over a week ago is on its way.
Back on the desk from 1-2. Students are complaining that it is taking 20-30 mins to log onto computers. I assure them that IT are aware of the problem and that we are as frustrated as they are. Processed the day's journals.
At 2pm went into the office. I don't like working in the office, I like to be on the floor. However, our other staff PC has had it's mouse ball stolen rendering it useless and IT have taken over a week to replace it. I could log onto a student computer but with the log on problems it seems like a waste of time. Finished cleaning up the keywords beginning with A.
At 3pm I distributed the days journals to study centres and had a little tidy up. At 3.30pm I was back on the Circ desk where I worked on creating the list of keywords I will clean up tomorrow (the Bs).
Left work at 5pm. Spent the evening working on the presentation.
Arrived at 8am to open up the library for 8.30am: turning on PCs and printer, filling printer with paper, putting money in the till, restocking the stationery shop, checking for bookings in the diary and new notes in the Circ Desk Message Book.
Stayed on Circ Desk til 11.30am (apart from my tea break). As usual on a Monday morning we have an entire BTEC sports class in taking up about 13 of our 18 PCs. I collated last week's statistics and checked to see if anything had been added to the 6 Book Challenge website. I then worked on cleaning up our catalogue's keywords - the bane of my life and a situation worthy of its own post. Massive problems with the printer (again - it's absolutely constant) so spent a lot of my morning explaining that to students. Also the internet was off or patchy until 10 ish which didn't help.
At 12 had lunch in our office because I couldn't be bothered to go up to staff room. I ran into the facilities manager who reassured me that the second recycling bin that we have requested over a week ago is on its way.
Back on the desk from 1-2. Students are complaining that it is taking 20-30 mins to log onto computers. I assure them that IT are aware of the problem and that we are as frustrated as they are. Processed the day's journals.
At 2pm went into the office. I don't like working in the office, I like to be on the floor. However, our other staff PC has had it's mouse ball stolen rendering it useless and IT have taken over a week to replace it. I could log onto a student computer but with the log on problems it seems like a waste of time. Finished cleaning up the keywords beginning with A.
At 3pm I distributed the days journals to study centres and had a little tidy up. At 3.30pm I was back on the Circ desk where I worked on creating the list of keywords I will clean up tomorrow (the Bs).
Left work at 5pm. Spent the evening working on the presentation.
Friday, 4 December 2009
A Week In the Life - Friday
Woke at 6.20am anxious about the missing USB and thinking through where I would look for it. Decided just to get up and go look for it. Arrived at work at 7.40am and looked everywhere logical with no joy. My manager arrived at 8.20am and together we tore the place apart looking in ridiculous places and eventually found the USB in a very odd place. I'm feeling a bit worried about poltergeists but nonetheless am so relieved that we found the thing! We've agreed that USBs aren't the way forward and I've backed up everything on it.
Left work at 8.50am (I'm on annual leave today) and confused a lot of students who saw me leaving as they were walking in!
Now time to finalise and post this week's blogs and get ready to go to Berlin!
Left work at 8.50am (I'm on annual leave today) and confused a lot of students who saw me leaving as they were walking in!
Now time to finalise and post this week's blogs and get ready to go to Berlin!
A Week In the Life - Thursday
Opened up at 8.30am. Started with my usual tasks: stats, journals.
Spent the morning on the Circ Desk, inbetween serving users I got some admin jobs done. Contacted The Reading Agency about ordering more diaries, certificates and bookmarks for the Six Book Challenge - we've got 50 places and after 4 days of registration we've got 30 participants already! Looks like my publicity campaign has worked. Sent round my weekly All Students email bulletin about the week's new journals and newspapers.
One of the English teachers sent round an All Staff and Students email about getting more contributors to the college blog. After speaking with my manager I contacted her about the LRC putting up blog entries on new stock, events, promotions and book reviews. I'm quite keen to push some of our 6 Book Challenge participants to write book reviews that we can put up, I'm also going to speak to some of our keen readers that come in - that's something to work on next week.
Today's Student Assistant came in at 1.15, I sent her to strict shelf tidy in the study centre next door. From the library I kept hearing a lot of noise coming from the study centre and popping in to check she's okay - I think she thinks I'm a bit odd! Also spent time on the desk with her shadowing me.
Sorted out next week's Student Assistant rota after checking that other LRC staff don't have any tasks to add to it, and discussed with my manager what jobs to give the assistant who'll be in tomorrow as I won't be in.
Typed up a set of Till Procedures to go in our new staff shared drive. Adapted one of the info skills powerpoints to make it specific to science for a session we are running next week. Started work on procedure/training notes on cataloguing as there is nothing in place already!
In the evening I had a meeting with the other owners at my block of flats as myself and another owner manage the flats. Stressful stuff. In the midst of it received a text from my boss, the Info Skills USB is missing. Hardly slept for worry.
Spent the morning on the Circ Desk, inbetween serving users I got some admin jobs done. Contacted The Reading Agency about ordering more diaries, certificates and bookmarks for the Six Book Challenge - we've got 50 places and after 4 days of registration we've got 30 participants already! Looks like my publicity campaign has worked. Sent round my weekly All Students email bulletin about the week's new journals and newspapers.
One of the English teachers sent round an All Staff and Students email about getting more contributors to the college blog. After speaking with my manager I contacted her about the LRC putting up blog entries on new stock, events, promotions and book reviews. I'm quite keen to push some of our 6 Book Challenge participants to write book reviews that we can put up, I'm also going to speak to some of our keen readers that come in - that's something to work on next week.
Today's Student Assistant came in at 1.15, I sent her to strict shelf tidy in the study centre next door. From the library I kept hearing a lot of noise coming from the study centre and popping in to check she's okay - I think she thinks I'm a bit odd! Also spent time on the desk with her shadowing me.
Sorted out next week's Student Assistant rota after checking that other LRC staff don't have any tasks to add to it, and discussed with my manager what jobs to give the assistant who'll be in tomorrow as I won't be in.
Typed up a set of Till Procedures to go in our new staff shared drive. Adapted one of the info skills powerpoints to make it specific to science for a session we are running next week. Started work on procedure/training notes on cataloguing as there is nothing in place already!
In the evening I had a meeting with the other owners at my block of flats as myself and another owner manage the flats. Stressful stuff. In the midst of it received a text from my boss, the Info Skills USB is missing. Hardly slept for worry.
A Week In the Life - Wednesday
Started work at 9, did my usual tasks (stats, journals etc) while on Circ Desk then started on some admin tasks. Had a good look through my work for Friday and Monday to work out how I'm going to get everything done before I go on leave (I'm going to the Berlin Christmas Markets from Friday-Monday). Looked through the Info Skills presentations that'll we'll be doing next week to check all hyperlinks work. Rescheduled the 6 Book Challenge talk that was missed yesterday for next Tuesday. Finally got our secure LRC staff area set up in the All Staff shared drive - up until now we've been storing work on USB sticks or in our own areas. Have discovered that our IT department respond well to the promise of Fruitellas :)
Spent about 20 mins working one-to-one with a student helping him with his English coursework. This isn't strictly part of my job, but I'm happy to help if I have the time and it's a subject that I'm confident with.
At 11.15 I had a slightly belated induction meeting with the principal and a few other members of staff that started since September.
I left work at 1 and went down to the Online Information Show at Olympia. I was a bit disappointed with it this year to be honest as there was a lot of content management and hardly anything for education. Although I did have an interesting chat with British Standards so I hope they send me some info on their free resources. I also had a chat with the lady at the CILIP stand about chartering - I've been advised to send a CV of what I do in my role as there is some uncertainty whether I qualify to charter. My role doesn't require a library qualification but I undertake work that is usually done by qualified librarians so there is a slight grey area. Hopefully I'll get that done on Friday when I'm on leave.
In the evening my team had a bowling match: I won one, lost one. Not that happy with my own overall pins scores, but it was good to see my team.
Spent about 20 mins working one-to-one with a student helping him with his English coursework. This isn't strictly part of my job, but I'm happy to help if I have the time and it's a subject that I'm confident with.
At 11.15 I had a slightly belated induction meeting with the principal and a few other members of staff that started since September.
I left work at 1 and went down to the Online Information Show at Olympia. I was a bit disappointed with it this year to be honest as there was a lot of content management and hardly anything for education. Although I did have an interesting chat with British Standards so I hope they send me some info on their free resources. I also had a chat with the lady at the CILIP stand about chartering - I've been advised to send a CV of what I do in my role as there is some uncertainty whether I qualify to charter. My role doesn't require a library qualification but I undertake work that is usually done by qualified librarians so there is a slight grey area. Hopefully I'll get that done on Friday when I'm on leave.
In the evening my team had a bowling match: I won one, lost one. Not that happy with my own overall pins scores, but it was good to see my team.
A Week In the Life - Tuesday
Started work at 9am. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays the other library assistant is doing the course I've just completed so I'm always happy to see her and hear what's happening.
I did my regular tasks first such as doing yesterday's stats. The post is coming really late at the moment but once it'd arrived I inputted and stamped the journals and took them round the study centres.
I spent most of the morning on the circulation desk unpicking some of the cataloguing problems. We have a situation where a lot of people have been cataloguing over the library's 2 year history - most of them unqualified library assistants with no previous experience of cataloguing and no training. Once we get our LMS update in a few weeks I can really get stuck in with some block changes but for now I'm just trying to unpick a few things. At the moment it isn't a massive problem as we have a small collection and no dedicated OPAC so the only people who search the catalogue are LRC staff, but we're hoping to change this with the Info Skills sessions and getting an OPAC PC in the new year.
Had a group of media student taking pictures in the LRC this morning without asking the manager for consent, or asking consent of the individuals they were photographing (myself included) and refused to delete images when requested. As my BA was Photographic Arts I find it really frustrating when students don't appreciate the ethics around these things. That said we have a digital native/immigrant divide between the staff and students and these students' attitude to questions of privacy and representation reflect that. I had a quiet word with the Learning Mentor for Creative Arts who took the problem back to their teacher - seemed like a more political approach that sending a pointed email to All Staff.
I went to speak to an ESOL class about the 6 Book Challenge at 11.15 but found that the class was cancelled as the teacher wasn't in, which was a shame as I'd psyched myself up!
After lunch a Student Assistant came in to do her rotaed hour so I spent some time with her, showing her the tasks that need doing and spending some time with her shadowing me on the counter. Another Student Assistant came in to make up the hour that he missed last week. These kids are so enthusiastic and efficient that they get the work done in no time at all - sometimes I have to be a bit creative finding something purposeful for them to do!
I was expecting to go to help present Info Skills class at 1.45 but that had to be cancelled. Bit disappointing but we've rescheduled for next Tuesday.
We had an informal team catch up before shutting the library early as we had a larger meeting with the learning mentors which went well.
I did my regular tasks first such as doing yesterday's stats. The post is coming really late at the moment but once it'd arrived I inputted and stamped the journals and took them round the study centres.
I spent most of the morning on the circulation desk unpicking some of the cataloguing problems. We have a situation where a lot of people have been cataloguing over the library's 2 year history - most of them unqualified library assistants with no previous experience of cataloguing and no training. Once we get our LMS update in a few weeks I can really get stuck in with some block changes but for now I'm just trying to unpick a few things. At the moment it isn't a massive problem as we have a small collection and no dedicated OPAC so the only people who search the catalogue are LRC staff, but we're hoping to change this with the Info Skills sessions and getting an OPAC PC in the new year.
Had a group of media student taking pictures in the LRC this morning without asking the manager for consent, or asking consent of the individuals they were photographing (myself included) and refused to delete images when requested. As my BA was Photographic Arts I find it really frustrating when students don't appreciate the ethics around these things. That said we have a digital native/immigrant divide between the staff and students and these students' attitude to questions of privacy and representation reflect that. I had a quiet word with the Learning Mentor for Creative Arts who took the problem back to their teacher - seemed like a more political approach that sending a pointed email to All Staff.
I went to speak to an ESOL class about the 6 Book Challenge at 11.15 but found that the class was cancelled as the teacher wasn't in, which was a shame as I'd psyched myself up!
After lunch a Student Assistant came in to do her rotaed hour so I spent some time with her, showing her the tasks that need doing and spending some time with her shadowing me on the counter. Another Student Assistant came in to make up the hour that he missed last week. These kids are so enthusiastic and efficient that they get the work done in no time at all - sometimes I have to be a bit creative finding something purposeful for them to do!
I was expecting to go to help present Info Skills class at 1.45 but that had to be cancelled. Bit disappointing but we've rescheduled for next Tuesday.
We had an informal team catch up before shutting the library early as we had a larger meeting with the learning mentors which went well.
Monday, 30 November 2009
A Week In The Life - Monday
***Disclaimer: I wanted to add to the week in the life of a librarian wiki project. It was only half way through this post that I realised that it was a project that was supposed to be done in a specific week in July. I have decided to carry on with this regardless and document a typical working week in my role.***
This morning as I walked from the bus stop in the pouring rain a vicious white van man drove through a puddle and absolutely soaked me and some other ladies walking near by. Even my face was soaked *argh*. So my first task this morning was washing my fringe and face in the bathroom and reapplying my make up. Good job I always come in 15 minutes early. I started work at 8.30 and was opening up: turning on the computers and printers, putting float in the till, etc. I wrote the day's headlines on the white board next to our newspaper rack and stamped the papers with the college stamp.
On the main circulation desk until 11, serving students and staff. During this time I completed some admin tasks. I inputted last week's stats for student use and for enquiries. Our data collection isn't ideal at the moment as we are relying on a sign in system rather than a gate count. I also did some more work on an email to my manager of suggested acquisitions based on requests for new stock, multiple copies of current stock and items that I think the users would like.
Our Six Book Challenge began today so I sent round an email to All Students reminding them to sign up and telling them about our brand new fiction items: last week I made a book display and wrote a one line synopsis of each item to include in the email to try to entice them. By 11am I'd had 4 sign up so I was quite chuffed.
At 11 I came off the desk and spent the next hour collecting items for the Psychology and Humanities Study Skills session that the manager and I are facilitating tomorrow. I selected as much variety of sources as possible: dictionaries, journals, encyclopedias, textbooks, maps etc. I then collected and processed the day's journals, put the relevant ones in the holder in the LRC and took one to the Study Centre next door.
At our college we have 5 Study Centres covering each faculty area which are staffed by Learning Mentors. The Learning Mentors work with students in the Study Centres but LRC staff are responsible for the stock that we keep in them. I am responsible for two of them (Humanities and Business & ICT) and for faculty liaison for those subjects.
At 11.15 the first of the day's Student Assistants clocked in. I chatted with her for a few minutes and showed her what needed doing - mostly strict shelf checking. She went up to the Business & ICT Study Centre to tidy it for 20 minutes as well - I try to get the Study Centres strict shelf checked by the Student Assistants as we rarely have time to do it ourselves. As ever she came with a great attitude and was happy to get on with it on her own. While the Student Assistants are in I am aware of what they're doing but don't really need to supervise them closely now as they've been with us for 4 weeks now.
At 12 I was back on the main issue desk for half an hour before going on my lunch. It's getting busy and a bit noisy now so I'm not continuing with my admin tasks until after the lunch time rush.
Lunch at 12.30. I rarely leave campus at lunch as there's not much nearby. I just sit and read in the office with my packed lunch.
After lunch I spent some time with the next Student Assistant and tidied up after the busy lunch break. I took the journals round to the Study Centres and collected newpapers and journals for the Info Skills session tomorrow. I spent much of the afternoon on the Circ desk, serving students and helping with the computers and printer/photocopier/scanner combo - a machine that requires my attention at least 5 times an hour. I also completed the new acquisitions email and sent it to my boss. I closed the library alone at 5pm.
In the evening I met the girls from my MSc for dinner. We had hoped to be celebrating/commiserating our dissertation marks and thus have our final marks for the year but it wasn't to be, we're still waiting on them. Still it was nice to catch up with everyone - especially as we were saying goodbye to Sarina who is returning to NZ at the weekend :(.
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