Another day in August
I feel perhaps less of a fraud now speaking of today, even if today is not part of the Library Day in the Life project because I can just about remember what I have done today so far!
9.10 I arrive at reception, report to D. one of my bosses about the closing-up procedures of one new member of staff, some slight mistakes but nothing too drastic. D. asks me whether I can do something about a CD-ROM that does not work (for EFL, English as a Foreign Language). Our IT Officer is on holiday at the moment.
9.15 I arrive in the library. A. our new Cataloguer is already there, busilly processing our collection, as the moment she is working on the Colloquial and the Teach Yourself language series so that she can get a good feel on how multiparts are processed here. She has started last Monday and I am very very happy to have her working for us. I check my emails, answer one about making an appointment, the rest does not require a reply from me.
9.25 I go down to the first floor of the library and try out the CD-ROM. There seem to be a default with the CD-ROM and I clearly do not know how to sort this out. I let my boss know about this.
9.30 I work on the library statistics which are done by hand still: statistics from our registers places in the library (I sort them out by type of material and, most importantly, languages studied) and statistics from our readers' registration (are they undergraduates, postgraduates etc..., do they want to learn a language and which language for leisure reasons? professional reasons? etc...). The statistics that normally would be automated from the use of our computers have not appeared. I send an email to the IT Officer so that he can sort this out when he comes back from holidays.
10.35 receive an email from one of our Tutors (German language) sending me a link to a web 2.0 site where she has created a flash-card exercice. I save this in the library delicious page (which will be loaded into our twitter account). She replies saying she would like me to check it. Ah... promise myself I'll do this later today...
11. B. my Library Assistant arrives as I am busy dealing with A. She knows what to do as the trolley is full of books and cassettes to place back on the shelves. I later ask her to add a few newly made borrowing cards in the Borrower's register.
11.05 I start weeding some of the collections. I do "faux-weeding" as you are bound to be asked for a book as soon as it disappears from the shelves. All weeded material goes to the Archive's Room where it will stay there, for a good while. Weeding is a very dangerous occupation for a librarian I feel, not to be done before at least three full years in the job. And still, I wouldn't get rid of material still: mistakes can easily be done otherwise!
11.35 J. who is teaching with us this summer shows me a book he really likes in the library. He also says he really likes my library, which is a sweet thing to hear! I tell him about books I have ordered for his teaching, as those should arrive soon, probably early next week.
Noon. Just saw my reader who wants to learn Manx arriving in the library, I go and see him to give him the language course that I have received yesterday from isleofman ordered the day before (impressed with the speed!) that the reader thought was of good quality. Apart from the final shelfmark on the material, the book and CDs have been processed (archive number and creating a shelfmark, as Manx is a new language for the library collection).
Most of the morning, on and off: A. our newly appointed Cataloguer is checking with me details on how to process the material. It is rather complicated as we have lots of multiparts and lots in many languages (we have 140 different languages!), and not many other catalogues (COPAC, OCLC) treat multiparts the way we do here so there's a lot of things we need to create ourselves and there is a lot of liaising to do with the central library in our University.
12.45 pm I pause and look at my diary, dark with my writing. I hope I do not forget anything! We have new language classes starting next year and also language Tutors changing textbooks and I need to make sure I order everything and liaise well with everyone.
12.50 pm Happy! Got an email from L. who's replacing me next week. She thanks me for the email sent yesterday and has questions to ask later. Good.
1.05 pm more queries from the Cataloguer. A difficult one. We will "sleep on the idea" I say, and speak about it tomorrow morning when she comes back.
1.10 pm as there is a storm outside, I decide not to go to lunch right now and try out the e-cards made by the Tutor in German. I try a few, you can hear the word several times and read it too, and see the translation, if you wish. Very good. You can also test yourself (I'm not trying that one...). I let her know it does look good (and also send her a poem in German that I wrote and am very proud about... but that is another story!)
2.25 I make sure one of our main providers understand we have changed a class textbook for Chinese. I think they have been informed of this from our Administrator but in her absence I don't want to run the risk, making an error for 1 book order is one thing, for more than 50 is another thing...
2.35 I send an email to 2 librarians with whom I'm doing some training during term time. We must decide for a precise date so that the flyers/promotion about it can be done well in advance.
2.45 Phone call from reception, some books have arrived. I go down to get a little parcel from one of our suppliers. As with the Manx material, I am amazed at the speed of the delivery (order passed on last Monday or Tuesday even)
2.50 Completly forgotten about this: J. needs me downstairs to do some on-line purchasing of material, we do this in a hurry as I am expecting L. to arrive at 3 pm. Problem
3 pm L. arrives. As her demand, I print out the various documents I sent her and we discuss the work she will do when she replaces me next week. I show her also how to process new books and where to place the weeded library material in the Archive's Room. She stays with me till the closing of the building at 6 pm, as previously arranged.
9.10 I arrive at reception, report to D. one of my bosses about the closing-up procedures of one new member of staff, some slight mistakes but nothing too drastic. D. asks me whether I can do something about a CD-ROM that does not work (for EFL, English as a Foreign Language). Our IT Officer is on holiday at the moment.
9.15 I arrive in the library. A. our new Cataloguer is already there, busilly processing our collection, as the moment she is working on the Colloquial and the Teach Yourself language series so that she can get a good feel on how multiparts are processed here. She has started last Monday and I am very very happy to have her working for us. I check my emails, answer one about making an appointment, the rest does not require a reply from me.
9.25 I go down to the first floor of the library and try out the CD-ROM. There seem to be a default with the CD-ROM and I clearly do not know how to sort this out. I let my boss know about this.
9.30 I work on the library statistics which are done by hand still: statistics from our registers places in the library (I sort them out by type of material and, most importantly, languages studied) and statistics from our readers' registration (are they undergraduates, postgraduates etc..., do they want to learn a language and which language for leisure reasons? professional reasons? etc...). The statistics that normally would be automated from the use of our computers have not appeared. I send an email to the IT Officer so that he can sort this out when he comes back from holidays.
10.35 receive an email from one of our Tutors (German language) sending me a link to a web 2.0 site where she has created a flash-card exercice. I save this in the library delicious page (which will be loaded into our twitter account). She replies saying she would like me to check it. Ah... promise myself I'll do this later today...
11. B. my Library Assistant arrives as I am busy dealing with A. She knows what to do as the trolley is full of books and cassettes to place back on the shelves. I later ask her to add a few newly made borrowing cards in the Borrower's register.
11.05 I start weeding some of the collections. I do "faux-weeding" as you are bound to be asked for a book as soon as it disappears from the shelves. All weeded material goes to the Archive's Room where it will stay there, for a good while. Weeding is a very dangerous occupation for a librarian I feel, not to be done before at least three full years in the job. And still, I wouldn't get rid of material still: mistakes can easily be done otherwise!
11.35 J. who is teaching with us this summer shows me a book he really likes in the library. He also says he really likes my library, which is a sweet thing to hear! I tell him about books I have ordered for his teaching, as those should arrive soon, probably early next week.
Noon. Just saw my reader who wants to learn Manx arriving in the library, I go and see him to give him the language course that I have received yesterday from isleofman ordered the day before (impressed with the speed!) that the reader thought was of good quality. Apart from the final shelfmark on the material, the book and CDs have been processed (archive number and creating a shelfmark, as Manx is a new language for the library collection).
Most of the morning, on and off: A. our newly appointed Cataloguer is checking with me details on how to process the material. It is rather complicated as we have lots of multiparts and lots in many languages (we have 140 different languages!), and not many other catalogues (COPAC, OCLC) treat multiparts the way we do here so there's a lot of things we need to create ourselves and there is a lot of liaising to do with the central library in our University.
12.45 pm I pause and look at my diary, dark with my writing. I hope I do not forget anything! We have new language classes starting next year and also language Tutors changing textbooks and I need to make sure I order everything and liaise well with everyone.
12.50 pm Happy! Got an email from L. who's replacing me next week. She thanks me for the email sent yesterday and has questions to ask later. Good.
1.05 pm more queries from the Cataloguer. A difficult one. We will "sleep on the idea" I say, and speak about it tomorrow morning when she comes back.
1.10 pm as there is a storm outside, I decide not to go to lunch right now and try out the e-cards made by the Tutor in German. I try a few, you can hear the word several times and read it too, and see the translation, if you wish. Very good. You can also test yourself (I'm not trying that one...). I let her know it does look good (and also send her a poem in German that I wrote and am very proud about... but that is another story!)
2.25 I make sure one of our main providers understand we have changed a class textbook for Chinese. I think they have been informed of this from our Administrator but in her absence I don't want to run the risk, making an error for 1 book order is one thing, for more than 50 is another thing...
2.35 I send an email to 2 librarians with whom I'm doing some training during term time. We must decide for a precise date so that the flyers/promotion about it can be done well in advance.
2.45 Phone call from reception, some books have arrived. I go down to get a little parcel from one of our suppliers. As with the Manx material, I am amazed at the speed of the delivery (order passed on last Monday or Tuesday even)
2.50 Completly forgotten about this: J. needs me downstairs to do some on-line purchasing of material, we do this in a hurry as I am expecting L. to arrive at 3 pm. Problem
3 pm L. arrives. As her demand, I print out the various documents I sent her and we discuss the work she will do when she replaces me next week. I show her also how to process new books and where to place the weeded library material in the Archive's Room. She stays with me till the closing of the building at 6 pm, as previously arranged.
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