Library Day in the Life Day 4

Shelving first thing - too many trolleys of books left from last night to leave for long and only two of us in until 10.00 today; more illness amongst staff team.

Paper build-up on desk to deal with but prepping for teaching session needed first.

This is a trial session for a college group in their second term here. Probably closest in style to the scaffolding approach now used by some libraries for teaching, but most importantly is a trial for an activity that will a) fit in with proposed changes to teaching in the Faculty which include scope and space for the Library to put on extended classes as part of the range of teaching on offer b) allow students to explore resources, produce author bibliographies of primary and secondary works and evaluate them in the knowledge that their work will contribute to an interactive online literature timeline. Session went really well, students like the information display and especially the reading list links that we are trialling as well, so fund bidding here I come. Actually a brisk lunchtime walk and I have now widened this out so that all second year college groups will join in this programme - and it's getting quite exciting. Just need to work out exactly what funds I need for now and transmit the excitement upwards.

More staff calling in ill for afternoon and evening shifts so as Assistant Librarian is ill, the re-arranging and phoning for replacement staff falls to me. Staff who ARE in are extremely obliging and willing to help out. Fabulous team here!

Assist staff with peculiar issue desk queries today - realise now how wonderful the Assistant Librarian role is in the Library and that without them here I get all these odd things to deal with! Makes me think about the rules that are made in libraries. We were talking yesterday at the staff training event about how often situtations need a 'grey' response. If we're too black and white we fail to demonstrate empathy. Not alwasy easy the bigger the organisation though if I recall correctly John Lewis 'pay desk' staff are given responsibility for 'breaking the rules' depending on the situation if it improves the customer experience. Much more personalised. I digress - but definitely went for the grey response.

Colleague visits to talk about an aspect of the Library management system that I've been using for some time.

Library Day in the Life Day 3

Handouts loaded onto the VLE.

Joint staff meeting with Judge Business School on personalising our library services. This was a really nice relaxed time with English staff and Judge staff discussing how personalised our services should be. Amazing how we all view things slightly differently and how our assumptions about situations differ. Communication is similar as well. Just to give a small (but probably confusing) example.. I recall sometime ago sitting in on a meeting that I shouldn't have been at and acting as an observer. Person A said something, Person B minuted it, but when Person C read the minutes some days later, they commented that this wasn't what Person A said. Person A said it was. What was going on? Simply - an assumption had been made by C about what A had said, and the subsequent interpretation of it by C was different to the INTENDED point that person A had made. No big deal really but person C had acted on their interpretation of the comment rather than the actual comment that A had made. Interesting communication issues that go on all the time. How many times do we say something to a library user and ASSUME that we have been clear, when a different message was understood by them. Have we provided a personalised service then?

Ok - back to base and dealing with emails - way too many today again. Setting up meetings, reading papers for a meeting this afternoon, responding to a blog about a potential change in web interface, problems with mounting the paintings, REF impact information to absorb, and - oops need to go to the issue desk now for my lunch time stint.

Work experience pupil wants to come here in March so checking with staff - we usually take about 4 per year but it looks like we have our full quota in place so can't take any extras.

Long communication meeting this afternoon with pre and post meetings necessary to clarify issues.

Library Day in the Life Day 2

Day 2
Opened the Library - always do this on a Tuesday as normal staff member who has this task starts late today. Then spend time resolving how to move forward with mounting two special paintings in the Library this summer. Sprint from my office to the issue desk downstairs and report that sick member of staff is returning today. Yay! That means time at my desk today. Thinks to self - will catalogue DVDs and ASNC books today- maybe.

A little bit of chasing for an amazing new book coming out in July this year. Yep - it's the one and only 'Personalised services' book that every single man, woman and child will be out of their seats to buy. Co-editor Andy Priestner has had the easy bit - writing rather good prose - whilst yours truly runs (metaphorically) around the countryside dealing with figures that don't quite work, and tracking down contributor forms that she has put in a 'safe place'.

Sit on enquiry desk in main library space today, love being asked questions there but fear the frowns at the cataloguing module whilst there may put people off. Practises smiling at the bib record for a new DVD. Deal with an elusive reference for academic plus trialling the teaching session with resources to make sure it all works. Not happy that MLA International Bibliography results won't download speedily into Zotero so work-around for that section of the session required.

10.15 - all the regular staff now in so do the rounds to see how the absent staff from yesterday are and get some updates. Volunteer also in today for some cataloguing. All quiet on the Western front.

Long meeting with IT specialist and Computer Officer - now back to the lists of most borrowed to highlight some texts for ebook purchases. Partial success at this.

Finish a long list of book orders for the Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Library. This is a small library within our larger library, and I deal with all their orders, and subsequent cat and class etc. A few tricky ones that only an email to the Norwegian publisher will resolve.

In-between all this receive more emails than I can sensibly deal with, though I reply to quite a few. Save all the REF impact ones into a folder to look at later.

Ok - enough for today.

Library Day in the Life Day 1

Day 1

Don't ever tell me that our Library could do with fewer staff. One member off on a jolly stealing ideas from other libraries, one off sick, leaving the Librarian and two other members of staff for most of the day to keep things ticking along. Nice and easy? Oh no. Gamely volunteered to man the issue desk over lunch time, although had already spent an unusual several hours there earlier there in the morning. Fortunately savvy Assistant Librarian said would I like some help for the 1.00 rush. When he finally left for his lunch break at 1.15 (when to all intents and purposes the 'rush' was over) he remarked positively - 'I hope I don't find you submerged in books when I get back'. Charming, I thought. Well - the 1.00-2.00 deluge in Libraryland here at the English Faculty is something to behold. To say nothing of the 11-12.00 one. All those wonderful thoughts that I have about how every student will never leave the issue desk without a postive experience doesn't exactly work when you're the only one there. Interesting, I mused to myself later on when clearing the email inbox debris. Personalised service?? Shelving today as well as the trolleys fill up on a regular basis. Checked the stats to see what was happening on returns. Only 600 books to put back on the shelves. Felt like 1,000. BUT thank heavens that at least we have self-issue.

Inbox also suffering from deluge today as academic sends on approx 70 emails from faithful followers of their regular slot on a radio programme. Emails describe how much impact the programme has on them. REF impact case study work in case you haven't guessed. Impressive content in the emails, just now need to store and summarise and push the case study along a little further.

Hmm- anything else? Oh yes - exchange with furniture designer on new library display gallery, developed the online literature timelime line a little (quite excited with tiki-toki), put together a teaching programme for a college fresher group for bibliographical research - to populate said timeline. And the weekly chore of sorting out the payroll for the weekly paid staff (approx. 8 wonderful invigilator staff who keep the library manned evenings, Saturdays and Sundays).

No time for pics today.
Early evening check of email at home reveals student having problems with access to CamTools. Check and sort problem before rushing out for a sewing class.

The Librarian's New Year Goodie Bag

Happy New Year!

I'm impressed at all the good stuff around at the moment! Loads of nice new resources out there for you all.

Below - just a taster of some things to explore:

If you have had one particular shiny new Xmas present and are looking for apps to download for either iPhone or iPad, can I recommend for starters:

1. First Folio of Shakespeare available as an ebook

2. The Waste Land app available for iPad

3. Dickens Dark London by the Museum of London - for iPhone or iPad

4. British Library - constantly providing more e-treasures all the time e.g. for a full list:

(BTW the Faculty Library is considering purchasing several iPad 3s later this year for lending to students - watch this space. Feel free to comment below...)

Some other nice resources to explore:

1. Connected Histories website - cross search 1500-1900 up to 15 historic collections (not all free just to warn you, but some good stuff all the same) http://www.connectedhistories.org/

2. Library of Congress National Jukebox - try the recordings for 'New Year's Day' - and so much more. But try the UK's National Sound archive as well

3. Literature Compass - an online only journal from Wiley, very recently purchased. The website claims ''Literature Compass has much broader horizons: a state-of-the-art site with the section editors providing expert coverage of every period,'' or look in the UL's A-Z list of journals for the link.

4. The British Newspaper Archive - search for free

5. The TLS Archive is now available in Cambridge up to 2006! Much improved access!

6. Oh - and go on - have a look at the Faculty Library's subject guides - you can add comments there, make suggestions etc etc.

7. An interesting site I've just heard of - AWE - a guide to academic writing in English from Hull, might be useful. It's not prescriptive.

8. Don't forget that we now have ARTstor in Cambridge - excellent set of images for educational use.

Not forgetting that this year is the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. There is a celebration website. Famous manuscripts can be seen online on the V& A website along with other research resources. The Museum of London is hosting an exhibition. On a much smaller scale watch for the opening of the new display gallery in the Faculty Library which will feature a Dickens exhibition.

A good youtube video for the procrastinators amongst you......The Joy of Books

FINALLY - want to get your fines under control?

Did you know that you can set up RSS feeds for books you have out and when they are due back at most of the libraries in Cambridge? Have a look at this webpage for instruction on setting up a feed. I have it set up to go to my Google calendar (which is the best thing ever invented for keeping my life together) and it works really well.

Serendipity

Went to a talk last week by Aleks K where she demonstrated her Serendipity Engine.

It was very good. She was aiming to identify all the variables and apparently quirky decisions that we make every day that land us in a situtation that allow for the serendipitous 'happening' that may just alter the course of your life....forvever. Just think for a moment of the time your eyes met those of the tall dark handsome stranger across the room......but I digress. We are, of course thinking about the article you are writing, the research you are conducting. Following the talk I got into conversation with a colleague and was reminded about the difference there is between the physical browsing of a collection, a journal issue etc and the online browsing that is perhaps more typical (lamentably so by some) these days. A number of academics still bemoan the necessity of abandoning the physical browsing for the online, and they do have a point - don't they? After all, although online browsing is good fun and very good for procrastination, well, it's a different beast altogether. The argument goes of course, that you just have to stop whining and move to the online serendipitious browsing and get on with it! Surely!

But I wonder if we are being rather naive by advocating that it's ok to abandon reasearch habits that have worked well for many for so long. I compare the difference in serendipitous browsing to the differences that exist with reading a real book as opposed to reading a book loaded on your Kindle. Neither activity is bad (a self-confessed Luddite when it comes to reading books via a Kindle or even my newly acquired iPad!) per se, neither could be said to be better - in terms of research output. But both require different activities to achieve the goal of acquiring information and may inevitably (if we consider serendipity) result in different conclusions and different exit routes from the book.

This is not a bad thing but a different thing. Perhaps the main difference is that the skimming/scanning process with a physical item is in the end more focused and less 'skittery'. When I'm browsing on the web I tend to ditzy around following this link, or that, this related item, or that. Browsing a shelf load of books I'm already more focused. When I read a physical book, I have a sense of where I have come from and where I am going, but an ebook allows me to use it as a reference tool.

Where am I going with all this? I suppose I'm saying that those who bemoan the loss of the serendipitous physical browsing have a point because they have lost an activity that allowed things to be drawn together in their minds that might not happen otherwise. They fear they have lost the ability to do their job well ie research. Do we persuade them that online is better? I don't think so. I think we tell them that online is different, but that there as many eureka moments to be had this way as the other. Don't abandon the old just because the new is being forced on you! Do what you need to do in order to allow the creative muse to inspire, create and push you into making those research connections that you had never thought of before.

If I had a fairy godmother....

...who could wave her magic wand....

• and arrange for me to spend more time on the issue desk at work I would be happy - for a manager this may sound like a contradiction in terms and I am sure there are plenty who would say that the manager's role is not on the issue desk. But what a superb place to develop relationships with users! Granted we could do away with the issue desk altogether of course and introduce roving, or I could station myself in the social space in the Faculty. As it is my tactic is usually to potter strategically (no, I cannot describe my brisk walk as a potter - substitute potter for 'pass through the Faculty at a brisk pace' if you would) with coffee mug in hand entering into conversations with those I happen to bump into. Lets hope that those who have encountered me in the Faculty don't read this! The tactic does work very well actually but - just now and again the casual issue desk chat is equally productive in all sorts of different ways. Bring back issue desks I say.
  


• and give me more hours in a day this would be wonderful - perhaps this just sounds plain greedy or like someone who should go on a time management course or someone who just hasn't got the work/home balance sorted. I truly love my job though and I want us to be better and better at what we do and what I do. So could I have at least one day a week which is maybe 36 hours long?
  


• and arrange for the powers that be to understand the massive impact that personalising a library service can have. I have just paid a visit to a small specialist library where the context of who they serve and what they require is clearly understood. The services that have developed because understanding the context are personalised and yet community-based and just 'fit' the users - you get a sense of a favourite coat that fits really well and is practical and yet attractive, is yours and yet willingly lent out to another. In this library, the desk space can be booked and is yours, from one week to three years; the books from the library shelves that you have around you on the desk are yours, BUT others can borrow them from you if they leave a polite note. Your space is yours, but you empty the bin at your desk and you help the library staff with stockcheck; you re-shelve the books and you take a turn making tea for everyone. A personalised tailored service, based on understanding the context within which it sits but assumes that personalised also means there may be an element of a price to pay -your own contribution to the service. I loved the community feel and the sense that users look out for each other. The library does not have very many staff, but they have used their time wisely for the benefit of the users.

There is more that a fairy godmother could do for me, but lets not demand too much at one time!

(Photos courtesy of libatcam)