Library Day in the Life Project, Round 7: Day 2

July 26, 2011

I’m participating in the Library Day in the Life Project (now in its seventh round) this week. To quote the project wiki, “the Library Day in the Life Project is a semi-annual event coordinated by Bobbi Newman of Librarian by Day. Twice a year librarians, library staff and library students from all over the globe share a day (or week) in their life through blog posts, photos, video and Twitter updates.”

Today I did some non-work library stuff and then had my first day back at work after two days off. I also got some really good news today!

This morning before I left for work, I had a cup of tea and worked on a guest post for another library blog. It’ll go up tomorrow morning, so I’m just putting on the finishing touches and formatting everything correctly in WordPress. It’s been about two months since I was initially invited to write this post, and I’ve had really awesome assistance from my guest editors. I’m feeling proud of what I’ve created with their help, and I’m excited about it finally being published soon.

While I get ready for work and drive to the library, I listen to audiobooks. As the end of the month is approaching, I’m working hard to make sure I make my listening goal for July. Sometimes it feels like every free moment I have is crammed with audiobook listening, but being on this committee’s been a great experience: I’m reading things I normally wouldn’t, I’m much better equipped to do listeners’ advisory, and I’m learning about working in a group and doing YALSA committee work.

On my way to the library, I stop at Swirl, a local frozen yogurt place that’s donated $20 gift cards to our summer reading club for participants who log 4800 pages. We ran out of the first batch of cards last week, so I need to pick up more. The owner is really friendly and I thank him again for his support of the library. In truth, his donation is what finally brought our prize offerings together, and the club would be a lot less awesome without him.

12:30pm: I arrive at work. On my way to my desk, I stop to tell my boss how the manga club meeting went on Saturday and to let her know that I have more gift cards. She tells me I’m being given more hours! I can now work 22 hours a week instead of 19. It may not sound like a lot, but it’s going to give me way more breathing room (I’ve been going over my hours each week lately), and it makes me hopeful that I’ll eventually be made full-time. I clock in and take care of the papers and notes that have been left on my desk while I’ve been gone. My boss’s daughter arrives to take her to lunch and has brought their dog by to say hello. She and I are pals, so I take some time time to talk to her and scratch her neck the way she likes.

1:00pm: email. I’ve received 102 new emails since I left at 5pm on Saturday. Since 89 of them are summer reading registrations and reading log entries (holy cow), I start with the non-summer reading stuff. Some of it isn’t really relevant to me. One teen patron has fifteen shortish questions about the club, the other stuff the library offers, and what we do during the school year. I proofread the teen program listings in our weekly e-newsletter and redirect a vendor’s request to talk with me about their product to our director.

1:45pm: I start going through the summer reading registrations and log entries. There are three new kids signed up! I’m a little surprised since we’re halfway through our fifth week of eight, but I’m happy. While I’m screening all of the reading log entries and entering them into kids’ spreadsheets and then calculating the number of raffle tickets and determining the prizes they’ve earned, the librarian at the reference desk calls three times because teen patrons have questions about their prizes and the program.

3:15pm: finally done processing summer reading stuff. This is the first year we’ve done a program and it’s been a success so far (72 kids signed up, over 175,000 pages logged so far), but it’s just almost too much work for me to be able to do while keeping up with everything else. I’m hoping to be able to make the case to get an intern from the local-ish MLS program or an automated online tracking system for next year. It’s now time to update the Top Ten Readers list (the top three get to go on a shopping spree for the library at a local bookstore) and go up to the desk to mark kids’ cards and distribute raffle tickets. While I’m at the desk, I answer a handful of patron questions. I put more flyers about the summer reading club and our programs in YA books that are on hold at the circulation desk. I call and text the kids who couldn’t pick up their frozen yogurt gift cards last week to let them know we have the gift cards again.

4:15pm: There are three more reading club log entries in my mailbox. I decide to ignore them until tomorrow and look over the functional requirements document that our director is sending around for review. We’re hoping to build a new building within the next five years or so and I like that she’s soliciting input from staff. I just wish that I’d gotten this document early enough to take it to my Teen Advisory Board to see what they think. I’ll put it on the agenda for next month (though I’m not sure anyone will come to the meeting–our summer program attendance has been really unpredictable). I get about halfway through the document, making a few notes, before I have to leave.

5:00pm: I put away my papers and folder and planner, clock out, and check in with my boss one last time. I’m a little bummed by how little I got done today, but I did have a weekend of summer reading stuff to catch up on. My list for this week isn’t too horrifically long, but I’m also working fewer hours than usual to make up for going over the last few weeks. (Balancing hours like this is one of the trickier parts of my job.) Anyway, I’ll get more done tomorrow. I head to the frozen yogurt place on my way home for a little treat and some time reading on my Nook. I’m in the middle of Along for the Ride, the first Sarah Dessen novel I’ve read. It’s drawing me in more than I’d expected.

I get home, work on making last-minute adjustments to the mentor/protege matches for YALSA’s mentoring program, and then get ready for volleyball. We lose all three games but have fun, and since we’ve lost so quickly, I have time to go to the gym (and listen to audiobooks while I run). After a shower, I finalize the new mentor/protege matches and sit down to write this blog post. Now that I’m finished, it’s time to brush my teeth, read (or maybe listen) a little bit more, and then go to bed.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Tags: audiobooks, building ya, libday7, library day in the life, professional involvement, summer reading, teen services, work