National Libraries Day & Librarian Day in the Life 3

  Wednesday was our event for NLD12.

 When considering what to do we wanted to go outside the library & try to engage with non users. As our canteen area is currently being ripped apart & rebuilt we thought it 'd be a good idea to do something aimed at students when it was re-opened. So we decided to do an event in the staff room to try & meet staff who don't make it into the library. Naturally they needed a bit of encouragement so my boss & I baked cakes as a bribe incentive.

The display included posters from Phil Bradleys collection encouraging everyone to read rather than cook, and another adapted to say "your library needs your reading lists"! A list of things that your professional libarian can do for you; examples of our e-books & e-journal databases; and a variety of statistics & facts for last academic year...

* most borrowed book - Campbell / Biology

* most requested book & most used e-book -   Fowler /  Restraint & handling of wild &

   domestic animals

* received 257 reservations

* issued (& returned) 33,777 books & DVDs  (nearly 1,000 per week)

* delivered information skills sessions to 300 FE   & 190 HE students 

* over 3 weeks in Septemeber inducated over 1,500  students

I had some interesting conversations with staff I'd never met before; chatted with some library regulars; was promised a variety of reading lists & stock suggestions; and introduced many staff to the delights the library had to offer.

And to get cake? They had to look at the display & promise to visit their public library this weekend for NLD12.

All in all a very good exercise that we shall repeat next term.

So after lunch back to the library, where we had a student focused display for NLD12 too.

While the other staff munched through the remaining goodies (not many!) I unpacked a delivery containing a new in tray - my previous having snapped in half under the strain! Then a spot of cataloguing again. Todays titles included books on sea horses; extreme skiing; guinea pigs; calf rearing; animal behaviour; white water rafting safety & rescue. A sample that pretty acurately reflects our subject coverage.

Then to finish off my Library (3) day(s) in a life a discussion with colleagues over who was staffing which days over half term (so we all get a bit of time off) and producing the posters, sending e-mail notifications, & amending the library page on the VLE.

More library day in a life



My workspace.



Today started out with no e-mail system, so half my jobs for the day were delayed.

We had 2 small deliveries from our book suppliers - the REALLY exciting bit of the job, unpacking new books, untouched by human hand (well, almost, untouched by students anyway!). Todays were mostly about pig husbandry, with a bit of environment & dog law thrown in. The down side of unpacking books is receipting the invoices - typically the finance system was taken offline for servicing just as I sat down to do this. Another job on hold.

We're doing stock work at the moment so I weeded out of date & grotty books from  environmental science & education, left a heap to be withdrawn from stock (they go to booksale and any left are recycled via Better world books ). The another of the fun jobs - shopping! Sorry, I mean stock selection. Looking on a suppliers database for new editions; titles to fill gaps; extra copies of popular books; and some suggestions from staff. One tutor popped in while I was doing this with a request for a book on dog neurobiology...and you wondered what a land based college taught.

Basket full, now to raise order on finance system. Ah...later then.

One of our lovely bay ends.

A bit of cataloguing next. Ensuring new books are listed correctly with sufficient keywords so they can be retrieved by subject as well as author / title when students look on the catalogue for that book on orangutan nutrition (todays most interesting query - we had to go with the more general  primate nutrition).

Lunch today involved a quick dash throught the terrible cold for a sarnie, that'll teach me to get organised & take my own lunch. But when I got back my velcro dots had arrived. Yeh!

So the afternoon involved checking e-mails & doing jobs on the finance system, then a reward of constructing the NLD display for tomorrow while keeping an eye on the enquiry desk & helped some agricultural lads find the key text on farm machinery they'd been sent in for.

We have a library class area which we use for our information literacy training (using the internet effectively; finding what you want in the library; how to search the journals databases) and also book out to tutors for resource based learning. One such group was in today & had a bit of trouble getting logged onto their PCs, so I sorted that. We reserve the room with an extra password on the PCs - todays was gerbil. I try & be creative. There was the week everyone had jam, bread, butter & cake as their words! I try & make them easy to spell but one day I'm going to give in to temptation & give a group aardvark.

Another day over, home to bake cookies for the event tomorrow.

A library day in the life - round 8

Twice a year library staff from around the world blog, tweet, take photos or otherwise record their professional days so others can see what it's like to be a librarian. 

See us all or join in at librarydayinthelife .

I'm the Librarian on the ground at a land-based FE college in Cheshire. My boss is a professional librarian too but gets sucked into management and has little time to enjoy day to day libraryland. We teach students from 14 years upwards- studying school diplomas; apprenticeships; pre-entry & entry level adults with learning difficulties; a wide range of FE diplomas; and a growing number of HE students.

After a stroll across a crisp and sunny campus from carpark to library, past the herd of dairy cattle & the greenhouses,  I checked e-mails and caught up on events from the end of last week - I'm part time so need to know what I missed. Half the e-mails are from a forum on the Heritage Library Management System, asking each other solutions to operational problems, the rest are mainly from colleagues. 

Then I was presented with our own query on why some catalogue records for new stock display differently on the OPAC to the staff PCs. One to ponder on. I did solve why some fines were showing incorrectly, so small result.

Next, checking outstanding reservations- chasing overdues we want back quickly; deciding which titles we need to buy extra copies of;  finding some available to read (or large sections of at least) on Google Books; and communicating progress to students.

Just time before lunch for some admin bits - ordering inserts for our lockable DVD cases; creating an order for velcro dots (for the National Libraries Day event) on the online finance system so I can order them to be delivered tomorrow; creating a stock suggestion form prompted by same event.

On the way back from the canteen, sarnie in hand, I came across the valentines display our Florists have created in one of the gardens.

After lunch when I caught up with a pile of library type tweets, I prepared for the NLD event (more of which on Wednesday) which meant finding some statistics  (issues, reservations, e-resource usage etc.); gathering handouts; sending an all staff e-mail invite; & co-ordinating with my boss on the cakes we're making - a touch of bribery to get staff to come & see us!

Then my shift on the enquiry desk / supervising the library. So such librarian type jobs as refilling printers, loaning out scissors & glue (you wouldn't believe how many posters the students get to make), shushing noisy students, then tidying the library as they all vanish towards the buses. Sigh, peace descends.

My late night, so a bit of research while it's quiet into some possible new databases; running updates & admin on Heritage; & doing the washing up (it's been cold, we needed lots of tea today!). Then a cold walk across campus back to carpark & home.

Christmas garland

A bit more preperation & another challenge - make a garland. I chose a word with few letters so it wouldn't take me too long and took a few pointers from Shimelles video. The colours will go with our living room decor & should shine in the festive lighting.

Journal Your Christmas album

It's not December yet but I'm trying to get ready for JYC 2011. I haven't finished one yet  how familiar is that statement!), but am trying to prepare something that I have a chance of doing on a (nearly) daily basis.

So, here's my American Crafts album I got 2 years ago for the first JYC I started - still awaiting a cover.

That year I did 8 1/2 x 11 pages which is a format I like. This year I'm doing 6x4, so some days I can just pop a photo in, others do some journalling. I've ordered my page protectors (AC 6x12 should fit OK) and cut my card.

Christmas crafting

This is a favourite page I created a few years ago for the Journal Your Christmas class run by Shimelle. The theme of the day was Christmas memories. I was about 3 here & it is the first Christmas I remember.

The journalling says - I must have been good! There's an audio tape & a cine film of this Christmas morning. 1970 or 1971.

23 things done, now for a few more...

Well, bits of 23 things were done, as were bits of LSNED, then life took over in the shape of poorly cat who sadly had to be put to sleep, coinciding with a new college year & the decision to have a new kitten.

So time to try again, starting with an online Christmas crafting weekend with Shimelle,

and introducing Tempe