IMPORTANT This was a post I drafted just after Christmas and never got around to posting. I thought about deleting it as it's now massively out of date but it still does an okay job of describing my day to day activities so I thought I'd post it anyway (in March. Yes it's been a while). I will be writing a more recent post shortly.
I'm free! Dissertation has been submitted and I've had Christmas break to chill out a bit. So, what's new. Everything. I have a job that I love, working in a college library. Thought I'd do one of those 'day in the life of' posts. This isn't a typical day, but that's why I like my job... there isn't a typical day. But here's what happened yesterday....*fade out music*
“Yes, you can borrow the stapler.”
Sometimes people think that because I work in a library, all
I do is shelve, stamp books and act as an endless supply of stationary. Well,
yeah, I do that and yeah, you can borrow that pen. But I do other stuff too.
11am. I don’t usually rock up at this time, but today I’m on
the ‘late’ shift – 11am-7pm. There’s three members of staff and we each do one
late shift per week. After a quick catch up with colleagues on how the morning
has been and answering a couple of emails I scoot up to floor one. Floor one is
where the art books live and after a library ‘meet and greet’ with the art
staff before the Christmas break I’ve offered to put together a selection of
materials for a tutor for a project she’s doing with her classes. This includes
a lot of educated guesswork, as although she sent me the project brief, as with
many art projects, the students are left to interpret in it their own way.
Basically there’s going to be lots of topics covered so my job is to get the
books that could be used by as many as possible. I begin the search.
11.30 I stop the search to go with a colleague to visit the
science staff room. Earlier in the week we put up a notice in the staff room to
let them know we’d come and visit so they could talk to us about resources they
need, or what we can offer them. We’re armed with i-pads, journals and
e-resource guides. Unfortunately, we don’t have a copy of everyone’s teaching
timetable so have to guess at when people might be on a break. We tend to avoid
dinner time, as there is nothing tutors hate more than finally getting a break
then being harassed by the library staff whilst they try to eat their sandwich.
We meet one teacher, who advised us that we might catch more tutors by visiting
at the end of the subject staff meetings.
12-2.30ish: I shelve some books then carry on with my art
task. I put together a selection, make a list (1 copy for me one copy for the
tutor) and re-cover some books that were looking a bit tatty. Tatty can be a
sign of a good book – it might look knackered because loads of people have used
it and lots of people might have used it because it’s useful. Don’t overlook
them. But when you're devilering books to other departments who you've only just started working with it's good to have the books looking their best :)
Many students visit the desk with book type questions. I sign out
books, return books and order books. Yesterday I had a chat
with a French tutor and an English tutor and some materials that they ordered
have arrived (wahoo next day delivery!) so I begin to get them ready to be
added to the system. It’s important to be quick as possible about turning
around orders. We need to shake the image that libraries are slow and not worth
the effort. There’s a lot of socialising too: I have a long chat with a student
about a business he wants to set up, another student comes to tell me she has
had offers from three universities. Students often stop by just to ask how we
are, or how our Christmas was. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like all the
students love the library folk, but a few who visit often will usually come
and say hello, or to chat about something. Lots of people ask to borrow the
stapler. Students need printer help, computer help, want to book out a room. I
don’t sit still for long and can often fix the smaller issues myself. Sometimes
I sit with a student for half an hour or so, just helping them to use Microsoft
word, or showing them how to save their work to different places. The variety
of things I get asked to help with is nice. I also get ask for the time twice
today. (?)
After a talk from my
colleague about the
Reading Ahead scheme, the Entry Level students arrive en
mass to choose books to begin their challenge. I photocopy some articles from
magazine for those who didn’t like the idea of reading a whole book. We have a chat between ourselves about the
best option for students who cannot read. This is a topic that we’ll discuss
more later in the week, as it require careful preparation and co-ordination
between departments.
3pm: Delivery of the art trolley. I dropped off the books,
and after the tutor had had a quick glance over them she seemed to like what I’d brought
and asked if I could do the same sort of thing for a project running with one
of her other classes. I'm in my happy place (praise sponge). That’s put on the list of things to do this evening, when
it goes a bit quieter, as is the task of locating a box, as I the previous
selection already filled my trolley (yes I have my own trolley. It’s purple and
fabulous). I make a note to come and collect the books early March, when the
project is due in, as they’ll no longer be needed and I’ll be missing my
trolley too much by then.
3.30pm A second visit to the science staff room. It is
empty, so we decide to definitely enquire about visiting the staff at their
weekly learning hour or subject meeting. There we’re guaranteed to see people
and interact with staff about their needs and what we can offer them. Outreach
is important. Myself and the other library assistant have the two faculties at
the college divided between us, so that we can be the main point of
inter-department communication for specific subjects and the workload is shared
evenly. It’s still a hell of a lot of subjects each though.
4.30pm-7pm: The college buses leave at 4.45 today which
means the majority of students have left by this time. The library gets much
quieter and I help prepare floor one, which is being used for an induction
evening just before a lotttt of people appear looking to enrol at the college
for a variety of courses. I’m not actually involved in that process, they’re
just using the library space. But during the evening I often direct a lost
looking person up to the correct place. I do a quick tidy downstairs and check
the social media accounts as well as the reservation and holdings on the LMS.
The library in the evening is usually used by higher education students, those doing
a degree via the college. Sourcing the correct level of material for these
students is important, as not everything on the shelves will be of degree
level. If I see higher education students looking at the shelves I make sure to
go over and point out which sections are degree level or relevant to what
they’re studying. A student asks about getting Microsoft Office for his
computer at home, and I let him know about how it should be free for students
and email him the link so he can set it up on his computer. An adult learner
comes to ask about English grammar books to help with his G.C.S.E. Towards the
end of the evening, just because I love it, I shelve some more books that have
been returned. Even when I leave the college is still busy. Some classes go on
till 9pm. TBH I’m glad I’m only working in education right now, rather than
being in it.
It’s different to working in a school, but there are some
similarities. I might do another post comparing the two one day. Basically the
one main aspect of my job that no-one seems to imagine is that it’s a massively
human job. Like, you’re constantly talking with staff, students, external
agencies and sometimes yourself. I haven’t lost my voice yet, though one
student did ask if I was Canadian (eh?). For now, chill time.
Over and out.
