It’s been a really long time since I’ve done one of these posts. There used to be something called Library Day in the Life, but the project was ended in 2012. I always enjoyed sharing my days, especially since I have a sort of unique job. I picked Wednesday as my day to keep track of my day and I’m really glad I did because it was a super busy day. Usually I participate in table rounds with one of our clinical teams, but I didn’t get to meet with the team that day. I’ll have to share more about that another time.
On Wednesday, my day went something like this:
8:00-8:30: All the usual early morning activities, like opening the library, booting up my computer, and straightening up the mess left over from the night shift. I also, like I always do, made my to do list and then filled the InterLibrary Loan requests that came in overnight.
8:30-10:15: finished filling the ILL requests (I get around 20-25 a day), printed out a few search and article requests to get started on, chatted with a doctor when he came to pick up a presentation I edited, ate breakfast, and wrote a blog post. While I was eating breakfast, I read a few blogs and caught up on the day’s news via Twitter.
10:15: Realize I should probably start doing real work because it’s already starting to pile up.
10:16-11:00: copied the August OB/GYN reading list articles for a doctor and then delivered them to his office. I like to hand deliver things because it gets me out of the library. I really dislike make copies and wish actively for a full time library assistant or an intern so I don’t have to stand at the copier for a half hour.
11:00-11:30: Answer the phone and return emails. Fill article requests for a nurse, a pharmacist, a resident, and two attendings.
11:30-12:00: In between answering the phone and greeting people who came in the library (I was strangely busy with real people), I worked on finding articles for an administrator who wanted information on “characteristics of an effective leader”. I used a variety of databases including logging in to the AVL with my own library card. I only have access to health-related databases and I really needed information from business sources. The search took a while because of the vast number of hits I kept getting.
12:00-1:00: Time for morning report. I try to go at least once a week both for library publicity and to be on hand to answer any questions that come up. I answered two on my iPad during the case presentation and then had requests for two articles and a search after it was over. Metabolic acidosis is always a hot topic.
1:00: Realize I haven’t eaten lunch. After checking the mail box and scoping out what’s in the cafeteria, I decide I’ll just eat the leftovers I brought.
1:15: Eat lunch at my desk and panic slightly at the amount of work surrounding me. I’ve checked 4 things off my 10 item to do list and I have three searches that also need to be done. Wish, once again, for full time help.
1:45: Fill some more ILL requests
2:00: Turn on my new “middle school revisited” playlist and buckle down. It’s time to do all the things.
2:15-2:45: Finish the leadership search and order all the articles that I need. It was a much bigger project than I thought it would be but I’m proud of what I found.
2:45: Eat some chocolate and ponder what needs to be done next.
3:00: Go on an article scavenger hunt. I have to employee some tricks learned in an advanced reference class I think about how my professor would be proud of my investigative skills.
3:15: Fill more article requests, order articles, and send them off to the appropriate people.
3:30: Download a presentation for a doctor’s talk next week to make sure all the animation plays. It doesn’t and after fighting with it, I give up.
3:45: Order more articles for my hospital’s CMO.
4:00-4:40: Work on the malfunctioning presentation again. I even try it on another computer to no avail. I call the person who helped put it together but we can’t come up with a solution. All I can think of is that the two videos that aren’t playing are in file types we don’t support. I’m very frustrated and make a note to call IT in the morning. Working on these sorts of things are definitely not in my job description but I was doing it to be nice.
4:40: I curse myself for being too nice and leave because I can’t take it anymore. Plus I already have 30 minutes of overtime this week so I’m ready to be done with this day.
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How did I miss this? I love reading “a day in the life” articles from other librarians. 🙂
Don’t know, but I’m glad you came back and read it!
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