Library Day in the Life - Round 6. Thursday #libday6

Another late night librarian day so I get to work at about 2pm. I have built up lots of flexitime as I usually get in early to work so I decide that if I get in at 2, I can work 6 straight hours (with a little tea break) till 8pm and still get a lot done.

2-3pm
I spend this time checking my email, sorting out a travel request and discussing various issues with my line manager.

3-4pm
Another session for 1st year English students. A new colleague sits in to observe me and I start the session a few minutes late due to tardy students! There are 20 of them and all seem fairly engaged and ask questions and respond well to my tests about searching for journals and using databases. The feedback is really good (although always unnerving being referred to as a 'nice lady' - it makes me feel very old) and I am pleased with how it went.

4-5pm
I catch up with the people I line manage in response to some questions they've emailed me, including:

• briefing PW on the meeting on Monday for which I've asked him to take minutes
• confirming some details relating to ordering furniture
• responding to an email about a draft template for a display
• confirming with two members of staff about their working hours
• sending out an email to ask for feedback on our new librarians in preparation for their probation reports

A colleague asks me to clarify how we are now requesting off-air television programmes as a message has been sent out that seems to suggest a change in procedure so I call the Faculty Librarian overseeing the introduction of Box of Broadcasts. He confirms that it's business as usual for us with a view to looking at how this might develop in the future.

By this point it's nearly time for...

5-8pm
The Enquiry desk. I spend much of my stint on the desk planning a teaching session for a couple of weeks time. It's a second year Film Studies session focused on their assignment to look in depth at the cultural and historical context of a chosen film - and I'm trying to resist using some images which I probably shouldn't. Not a good example to set so I'll probably come back to this.

Meanwhile, I answer a few enquiries including dealing with a student who has built up some fines. Nothing too taxing and I can be quite productive with my own work. The urgent tasks on my to-do list have been completed so I'm pretty happy.

No entry for tomorrow as I am off in lieu of working on Saturday. If my daily accounts show anything, it's the variety of work involved in a job like mine. Some of this is to do with working on a small campus where you tend to get involved in lots of things and most of it all at the same time, but in my experience being a librarian in HE has always enabled me to get involved in several different projects, build on management experience, work to (often short) deadlines and develop teaching materials etc. It's a pretty good job, on the whole.