Library Day in the Life

Digital Projects Manager for the Kansas City Public Library

For those of you not from libraryland, this post is part of a big annual project where librarians write about what they do.  Last year I read through the posts of some friends that participated and they were all interesting and not really what I expected.  Lately I’ve struggled with how to best summarize my job on this blog, and actually going over what I do each day seems like a good solution.  So….

Day One

7:45-8:00 Get to work, log in, start water for hot tea (it’s COLD in the ITS basement).

8:00-9:00 Hit the email until I’m back to my beloved zero inbox, taking care of some leftover stuff from Friday and non-urgent weekend emails.  I do a quick one over of my email folders that hold things that I need to do and things that I’m waiting on other people for (I fell in love with GTD last year, hence the morning email routine).  I then look over my schedule and to do lists for the week and make sure I’ve noted everything that needs to get done today before I leave for the day and before the end of the week.

9:00-9:30 Review the KCResearch interface progress before 9:30 meeting, set up laptop and AV in meeting room.

9:30-11:45 Meeting with our Drupal interface vendor for KCResearch to create a punch list of the last few things that need to be changed on the site before they hand it over to us.  Super-exciting since I’ve been working on this site for 18 months.  It still has a long way to go content-wise, but the interface is looking sweet!  Yay for faceted searching!

11:45-12:20 Check messages and realize that the library director’s assistant needs some documents for the director’s lunch meeting.  Scramble, make copies.

12:21-12:22 Walk across the street to my apartment (BEST COMMUTE EVER).

12:22-12:40 Quick lunch with some quality radio time.

12:40-1:00 Meeting prep for 1:00, quick email scan.

1:00-2:00 Meeting to go over all the technology initiatives for the library, working towards an ongoing digital strategy to be updated annually.

2:00-2:20 Meet with HR for final approval of project coordinator position for The Missouri-Kansas Conflict: Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865.  Please apply here!  Hurry, position closes 2/7/11 (due to grant timeline).

2:20-3:00 Follow up on notes from earlier meetings, mostly sending email.

3:00-4:00 Login to administrative interface for repository to work on workflow for adding new content to our repository.  Good success with uploading some XML records, but having issues with adding externally referenced content.  Start to look through documentation, but unable to locate solution.  If I can’t find it next time, I’ll place a help ticket.  Break around 3:30 when I noticed an email that job description was posted, brief twitter aside to advertise position.

4:00 – 5:00 Complete tasks for the day, mostly project related email.  Get email back to zero.

5:10 Pick library holds on the way out.

Evening- some quality time with my feed reader, podcast while cleaning the kitchen, read through minutes of ALCTS CE Committee meeting, resolve to participate in Library Day in the Life and post!