Random Day in the Life

No, it's not time for an official round of "day in the life" postings, but I'm doing this one for myself. It's Monday, and I've been at work for about 45 minutes. So far I've:

• chatted with a colleague about some boxes in the mail room
• gone through email
• perused a campus newspaper before filing it
• cranked up iTunes for some motivational music
• jotted down the call number of a book I want from the stacks

I'll update this throughout the day, I hope.

• checked out the book
• rescheduled afternoon meetings (maybe)
• approved vacation days for my assistant; put them on calendar
• researched info on copyright and unpublished 19th century documents
• looked up an obituary for a researcher; photocopied page for biographical file
• helped ILL student find a periodical
• asked assistant to create bio file on man whose obit I looked up
• made to-do list
• emailed legal counsel about copyright and letters
• answered email about church history booklets
• printed materials for university files
• printed items to review for afternoon meeting
• looked over spreadsheet pertaining to a collections shift
• proofed document on library closings (for inclement weather and such); delivered to author
  
• returned paper clips and binder clips to supply closet
• put a flyer on an upcoming exhibit in the staff lounge
• looked up a possible speaker for a campus group
• found project for student assistant to work on
• responded to an email about an upcoming research conference on campus
• worked on newsletter that needs to be mailed ASAP

Lunch break.

• back to newsletter
• meeting prep
• two meetings
• chatted with assistant about instruction session he handled today
• emailed faculty member about upcoming instruction session

That's about it!

Customer Service 2.0

Last week as part of my Library Day in the Life posts I mentioned on Twitter that I had ordered some boxes for the archives. According to the sales rep, they weren't going to be available until March 16. A library colleague in another state saw my tweet and replied that she must have ordered the same boxes. I responded to her (in my public Twitter feed) yesterday with "Acid-free storage boxes from Gaylord? I can't believe they're going to take that long!"

Today I received an email from a Group Product and Merchandising Manager with Gaylord Bros. who had seen my tweet. My boxes are shipping today. Way to go, Gaylord! I'm glad they took the time to search for mentions of their name and to track me down. If you buy library and archives supplies, let me recommend them. And if you want to follow them on Twitter, as I now do, they can be found at @GaylordBros.

Library Day in the Life, round 4

It's time again to see what those crazy librarians are up to! Hooray!

Library Day in the Life wiki

"C is for Challenge" at "T is for Training"

Maurice at "T is for Training" has issued a challenge to the TifT Google Group to answer each of the following questions in a sentence or less.

Here goes nothing!

1) Your One Sentence Bio
I'm a zany archivist in the middle of Georgia.

2) Do you blog? If yes, how did you come up with your blog name?
Yes, I found "superstar" when looking for "words ending in -ar" that I could add to "archivist."

3) What is your professional background?
Music librarian/archivist at a music museum, archivist of popular music collection at a state university, now a university archivist.

4) What training do you do? staff? patrons? types of classes?
I'm not really a trainer, but I do work with student assistants in the archives and teach the occasional instruction session for undergraduates.

5) What training do you think is most important to libraries right now?
I'm a big fan of anything that takes trainees (in my case, students) to the next level of independence and helps them find things on their own.

6) Where do you get your training?
Workshops and listening to the "T is for Training" podcast.

7) How do you keep up?
I don't; I do use RSS feeds and other people's FriendFeed links, though, to see what's happening.

8) What do you think are the biggest challenges libraries are facing right now?
Lack of financial resources and a fear of change among some of our leadership.

9) What are biggest challenges for trainers?
See number 8.

10) What exciting things are you doing training wise?
Nothing I can think of, but I'm looking forward to going to a workshop next month on undergraduate research.

11) What do you wish were you doing?
Right this minute, I'd rather be sitting on a beach.

12) What would you do with a badger?
I would feed it very carefully.

13) What's your favorite food?
Anything chocolate.

14) If you were stranded on an island, what one thing would you want to have with you?
A potable water treatment system.

15) Do you know what happens when a grasshopper kicks all the seeds out of a pickle?
Seven redheaded unicorns, because a ladder goes two ways.

16) Post it notes or the back of your hand?
Post-its; I have a thing for office supplies.

17) Windows or Mac?
Windows.

18) Talk about one training moment you'd like to forget?
Can't think of anything right now.

19) What's your take on handshakes?
I prefer hugs.

20) Global warming: yes or no?
On a cold day like today, I say, "Bring it on!"

21) How did you get into this line of work?
I've posted about it before.

22) Why is the best part of your job?
I'm guessing Maurice really means "what" instead of "why," and I'll say it's the wide variety of things I get to do.

23) Why should someone else follow in your shoes?
If you have a passion for connecting researchers with sources, archives are a great place to work.

24) Sushi or hamburger?
Hamburger, please, with cheese.

25) LSW or ALA?
LSW, of course!

26) What one person in the world do you want to have lunch with and why?
My friend Angie in Colorado; I haven't seen her in almost 20 years, and we need to catch up.

27) What cell phone do you have and why?
A Samsung Juke; I wanted one I could use as an mp3 player, and I really like it.

Happy New Year from A to Z

Inspired by recent postings from the Hedgehog Librarian and the Guardienne of the Tomes, this is my first inspirational blog post for 2010. I liked what both of them had to say, and while I don't claim to possess their ways with words, here is my own feeble attempt. I'm stealing the Hedgehog's idea of "A Year of 'Up.'" Thank you, Ms. Hedgehog!

My 2010 "Up" Alphabet

Ante up: commit, follow through, and finish tasks.

Back up: provide support.

Call up: stay in touch with friends.

Dig up: scan and scrapbook photos from the past.

Eat up: try to have more fruits and veggies.

Fire up: get enthused about projects, and encourage others to see things in a positive light.

Give up: donate stuff I don't need.

Help (someone) up: be aware of others' needs, and meet them when possible.

Irish up, don't get my: stay calm.

Jump up: volunteer.

Kick it up: try something new - learn a new crochet stitch, listen to new (to me) music, etc.

Look up: spend time in prayer and meditation.

Move up: set and meet professional development goals.

Neaten up: keep the house and office under better control with a little effort each day.

Open up: share what I know. Be available. Listen.

Push up: try to get more exercise.

Queue up: arrange, organize, and prioritize tasks.

Rest up: get enough sleep.

Saddle up: travel somewhere new.

Talk it up: promote ideas and events at work and church.

Use up: don't buy new things until the old ones are gone.

Vacuum up: tackle the dog hair more often.

Wake up: get moving a little faster in the morning.

eXpect "up": forgive me; I just couldn't find one for X, so I'll just go for anticipating positive things!

Yuk it up: laugh more!

Zip it up: shut up and listen.

What Exactly Do I Want from Social Networks?

I just finished reading Julie Powell's book, Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Some of my favorite lines were not about her cooking project itself but about Powell's experience as a new blogger. Her remarks included such gems as:

• "Oh, and I also know that when you've gotten a night of sleep, no matter how tear-stained, and then some bolstering from people who love you - or 'love' you, or whatever - even if they're people you've never met, sometimes the end of the world doesn't seem like that anymore. Like the end, I mean."
• "It is a comfort to have friends, maybe especially friends you will never meet."
• "I don't mean this to be arrogance; in fact, I don't think it has a whole lot to do with me one way or the other. I think what it means is, people want to care about people. People look after one another, given the chance."
• "And I figure, maybe just believing in goodness generates a tiny bit of the stuff, so that by being so foolish as to believe in our better natures, if just for a day, we actually contribute to the sum total of generosity in the universe."

Compare these thoughts to what Robert Scoble recently had to say about social site FriendFeed. He linked to a search for posts with five or more comments, followed by, "Just for anyone who is looking for a conversation. Me? I'm looking to get smarter. I wish there were a filter for smart conversations because most of these are, while entertaining, not making me smarter about anything."

He went on to say:

• "...finding good conversations is very difficult. Most of the conversations on FriendFeed are pablum, sorry."
• "I don't want to talk about everything in the world that's happening to everyone. Maybe you want to talk about Tiger Woods and his problems or how someone smashed their fingers, but I don't. I'm looking for something smarter."
• " If you read that [world news from Twitter feeds] it's more focused and makes you smarter. Here? I don't find I'm getting smarter. I find I'm spending time having fun, maybe, but not getting smarter."
• "I read books too (even have a Kindle so I can buy most anybook and read it immediately), but they make me smart about something that happened 12 months ago (or longer)."
• "...the thing is the traffic here has NOT been going up and I'm trying to communicate why. Most people look at FriendFeed and don't see the conversations. Then, if they do find the conversations they see a bunch of noise. FriendFeed is fun for my brother, but not for people like me who are looking for something more specific."
• "I tried for 18 months to get everyone to use FriendFeed. I failed and will continue to do so because most people don't want to have conversations with people they don't know. That's the secret sauce on Facebook. You know everyone you talk with (mostly)."

Well, Superstarchivist? What do you want from your social networking sites? Do you want to get smarter? Do you want a community of people who care about each other? Do you want something entirely different?

I decided to see what the Oxford English Dictionary had to say about the adjective "social." Various meanings were listed, including:

• "Of a group of people, an organization, etc.: consisting or composed of people associated together for friendly interaction or companionship."
• "Marked or characterized by friendliness, geniality, or companionship with others; enjoyed, taken, carried out, etc., in the company of others."
• "Of a human being: living or disposed to live in groups or communities; naturally inclined to be in the company of others. Also of a person's nature: characterized by a need to live in groups or communities."
• "Of an animal: living or tending to live in communities of individuals of the same species which cooperate with one another to their mutual or collective benefit; of or relating to such animals; esp. designating insects (such as ants and bees) or other animals which live in highly organized associations, often with adaptation of individuals to distinct roles or activities."
• "Of an activity or policy: carried out to improve the condition of society or for the benefit of society as a whole."

I use different social sites in different ways. I don't find and follow "new" people on Facebook. If we connect there, it's because we've already "met" online or in person. I have found new people through Twitter, but I really don't use it all that often anymore. Most of my social interaction occurs through FriendFeed or the Library Society of the World chatroom. I've made new friends through seeing others' comments and likes in FriendFeed, and I've had the pleasure of meeting some of them in person.

I think I lean more toward using social sites for community (like Julie Powell) than for getting smarter (like Robert Scoble). Granted, if I have a professional question, I have a network of librarians/archivists I can ask, but that's not my primary purpose in online networking. That said, none of my online interactions are making me less smart. Maybe I don't get my world news through my Twitter feed, but I certainly get plenty of good ideas and food for thought from my "invisible friends in the computer."

Oh, and last weekend, I watched Robert Scoble's brother get married in Oregon via a livestream from a webcam. So, Robert, thank you for your thoughts, and I'll keep interacting with your brother on FriendFeed.

What I've Learned

Today's posting comes from 37 years on this crazy little planet. I cannot take credit for the ideas below, but I hope you'll find them helpful. They were shared with me throughout my life by teachers, friends, and family who made lasting impressions. Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments.

• Praise in public; criticize in private (and do so positively even then).
• Don't bring up the problem until you can propose a solution.
• Listen.
• Make somebody else feel like the most important person in the room, but do it sincerely.
• You have something in common with every person you meet. It may take some time to find it, but it's in there.
• You matter. Would you treat others the way you treat yourself? Probably not.
• Take the time to find out something about somebody else. Connect.
• Hire good people. Trust them to do their jobs.
• "Get it looking as good as you can as fast as you can." (from an archives workshop on donor relations)
• Smile.
• Say "please" and "thank you."
• When in doubt, ask.
• Let your passion shine through.
• Sparkle!
• "You know more than they do." (offered by a colleague when I was nervous about my first library instruction session)
• Give it back, or pay it forward. If you share when you can, others will share with you in your time of need.
• You never have to say something in an ugly or meanspirited way.
• Help people.
• Try not to turn someone away empty-handed. "Let me find out" or "let me show you" is better than "I don't know." (learned in the library world)
• Lead the way. "Come with me!" is more helpful than trying to give directions. (learned in a customer service workshop)
• You can be an administrator without being a leader.
• Say "I'm sorry," and admit mistakes.
• It's ok to be human.
• You can't do it alone. That's ok. It doesn't make you weak to admit that!
• Try to understand. If you can't empathize, sympathize. (And sometimes that's all you can do.)
• You don't have to memorize it if you know where to look it up.
• The right kind of humor helps most situations. Don't go for the laugh at someone else's expense, though.
• Pray. Meditate. Center. Focus.
• Be grateful.
• Let people know you appreciate what they do for you.
• Do something thoughtful and unexpected.
• Be a mentor.
• Get involved.
• Encourage.
• Keep your promises.
• Read something in print every day.
• Leave it better than you found it.
• Ask how you can help, then do it.

The trouble with this kind of posting is knowing where and how to end it. So, in the immortal words of Daffy Duck (from "Robin Hood Daffy"), "Yoiks and away!"