Library Day in the Life, Round 6, Part 2

I had an interesting day, so what the heck - I'll share another Library Day in the Life post for Round 6!

Some of the more interesting, less-routine things I worked on today include:

1. Transaction definitions. Used for tallying questions asked at the service desks. What makes a transaction "short reference"? Extended reference? Computer Instruction? Readers Advisory? I've been looking for the existing definitions our staff has used in the past (which I just KNOW I read when I was newly hired, but could not find anywhere!). A co-worker found the old definitions for me and I updated them. Will include these updated definitions in our new automated reference tally software (coming soon!)

2. Tallied how many computer classes were offered in 2010 - total and by month. October was expecially busy! Lightest month: July. Passed these numbers to the person who works on our state aid reporting.

3. Re-read an old report on databases. I hadn't planned to do this today, but when I was searching for the original transaction definitions in my files, I got sidetracked and started clearing out some other files. I found this report on database cost per use from October/November 2010 that is really interesting. One database we subscribe to is as low as 4 cents per search because it is used so much! Of course, we pay by the year, but to see if they're being used enough to justify their cost, this is a great report.

4. In my files, I also found an old (very, very old...like a decade ago...) penciled-in graph on librarians scheduled per hour. I might just re-create this chart with our current schedule. Of course, I'll have to amp it up with Excel so it can be overlayed with the last round of reference counts! Are our busiest times the same times we are heavily staffed? The schedules change almost every semester as the interns' class schedules change, so this should probably be done more often.

5. Wrote up some instructions. Our digital microfilm machine occasionally prints a mirror image. It's very strange! What shows on the screen is perfectly readable, but the image that prints is upside down and right-to-left. I know how to save and flip the image using Photoshop, so I wrote up those instructions. I still need to add a few screen shots. I wish I knew how to avoid it in the first place, though! Anyone have any experience with this?

6. I was invited to give a 15-minute presentation to the local Rotary Club about eBooks and eReaders. I made a basic outline of the most important ideas to cover. 15 minutes is not much time for a subject I could spend two hours talking about!

7. An intern who's been here for a while taught a newer intern how to use the RFID inventory equipment. I then showed her what to do with the file of collected data.

8. All the usual scheduling, re-scheduling, time off requests, four hours of desk shifts (three at the Youth desk, one at Readers Advisory), email, a couple of #libday6 tweets and one #fridayreads tweet, glanced at today's blog headlines in my Google Reader feeds, and watched a few minutes of a very cool Library Day in the Life video.

There's 30 minutes left in my work day! It's 4:30. Think I'll take a lap around the building to see what's going on where.