A day, again.

Recently had a conversation about how the common misconception about what librarians do (read books all day, check books in and out) is based solely on the tasks the patron sees, and how those things are usually only the tip of the job description iceberg.* This goes double for system staff, because NOBODY EVER SEES WHAT WE DO WE ARE GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE. 

So, in the interest of pulling back the curtain a tiny bit, I thought I'd share my most recent Monday as a library consultant in a large, rural system. Enjoy:

7:54am. Arrive at NCLS. Sign in and sit down with my croissant and chai.

7:55am. Check e-mail, social media feeds, blog feed. Compile youth services roundup. I try to send out a short collection of youth services-related resources each day, depending on what my morning looks like.

9:09am. Work on OverDrive cart. I order e-books for children and teens in our system, and trying to create a current, balanced, diverse collection of titles within my budget is always a challenge.

9:41am. Prepare for meeting of Jefferson County libraries. Check the room, review talking points.

9:50am. Pre-meeting chat with early arrivals.

10:02am. Jefferson County library meeting. This group was originally a funding committee exploring the breakdown of county grant allocations, but has since expanded its efforts to include advocacy and outreach. Some of the libraries in our system already participate as a group in regionally specific activities like county fairs or festivals, and Jefferson meeting participants brainstormed ideas for their libraries. We also discussed our county funding advocacy campaign, since it's never too early to advocate for county funding!

11:15am. Discussion with library trustee regarding a question about the appropriate amount of insurance coverage for books.

11:28am. Lunch.

12:28pm. Work on blog post about new children's and YA e-books and intermittently respond to e-mail as it comes in. Composing the blog post entails copying and pasting book summaries and grabbing cover images (which doesn't take too long), and second-guessing my cart and double-checking reviews posted to Kirkus and School Library Journal (which does).

1:25pm. Write up the notes from the morning's meeting. Usually I wait entirely too long to do this, because I am the worst note taker ever and can never make sense of what I scribbled down during the meeting. Unfortunately, the longer I wait to make sense of my notes, the less sense they make. Trying to be better about this. 

1:41pm. Look for chocolate. Find chocolate. Eat chocolate.

1:42pm. Resume notes.

2:43pm. Take a lap around the building.

2:45pm. Check on how juvenile and YA e-books are circulating - which titles are checked out, which have holds.

2:48pm. Summoned to the front desk to help a gentleman in need of local professional book restoration service.

2:59pm. Touch base with my boss about the insurance question from earlier in the day since the only context I have for the term 'depreciation' is how it applies to a car as soon as you drive it off the lot.

3:12pm. Editing project. Fun fact: I will gladly look over, tighten, polish, deconstruct and/or reconstruct whatever first draft you put in front of me, whether it's a business letter, a news article, or a grant proposal.

3:22pm. Check the weather. It may snow later in the week, which is unacceptable, but not unheard of for this time of year in this neck of the woods.

3:23pm. Back to editing project.

3:58pm. Update NCLS Twitter account. I usually do this much earlier in the day, when I am putting off things like typing up meeting notes.

4:04pm. Sign timesheets for the Outreach department.

4:12pm. Discover the YALSA Top Ten Nominees for 2015 list and make sure I recognize at least a few of the titles.

4:21pm. Check blog feed quickly before going home for dinner.

4:29pm. Sign out for the day.

6:15pm. Back on the clock! Drive down to Belleville.

7pm. Board meeting of the Belleville Philomathean Free Library. As a library consultant, sometimes I'm invited to board meetings to help solve problems or provide support during difficult times, and other times I'm invited just because I haven't been for a visit in a while. This visit was of the latter variety, and even without a problem to solve, I was happy to field questions as they came up.

9:15pm. Home again, home again.

*And for the record, even though some librarians do check books in and out, I do not know a single one who reads books all day. Not even one.