A Day in the Life of a Librarian: 2/27/13

8 AM, on the nose: Arrive at work, shed purse and backpack. Take a brief look at my desk and contemplate suicide.

8:02 AM-Begin to check emails

8:08 AM-Set out sign for the day's program. Check supply of flyers. Beef up Staff Picks table. Beef up Book Display table. Clear out Council Agenda binder.

8:18 AM-COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE

8:20 AM-Clear off desk space

8:25 AM--Thus commences the nebulous project "working on the program brochure." This entails consulting with my big desk calendar to see what my boss has written in, and writing a 75-100 word blurb for each event for the next quarter. This entails thinking of 20 different ways to describe a "fascinating lecture" or an "evening of artistic films". Also, this entails me nagging my boss and/or various performers for their information and press kits. Also, this entails adding each event to our Event Management Software, as well as our programming calendar.

9:40 AM--All Staff Meeting. Lasts about 5 minutes and is mainly just an update on what traffic to expect through the Library.

9:45 AM--Re-commence program work

10:30 AM--Morning breaktime. I struggle to finish Urban Tribes, by Ethan Watters.

10:45 AM--Re-commence program work

11:30 AM--Lunch. It's a rather political event. I came to it hungry and left it with indigestion.

12:50 PM--Re-commence program work. Spend the next four hours toggling back and forth between Word, Outlook, Excel, and Chrome.

3:45 PM--Briefly pause to officially request my time off for PLA in 2014.

4:50 PM--Done. Seriously, done with the first draft of the events! I email our graphic designer and allow myself to feel my own brains oozing out of my ears. I'm spent.

4:55 PM--Brain is still pickled. I turn to a decent end-of-the-day task: Books! I peruse EarlyWord, The New York Times Book Review, and our Library catalog.

6:02--Heading home.

All in all, a day high in productivity, but low in eventfulness. Still, not boring. And I'm ahead of schedule with the brochure!