Getting Started

The day started  late.  I considered delaying my Day in the Life. Then I realized, late days and hectic Monday mornings happen… it’s part of the life.

After a rough start to the morning with waking late and a sick partner at home, I got myself to the office about a half hour behind schedule. I work for the Idaho Commission for Libraries. We’re located in downtown Boise in the Capital Mall area.  The 2011 Legislative Session has begun. That means if I am just a tad late in the morning, parking is a challenge. This will impact me later as I’ve found short-term parking (2 hours) and the car will need to be moved.  It pays to be a morning person during the Legislative Session.

Work starts with a run through any waiting email. I try to take care of action items I can respond to quickly right away. Things that will take more time get flagged for follow up later. I also note that my email inbox is much larger than I would prefer and I schedule time to clean it up thinking that making an appointment to do it might help get it done.

One thing waiting is a Google Alert with news items about Idaho libraries.  So I flip through some news about a university library that experienced some vandalism and  news of a new library director in one of our larger cities.  I make a mental note that none of the news items pertain to the statewide programs I work on; it’s been a few weeks since I’ve seen one of those and we’re trying to promote some stimulus-funded programs. 

Another item in my mailbox is a notice from one of the vendors we use for our statewide databases is going to be down for 12 hours of maintenance this weekend. It’s mostly in the middle of the night and won’t have a huge impact, but I need to get notice to the library community anyway. This I do right away.

9:30am – Work on the RFP

I don’t have any meetings until the afternoon, so my first priority is to check on the status of our Request for Proposals (RFP).  We’re a few months away from the current contracts for our statewide databases expiring.  To establish new contracts, we need to do a formal RFP working with the state’s Division of Purchasing. We’re still drafting it and I’m waiting for feedback on the most recent draft from our liaison at Purchasing.  I added some wording on Friday, so I’ll send that update to Purchasing. The new wording has to do with the program’s background.  The background, plus the scope of work, also need to be looked over by the State Librarian and Associate State Librarian. It’s a very strict and legally binding document we’re creating, so I don’t want to be the only one who has reviewed the terms.  I need to include our Web Developer (the staff person in charge of making the databases accessible through our web portal) to make sure the scope of work fits our technical needs.  She is, perhaps, the most crucial review point.

11:00am – Complete some "Tasks"

After more editing of the RFP and sending it to various people for review, it’s time to move on to other things.  I’m distracted by the items in red in my Task List in Outlook.  Luckily, these are generally items I’ve assigned my own deadline to. I start by cleaning up some relatively quick tasks.

• As Idaho’s Chapter representative to ALA, sent a request to ALA to see if it’s possible to find out who in Idaho is a member.  Not sure if there’s a privacy issue that would make that impossible or not.  ILA might be able to use the information for membership recruitment.
• ILA is also looking to recruit new people for leadership in the state association.  We’re wondering if we can find out who from Idaho has gone through ALA’s Emerging Leader program.  A note to ALA’s EL program person to ask that.
• Requested number of holdings from Idaho identified in WorldCat right now.  I do this twice a year for keep track of statistics.  Idaho uses WorldCat as a group catalog. We like to know how many holdings are in there for the state as a measurement of Idaho’s use of the system.  We provide group access to Idaho libraries (discounted by purchasing as a group) to OCLC’s cataloging and ILL services.  The statistics are used for reporting to the State as well as a benchmark for staff to see that the service is being used.
• Updated stats with the most recent quarter of ILL activity statewide.  ILL activity is down about 8% overall.  Lending is down more than borrowing.  The previous year saw a 12% increase.  I don’t know if it’s a result of changing ILL practices, changing formats (more electronic & more restrictions on loaning electronic), stabilizing stats since the year before saw a huge increase, lack of budgets (staff to do ILL, money to get the physical materials shipped), or something else.  So many options.  Something to ponder on more when time permits.

Then, draft a Task Summary for Idaho Library Association.  It’s basically a project outline that identifies goals, where the activity fits in the strategic plan, projected timeline, and who is responsible for it.  We’re trying this process this year to more clearly identify what is being done and how it helps to achieve the goals of the strategic plan.  The summaries are really good for assigning a task to someone, like a committee chair, so the desired results are clearly outlined and there isn’t as much question about the intent or reasoning behind a project and it doesn’t rely on an individual’s background with the organization.  This is important as we’re recruiting a lot of new leaders in the Association.  I’m doing a summary for Library Snapshot Day that will be assigned to our PR Committee Chair.  She’s new to the organization and asked for some direction on tasks assigned to her committee.  I’m drafting the summary; the ILA President will officially review & assign the task.

12:15pm          Speed errands

With 45 minutes before my next meeting, I need to run out to:

(a)   Move my car before I get a ticket, too much time has passed. I must hope the parking monitors haven’t been by yet. 

(b) Find food, didn’t have time to pack a lunch today, and

(c)  Get my cell phone, which I left at the old house we were painting over the weekend (just moved, but proof that real life spills into work life all the time)

1:00 pm           BTOP Update Meeting.

The Idaho Commission for Libraries received Federal stimulus funds through the Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program to create public computing centers in public libraries in Idaho.  The project will increase the broadband connectivity for at least 55 libraries in the state, plus it adds online services statewide that focus on improving job skills, student skills, etc.  There are many pieces of the project carried out by about 15 people, which includes staff at partner agencies like Idaho Public Television, technology consultants, and a contracted project manager.  Keeping up with all the pieces of the project is hard with so many people involved, so we have a weekly update meeting to find out what’s happening with all the different activities.  There are times I wish I had that hour for something else, but at each meeting I learn some piece of information I need to do my job or I am needed for some information to help others get their parts done.  It’s a valuable time for everyone from all the partners and departments to get caught up on our progress and make sure we’re all working from the same accurate information.

2:00 pm           Social Networking Presence

It’s beyond time for some of our services to have a social presence.  We didn’t want to go there and not be an active participant, but it’s high time to make it happen.  The afternoon was spent:

• Regaining control of a Facebook for the agency. It had been created, active for a very short period of time, inactive for about a year, and the only admin was a now-former colleague.  Talk with him, got it squared away. All is good.
• Creating a Facebook page for LiLI – the statewide program I coordinate. 
• Activating a Twitter account for LiLI. It had been created some time back because we wanted to save the username, but now I had to figure out a good way to monitor that account as well as my own account without them getting mixed up.  Tested out a few apps and settled on YooNo to see how it goes. 

Amid all this was answering some questions via email.  Somehow the afternoon got away from me.  Lost in social networking and app testing.

4:30 pm           Is it time already? 

If it weren’t Monday, I’d stick around and clear off a couple more quickie Task List items.  However, I have a personal appointment, so I must scram for the day.  It’s a short day due to being late and actually taking some time at lunch to run that errand. This will certainly be made up for tomorrow.