‘To do’ list

Tomorrow O Week – Orientation Week – begins. That’s when the campus is hit with swarms of new students all wanting to find out whatever it is they need to know about studying at university. For those of us who work in the library, it means having to be tour guides – we take group after group of new students through the library – as well as teachers – we show students how to use the library’s online tools to find material on their reading lists and for writing assignments.

During O Week and for about two or three weeks after that, I say over and over again to new students: “Google is not going to be enough”. I follow this surprising (to some of them) statement by showing them the range of resources that the library provides. Depending on the group of students, I even mention how much some of the journal databases cost (the million-dollar one always makes some sit up).

It’s going to be a tiring week.
Monday:

• Meeting with The Boss’s Boss to discuss project I’m working on with him. This project will involve me going to KL in March.
• Library tour.

Tuesday:

• Business librarians’ meeting. I expect we will commiserate with each other over how busy we are.
• Lunch meeting with colleagues from across the university. We did a management course together and we’re getting together to see how we’ve been, etc. I hope I’m not too distracted by everything else I have on…
• Teaching and learning committee meeting. This two hour meeting almost always goes for longer. Have I mentioned that afternoon meetings are killers?

Wednesday:

• Collection management meeting.
• Presentation to a library committee on managing our blog.
• Seminar for postgrad students.
• Evening orientation session for new postgrad students. Includes finger food and drinks, so is not too arduous. I do this session every semester and it has effectively cured me of any fear of speaking in front of large groups.

Thursday:

• Presentation at a meeting with the School of Accounting’s Research and Development committee.
• Reference desk shift.

Friday:

• EndNote presentation to staff at Graduate School of Business.
• Numerous appointments with doctoral students.

Tasks I need to do during the week:

• Answer reference queries over phone and email.
• Work on classplans for KL trip in March.
• Ensure library podcasts go up! (Yes, we have recorded some podcasts. Yes, you will be able to hear my smarmy voice online at some point over the next few weeks. But I haven’t decided if I am going to tell you when or which podcast it is, yet 😉 )
• Work on articles.
• Write reports. I am expected to report on some of the meetings I attend, and if I don’t write things down I forget to mention things. Although this job sounds tedious, it actually gives me some pleasure in that I take copious notes during the meetings themselves, using a fountain pen. (Aargh I’ve just remembered I forgot to submit a report for some minutes. Should’ve done it on Friday.)
• Blog. My colleague SGS and I have landed ourselves the task of managing our library’s blog. I’m not complaining too much as this task lets me add blogging to my CV.

Unwinding and relaxing after the end of each day is going to be a challenge. Even if I don’t let myself bring any work home or consciously think about work in the evenings, I sometimes find myself waking up to the thoughts of how I am going to approach situations or what I should do to make sure something goes smoothly or things I have forgotten to do.

There’s something very satisfying about writing lists. Putting everything down so neatly seems to make each individual task seem slightly less … big, and is a good way of making sure I don’t forget to do something. I hope am sure I will cope, even if I am a bit frazzled come Friday!

Categories: work