It’s occurred to me that, since my recent announcement that I’ll be leaving the Judge, a potential replacement may read my #libday8 posts with a view to finding out what the job’s really like. If you’re reading this for that purpose let me say one thing – the Judge is a great place to work and Andy is a fantastic boss. Okay, that’s two things but I say them without any agenda (it’s too late for a pay rise right?) Honest like.
Anyway, on to the job in hand. Let me fill you in on my Tuesday (I know, I know that’s so yesterday)…
I had a late start as I’m scheduled to work until 6pm on Tuesdays. For most normal people that would mean a lie-in – for me it means getting up at the same time but having longer to wrestle my 1-year old into her buggy to get her to nursery. So by the time I’d arrived at work I already felt like I’d done a day’s work. But that’s enough of the self-pity.
I started off at a meeting with the team in the School’s Common Room. We have these meetings at the same time every week and it’s a chance for us to come together over coffee and to find out what everyone else has been working on. The idea for weekly meetings came out of a management course I went on in 2010 and I think they work really well. Everyone has something to contribute and to share and I normally come away from them knowing a lot more than I did. That’s got to be a good thing.
The team meeting
After the meeting I staffed the Business Information Point in the Common Room. I didn’t actually get any enquiries from students in person, but this gave me the chance to catch up with my emails, answer some online chat enquiries and to talk to some School staff. All just as important in my humble opinion. Some of the enquiries I dealt with were:
- A plea from a Faculty member asking for help tracking down some articles.
- A request from another Faculty member to sort the problem with the Bloomberg connection in his office.
- Another Business School Librarian asking about the level of support we provide for WRDS.
- Registering non-Judge students who’d filled in our online registration form.
After lunch I was back at my desk in the office, but still answering enquiries (reserving books in high demand, advising on the availability of ebooks, sorting out a WRDS class account…the list goes on). I briefly met with a visiting student from North Korea who I’d been in email correspondence with. It’s always good to put a face to a name and it give me the chance to check that he was able to access the resources and support that he needs. I also had a chance to look over the material for a training session that Andy and I were running this morning (more of which at a later date).
At 5pm it was time for me to cover the issue desk so the rest of the team could go home and I had a chat with one of our alumni about the resources available to her now.
Then 6pm. Time for me to close down the front desk, lock up and leave. Home time!
